Louise Skelton gets in a Pickle

Badminton on TV (red button) was very exciting. There were a few tired horses which was not so good to watch. Andrew Bennie was shadowing the ground jury at Badminton, he said the high humidity at Badminton mid afternoon caused some horses to get very weary. Luckily they had a fantastic veterinary team to look after them. My friend Louise Skelton had a real bit of bad luck at the second last. Pickle was flying full of running at the road crossing, it had sand on the road but grass on the take off, Pickle thought the grass in front of the fence was part of the jump and took off a whole stride early. Poor Pickle and Louise crashed down hard and both were pretty bruised. I have spoken to Louise's mum today and both are well, Pickle was out grazing in the field and Louise was out teaching. Louise has 6 advanced horses all of whom she has taken up the levels entirley herself, several are homebred, she is amazing as she is tiny at only 7 stone!
I am praying for rain, Top Gun is entered for Solihull BE100 and Icon Withington Advanced but I will only run them if the ground looks kind to their legs. The other 2 five year olds John Wayne and Milo are ready to be entered BE but need a XC schooling session first so all on hold until it rains.

Show Jumping

Took 3 to Hartpury SJ today. Milo, John Wayne and Top Gun. (Monty is having a few weeks off until it rains) Milo was a star jumping 2'6 for the first time with one down, he is gaining a small fan club most of whom want to buy him! Then I felt brave and jumped him in the 2'9 and he went lovely again with one down. Bless him. Then John Wayne jumped two classes and had a 3rd. He hasn't been out SJ for months and I had forgotton how easy his canter is on a course. Top Gun was 4th in the last class, his canter felt a bit flat compared to John Waynes natural athletic spring.

Badminton SJ and XC

I took my friend Bernice with me to support Camilla and Jake. Jake jumped really well with just one down and flew round the XC clear 30 secs inside the time. It was lovely to see them start and then to cheer them through the finish. They looked foot perfect and very happy.
Once Jake was washed and cooled off it was time to hit the shops. When our feet were so tierd they ached we visited Jackie Skelton in the 4* lorry park for a deck chair rest and to catch up on trot up gossip. Louise her daughter was out schooling Partly Pickled ready for his 4* dressage test. We then walked the 4* XC, those flower troughs at fence ten look tricky, the dipping ground between the 2nd and 3rd will make for some awkward jumps. I am staying at home to watch the XC on the red button on Sunday, so exciting and I won't miss a thing.

Grassroots 2011 Dressage

Camilla and Jake did a lovely test to score 36.8. It was a shame marks were lost when Jake broke into canter early on, he saw the white boards, and seemed convinced they were to be jumped! It was a flowing active test, the atmosphere was tense and the high white boards often cause horses to back off and shorten their stride. Jake was very pleased with himself and looked stunning and Camilla did a super job keeping him calm and riding an accurate test.I walked the XC with Camilla in the evening. It is a long (6 mins 30 secs) straightforward course. A log on the brow of a hill is the first early question, it will need plenty of energy and a short powerful canter. The brush to the inviting ditch should only cause trouble for those that over jump the ditch, but even then there is plenty of room (3 strides) to get reins back to jump the angled brush out. There is a large brush spread just out of the water, cleverly positioned just on the downward slope, I think if you end up with long reins and a flat canter to this it will cause a problem. The only other real problem comes one from home at a corner, its an easy one but nearer a BE100 question with no Xmas tree to hold you in line.

Badminton Horse Trials

Camilla Esling and Just Jake had their final lesson yesterday prior to their big day at the Badminton Grassroots final. Even in the last week his left canter has improved. I am going both days to support her as her coach and friend so its really exciting. Camilla rides beautifully and has worked very hard and so Jake is going the best he has ever gone. All we can do now is cross everything and hope for a good all round performance. I will report on her dressage tomorrow evening.

Burnham Market CIC***

• We tried and failed! Icon passed the trot up Friday morning with flying colours and then did a good test for him, scoring 64, no where near the leaders but he tried his best and got a qualifying score. He was on springs show jumping at 1.30m and had just the first fence down. The ground was so hard we had decided to not run xc if he had more than 4 down. So he had decided for us and we were running. Ant said if I ran, Icon will need a few weeks off as he would be shook up, so I agreed to pull up if I had a problem. He set off well, but he was headstrong and I missed my turn at one of the early combination fences. I jumped it and then a couple more fences and retired to save him for another day. Only annoying thing is that now we are home Burnham Market have recorded him as Eliminated, I have emailed them to find out what has gone wrong. Email Reply - They say I jumped the wrong part of the C element of the fence I couldn't turn at, its too late to object now. Ant was stood next to this fence and is 100% certain I jumped the correct part!



• Last Thursday I took Hartpury Take It 2 The Top (Monty) to a grass dressage show, he behaved beautifully, was very green (especially in canter) yet the judge loved him and he scored 70% and came 4th in a class of about 20.

Hartpury Top Gun At Sapey

We left home at 9.30 am and returned home at 9.36 am (yes - 6 mins later) to remove "Felix The I Wana Be An Eventing Cat" from the lorry! Top Gun did a good test but his greeness lets him down in every movement, he fell into trot, wobbled up centre line and was very lazy etc etc, he can't see the point of dressage! He woke up for SJ and pinged round just catching the last with his back foot. Then he was bold XC but shying at everything and meandering greenly about on the gallopy bits then locking on to the fences and was off. Once he has learnt to gallop and not lollop between fences he will be pretty fast XC! He is a superstar in the making.....just alot of making to do yet!

Monty, Milo and John Wayne.

• I have at last decided which of my 5 year olds to sell and John Wayne is for sale, he has gone on Horsequest this week. Keep changing my mind which one I prefer. I simply can't keep them all, I am riding 5 a day and teaching 4 hours a day plus all the routine yard work so one has just got to go. I am aiming him for the BYEH and Lycetts 5 year old classes in June in case he is unsold and took him XC schooling yeaterday, he started off spooking at fence one and then got bold flying everything, water, ditches, skinnies etc. Fab as he has not seen a XC fence since October. Milo jumped the dinky fences really well and enjoyed himself, although not in the same league as John Wayne of course. The baby Monty (Hartpury Take It 2 the Top) was outstanding, also only jumping dinky fences but remained calm sensible and confident despite it being a busy event held on grass with ponies flying about all over the place.


• HARTPURY TWILIGHT - More scars! 2 year old colt by Take It 2 The Limit had a near disaster last week. A stupid neighbour, decided to store a gate in his field and lent it up against the fence. Being an investigating sort of 2 year old, came over and put his leg in it. Massive cut and a huge lump on the bone above his knee, he had to come in for poulticing and some antibiotics. While he was in I called the vet to have him castrated, the horse not the neighbour, although.....! Anyway all is OK now, one gelding and wounds healing well and luckily I have not bumped into the neighbour as I have not quite calmed down yet!

Lovely Howick

A lovely first BE100, low key friendly event, ground was sticky but good and the course was very inviting with lots of nice questions, a decent coffin, skinnies on turns an inviting corner and some angled fences too.

Top Gun behaved in the dressage and scored 39, just a bit wobbly in places, 2 down SJ he felt on springs and clear XC, he was bold and I had a super ride, he is really easy to see a stride on and is very straight and honest at Skinnies. I went with my website designer Louise Calverley who rode Alloon Ice in the BE100 into 12th place. My other pupils had a fabulous weekend too, Becky Amos came 2nd in the BE90 on a horse that she has bought on from a green youngster and this was his first BE event-outstanding. Camilla Esling was 3rd in a BE90 so she is all set for Badminton in 2 weeks, Katy Richards finished 8th in a BE100. Claire Mealing had a good clear XC with an unlucky 4 faults SJ.

Icon Eliminated

Had a fab day at Belton horse trials, spring is here and there were loads of spectators....apart from.......I missed out a show jump...and got Icon eliminated. Luckily I was allowed to run XC and he flew round clear, it was a big track with lots of fences shared with the advanced. He is brilliant XC and went so well we have decided Belton would be a good 3* for him next year. He had a 40 dressage and one down sj so would have only just been in the top ten at best. Having an E and so no chance of a prize meant we could come straight home and get Top Gun ready for his first BE100 at Howick tomorrow. Exciting.