My Exciting Horses for 2011

Trefeinon Icon- Its an impressive photo but he had to be ridden positively, he likes to peer into ditches at take off! He is my Advanced horse for 2011, he tries so hard in every phase, jumping is his best thing, he can do all the Advanced dressage movements but he still looks like someones Dad trying to look cool on the dance floor!

Hartpury Top Gun- Will be 5 in 2011, hes a tough, determined, brave little horse, hes 16.1 but feels smaller. He grinds his teeth in the dressage and is a quick nippy jumper but has not really learnt to extend in his canter yet. I love his attitude and his cheeky character, he's showing signs of being the real deal to go to top level.

Hartpury Take It 2 The Top (Monty) - He is 16.2, still growing, 4 years old in 2011. Top Guns full brother. Will be aimed at the 4 year old classes, he feels like top class, he is in the very early days of training as he was only started a couple of months ago.

John Wayne- Bred by Malcolm Wharton principle of Hartpury College. He is 16.1 and will be 5 in March 2011. One of the UK's top 20 eventers, 4 year olds 2010. He is everyones favourite, he moves like a dream and likes to please, a gentle character with masses of scope. On his dams side his breeding includes Welton Apollo. He has a big canter and can really cover the ground. He is very sensible and super reliable even doing a good dressage in a thunder storm or if there are loose horses flying about!

I am so excited about these horses they are the best set of horses I have ever had, I am going to have to work really hard this year to keep my finances flowing to be able to keep them on top form and take them competing. A full update about these horses plus others will be on my website in the new year http://www.stellabayliseventing.co.uk/

Accident On Christmas Day

Christmas morning all dressed up for posh Christmas dinner at my Mums, I waited in the kitchen for Ant to come back from doing the cows. Something smelt horrid but I was just glad to be in the warm so tried to ignore it.
Ant arrived home, he went upstairs and I could hear him complaining "URGH, WHAT IS THAT SMELL".
Turns out Monserat, after 13 years, had at last found the litter tray, he had done something that looked like an entire packet of chocolate custard and not even followed traditional cat manners by covering it over. Disgusting, stomach churning, very, very disgusting.
I picked up the litter tray, my Christmas hat had slipped over my eyes, so I didn't notice a white Duvet fall off the Bannister and go plop silently onto the stairs. About 4 stairs down my feet met the Duvet and shot out from under me and I went dud, dud, dud, dud, dud, dud all the way down, picking up an impressive mph that Jeremy Clarkson would have been proud of. As I met the inevitable final stair my progress ceased abruptly, cat litter and pooh flew up in the air, then back down and everywhere.
I lay there wondering how I had ended up in the hall, bruised yet lying on a soft white Duvet.
It couldn't be heaven, I was surrounded by cat litter and sloppy cat pooh. Ant confirmed my suspicions that I was still alive by peering down at me from the top of the stairs asking "are you alright?"
We were a little late for Christmas lunch with a few bruises and a good story to tell.

Happy Christmas

This photo was taken last winter. It is the lovely Paintpot, mother of my bay yearling Paint It 2 The Limit (Snip). Thought the picture makes a stunning BLOG Christmas card. Paintpot was lent to me as a broodmare when she injured her leg and her owner Joy Bannister was unable to provide suitable facilities for lengthy box rest. Having had a super foal Paintpot is now sound and back with her owner Joy. Although now Joy has hurt her own leg.....shes not suitable as a broodmare though!!!!

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and that the snow melts very very soon... like on Boxing Day....please.....???

Highlight Of 2010

Click on the utube link above to see Icon jump round The British Championships at Gatcombe 2010. (Its a bit of a rough copy from the big screen at Gatcombe) This outing and our 15th place at little Downham Advanced were the highlights of my year. Only ten weeks until the season starts and the thaw is meant to happen next week....I can't wait. At least carrying bucket after bucket of water is keeping me fit!

Frozen Penguin and Troughs.

Took me 2 hours with several trips back to the house for hot water (1/4 mile away) to defrost this trough and I learnt how to work the self timer on my camera!!!! Tabby cat "Hedgrow" and kitten "Felix" are in the best place.

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Sweeps favourite toy her Penguin is frozen as solid as a concrete block, its now a lethel weapon when she starts shaking it.

See amazing snow shots from Castlemorton taken by my Mum - Pauline Baylis at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biTIlYjb3EA

Chicken Of The Year Show. 1st.

Anthony has won 3 firsts at the Chicken of The Year Show. The show fills 4 huge halls at Stafford County Show Ground! Due to the snow it took him 2 1/2 hours to get there (normally takes 1 hr).
We took the birds Friday night, they stay B+B for 3 days and are judged after we have fed, watered them, put baby oil on their combs, coat glossed feathers, polished beaks, claws.....etc etc....wont bore you!
Last year his Silver Laced Wyandotte made it to Champions Row, but she has stayed at home this year as she decided to moult at the wrong time! Its snowed a lot again and the horses are confined to boxes again. I've made lead ropes and mended rugs, staying cheery by thinking how much money I am saving in diesel and entries by not being out competing.
Whilst carrying 16 buckets of water a day to the stables from the house, I had a brainwave....gonna train the horses to like slush puppies, then I can just shovel snow over the doors and add carrot flavouring.......!!!!!

Clipping is very Dangerous!

I am slightly accident prone. A few years ago I broke my collar bone, not falling off, but clipping a horse. It was a tall cob and he squashed me against the wall and crack and ow!

Yesterday I decided to give Milo a tiny chaser clip, he stood like a rock while the deed was done and thats his first ever clip! As I put my clippers down I managed to whack my head on a saddle rack.....Ooooowah!.....It did hurt a lot. In the evening I wasn't hungry felt a bit sick and went to bed at 9 pm tired having ridden 5 horses, clipped one, mucked out and been shopping for horse feed. I slept 11 hours, woke up with a headache and a bump on my head. Fiddlesticks its mild concussion! As there is snow forecast in two days, I determinedly took 3 horses on my own to Allens Hill for clear round show jumping. OMG they were fresh, bucking and spinning, think my core stability has risen a few points during Top Guns performance. Luckily they all jumped well. Monty jumped 2'6" even a few from canter, Top Gun was cocky but fab and John Wayne pinged confidently round a metre.

I gave myself a big pat and a polo for staying on lots of bucky moments with a poorly headache!

(Photo - 3 year old Monty out hacking kindly taken by Brian Swindells, Castlemorton.)

Monty Loose on the Common........eeek!

Well. What a shock. Prue our next door neighbour knocked at our door as it was getting light to tell me there was a horse loose on the common. I rushed outside to find Monty had jumped out of his field and was loose on 2,ooo acres of Castlemorton Common. Luckily he was waiting patiently at our gate to be let back in! He had an "Oooops!" look on his face. I opened the gate and he sheepishly wandered back in.
Phew, got away with one tiny cut. It was still dark and very icy and the nearby main road gets fast and busy first thing. He had popped over a low bit of fence having chewed through the rail, he is teething and is chewing everything. I had given him a few rubber trugs to play with as hes so bored with his forced holiday due to the snow, but he obviously decided to go off in search of more interesting things!
I have mended the fence and he is back in work (he's still gorgeous) but I will still worry like mad in case he does it again.

Good News

I have lots to celebrate today.

Louise Skelton is the 2010 winner of the British Eventing Martin Whiteley Trophy on her homebred horse Partly Pickled. She has done Badminton and Burghley numerous times. She is extending her coaching qualifications and has asked me if she can use Icon and I as a Guinea pig as part of her training. She has given me some brilliant advice in the past course walking etc and so of course I said yes. This means I will receive 8 lessons with Louise which will be a brilliant contribution towards our first CIC*** next spring.
Then very exciting as I won a months supply of Pure Feed Company feed in http://www.eventingworldwide.com/ xmas givaways.
And at last the school has defrosted enough to ride on and I managed to stay on some very fresh horses! Even Icon was fresh he almost bucked. John Wayne was scared of a loose leaf and Top Gun was perfect once he put his back down!

Photo of me in my messy kitchen taken by my Auntie - Geraldine Clarke

Sponsors For 2011

I have written to a few potential sponsors for next year and have been very select as I am very fussy what products I use. The companies I have chosen are those whose products I have been using for some time and so have contributed to our very successful year in 2010.

One is mainly a feed and bedding company with an excellent new line in feed which Icon, John Wayne and Top Gun have been eating happily for the last 6 months. Its less expensive than my previous brand but still excellent quality, the horses perform brilliantly and look superb on it.

Another is a clothing and rug company that I have used for years and years, exceptional quality and I would be very excited to be able to promote their products.

Then there is the company who made my super jumping saddle, I feel so secure in it and the horses feel in amazing balance, they jump exact and straight over all those skinnies. Its a company not widely known for producing saddles for top event horses and I hope to change that.

Also a brand of lotions and potions I use on the horses, shampoo, fly sprays, sheath cleaner, saddle soap etc all essential items and top quality products allowing me to turn out the horses in stunning condition and all helps towards dazzling those dressage judges!

This would be in addition to my current sponsor http://www.payrollsuk.com/ who have already agreed a deal for 2011. Click here to look at their site there are some good pics of my horses on there too. Including Rif Raf this years foal.
If you have employees (even one employee) or work for someone that operates PAYE you should contact them for a free quote, you have nothing to lose, much cheaper than using an accountant they have over 20 years experience and they are offering your first months payroll for free.

Fire, Flood and Frozen

Yippee I feel alive I have managed to ride this weekend, the horses were amazing, how special are these 4 year olds to behave perfectly after a week on frozen box rest. Got to thank Take It 2 The Limit for their temperament and the mares must have something to do with it too. The school was frosty and I had to avoid bits of it. I did not ride Monty, seemed pointless to restart a 3 year old with a further week of ice forecast.

Due to the freezing conditions I have spent the week doing house stuff, Ant cut up a mountain of wood taken off our neighbours skip and I have stacked it all away. Had a panic when the Rayburn caught fire and Ant had to rush home to my rescue and then I left my water container filling up in the sink and completely flooded the kitchen. Good job Ant mended the Rayburn as everything had to be dried on it!
Sheltered accommodation beckons!

Just Snow

The bright bay yearling Snip (Paint It 2 The Limit) and 5 year old Frank (my livery) out in the snow this morning. Nothing much else to report, plans all on hold until it thaws. Maybe having a bonfire will help!

Rats its Snowing!

Icon having his limited (don't you dare hurt yourself) turnout and Felix the new kitten has a giant rat. Yuk. We keep the rats down with poison and I expect this was already dead or dying when he "caught" it. He is a very happy cat though. No riding as school is frozen and road are slippy, so horses are just having hay and a bit of turnout. No hard feed so no risk of Azoturia when they come back into work. I am having to carry all the water down from the house as everything is frozen. Now melt snow, melt....please....

"Now where is that shoe we Lost"

Here is Stan who found some deep water out hunting when he was taking a short cut. I teach Stan (but not to do this!). He is grandson of Peter Sheppard who bred Icon. Stan's mum Nicky hunted Icon and did the Ledbury Hunt Golden Button ride on him....which is a race over some enormous hedges.....Nicky and Icon just popped round it for fun!

Stan lost a shoe that day, gotta admire him for looking for it everywhere!

We have an annoying small amount of snow today. I taught pony club all afternoon in an indoor school. Then when I got home the snow had gone, so I rode John Wayne and Top Gun in the dark using the lights from the stables to help see where I was going!

Its Very Cold!

Here is Ant bringing Milo and Frank (This is Sarah's, my livery) a large bale of hay. Frank and Milo are waiting cautiously! Our horses tend to be good in traffic they are so used to a tractor bringing them hay!

My elderly cat , 14 yr old Monserat and Sweep find a good way to keep warm beside the logburner. Monserat had been an outside cat all his life and refused to come inside, until last winters cold weather and now he sleeps inside every night. He is a brilliant mouser and catches rats too, he also begs for tit bits along side the dogs and growls at me if I forget him!

Just done quick flat work sessions with the horses the last few days. Monty's walk, trot and canter transitions are less exciting and his free walk is definitely recognisable! Brrrrrr..... I am only warm when I am riding or mucking out, the house is warm enough to take my coat and gloves off by 7 pm when the log burner has really got going. Its the wind thats cold but snow may be coming too Brrrrrrr.....!

Monty's First Ever Show

Took Monty to Allens Hill to do his first ever show, we did the 50 cm clear round and he went clear once and had 1 fence down in the 2nd round. He loved it and was very good warming up with the other horses and when the tiny miniature Shetland foal took off at 90 miles an hour in the paddock next to the warm up arena. It was so small it had a dog rug on, very cute and very funny. I hung on to my neck strap until it slowed down though!

Next Monty needs to learn to jump from canter this will take a while and I will start with using poles on the floor and then to x poles.

Spicer (Duvet Day) has been lent to Janet, Anthonys sister to go hunting and is proving to be a complete star, Janet will make him him into a super hunter, its nice he is being used as I was going to turn him away this winter.

John Wayne is now fit enough to go and do some dressage and show jumping, he is bolder and more confident than before. Top Gun is going really well and will be aimed at some dressage and show jumping in a few weeks, he has filled out and feels much more mature. Both boys have been clipped, just a neck and belly clip. It was getting hard to dry them off after exercise, with the damp weather. They were both easy to clip.....so its just Icon (of course) who is the clipping fidget!

Icon Wins and Monty is Show Jumping

Took Monty (Hartpury Take It 2 The Top) to Tack Farm SJ schooling on Monday. My friends Sharon Bradford and Bernice White came with their horses Nibs and Freddie. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a super time. All the horses jumped well, mine knocked quite a few down....legs and brain too far apart...but he was very brave over the many fillers & even jumped a frozen black water tray left over from Saturdays Derby class. We all went home very happy with our horses.

Measured Monty today he is 16.2, but still very narrow its like riding on a knife!
Monty is becoming wonderful to hack out, he feels real potential top class, he opens gates, does water, ditches, has met loose dogs, cows and even pigs. As I hack out on my own they have to be brave.....this is all thanks to James Grassick who breaks all my young horses in and does an amazing job with them.

Icon won a speed class at Hartpury on Wednesday evening. It was their first evening BSJA show and it was a superb show, the atmosphere was buzzing with loads of people who I knew, James Grassick won the 1.10 so it was a good show for the locals. Can't wait for the next one.

Anthony has been washing chickens all week ready for a big show at Stoneleigh this weekend, they are put on the Rayburn in the kitchen to dry which means some interesting and loud sound effects when I am on the phone!

Gypsy Horses On the Move!

Butterfly and Rif Raf on their way to winter turn out. You can see Rif Rafs fire breathing dragon on her side, quite clearly, if you have a vivid and mad imagination! I taught Rif Raf to have a head collar on, be tied up and to be led all in the last 4 days. The field we are going to is a 1/2 mile walk across the common, she had to be taught properly so she did not get away from me on the journey. They will stay there until the spring when Rif Raf will be weaned.

Icon had a go at an Advanced Medium today at Hartpury, we had a list 1 judge and actually got some 7's but sadly a 1 for a non existent flying change, he managed the other 3 changes but got very excited. We have to make ourselves do these tests to gain experience for next year when we hope to do some more advanced and go 3*. My sponsor came to watch Maria and Daniel Norrell (Payrolls UK) and delivered a mountain of Polo's to a very happy Icon.

A momentous occasion happened this morning I rode three horses by Take It 2 The Limit.
The gorgeous John Wayne, lovely Monty and his lordship Top Gun, back off his holiday. I lunged him first and my oh my did he buck, I gulped and worried about getting on as he went round and round broncing like he had a bramble in his tail. I need not have worried, he was as good as gold to ride, although I think I will lunge him before I get on for the next few days.

Now I have five horses to ride and I am still busy teaching despite it being November when my work usually goes a bit quieter. On a teaching note well done to Sarah Limbrick who has qualified for the Oliver Townend Eventing Finals at Aintree next month.

Pammy Hutton

Took Icon to Pammy today. Lunged him well before we went to get all the bucks out of his system, there were lots of them!!

In just 45 mins Pammy fired suppling exercises at me like she was using a machine gun, this was done mainly with transitions within half pass and shoulder in, it was fascinating how Icon began to move and loosen, Pammy was brilliant and took time to explain things in detail, I have taught Icon to do everything correctly but now it all needs tweaking.

Pammy took my flying changes apart and showed me how to get him to change behind first and then in front, this was weird and amazing at the same time and will eventually lead to a good change, at the moment he is a split second late behind, which loses him a mark or two. (my fault for teaching him over a pole, which I had to confess to Pammy and she winced!)

She also helped us with our medium canter, having worked on his suppleness and engagement I set him up to canter the long side, Pammy shouted "lean back and give one meaningful kick"....Icon bucked and then extended.
WOW!

Twins!!

Here are full brothers Hartpury Top Gun and Hartpury Take It 2 The Top (Monty). Wonder if anyone can tell them apart!! They have very similar temperaments to ride and handle too, it is like they have been cloned! They are both out of Top Totty II (intermediate mare ridden by Anna Tomson) and both by Take It 2 The Limit (advanced stallion ridden by Leslie Law and Jeanette Brakewell)

It is really windy here today. The leaves from our nearby oak trees have blown onto the school and are making excited whirlwinds, it is like the sand is alive. Monty was a star and never batted an eyelid even when Monserat (my elderly cat) appeared suddenly under his feet.
Then I rode him round the field and jumped some logs, we even did the 2ft tyres and he jumped the ditch, which after all the rain yesterday is now full of water.

I am getting Icon ready to do an Advanced Medium dressage test at Hartpury this Sunday. He is trying very hard to do everything asked and is finding the flying changes less exciting. We have a Pammy Hutton lesson this week so hopefully she will work some of her magic.

Monty Hacks Out and Blog (stats update)

I have hacked Monty out 3 times. He has been through lots of water, mud and past a scary farm yard. Also jumping tiny fences on the school. He still has his back up a bit for a few minutes but that's quite normal for a 3 year old. His trot work is coming along nicely and the canter is really green and will be for ages as he is still pretty disorganised with his long legs!

Will try and get some photos of him to put on here tomorrow.

Hello to all my Blog readers we have just had some stats on the blog site it has almost 2,000 hits, its being read in the USA, Canada, Poland, Japan, China, Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Italy, France and of course the UK. No one from Ireland yet, my mother is half Irish and has loads of relatives over there so I will have to let them know about the site. Hope you are all enjoying it and thank you for reading. I had no idea so many people were interested in reading about my lovely horses and thought I probably had about ten readers!!!!

Yearling pics, News on Smartie & Monty

As requested by my Blog readers here is updated photo of my youngsters
Hartpury Twilight -yearling full brother 2 Top Gun & Monty.
Snip-yearling out of Paintpot by Take It 2 The Limit
Crunchie-yearling by Milo out of Josie Jump.
Mika-2 yrs out of Butterfly by Sluggalug (TB)

The lady who bought Smartie is really pleased with him, he has settled in well and best of all she will keep me updated. She is hoping he will make a showjumper, she was once head groom to Ellen Whitaker so we may see Smartie doing wonderful things in the future. He is certainly bred to do that so fingers crossed I will be proud of him one day.

I have ridden Monty and he is really lovely, more uphill than Top Gun, I was trotting round the school in a wobbly green sort of way and Ant shouted "he is going to get better dressage marks than John Wayne and Top Gun already".
The next day I have now jumped a teeny course of cross poles and jumped a few logs and ditches in the field. Wow he is brave, pure 4* potential but we all know that will also depend on many other things, as well as being amazingly talented, he has to love it, be trainable, stay sound and have a certain amount of luck too.
I have had my Allens Hill schedule out planning his first outing (a walk and trot test) in a couple of weeks!

Exciting

I have collected Monty (Hartpury Take It 2 the Top) from James Grassick today, he looks all grown up and I will ride him tomorrow after he has had a few hours out in the field. He looks so much like Top Gun even I could confuse them, but then they are full brothers. He oozes more X factor than Top Gun so could do well in BYEH classes next year.

It was half term this week and I am mentally exhausted teaching pony clubs. Seemed to be lots of new members in rallies this week which needs me to be more on the ball in order to assess pony and rider. They all went well and I have seen some super combinations this week. Lots of hardworking children who improved their riding skills in front of my eyes, which is incredibly rewarding and I come home buzzing.
Funny faller of the week was new member Emma who had a very polite pony that allowed her to go first over a jump, Emma gracefully landed on her feet even clearing the Jump!! She quickly remounted and rejumped the fence this time with her pony! He is a young pony and Emma is doing a super job educating him.

Tomorrow is November I hate November it seems so long until we go Eventing again in March, but I have lots to do so it should fly by!

Two Sold and Milo Wins

I have been really busy teaching the last few weeks and getting two horses ready to sell. Firstly Josie Jump, she is only 15 hh and a real show cob type so rather small for me and not an eventer, especially as I am now over qualified to do intro. A friend of ours has bought her for himself and his teenage children to ride so I shall still see lots of her.
Sadly the second sale has been Smartie my skewbald yearling out of Butterfly by Milo. He is growing into a big horse lots of bone and will be far too chunky to be a serious event prospect. I wormed him before he went and made sure he lunged properly, ties up and had good manners in the stable.
Then this Sunday I took Milo to Allens Hill to do combined training (2ft with a walk and trot dressage) He won it with a 71% dressage and a clear, even cantering most of the SJ. Next time we are going to do a cantering test (Prelim). I took (Payrolls UK) Dan Norrell with me on his pony Jaffa. Dan and his brother William were very excited to go to a show in a lorry and they had a fab day as Dan went clear SJ to finish 5th.

The adorable Sweep my "lorry dog" pictured with our new kitten "Felix."

Last Eventing Run of 2010

Yesterday I was at Broadway horse trials supporting riders I coach. Sue Peckham made the XC look easy to finish 10th, Rachel Hibberd finished a brilliant but frustrating 8th in the grassroots Badminton qualifier (just 2 places from qualifying). I have only just starting helping her 2 weeks ago and so wish we could have done more but just not enough time as she is now at university.
Poor Louise had a rubbish day after a lovely dressage, her horse is normally a dead cert for a double clear but has just not been his usual self the last few weeks, despite this she stayed cheerful and supported the others I coach and she is determined to be amazing next year once she has got to the bottom of why Mac is off colour.

The star of our Broadway day was Camilla Esling whose double clear and good dressage left her in 5th which means she goes to Badminton next year. So exciting and extremely well done she rode like a demon xc and we were all thrilled to be there to celebrate with her. It was very emotional and made me cry I was so very happy for her. Then I had to leave them to prize giving and dash home to get Icon ready for Oasby next day.


At Oasby Icon went clear xc at his final event for 2010, he was foot perfect xc and nipped round. Sadly we were in the OI against advanced horses as the organiser was short of entries in this class. He did well but had no chance of a place against much more experienced horses...like Tankers Town who has been on British Teams and done lots of 4* events. Dan and Louise came too and we had a fab day, celebrating Icons perfect xc season with a lovely new rug for Icon from Tiggers Saddlery, sweets from the pick and mix and chips on the way home. Bliss.
The course was not over big it had a couple of tricky angled fences and 3 big gallopy ditch fences.
Photo- Dan grazing Icon after XC proudly wearing their Payrolls UK coats. See more about this company at www.payrollsuk.com or from the link on my website at www.stellabayliseventing.co.uk

John Wayne, Champ and Trevor the Dog are world famous!

Sent a letter to the Telegraph Newspaper about a true amusing incident that happened last winter (copy here hope you can read it)

The funniest part was John Wayne did not like the treats which is why they were all over the yard and Trevor was eating them.

When I got down to the yard John Wayne had started playing with a broom waving it about, it was hilarious because it seemed he was trying to help tidy up!!!

Advanced at Little Downham

Icon was a star today. I had 2.30 pm dressage so we did not have to leave home until 8 am....was like having a half day eventing after our last few 4 am starts.
Icon did a good test despite bucking warming up when horses went past on the XC, one of his flying changes was over exuberant but as least we did them!
He had three down sj, 2 of which were just poor riding, I need to keep him in front of the leg more to keep the big careful jump and I started to fiddle in front of a couple of the spreads. He jumped superb and tried so hard and felt amazing.
The XC was technical and had lots of skinnies and ditches. I walked one turning fence of 2 skinnies to a gate about ten times...it did not seem possible to turn such a big horse in such a small space, I had practised an identical turn at home this week and it took me 6 attempts before we got it and that was only 3 ft!
The course caused problems....especially the skinnies and the double of corners.....as I set out XC the Air Ambulance took off right by the start box. Icon was foot perfect. As I jumped clear through the skinnies I heard a huge cheer and again at the corners. I realised it was the fence judges who I had been chatting to when I walked it ten times!!!
I went back to thank them for their helping cheers and they were thrilled to hear Icon had gone clear, he now has a small fan club at Little Downham!!
Two packets of polos today and then off to the scoreboard to find we were 15th, crikey we are starting to get an almost competitive score at this level. GOOD BOY ICON YOU ARE A STAR.

Rain and Slippy Reins at 4 yr Old Champs

Despite the rain both boys did their very best test, the standard was high and they were about midway afterwards.
Lotta who runs Hartpury stud came to support us along with 5 students, I would like to say they had a lovely day but it just poured with rain, they were lots of help, holding horses in between the SJ rounds and putting on tack, taking off boots etc. It was a real rush with only 22 mins between their Showjumping rounds.
They both jumped really well but I messed up the same related distance on both of them and had one down, I lost power in the canter trying to get more spring, they are green and not ready to be too organised it would have been better to just kick!
John Wayne went XC first, he loved the mud and was just amazing, he so impressed me, it was a tricky course in places, a funny positioned brush out of the water made it seem we would land in the river, a black shiny corner on a turn with bales to spook at (pictured). Also a coffin and a step to a brush and two brushes on a turn.
Our only mistake came at the step to brush, he flew up the step ignoring my attempts to organise a bouncy step canter and wet slippy reins meant I couldn't turn to the skinny, I stopped him and did a wiggle in walk to avoid crossing my tracks and popped the brush from 2 strides of trot. What a star he was he finished 16th, so we can say he is the 16th best 4 year old eventer in the country and definitely the best one called John Wayne!
When I got back I decided to withdraw Top Gun as I felt he had struggled in the mud in the SJ and the XC was quite deep in front of some of the jumps. He has not had a winter learning about jumping out of mud on Castlemorton Common like John Wayne.
By the time I had finished Ant and I were so wet it was like we had been swimming, the biggest award of dedication should go to my friend Joy who sat out in the pouring rain to watch their SJ rounds and she is currently nursing a very broken leg.

Both horses are now having a few weeks holiday.

John Wayne & Top Gun

Both boys went XC schooling at Lyneham today where they have lots of new looking jumps, perfect as Osberton is a brand new course and will look very shiny and new. I did very little with them just ditches, water and a few skinnies. Just enough to remind them what XC is about without tiring them, as the final is only now a few days away.

They both went well and felt honest and genuine so fingers crossed they don't get stage fright on the day!

Had to take John Waynes and Top Guns plastic flowers off the school this morning, Icon (my advanced horse) almost had a heart attack when he saw them!

Champs Preparation

Monty (Take It 2 The Top) thas been delivered to James Grassick for the final stage of his breaking in. Only news from James so far is "he is sweet' which I guess means he has only mucked him out so far!!!

John Wayne and Top Gun did a BE100 Eventer Training class at Allens Hill on Friday. They both scored 33 in dressage and then jumped round well. It seemed huge on green horses, JW had only one down to win the class and TG came 3rd with a few down. This is the height they have to jump at the Champs.
Today they have been practising the dressage test with some colourful fake flowers round the field to simulate the Champs atmosphere, I bought them in the £1 shop.

Both horses scared me this morning galloping round the field like idiots, they were showing off to their breeder Malcolm Wharton who had come to watch his children Rosie and Sam have a jumping lesson. Also in the lesson were Daniel and William Norrell. Their ponies all behaved perfectly while my delinquents charged round the next field at a terrifying top speed. Both seem unharmed and when they eventually skidded to a disorganised halt they looked very sorry.

A Very Busy Weekend

Saturday morning I put Hartpury Twilight out with Spicer who is a very gentle horse I have never seen his ears back, they were quickly sharing hay and all seemed happy...phew!

Then I lunged Monty he was perfect and this time with no lunge whip.... walk, trot canter and walk all by my voice...maybe useful one day when riding him and he ignores my reins!!!

Then it was off to Hartpury indoor SJ with John Wayne and Top Gun, they both jumped double clear in the 3ft to come 5th and 6th. In the 3'3" JW had 2 down and TG had one down to fiinish in 6th. They went very well and I was relieved as their old stud groom who looked after them them when they were tiny foals came to watch.

Sunday we left home at 4am to go with Icon to Burnham Market ( I mucked out and plaited too)
We had never been to this event in Norfolk before but I wanted to go to look at the ground and course as they run a cic*** and an Advanced in the Spring.

Icon did a 35 dressage, one of only 4 clears SJ and clear XC. I went flat out XC even Ant said it looked fast! Even so he had ten time faults which put us 8th so still a good result but not good enough for a 2011 Gatcombe qualifier, which is what I am hoping for.
He is now on 36 points, he is such a good horse, his SJ round today was amazing, he just sprung round. Lots of Polos.

My website stellabayliseventing.co.uk has a new page to its gallery- the gatcombe pics taken by William Fox, a huge thankyou to him I have stopped buying Icons photos at events as nothing is as good as these he took.

"I ran up the hill looking for a dead horse"

I decided to turn my yearling Hartpury Twilight out with Josie, Milo and Mika. they are all kind horses living in about 30 acres of lush grass so he will grow on really well out there for the winter.

I led him all the way down the hill to the bottom field and turned him out. Josie began trotting over very interested in a new Friend. She was still miles away but Hartpury Twilight  took one terrified look at this skewbald monster and galloped off. He disappeared back up the hill with Josie following miles behind with me even further running flat out. There was a crash of metal at the top and I knew he had jumped the gate onto the road. I ran up the hill looking for a dead horse or worse a terrified horse loose down the narrow lanes.

To my surprise he was no where in sight and the gate was not bent so he must have almost cleared it! I found him grazing on the common a few hundred yards away, judging by the scrape marks on his head he had fallen over. He seems OK and is back in his own paddock with not much grass but no scary Skewbalds!

I have lunged Monty today only on a headcollar as his mouth is healing. I lunged and long reined him in May so this is all a reminder. He was lovely, had a saddle on too, he jumped the water trays and my spooky fillers and I lent over him, teaching him to stand for mounting in all sorts of places while I flapped on and off him. He was very laid back and wanted to please so fingers crossed for another lovely horse.

Vet

I am just waiting for the vet to arrive.

I have booked in the 3 colts for castration Snip, Smartie and Crunchie. I had to get headcollars on them all last night and while I was at it they all had a lesson in being tied up. They were all perfect and stayed patiently tied to their posts for half an hour. They all learn this at weaning so this was just a reminder. Good boys!

Also I have got in Monty (Hartpury Take It 2 The Top) he has some wolf teeth, one looks awkward. He is due off to James Grassick next week for breaking so they need removing or can cause real problems and pain when the bit is in.

Also in for the vet is Butterfly and Rif Raf, this is so Rif Raf can have a passport done and a microchip. Vet is here must go......

.....4 hours later. The castrations went smoothly and so did removing the wolf teeth from Monty, the awkward one was big and an inch away from the normal place it was also still under gum so had to be cut out, ouch!

The most naughty person was 8 week old Rif Raf, big horid micro chip needle but it is done now. I had to think of a show name for her passport and decided on "Rif Raf The Dragon" she has a fire breathing dragon shape in her markings and also this will mean she has a very unique name!

Icon 8th at Pontsipool

Left at 5.30 am this morning to get to Pontsipool in time to walk the course etc before dressage. Icon went very well to score a 34, his best ever at this level. I made a mess of a related distance in the Show Jumping and had one down, Icon always does related distances on a extra stride so a 4 stride distance would be 5 for him, but I tried to go on 4 and had him too far off a 1.20 parallel, he tried with every bone in his body to clear it but his hind feet clunked it.

He then flew round XC clear, it was easy although as I went pretty fast he got tierd 3/4 of the way round. A rethink about his feeding needed, so I will add an energy mix to his high fibre nuts.

We finished 8th so a good day and I was home in time to ride Top Gun. I am getting excited about the Lycetts Young Horse Champs and counting down the days, I have even worked out a show and training plan for them.

John Wayne and I escorted my sponsors son Daniel and his friend Declan on their ponies round the common yesterday. We had a race JW won, and we had fun jumping gorse bushes, streams and ditches.
All good training for the Champs!

Burghley On TV!

I was part of the support team for Louise Skelton at Burghley on Saturday. She had Pickles and Barney running, it was a nerve wracking but brilliant day, both horses went clear. Pickles in particular looked amazing. it was really exciting as Pickles was the first horse of the day to get inside the time. Louise had hardly dismounted when she was grabbed for an interview by Claire Balding for BBC2, Anna, Jackie, Ali and I were in the background working very quickly to cool Pickles off, we were so intent on our job we never noticed our tv fame until we saw it later on BBC2!

Unfortunately Barney lost a shoe and then was not quite right to complete the final day, but Pickle finished in 21st.

Other news is I have bought Top Guns full brother Hartpury Twilight, he is a yearling. He was cheap as he has a nasty cut on his leg that will leave a scar, he reminds me of Top Gun in many ways.....all good!

Photo is of Top Gun the first really nice xc I have of him.

Icon Would Have Won But........

It was a fab day at Highclere, warm enough to be nice(I hate the heat), perfect ground, super course, we had early times and had left home at 4 am and so had a good place in the lorry park right next to our friends the Skeltons who had 4 horses running.

Dressage went well for a 36 and then double clear, it was the first time this year I have gone quick on him as the ground was so perfect, we only had 4 time faults yet this tiny amount cost us first place.

We finished in 9th and ever since I have been ridng the course in my head trying to loose those 12 seconds!!!

My friend Imogen Peck did her second advanced and went clear on her tiny expony club horse, he is amazing and this advanced was a good test even for an established advanced horse.

John Wayne qualifies for British Champs

Photo by Greg Dixon-Smith of "John Wayne"

Had a good week at Malvern PC senior camp. Most of my ride were on young or new horses and it was lovely to see them improve during the week, well done to Annie who has got a lovely partnership going with her new horse Stan, Megan as usual rode beautifully and turned her horse out immaculately all week, Claire learnt about a years worth of stuff on a very young green horse she had kindly been lent for the week, with moral support from Leenie (whose horse was this green at camp last year) and is off to Crickland SJ champs with him this weekend. It was a very good week even though I got very tired trying to ride 3 and muck out 6 before I left at 9.15 each day.

The famous MPC Bun Run (Iced Buns and juice) kept us all energised through the week, thank you to those who helped deliver them just at the right time everyday.

The early mornings were all worth it, John Wayne went double clear into 2nd place at a 4 year old qualifier today at Milton Keynes and has qualified for the Lycetts British Young Horse Championships.

Poor John Wayne had to do his dressage in a terrible rain storm and we had some twisty head moments but just then the rain was so thick the judge couldn't see me!

I now have both 4 year olds qualified and looking at the champs website its going to be a real occasion, very exciting. www.bedeltd.co.uk

My website is having some updates mainly on the horse news http://www.stellabayliseventing.co.uk/

Other big news is Sarah Dixon-Smith (my livery) sold her beloved Champ (mister muddle) and has bought Hope Dettori (Frank) a 15.2 hh 5 year old welsh cob x. She has worked hard with him in the few weeks she has owned him and today she went double clear at their first BE80t with a 34 dressage. Brilliant.

John Wayne Proves He is a Future Star.

Had a busy fun week at Malvern PC Camp with a group of six girls who giggled their way through the week. We did dressage to music, grids, SJ, working Hunter, handy pony, games and the highlight was jumping a metre. Only one faller all week when poor Esme's pony ran out, happily he jumped lovely on the last day at the end of camp show.

Today John Wayne went to Solihull to do the 4 year old qualifier. Daniel my sponsors son came as groom for the day and we had a fan club arrive in the form of our friends Joy and Dave Galley. John Wayne was 3rd after dressage and then had one down SJ. A clear xc put us in 7th.

This was a really good result as the course was very spooky and the fence judges were all sat under umbrellas (it was raining). We practised by getting Daniel to stand in the Lorry park with Joy and Dave's umbrellas so I could trot around them!!! Then several riders joined in with their spooky horses when they realised what we were up to.

Photographer missed John Wayne at water jump today so photo is of my young stock arriving for polos (Snip, Mika, Smartie, Monty, Crunchie, Josie) I have to take one sugar lump as Monty (Take It 2 The Top) hates polos, he is as the back, black white star!!

An Interesting Day

I rode four horses early, Spicer (Duvet Day) is back in work. Next Ant and I went off to watch Hartpury cic3***. It all looked so much easier when I was not competing!

We ended up finding our friends Joy and Dave Galley who were judging the influential corners. It was an exciting few hours and we became honoury fence judges for a short time although I was best at putting back up the knocked down flags, which happened alot. Several riders fell in the water jump which was near by and we had a horid horse fall at our fence. All riders and horses were happily ok.

On arriving home this evening Ant went off to do his farm. I was busy mucking out and I could hear a chugging of a tractor. It was Ant arriving with tractor bucket full of yellow sand. "What is that for?" I asked perplexed!

He explained that he remembered last time at Soilhull they used alot of yellow stone dust by the fences and especially at the water, it caused horses to spook. He thought if we put some by my jumps in the field I may have half a chance of getting John Wayne used to it!!!!

4 year olds at West Wilts

Yesterday we took John Wayne to his first ODE at West Wilts, (it was a young horse breeding finals qualifying class) he did a 34 dressage, clear SJ and shied at a photographer so sailed past a jump giving him an unfortunate 20 penalites. He was a bit spooky at things around the course, but not the jumps. Next he is at Solihull which usually has lots of decorations round the water so lets hope he is less spooky.

Top Gun was HC (as he has already qualified) he was fab especially XC, he had 2 down SJ but this was the first time he has jumped indoors so I was thrilled.

Bernice and Daniel came with us as grooms and I certainly needed the extra help as we only had an hour to SJ and XC both horses.

Top Gun gave us a laugh when he took my baseball cap off my head with his teeth and threw it across the lorry park!

Today Icon did the guinea pig test at Hartpury CCI2*, (this is so the judges can get their eye in before they judge the competitors) after Gatcombe he was pretty excited and did the worst test he has done this year. I walked the 3* course, it was a good course with some challenging lines but the ground is firm so I am glad we are not entered.

gatcombe montage

My friend William Fox has just emailed this fab montage of us at Gatcombe.

We Did The British Championships...

We arrived Saturday morning for dressage and I was gob smacked, it was all so posh, no gutters for arenas, we had 3 judges and a commentary and someone to open the little gate to the arena.

Icon performed the test of his life scoring 39 which left us a fair way down but we were along way from last place. He had a whole pack of polo's. We went home very happy.

I walked the course and found it pretty impressive but it all seemed very jumpable. Alan Nolan was walking the course the same time as me with his trainer and she was kind enough to give me some positive advice.

We returned on Sunday early to re walk the course and got more tips from Louise Skelton who had won the advanced the day before. Lots of friends and family (Mum, Dad my sister Anna, her daughters Monique and Maisie and my Auntie Geraldine) had come to support us and I prayed we didn't flop in the show jumping. He was fab and only had one down, it was a huge course but it looked a lot smaller once I was on Icon. I was over the moon!!

Next my friend Louise Calverly and I shot off to watch a few XC jumps being jumped, after seeing a few mistakes I announced I did not want to watch any more and we went to get Icon ready!

We set out XC with the aim of a slow confident clear and it went absolutely perfectly as planned, we only took one long route (at the top of the steep hill in front of the house, I was worried he would be short of puff) he remained bold all the way round. He coped with the hills really well but I was very glad we took our time as he needing nursing a little over the last 3 fences. However he recovered well and surprisingly quickly.

I am tonight a little stunned that we actually did it and so very pleased with my superstar horse.

(Thanks for the comment Stan. Stan is the grandson of Icons breeder, I teach him on his pony, he is always tells me Icon can jump anything, it seems that he is right!!!)

All Ready For Gatcombe

Icon knows the dressage test better than I do and keeps doing everything a stride early! He looks fab and has been to the gallops a couple of times in the last week (6 am before I go off to camp).

I am surviving another week of Camp this time at Hartpury, its exhausting this week more than usual as my group seem to be particularly lively! I am again riding 3 and mucking out before I leave as well as teaching when I arrive home. More sleep needed!

Top Gun and John Wayne are both going really nicely. John Wayne is being particularly impressive, he jumps a metre for fun and is incredibly good at skinnies, I have never had such a good jumper at just 4 years old. I am beginning to wonder how on earth I will stay on his jump, he has a super careful flick behind which feels both amazing and unseating at the same time.

Week 1 - Pony Club Camp I Survived

We had a fab week, the facilities at Gabury are just amazing. Tuesday was my worst day when a few of my 8 riders fell off, one up the grid, one just plopped off over a xc jump, Fred flew off as Fudge ran out and the final one when her pony straddled a small log. Her pony scrabbled off and she fell off as he freed himself. There were a few tears but no damage!
We had riding tests, a visit from the hounds, an after camp splash pool, BarBQ and a fun quiz.
By the final day they were all riding brilliantly and it was hard to choose who had improved the most for the camp awards. I eventually decided on Dino and Lottie.
I am now shattered as am riding 3 before camp and also teaching every evening.
Chaos when I got home tonight as the house was full of smoke (Ant had accidently nearly set fire to it) and Pat had arrived for her daughters lesson 24 hours early! By the time I had sorted all this out I was exhausted so when Stan arrived for his 6 pm dressage lesson I was fast asleep and his Mum had to come and wake me up!

The Week Just Got Even Better

Icon has been a complete and utter star going clear at his first advanced today and even managed a qualifying result so he is now qualified for cic 3*. The SJ was huge at 1.30 but he only had 4 down although I had to kick like mad and hold him up in front to help him as much as possible, the XC was so much easier and he was pretty quick too.

I had a huge cheer as I jumped fence 2 as the crowd were informed it was our first advanced.
It was brilliant, lots of skinnies and drops, two technical waters, he was brilliant all the way.

After I had finished I had to go and find out who won the class as Louise Skelton wanted me to let her know the winners phone number as she is writing the Horse and Hound report.
Pippa Funnell had won. Looking like an autograph hunter with my pen and paper, I fought my way through her supporters, and thankfully she provided her number once I had explained I was not a stalker.
Next stop The British Champs at Gatcombe.......oh and pony club camp tomorrow which I love teaching at but will be a tiny bit of an anti climax!

Woohoo!

Top Gun is just the best!!!

He did his first ever XC competition yesterday at Stafford BE horse trials. He was in the 4 year old class. He did a lovely test "36" despite getting a "3" when he halted instead of showing 4 walk steps as he quietly did a mini spook at a nearby loo!

Then he just popped round double clear, quietly and calmly around a testing XC, I didn't have to shorten my reins or use my stick once it was like we were cantering around a few cross poles!

He finished in 3rd place qualifying for the Lycetts Young Horse Championships and thanks to Lycetts and Blaze Clothing we came home with a pile of prizes. He is such an exciting horse for the future.

Duvet Day also went double clear inside the time in the 100 finishing 10th, somewhat in Top Guns shadow!

Then today Icon has been to Allens Hill to jump the Newcomers in preparation for his Advanced at Aston tomorrow, he went clear and won it, lets hope it will put him in good stead for Aston.

She Has Foaled!

I checked outside this morning at 4.10 am and there was Butterfly just starting to clean her new baby. I rushed outside to find a lovely skewbald filly foal. My first homebred filly ( I've bred 6 colts in a row). All was well until 8 am when we decided to call  a vet to help Butterfly get rid of the afterbirth-placenta. Graham Potts arrived and took one look at formidable Butterfly arching her neck, looking about 18 hh and stamping her foot, proudly protecting her baby and he dissapeared off back to his car for some more dope! The removal went to plan and this evening everything seems perfect. It was a worry though Graham warned mares can get laminitis or colic when complications like this occur so soon after foaling.

I rode Top Gun and Icon while I waited for the vet and after he had gone I rushed off to teach at Ledbury Pony Club Junior rally for 11 am. We had a fun day over the XC jumps finishing at just after 3 pm. ThenI dashed home to check Butterfly, she was fine so I loaded John Wayne onto the Lorry (he has been back in work for a couple of weeks) and took him to the Malvern Pony Club fun show. He jumped double clear in both classes. Next it was home to muck out and feed and then teach Katy Richards who is off to Stockland Lovell Horse trials tomorrow. We worked on teqnique for gaining better marks in her dressage, so fingers crossed as this is her horses weakest phase.

Then Anthony and I made it to our local Shindig just in time to see Badge play. This is a local band, I teach Declan (guitarist) on his pony and the lead singer is son of Dermot, our freind and who helps with Ants cattle. They were really good and I didn't have to cook as we had pork roll.

No Foal Yet

I am awake and looking out the window at 4.15 each morning but as yet Butterfly just stands there like a giant iceberg waiting for the Titanic! She is enormous. The forecast is at last for some rain, Butterfly is wise enough to wait till its gone so at least another few days to wait, unless she has it tonight before the rain.

Professional photographer Liz Evans (lizevansphotography.co.uk) has taken some photos of my young horses with me feeding them and one photo is going to be on Barbour Clothings "Great in Britain" website that is launched later this month. Liz said some of the photos she has taken may appear in some of the national newspapers.
Milo, Josie Jump and Monty (Take It To The Top)are the horses in the photo Liz has chosen, they are nearly famous and they haven't even won Badminton yet!

Duvet Day at Fab Shipton Moyne

Shipton Moyne had done wonders to make the going perfect. Sand had been put down on the take off and landing of every single fence even the SJ and the warm up fences. The course was beautifully presented.
Duvet Day did a lovely test to score 35 even witha couple of green mistakes when he lost balance into the halts. He then had just the last down in the SJ and then clear XC with a few time faults. The water caused quite a few stops and eliminations but Duvet Day just plopped right in.
I hacked down to the XC with Rosie Thomas who commented on what a lovely horse he is, he needs to start a list as last week he was admired by Matt Ryans groom!

Icon had his chiropractor visit and needed a few bits done so I withdrew from Barbury cic**.
I am quite relieved as The British Champs is our aim this summer and I don't want to miss it having jarred him up elsewhere. His next run will be Aston Le walls Advanced, I have already "walked" last years course on worldwide eventing and it looks ok so fingers crossed as this will be our final run before the British Champs at Gatcombe.

This week I have weaned Crunchie (Credit Crunch Christmas) from his Mum (Josie Jump) and we are waiting for this years foal to arrive out of Butterfly. She is going to pop soon.....she is in foal to Old Leighlin....Icons father.

BYEH and Icon fails to do Welsh Champs

Icon is a little bit sore from the run at Salperton, however he is full of it, bucking and messing around and does not believe me! Ant agreed he is a tiny bit more unlevel behind than normal so we had to sadly withdraw from the Welsh Champs. He looks sound tonight however and is booked into the chiropractor on Tuesday just to make sure.

Top Gun did his young event horse class at Glanusk on Friday. It was all a bit of a fiasco. The rules said I had to declare an hour before the class began, which I did, even though it meant he was there two hours before he competed. Three of us declared on time everyone else ignored the rules and turned up half an hour before their time!

Top Gun did a lovely test (apart from finding a rabbit hole as he did his final halt) and jumped clear but was given a very low score which left us bewildered. As I did my dressage test the commentator announced "This is Stella Baylis who has only come from Malvern, whereas some competitors have travelled from Cornwall". Making me feel very inferior! None of the commentator info that I had given them was read out about his very successful parents or his BEF futurity win last year.

One horse in the jumping reared and spun round and had to be hit into every fence. It scored a higher mark than most other horses! Others stopped and had two down but were still given good jump marks. One youngster seemed to be a headshaker yet was chosen for the final ten. Most of the young horses were ridden in spurs.

After watching the entire class we decided they were looking for a horse that had flash movement and is very sharp to bring its front legs up jumping. Regardless of its trainability or if it had a bold outlook. Top Gun has super natural balance, uphill paces and a careful jump but does not yet snap up in front as well as he could but as he was only broken in March he really is exceptional, he is also very bold and very trainable.

It was one of thoses classes where everyone seemed to be winging about the judging and no one could understand the scores given, however it was super experience for him. We may do one more of these classes as different judges will look for different things. I have John Wayne back in work now so perhaps I will take two and put I live in Cornwall!

Duvet Day Does a Double Clear.

Had a lovely day at Stonar School Horse Trials. Duvet Day was in the BE100 and did a super double clear with just 3 time faults. He went so well I think he will easily do Novice. He once again had lots of admirers, he is the sort of horse that makes people stop to say what a nice boy he is, although they often add on "make a lovely hunter"which flattens the compliment a bit! Although today after the SJ one lady admired his big careful jump.

An amusing thing happened, Louise and Alloon Ice whom I teach competed in the BE90.
We both finished 20th in our respective sections and both recorded exactly the same time XC even though we were jumping different courses. Louise was slowed down a bit by a run out at a skinny when she slipped her reins over the preceeding ditch so much that she let go completely! Louise had a 25 dressage wow!

Next outing is Top Gun to do a BYEH class and Icon to the Welsh Championships.

Horror of Dead Cows and a Mixed Weekend.

Two days ago one of our cows broke its leg clean off, it was horrid and of course he had to be shot. Dermot, who looks after them was devastated, as it was his favourite. Then yesterday a second cow had a similar break. We realised we have a rogue horse attacking the cattle. Ant and his father Ron have kept horses with cattle for over 50 years and never had this happen before.
We quickly moved all 6 of my youngstock to another field and are wondering who is the culprit, it was very upsetting.

Yesterday I took Top Gun to Allens Hill for an eventer training class, 2'9", he was so lovely. 32 dressage and double clear and won it. I have discovered he likes soft mints so he had a whole packet afterwards.

Today Icon was at Salperton. He had a 39 dressage despite zillions of horses flies biting at him. Then I really fluffed the showjumping. I had no stride to the triple bar and we landed flat and then made an absolute pigs ears of the treble, stopping at the final part. I thought oh help he has never stopped, he is ill, retire! Then I spotted Ant who signaled me to give him a smack so I did, 3 sharp smacks and he flew it.

I was not sure if to run xc but Ant said run, it was good sheep ground, firm but not rough at all. After his smack in the SJ Icon set off like an idiot and I couldn't stop I managed to anchor him by fence 5 and we cantered sedately round the rest of course. It was boiling hot and very hilly and he finished extremely tired having had only 5 days since his last outing, too much Irish Draught blood!
The course was pretty technical with lots of drops and skinnies and steps with 2 waters both with skinnies out.
After the rubbish SJ I was relieved he jumped round clear XC even if we went slow enough to stop for an ice cream on the way round!

(photo is by kind permission of John Britter Photography)

Icon Brilliant at Lovely Longleat

I love it at Longleat, its unique as Monkeys and Sea Lions are making zoo noises while you do dressage, everything about this event is gorgeous. We just can't stop admiring the parkland, the trees, the house, the lake etc etc. There are always loads of spectators here adding to a fabulous atmosphere.

Icon buzzed a bit in the dressage, scoring only 43. Two down SJ were annoying after he jumped so well BSJA last week, but he finds sloping ground difficult and I felt I let the canter get a tiny bit flat in front of the planks and the fence after that came down too. He still got a well deserved pat though!

The XC course caused lots of problems but not for Icon he popped round, he is a real machine XC and was on fire today. It was a warm day and I had to let him catch his breath a couple of times and ease off the pace, he has not had a run for a while and it showed. I am home now and shattered (didn't sleep last night, too excited about Longleat) I am still buzzing about the ride he gave me, he is such a good boy.
See more news of my horses at www.stellabayliseventing.co.uk

XC Schooling and a Near Miss....Scary!

Took Top Gun and Milo XC schooling today at Bissell wood near Kidderminster. Its lovely for young horses, inviting fences, sandy going all through woodlands which was bliss on a hot day.

Sue Peckham came too with her horse Chewy. Sue is a very good friend, and has some really nice horses, I am hoping she will get one of them to the grassroots final especially as I help her with their training.

Milo was fab he is so quiet, he jumped really well and even cantered some of the baby fences. He needed a lead from Chewy into the water and his legs shook as he overcame his surprise at the wet stuff, soon he was happily trotting in on his own.

Top Gun was bold as usual and gave me a lovely ride, no lead required into the water for him.
I clung onto to the neck strap a lot in case of woodland creatures leaping out in front of me, mainly Sue and Chewy! Sues horse looked fab he was really pinging and had a lovely yippee look in his eye.

I had a lucky escape as I pulled Top Gun up after the last fence, my rein broke, he is not even strong, the billet ripped out, they are almost new reins. Luckily he pulled up on his own wondering why I had let go!! I am going to replace all my XC reins with buckle fastenings and have just ordered some from ebay.

My web site has more information about all my horses including Top Gun and Milo. You can view it at http://www.stellabayliseventing.co.uk/