Gracelands British Show Jumping & Worms - yuk!!!

Took all 3 brothers to jump at Gracelands today, it's been a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies and it was great to be out show jumping.

All the boys jumped well with all of them going clear in their first round, meaning they had to go back in to jump off. I like Gracelands as the smaller arena means horses (and me) have to think and react quickly but also they always run classes A7 so you go back in again for the jump off round. At around £12 a class this presents super value for money, the old fashioned way of going back in for a jump off means young horses get a break and I get chance to think on how I can improve from the first round.

It certainly did Twilight good as he was much calmer for the jump off, in his initial 90 cm round he was over excited, fast and manic. Top Gun won £18 with a 3rd place and Hartpury Take It 2 The Top jumped in the 1m Discovery to finish 2nd winning £20. Hartpury Take It 2 The Top felt amazing, it was his first jumping outing since Aldon and he feels stronger and more balanced. Twilight went on to jump a lovely double clear in the 1m. I came home smiling!!!!

Look at Gracelands super Union Jack rosettes.

 Below is Diva, one of my new foals and the horrid picture is a selection of some of the worms that came out of her! When I buy foals I never ask if they have been wormed, I just worm them anyway. 18 years ago when I bought Toby Two Tone as a foal the lady said she had wormed him but within a week of  me owning him he was on a drip in the vets and he almost died. It was small red worm infestation, his belly swelled up and began leaking fluid, something to do with the breakdown of his red blood cells. Luckily he survived and went on to be one of my best XC horses jumping endless clears. He is still going strong and is now a super pony club Tetrathlon horse, he has been to the PC Tet champs at Hartpury numerous times with his new owners Jack and Alice Harper.

Worms 

are from left - a pound coin!, large roundworm(she had around 20 of these huge ones) , next is possibly pin worms, then bots, I think then are large red worms and last the killer small red worms.

Update On Trefeinon Icon

My lovely Icon is now retired to the hunting field. He is with ex 4* Badminton rider Josephine Challens. He is loving it and jumping some huge hedges and gates etc.

Unfortunately he managed to run a thorn into his leg out hunting last Friday so will miss the Christmas meets, but will be back out early in the new year.

Here is a utube video taken by Alice Pearson and her head cam, Icon is the brave horse (white stripe on his face) that still jumps the first hedge despite Alice crashing into him as he he taking off. Dramatic!

After the crash Alice then follows behind Icon for a while, it's nice to see him galloping and having fun. I am trying to work out which of her horses Alice is hunting but I can't find one on her BE record called You Little Ship!!!!!

Summerhouse Dressage and The New Babies Arrive

Had a fab day at Summerhouse Dressage today, I took Twilight and Take It To The Top. Came home with around £30 worth of prize vouchers with a 1st, a 2nd and 2x 3rds.

Pictures are all of the new yearlings and Beetle the new foal. I love the one of Beetle taking in his new surroundings from the cattle lorry. They have all settled in really well and travelled beautifully for the 3 hour trip from Dorset. I am already very impressed with their attitude, Wizard who is Midnight Dazzlers nephew (Harry Meads 4* horse) is exceptionally bold and brave. Sprout is super friendly and also moves and jumps beautifully. Beetle is just gorgeous in every way. He is a very grown up foal, I am so excited about them all. Beetle was turned out in the school the other morning while I was mucking out, I was amazed when I spotted him jumping the water tray all on his own. 

A Blog Post from A Rider I Coach

Stella Baylis Eventing Training Bursary

As the year is nearly out I wanted to do a little update as a thank you to Stella for awarding me a training bursary for this year.  I was completely flabbergasted to be given this; in fact I thought Stella was having me on to start with, as I never win anything, ever!  After the initial shock, excitement set in at the prospect of being able to have regular lessons and support and I began eagerly making plans for the season for Charlie and I.

With Stella’s help, we worked very hard to have Charlie ready for the start of the season.  This paid off as we weren’t out of the top 10 at BE90 in all our events until June!  I couldn’t really believe this either – it is such a good feeling when hardwork comes to fruition, and not one I’d been used to with my old horse.  In June we decided Charlie was ready to upgrade, so he did his first BE100 at Stonar School.  Unfortunately it was a hot day with awful horse flies, so naughty Charlie spent most of his dressage test in the air bucking.   I wasn’t really that bothered though, as I was so pleased with the way he jumped – one unlucky show jump down but he flew round the cross country – fab!

But as I’d feared, our good luck couldn’t possibly last.  We had a bit of an accident out hacking early in the morning the day before Stafford - Charlie spooked uncharacteristically at a surprise scarecrow and span fast dumping me on a hard track.  I was winded and had hurt my back, but I was more worried that he had galloped off.  I followed the skid marks on the road, and eventually found him at home – he had galloped all the way home several miles down the road.  Very luckily, he was fine and didn’t have a mark on him, though he had pulled his back too, and upset himself in his mind – which I didn’t realise the full extent of until after our next few eventingoutings which were nothing to write home about. As Charlie is a sensitive soul I spent some time getting him back to his normal cocky self – and then let him down by going to pieces at our first Regional Final at Sapey.  Charlie had been on flying form in the week before the event, but on the day my nerves got the better of me and we were eliminated in the show jumping after I completely shut him down – one day I will learn not to put so much pressure on myself!  Irritatingly I went back to school there a couple of days later and he flew round the lot on autopilot – it just goes to show how much of an effect show day nerves can have on you!

After that I was so, so cross I was determined to sort myself out!  We contested another RF at West Wilts jumping double clear, but sadly our dressage of 33 wasn’t good enough to qualify for Badminton Grassroots.  I can’t be too disappointed as some of the horses in these regional finals are career grassroots horses with years of experience.  Plus, as hard as he tries, Charlie is never going to be a flashy warmblood!  Earlier in the year I was arguing with Stella that I didn’t want to try and qualify anyway, as in some ways I think Badminton should be proper Badminton (as in 4* Badminton, not Grassroots).  I do think that still, but of course I’d have liked to have gone to Grassroots really!

So with the pressure off it was nice to enjoy the end of the season – Charlie learnt a lot about competing in the mud at Weston Park coming 11th in the BE90.  It was so muddy I was adamant I was going to withdraw thinking Charlie would never cope in the conditions, but Stella told me he would be fine nd as usual she was right!  We then finished the year on a high with an 8th place in the BE100 at Broadway.  

I think at some points this year perhaps I forgot that I event for fun – I am never going to be as good as the pro’s, riding every different type of horse, day in, day out.  I am a true amateur with one horse, no facilities at home, no family ferrying me around the country, a busy full time job and several part time jobs.  But rather than getting the violins out, that what I love about it – when I do well it’s because I’ve worked HARD!  And that’s far more satisfying.

Stella’s help this year has been totally invaluable – I have learnt a massive amount about my riding, and also about riding a completely different type of horse.  She helped me choose Charlie when I was looking for another horse, so it’s been great to be able to bring him on from scratch under her guidance.  I’m so lucky to have had the support of the training bursary – to have regular lessons has made a huge difference to me.  Charlie has also come on so much – he’s now a little powerhouse, rather than the scrawny gangly 4 year old I bought.  I am a bit sad that this has come to an end, but I always have my beautiful rug and lovely jacket to remind me of what a fantastic opportunity Stella gave me.

Now I can’t wait for 2014, roll on March!

Thank you Stella!

Louise and Charlie

Solihull Show Jumping BS

Hartpury Twilight and Hartpury Top Gun both went to Solihull BS today. They jumped really well and we even came home with prize money. I was particularly pleased with Hartpury Twilight who coped extremely well with a very busy warm up arena and then went into the ring to jump a super clear with not a single moment of hesitation or a single spook.

We are due to collect our new horses soon they are all boys and as follows

One yearling out of Midnight Dazzlers sister by Catherston Gold Storm.
Another yearling out of Carling Kings sister by a son of Primitive Rising.
Plus a foal also really well bred being out of the daughter of a 2* mare also by Catherston Gold Storm.

They all move really well and have level kind temperaments, they have been handled enough that if I turn them out I will be able to catch them again but not so much that they have been turned into daft pets. It's always hard buying horses in the rough, straight out of the field, but luckily I took Ant along with me, he is an expert at spotting good confirmation and movement hiding inside a woolly pony!

Horse shopping

We have been down south this week shopping for young stock. Seen some lovely young horses, all really well bred and all with super temperaments. One thing we are particular about is that they are out of good mares. The mare seems to have a bigger influence on her stock than the stallion. Jackie Skelton tells me they are 80% mare! Maybe it's because they learn from their mothers in addition to inheriting her genes! Jackie should know, she has bred numerous 4* horses and one 4* human!
Will update this blog in a few days with news of which young horses we have purchased.

Allens Hill Xmas ODE

I always love this event, it's all run on an arena but I still feel a little bit like we are eventing. As I had 3 horses entered I managed to persuade Ant to come along. When he climbed into the lorry to leave home he had even packed our usual eventing picnic basket. Not packed quite as full as for real Eventing though!

I had a fab day, not one jumping fault on any of my 3 rides, they all finished on their dressage scores.
Emma Potter who I train scored a 23 dressage and one rail lowered to finish 2nd in the 90cm.
My horses scores were as follows.

Rif Raf 7th in the 75cm on a 33.
Hartpury Twilight 1st in the 90cm on a 25.
Hartpury Top Gun 1st in the 100 on a very smart score of  23.
The two brothers also had a fab day on Saturday where they had a 2nd and a 1st at Hill View Arenas dressage show. Need real Eventing to start now and it's still ages to go...