Welcoming Polly Tucker on to the Organic Horse Start Squad

Polly Tucker, young event rider, based in Bristol has been eventing since the age of 12. She has competed on ponies and now horses in BE up to open novice including JRN and Grass Roots Championships. Previously at National Level she was 2nd individual and anchorman for the Syston Pony Club Intermediate Event Team who were National Champions in 2007.

Polly has three horses currently in work: Blue Rangoon (16.3hh, 16yrs) a NZ TB an intermediate eventer who is back in work ready to compete at ON, Awesome (16hh, 18yrs) another TB horse from 'Down Under' who is an advanced horse on whom Polly is hoping for her first 1 star and intermediate ride and Lord Percy (16hh, 9yrs) a WBxTB who is working well at dressage to elementary level and who went to the Pony Club National Champions last year, he has already qualified for the Badminton Championships this year and has previously been evented to 1 star.

Polly rides regularly at Pony Club with all three horses and has been a team member for all three disciplines. Polly started off riding successfully in showing classes at regional and national level before moving to eventing and dressage. She is really looking forward to the up and coming season - hoping for a reason to purchase top hat and tails soon!

Why horses? "I have been surrounded by horses all my life and was born in a basket saddle!"
Biggest horsey bug bear? "Unfair and biased judging at competitions - it puts a downer on the day."
Worst horsey habit? "I am extremely protective of my horses and who rides them, I like to keep their routine the same."
If not horses what? "Some type of urban sports - wouldn't mind a go at dirt biking!"
What could you not live without? "My horses and sponsors - thanks so much."

Kerry Graw's latest blog, things are looking up!

Finally things seem to be improving with my run of bad luck recently. Biggles seems to be improving on a daily basis but we did have a little relapse of him going lame again when we started trot work but fingers crossed we are back on track. He is now looking fantastic after all his water treadmill sessions combined with work on the pessoa he's feeling rather well, Forest Farmacy box rest power has been a real help with him while he has been on walking exercise in hand, he is a lot less flighty and more relaxed. I was allowed to start ridden work yesterday and Biggles was on best behaviour for our exciting 10 minute walk!!! My vet is back out tomorrow to review what the next step is and hopefully he will be back out competing the back end of the summer, but I won't make any plans yet just in case ....

Ze is still out of action and has been on box rest followed by limited turnout, he is becoming a mystery as so far his bone scans, ultrasound and x rays have not shown anything up. He is still lame and dragging a toe behind in trot so we are treating it as a sacroilliac injury as we have narrowed it down to that area when blocking him from the stifle down showed no improvement. He is however a lot happier in himself which is good as I think his recovery will be a very long and slow process!!!

The good news... Picnic is going really well, we have progressed and achieved our aim for this year of jumping Newcomers, I am delighted and we can now work on improving at that height for the summer and hopefully be ready to enter some qualifiers. Our first newcomers class was at the North Somerset show and she jumped brilliantly only to brush the last pole but I was still thrilled seeings as it was our first attempt and I also think it may have been me prematurely thinking we'd gone clear before jumping the last fence! On Sunday we went to a Riding Club qualifier at Malvern and entered the 1.10 - 1.15m open and had great success with our team finishing 2nd! Picture of Picnic in action is attached. This weekend we are off out to try another Newcomers and 1.15m open, will keep you posted how we get on.

Busy times for Sam Penn at the moment

Well it seems summer has arrived and whilst everyone headed south to the beach, we went north to Brigstock with Tickeridge, Lite My Fire and Coevers Diamond Clover. We kicked off on Friday morning with Tigga in the BE100 Lycetts 5yo qualifier. His dressage was lovely gaining a mark of 27.5, but whether due to the heat or that the showjumping was a little small, his jumping was rather idle and he added 4 penalties. The xc was a really good test with plenty to see and jump, the water especially caused a lot of problems, so I was very pleased that he jumped a lovely clear with no time faults and despite his showjump down he still came out on top so has qualified for the Championships at Osberton in October. Also out on Friday was Flynn, he had the dressage phase of his first attempt at a CIC*. Considering the issues that we have had on the flat, I was very pleased with his test, he was rideable and behaved well for a mark of 56.1, to lie 21st overnight.

We returned early the next morning for the xc phase with Flynn, which he thought was a far more interesting way to start the day! He put in a storming round taking everything in his stride and adding just 0.4 time faults which helped to pull him up to 12th place going into showjumping. This part caused real trouble across the class, especially fence 3, a large parallel off a very tight turn by the collecting ring. Flynn was absolutely super and jumped his socks off for one of the few clear rounds and as the horses placed above us continued to hit poles we crept up the leader board to finish the day 5th.

Last to go for the weekend was Lulu, also having her first try at a step up in class, in a BE100 section. Having discovered at the very last moment that I had completely mis-judged the time, I nearly missed the dressage, having to canter across the lorry park and go straight into the ring with no warm up at all, however this actually seemed to suit Lulu very well as she had no chance to get uptight and stressed out as she tends to do, and we scored a very acceptable 30.5. Unfortunately we added 8 faults to this in the showjumping, but she was super across country coping well with several things she has not seen before, and only just finishing outside the ribbons.

Houghton Hall & Borde Hill
We have spent the last week in Norfolk at one of my favourite events, Houghton Hall. This is the 4th year I have attended and it' s great to see it growing into such a popular event. We took three ponies, Boundalong for the CCI**, Captain Christy for the CIC*** and Pusiden for the BYEH 4yo class. I really like to take the youngsters away to an event such as this right at the start of their career as they learn a huge amount in a short time and that going away like this is not a big deal. Sid was the first of our ponies to compete, on Thursday. Although we knew that his flatwork is not yet quite up to scratch, his jumping was super, gaing the second highest mark in the class (35/40). This was followed by a conformation mark of 12/15. This was good enough to earn him a place in the final 10 which then return into the ring to be judged on 'star quality'. He behaved eautifully, coping with the atmosphere of the main ring really well and being placed 4th by judge Nick Turner. After all the adding up was done we finished up 6th, so not high enough to qualify for the final, but nonetheless a reaally good result and an educational experience for him. Although we were not the only ones to wonder how the winner came out on top after refussing in the showjumping and ditching its rider twice......

Also on Thursday was Muffin's turn for dressage. We know that this is a work in progress and it will probably take most of this coming winter to really get things as I want them, however we are making progress and the first part of the test was much more relaxed, it did become more tense after the medium canter work and then the mistakes started to creep in, but she does now allow herself to be corrected in these without a temper tantrum so we are (slowly) getting there. We came out with a disapointing but deserved mark of 67.5.

Friday morning was Smurf's turn for dressage in the CIC***, a new class at Houghton this year. I was really pleased with our test, I felt it was the best feel that he has so far given me, although having since watched the video I can see where the judges marked us down however I was still disapointed with a mark of 61.7.

By Saturday morning it seemed that summer was over and the rain was returning, although we were fortunate enough to get the 3* showjumping out of the way before it did. Smurf really rose to the occasion, but he is such a crafty old sod I think he knew it was something a bit special, jumping a brilliant clear, round what was a very decent track. He then followed this with a lovely clear across country. We took a last minute detour through the double of brush corners at fennce 17 after I felt him jump skew-wiffed over the first part, and after the duck outs we had at Burnham Market and Withinton over similar fences I didnt quite trust him. Perhaps I was being unfair to him though as over the rest of the course he was a saint, including through the quarry where the (very) skinny barrel at the top of the steps was missing its flags. We added 16.4 time penalties to our mark of 61.7, finishing up in 15th place, only just outside of the prizes, perhaps without our detour through the corners we may have just got placed but I cannot complain I am thrilled with how it went, for my first 3* and Smurfs first double clear at this level in nearly 7years.

Saturday was also Muffins turn for xc, after a lot of early problems at fence 8 a skinny log after a double on the mound, the majority of people took the longer alternative. Being as how we had nothing to lose, being in 59th place after dressage, and as I trust her totally to go where directed I chose to take all the straight routes and Muffy didn't let me down. She jumped a fantastic round, coming home just 1 second over the optimum time of 9 minutes.

The trot up on Sunday morning was fortunately just a formality as Muffin was none the worse for her exertions, we then had a long wait until 3pm for our turn to jump, as by virtue of her super xc round we had pulled up from 59th to 25th place. The biggest problem faced by everyone trying to showjump was not getting over the fences but getting to them before they blew over, as the weather deteriorated throughout the day. Muffin finished the week off beautifully, and never even looked like touching a pole to finish up a credible 19th place, and even managed to get back into her stable before the thunderstorm hit! Once we get her flatwork really sorted I think she is gong to be a very special little lady.

And so we trundled the 4 1/2 hours home for a quick turnaround and back out the next morning for 8am dressage at Borde Hill.

Tickeridge was first to go and did a very nice dressage test for a mark of 26.5. A lack of being schooled for a week however caught us out in the showjumping when Tigga got a little argumentative and had an uncharacteristic 8 faults. A super clear xc, and being one of just 2 inside the optimum time in BE100 sec k, was his saving grace, and we finished up in second place.

Next to go wa Brockley Star, and I have to give full marks to his owner Vicky Whiteman for preparing him as I only ever meet him at events. Broccoli really is the most genuine, honest chracter and in only his second ever BE100 got a dressage mark of 27.5 followed by a double clear and the fastest xc time of the day, (almost too fast, oops) to be a deserving winner of sec j, it was third time lucky atfter being second in both of his previous outings.

Lite My Fire was next to go and again we approached the dressage after a minimal warm up. Although things didnt go quite as well as at Brigstock, it is definitely the right appproach for her and will work well in a 'normal' week when I am at home to prepare her. Lulu then followed with a lovely clear showjumping, over a course that caused huge numbers of faults, in fact she was one of just 3 clears in her entire section. After being told I was nearly too fast on Broccoli, I then eased up a little too much across country and although clear, picked up 0.8 time faults and so had to settle for 2nd place.

Last to go for the daywas Coevers Diamond Clover, having an easy Novice run after his CIC* outing last time. Again I knew his lack of preparation would tell on him as he is a character who really needs to be kept 'under the thumb', however he achieved a reasonable dressage mark of 34, but added 8 to this in the showjumping. He added nothing further to this across country however and finished up a very credible 8th place. So all ponies came home safe and all in the ribbons it could not have been a better ending to a lovely week.

We have got a quiet week now, our next event will be Berkshire College and we have got some showjumping to do at South of England and then Royal International.

Horse hunting and a new yard on the cards for Rose Equine this month

After a frantic month for Rose Equine last month, May was somewhat quieter on the buying and selling side- couldn't find anything worth buying ! We really shopped around, and those that seemed so promising on their adverts were a huge disappointment in reality! It just goes to show how many poor quality horses you have to sift through to find 'the one'. I went to one sale where many youngsters, particualarly the Welsh As and Ds, looked absolutely awful with shocking conformational faults that could only come about with random breeding. It made me realise how much I support breeding horses responsibly! Lets not ruin good breeds with ones like those.

On a brighter note, one sale did yield a fantastic find- a 14.2hh 3yo chestnut tobiano filly by Stetsen, Honeypot Sweet Pea. Was planning to break and sell her on, but once I got her home she looked even more impressive so will be retaining this one! She has just been backed and is walking around quietly, really excited about her future as an allround competition horse, so watch this space!

Penny had been jumping superbly this month, only to end it with casting a shoe over the bank holiday! Typical it should be when the farrier is on holiday! So she is temporarily off the scene until the farrier comes out as she struggles barefoot. Hopefully though he is coming out Wednesday, so am planning to take her cross country schooling to Pontispool sometime later in the week to get in some practice over some larger fences.

Now June has arrived we have a packed horse hunting schedule where I hope we will at last find something worth writing about! In the meantime, plenty to be getting on what with Honey to school on, Penny @ Pontispool and Merlin to gee up into doing any work at all ! :P Just wanted to say good job again for Clean Limbs- its worked a treat for him.

A really exciting development this month was the planning application for our new stables/arena had been submitted- so fingers crossed all goes through we may be looking at a brand new yard for Rose Equine come 2011!

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Jemma Harrison gets her first taste of Grand Prix jumping!

Since my last blog update we have been very busy competing ! During April the BSJA rallies continued and Piquet and I have now been jumping Newcomers, although a few unlucky poles meant no rosettes came home but still he was jumping on form.

At the end of April we had our big Liberation Show, where competitors come over from our neighbour Island Guernsey and even the Kings Troop come over! Piquet was on form and we managed to gain a 2nd, 4th, two 5th's and two 6th's over the show (along with some prize money as well). The number of competitors in the classes were a lot higher than normal meaning that some days we would be up there for the first class at 8am and the last class and not get home till about 8pm! But the great atmosphere and competition up the showground always kept us buzzing.

On the last day of the show I was crazy enough to do the Grand Prix as Piquet was jumping so well. We weren't expecting the first round to be 1.20m but still Piquet jumped round it brilliantly with only a few knockdowns due to my inexperience of jumping a technical course at that height! The photo is of one of the uprights in the Grand Prix at 1.20m!

Overall we had a brilliant show and I couldn't of asked him to jump any better. Piquet now has a well earned break for a couple of weeks and then we have a Spring Show where hopefully we will be in the rosettes again.

Some lows and highs for Sam Penn!

It has been one of those weeks that has shown just how bad and then how great this game can make you feel. Last weekend I had a lovely day out spectating and shopping at Badminton, I walked the xc and decided that of course I could tackle it, easy peasey, (lol, why is it that courses look so much nicer when you dont have to ride them) and then we watched some of the action, Sussex was well represented but I had to feel sorry for Tina Cooke - that water looked very cold, and Francis Whittington who rode such a great round only to have Lady Luck turn against him so close to home.

Our next outing was to Moreton Morrell. First out on the Wednesday was Lite My Fire, she has been improving every time out so I was hopeful that things would go well, however for some bizzare reason our dressage was nearly half an hour late, by which time her limited attention span had well and truely run out, so we ended up with a mark of 41.5. However she managed to redeem herself somewhat in the jumping with a lovely double clear, and is definately starting to feel much more grown up about the xc so all in all I was pleased with her and optimistic about her next outing in which she is going to have a crack at a BE100.

Then came Tickeridge, who as ever performed a beautiful test spoiled only by the fact that I had a total mental block and forgot where to go! We managed then a nice clear showjumping and then a fab clear xc in which he really started to gallop and jump much more fluently only to be told that I had missed out a fence, which made me feel like a complete idiot. His owners Bill and Jenny Cooke were lovely about it, saying that it didnt matter as he had gone so well and looked really good but I still felt a bit of a prat.

The following day began with Nyala in the Novice, things started out well, she can be a somewhat opinionated young lady to say the least, but she worked in well, the begining and end parts of the test were good but her tantrum in the middle knocked down the mark to 37. The jumping side of things posed no problems however and she jumped an easy double clear, although we did add a few time faults but just scraped into the ribbons to be 10th.

Last of all came 707, he has not been quite himself recently and pulled a muscle on his last outing at Burnham Market, which did at least explain a lot about what went wrong there. So this time out we thought that he could have a nice easy run in a ON. His dressage was super with one of his best ever marks of 28, he was almost so quiet that I was concerned that he may still not be right so I warmed up for showjumping with a little trepidation, however he very soon showed me that he was feeling absolutely fine and jumped a super round just making up a bit too much ground through a double and having the one fence down. He then proceeded to cart me around the xc in his usual style, but 3 fences from home he had a very naughty duck out at a step up, bounce, to a small log, he has never refused with me without a genuine reason before so I was quite cross. He happily popped through it second time and completed without further incident. However bearing in mind his recent issues he will have a visit from the physio on Monday to check him out before maybe going for some schooling! So all in all it was one of those trips that could have been really good but ended up being rather depressing, but as my Mum keeps telling me 'You cant win 'em all'.

Saturday and Sunday were spent at Hambleden, with Coevers Diamond Clover (Flynn) having his Novice Regional Final and Boundalong for an Intermediate. It is not an event I have been to before but I will definately be going again, it's a lovely event with a strong but nice xc that rides really well. Flynn did himself proud, a 34 dressage mark in his first ever attempt at an intermediate test was good, he did get a little strong but was still rideable and I think that having more to do in a test will suit him. He had the very last fence down in the showjumping but felt awasome across the country, it was by far the toughest course he has met and he just devoured it adding just 1.2 time faults (only 5 horses made the time in the whole section), we finished up 18th, but it was all very close, with a clear sj we would have made the top 10, but he was the only 6 year old in the section, at least a year younger than any other horse there so I was very very pleased with him.

It was a lovely relaxed weekend, being stabled on site with just one horse each day, we even had a bit of a lie in on Sunday as Boundalong did not have dressage until 12. Her test was a huge improvement on previous outings, I hope we are starting to understand each other better now and although she was still a little tense she was much more rideable than she has been before. 37.7 was about what I expected for her mark, I did have to smile at the judges comment that she was 'aptly named'. The showjumping caused us no problems and she stormed around the xc in amazing style, the whole thing felt much more in tune than our previous outings.The course itself didn't cause too many problems in our section however the time was having a lot of influence, and by virtue of being the quickest in the section we won, by just 0.2, with just a further 0.3 between 2nd and 3rd. It was a fantastic result made even better by the fact that it qualifies us for the Intermediate Championships at Gatcombe, hopefully by then our dressage will have significantly improved.

The other big piece of news this week is that we have a new sponsor to welcome on board, Gary Mold and his company For Animals are based in West Sussex and sell everything you might need for horses, poultry, pigs, dogs cats and pretty much every other animal you might have, all available through their online store or by telephone or email with free delivery across West Sussex, they are now looking to expand into the Eastern side of the county so please do check them out.