Jo Barry gives us the lowdown of her amazing trip to the Winter Dressage Champs

The washing machine has worked on overtime since our trip to the British Dressage National Winter Championships at Hartpury. 7 days away with 2 horses takes a bit of preparation but equally so does the unpacking, catch-up and washing when you return...BUT what a fantastic week we had!

As seems to be usual for me the run up to the Championships was not straight forwards..the week before we left we had yet another batch of snow. On the Tuesday 6 inches fell, a complete nightmare as far as I was concerned! By Friday we were able to get the lorry out and hired the Scottish National Equestrian Centre (SNEC) for a couple of hours so that I could take Freddie and Rafa there to ride. By Saturday I was able to ride on my own school but it was in gale force winds and so we left for Hartpury on Tuesday feeling a little unprepared.

We borrowed a lorry for the trip so that Mum and I could have an actual 'living' to live in...our lorry doesn't have the living kited out, just a nice big space. However having a bit more comfort did mean that I had to unpack all the show equipment that stays permanently in my lorry and re-pack it into the other one adding in all the feed, haylage etc etc that was needed for the week. It seemed to take forever!

We hoped to leave at 6am...at 5.30 Freddie went back to bed, lay down and stretched out and said he was not going to budge! Eventually at 6.20 he got up and was bundled into the lorry. The journey was good and we made it down in 8hrs. It did feel like we had arrived in another world though, we left high winds, rain and the cold and arrived to sun, grass in the fields and blossom on the trees!

The boys settled into their new stables well, with front row seats for watching everyone that was arriving, it kept their interest for the whole show. Hartpury really spoils you with their stabling, we were in permanent boxes that had rubber matting floors and were of a good size...a home from home for them.

Rafa did the arena walk in the main arena in the afternoon. He had never seen anything like Hartpury before and so I wanted to give him the best chance by letting him see it the day before. It was really busy in the arena...sometimes because you can't do anything other than walk it actually upsets the horse more because they become more coiled up with excitement. You just have to keep an eye and try to give those horses a wide berth and hope it isn't yours that is causing the upset! Freddie just had a gentle stretch that night as the main arena had closed after the arena walk.

I worked Freddie early on the Wednesday morning as Rafa was going to take up most of the day with his two classes. He was competing in the Novice Open and the Novice Freestyle. I was really pleased with him, he really tried to do his best. In the Novice Open he made one mistake...when I asked for my first transition to canter, he just glazed over and didn't hear me. It was coming into the corner where all the trade stands were and he just wasn't there to listen to my aid. I did my best pony clubber impression and eventually we did make it into canter but it meant we got 4's from the three judges. We still managed to get 66.9% and finished 8th, so considering the mistake I was pleased with the placing. Later in the afternoon he competed in the Novice Freestyle. This time he stayed with me throughout and even though I had to help him along at times because he was tired he gave as much as he could. I was thrilled with his score of 75.19% and his second placing, he was thrilled with all the feed vouchers that he had won. Rafa's show was now over and the plan for him was just to hack and do light stetching for the rest of his stay and that he simply enjoy his holiday!

Day two and it was Freddie's turn in the Elementary Freestyle. He came out with guns blazing and for the first time I thought this could go either way!?! I had never felt him so on the knife edge at a competition before but at the same time it was amazing to feel! For the indoor Championship classes you warm-up in the indoor arena by the stables then 20 minutes before your test you go down to a smaller indoor that sits beside the main arena to do your final preparation for the test. The test went very well, though we possibly had slightly too much fuel injection in the medium canters! He gained 77.57%, with one judge giving him just over 80% for his test! He won a lovely crystal bowl, a sash and a rug but for Freddie the highlight was that he was in a prizegiving...he just loves being the centre of attention. That night we had dinner with a friend who lives locally, a good gossip was had and bottle No.1 of Champagne was consumed!

Day three, Friday and it was a day off from competition. Freddie was worked and Rafa did some light stretching. It was a beautiful day and Mum and I sat on the bank watching the PetPlan Championship riders competing in the afternoon. We were joined by a friend from Scotland who brought along a bottle of Champagne...No 2...a perfect way to enjoy an afternoon! We went to the evening performance that night to watch the PSG Freestyle, with hopes that Freddie will be in it himself next year!?

Day 4, Saturday and the Medium Freestyle. Freddie was first to go and scored 73.7%, a good score but would it be good enough?! It was a long wait for the final result -nerves were frayed by the end as the class was strong and so every mark was a potential threat. Another prizegiving, sash but this time he got 4 lovely Bucas rugs as his prize. Another sunny evening and another bottle of Champagne...if not 2! This time they were shared with some fellow Scottish competitors in the lorry park.

Day 5, Sunday and the Medium Open. I really felt the pressure was on...it seemed unbelievable to think that a 3rd Championship could be possible especially as the class had many top combinations in it. This of all the classes was the one I wanted to do well in. Freddie was not on till mid-afternoon so I took him out for a walk and gave him a light stretch first thing. Carl had said he would come to warm us up for this test so I felt more confident knowing that. Just before I was to tack Freddie up for the class a television crew arrived to have a chat about our Hartpury experience and the next class. Freddie was hilarious, he stood throwing his rug around and playing the fool behind me then decided that I was in the way and started nudging and pulling at my shoulder...he wanted to make sure I didn't steal his limelight! It was now time for the test, Freddie and I went up to the indoor arena and started working in. No sign of Carl and I have to admit I started to wobble. Freddie felt tired and a bit grumpy and for once I could hear all the comments the other trainers were giving to their own pupils...all I could hear was 'lovely', 'wow' and 'super'. Then Carl walked in, I relaxed, started to focus and ride again. Straight away I could feel a difference in Freddie, he started coming back to me and by the time we got to the entrance of the main arena I could almost hear him say 'go on then, one more time!' I came out almost not knowing how we had gone, all I knew was we had got through it. Carl came over, smiled and said that he was happy with both of us and that that was to be his last test at Medium! The score almost didn't matter as I knew neither of us had any more to give, the fact it was 72.07% was a huge bonus and then that he won was just unbelievable! His final prizegiving and yet again he stood like a rock and behaved beautifully. A third sash, a gorgeous Albion double bridle as a prize and huge smiles all round. Another bottle of Champagne courtesy of our dinner host from Thursday night but it remained un-opened until we got home, whereupon we arrived to two more bottles given by friends!

We decided to stay on Sunday night rather than leave and travel overnight. I got up at 3am to feed and we were loaded up to go just after 4am. We left, drove all of 500m to find that the entrance gate was padlocked shut!! We were not popular but at least another lorry was waiting to go too! We only had a half hour delay in leaving and were making good time up the road when we heard a huge bang...a blowout. 90mins later we were fixed and back on our way, then an hour later...ANOTHER bang and a second blowout. UNBELIEVABLE!?! An hour later we were sorted again and made it home in 10 hours.

Freddie has had a week in the field and Rafa had a few days off and then it was kick on to Elementary! May is going to be busy with training for Freddie and getting Hugo ready for his Young Horse qualifiers so I wanted to try and get Rafa's summer qualifications this month. He still had one novice test to win and I wanted to try and qualify him for Elementary. On Wednesday he started learning walk pirouettes and simple changes, on Sunday he did his first Elementary at SNEC and won! It was Elementary 58 and not an easy test to do as your introduction but I think he was so shocked that he followed exactly what I said with very few return comments from him. He won his novice class too so we now have that qualification and we will go to Rowallan this weekend and try and complete the elementary qualification...then he can have a holiday!

I just want to say a huge thankyou to everyone that supported Freddie, Rafa and I at the Championships and to those who sent congratulations. Also to TopSpec and Forestfarmacy for their help towards the care of the horses...to Mum for her help and for putting up with me and Lady Hope, who even though she could not be there was a nervous owner on the end of the telephone waiting for results. Finally, thankyou to BD, NAF, Blue Chip, Baileys, Equissage, Bucas and Albion for their work, sponsorship, encouragement and for making the British Dressage Winter Championships 2010 a really memorable week for me.