Summerhouse - The last Tues Show Jumping of 2013

It was ice cold when my alarm went off, the heating doesn't turn itself on until 7 am. By 7am I had mucked out 6, loaded 3 and was off down the road towards Gloucester, leaving Ant at home tucked up fast asleep under the duvet.

The biggest achievement of my day was coping with 3 horses on my own with none of them getting loose in the lorry park!

Rif Raf jumped a clear in the 85 cm, she confidently bustled her way round like a jolly old hockey sticks 1950s school prefect! She's probably the most advanced 3 year old I have ever had!

Hartpury Twilight also felt super confident almost jumping me off several times in the 90 cm, hope he curtails his jump a little when it's time to go XC, especially for drop fences! 

Top Gun jumped amazing in the 1m, the fastest time in the jump off and double clear, it was a shame he was let down by me. I thought I had got lost in the first round but hadn't, I pulled up to change course then realised I was correct, this slowed us down and although clear it gave us 4 time faults. 

It's not even December yet and all 3 horses are jumping well up to the level they need to be doing when Eventing begins in March, so next we need to do some dressage💤

Hartpury BSJA

I took HartpuryTwilight along to Hartpury for the Area 41 affiliated show jumping, an event not actually ran by the College. I left Top Gun at home as he had an appointment in the afternoon with a potential purchaser. However while. I was at Hartpury I had a text to say they were not coming after all so he could have show jumped instead!

There were 60 in the classes and waiting took hours and hours, I sat with an eventing friend of mine wondering why on earth BS can't do times, I mean Eventing manage it for 300 competitors doing 3 different phases in a day, and sometimes 300 per day for 3 or 4 days so why can't BS manage that for one phase.

Twilight jumped really well, he is only 4 and has yet to have a fence down. He was spooky of the water tray in the jump off of the British Novice. He just skipped past it snorting, and off course two skips past in BSJA you are out with no third attempt, home work required with water trays. Everyone agreed it was very mean to put a water tray in a Novice class.

I wanted to jump a bigger class on him so jumped him in his first ever Discovery, just the first round, once again he did not touch a pole (wow he is so talented and such an easy canter) It was a shame to have to withdraw from the jump off  but the water tray was involved and an affiliated event is not the place to go into battle with a baby horse.

Sunny November - Hill View Arena

It has been the most glorious sunny day today. I was up early hacking out Hartpury Twilight under the stunning blue sky. We had a super relaxing hack, well deserved as yesterday he won  his first £ BSJA when he finished 2nd in a British Novice.
Next Ant and I were booked to help one of my customers with loading a pony, they had been trying to load it for 16 months and after another 4 hour session yesterday called us, desperate for some assistance. Loading is a bit of a speciality of ours, after 10 minutes the pony was happily walking in and out of its trailer. I am not convinced we have cured it, as it's a clever yet stubborn pony, but its a step in the right direction.

This afternoon I took 3 year old Rif Raf (pictured) to Hill View Arena www.hillview.myzen.co.uk
This venue is becoming really popular, they have a set of lovely jumps and the courses have improved over the last 12 months. Its a super venue which has really good facilities, perfect arena surfaces and friendly organisers. The dressage competitions here are also really well presented with proper white boards and good judges. They have recently added a sheltered spectator viewing area and the cafe is really popular.

The busy atmosphere was a lot to ask of a young horse, lots of ponies and small children whizzing about, loads of spectators too, but really good experience for her. Rif Raf behaved perfectly and went on to jump a super round with just 1 rail down.

November End of Season Update

It's my least favourite month gloomy November so it helps a lot that its been a fab season, especially finishing with a 12th in a CCI*. During the summer I have also been lucky to sell a few of the horses to some really nice people, which means I can concentrate on turning the ones I have kept from superstars into megastars!! Sweet William is doing really well in his new home and I have some lovely emails and photos (see below) from Joanne his new owner. She was thrilled to bits to score 64% at their first dressage show. Amazing Mika my superstar 15.2 home bred I sold in the spring has recently qualified for the pony club Denji ridden by his new owner Poppy, they seem to be winning rosettes every time they compete him.

Riders I coach have had a super season too, Anna Millington is ready for Novice next season, Louise on Arleys Champagne Charlie, pictured below in front of Weston Park House, finished her season with a top ten place in a 100 and is also looking towards Novice in 2014, Sue on Rasper qualified for a regional final so we can spend the winter dreaming of watching her at Badminton 2015!

In addition a few riders I coach are working towards their first ever BE event in 2014 and a few more are planning to start unaffiliated eventing next spring. An exciting new partnership for 2014 is Becky Amos on Annie Oakley. 4 year old Annie is showing signs of being something very special indeed and will be aimed at BE90 next year.

I have registered all my boys BSJA (or BS as it's confusingly called now, I thought BS stood for British Steel or British Standard, I googled BS and it's embarrassing what it means in the urban dictionary!) Top Gun jumped really well in his first newcomers this week and 4 year old Twilight felt superb jumping double clear in his first BS British Novice.
Here is a photo of Nolton Tobago who I sold several years ago, he is still eventing successfully with the same people and has just won a Petplan Open Novice Dressage Championship.

Aldon CCI* with Hartpury Take It 2 The Top

Thanks to Aldon for an outstanding event

TROT UP
Our Thursday trot up vet inspection began with panic, there had been an accident on the motorway at 6am, we met the queue at 2pm, some people had been stationary for many hours. We tried to find a detour but all minor roads were blocked solid with traffic, so we turned back to the motorway. We were not held for too long luckily and arrived with 20 mins to spare.
DRESSAGE
I thought Monty's dressage felt like a disaster, he spooked badly at the flowers in both his counter canters, so to me they felt dreadful. Then in the halt to rein back he transfixed his gaze on a piece of farm machinery in a distant hedge, I asked him to rein back using my seat, but he had turned into a giraffe statue with his ears high up, level with my top hat, I could feel his heart pounding with fear, I resorted to a tug on the rein, he responded with a moonwalking backwards shuffle. We finished with a good halt and I left the arena feeling gloomy, but when I foundAnthony afterwards he was thrilled, he said the test was stunning. As usual Ant was right and Monty went into 13th place on a 47! Wooohooo! Suddenly I liked dressage a teeny bit more.
XC
The course was superb and extremely technical, we had to jump directly into both waters, no option, the first was a hanging log, a big ask for a 6 year old I thought. The 2nd water began with some upright white rails one stride and a brush drop into the water, 3 strides to a skinny in the water and then (gulp) a decent corner on a tight turn on the way out.
An early problem fence was an abc. A and C were both upright skinnies on steep downward slopes with B a big step down, this caused several riders to fault. Monty just steamed through it, my biggest problem was anchoring him on the very steep hillside down to it. My idea of a suitable pace was not his and he clearly disagreed with me, pulling my arm muscles so hard they felt like jelly and it was only fence 7!
He felt foot perfect all the way round, clear inside the time, Bill Levett said he is a machine XC and now I know what he means. He was hardly blowing afterwards. We were in 8th place overnight and it was a fab feeling knowing I have a horse so good in 2 phases.
SHOW JUMPING
Surprisingly I had almost no nerves for this phase at all. All I hoped for was a qualifying result for CCI 2* so that's no more than 4 down, oh and I couldn't fall off or forget the course. Monty jumped fab, just 2 rails fell and we finished in 12th, he won 2 BE points and an FEI point and yey we got our qualifying place too.

A fab end to the season and what a super horse he looks like being for the future.
Pictures are Monty dressage, jumping and my dog Sweep modelling some of the fences, skinny is missing from the water as it was removed for the Intermediate and fence 7 abc is pictured from the landing looking back up the hill.

Weston Park BE100 open

Love eventing at Weston Park, always super courses that need bold riding. Today's BE100 track was a championship course, it was built for the BE100 under 18 champs. It was more like a Novice with two waters including a log drop into the 2nd water with a corner after it, a proper coffin with upright rails on one stride to  a huge ditch and a skinny on a turn after, the 1st water had two skinnies on a turn before it and an easier fence on a tight turn after. The general mood in the lorry park was a bit soggy, it was pouring with rain and everything was getting wet and muddy. The warm up areas were well used with 65 under 18 competitors going round before our class began, the ground looked like it was deteriorating with the wet weather. I kept my warm ups to a minimum. A 27 dressage put us in 2nd but a SJ rail down dropped us down.

Having said all that the XC rode fantastic, its amazing how good the going felt. The time was tight but Top Gun flew and made the time easily, he was the quickest of the day (30 seconds inside) and finished in 5th place. Riders I coach did well too in the 90. Louise on Arleys Champagne Charlie finishing 10th and Emma on All About Albert in 9th, all our horses coped fabulously well in the mud and I think we were all very grateful for the boggy wet patches that appear in my school when it rains a lot! We also are very fortunate to live on very wet common which is our swampy winter hacking land.
Weston were really quick with prize giving and I arrived back at the lorry with an armful of Blue Chip goodies, including some liquid garlic feed additive that stunk the lorry out on our way home. That's Top Guns last run of the year he was entered for Broadway but he is wait listed so I have withdrawn as he is a fair way down the list, so we are off show jumping instead.

Osberton cic* British 6 year old champs

Great news Hartpury Take It 2 The Top went clear round his 1st International event, the cic* at Osberton. This class was the 6 year old championships which mean it was a Championship track with several fences shared with the 2* course. Two riders had horse falls and I was relieved Monty completed with confidence maintained and lots learned. With a championship place at stake some riders went for the time with several near misses out on XC. Monty had a few time faults but was foot perfect taking all the quick routes, apparently the commentary said some lovely things about how he went round. There were lots of skinnies on curving lines, a tricky step out of the water, a proper old fashioned coffin with a huge ditch and some real big galloping fences. Monty's dressage was as good as he can give at the moment and he had just 2 rails show jumping. It was quite a family affair as Hartpury Sky Is The Limit finished 2nd and Lils Unlimited Lass 14th, both these horses are by the same sire as Monty - Take It 2 The Limit who is owned by Hartpury College.  

Todays result means Monty is now qualified for a cic**, which will be useful for next years calendar. Oh and

just for fun Anthony couldn't resist taking the below photo.....now if he was training me I would have won.............