XC Schooling...

It is snowing again today so I am very pleased that we managed to Xc school all the horses yesterday!... And in the sunshine!!!!
It was very chaotic having landed in the morning after an amazing week in Barbados with the Walker family, it was all systems go... luckily for us we are within hacking distance of the fantastic facilities at Boomerang. Felicity and I hacked some whilst Mum shuttled backwards and forwards in the lorry!
Yogi very kindly kept his watchful eye on me throughout the day and all the horses were on great form.
It was really exciting to school Ginger for the first time... I can't wait for the start of the season now... only 2 weeks to go!!!

World Class Programme Training

Today I have been jumping at Summerhouse with Peter Murphy and the World Class coaches. I took Fernhill Cristal, GI Master Caster, Ginger May Killinghurst and Vancouver. They all jumped two rounds at various heights. Each round was videoed and commented on by the coaches when the videos were analysed back at the Unicorn Centre. When we had finished jumping we took the horses back to the Unicorn Centre so that they were all stabled together and the team vets and physio have had an opportunity to look at the horses if it was necessary. Also at the Unicorn Centre was the team nutrionist and the strength and fitness coach. We also had some Media training to aid us in our interview techniques, much needed for me! Tomorrow we are having another jumping session before we have some talks from outside coaches.

International Eventing Forum Day

Yesterday,I took Jitterbug to Hartpury College for the International Eventing Forum. I had been invited by Eric Smiley to be a guinea pig for the jumping phase. Shane Breen and Di Lampard were in charge of the jumping and I found the afternoon very interesting and extremely beneficial. Jitterbug was fab and completed all the tasks that where put infront of her with ease and I was delighted in her performance. She has now earnt herself a few easy days of work.

Competition for top horse is on...!!!

Yesterday we were at West Wilts JAS, I had Jitterbug, Noble Bestman and Uno DI Landro all in the Novice and OI.
Jitterbug and Steve seem to be havong a competition as to who is top horse at the moment, at the first JAS Steve won the Novice and Jitterbug won the Open, then the following weekend Steve won the Novice again but this time Jitterbug was 3rd in the Open and Steve 4th... So the battle continued this weekend... Jitterbug held her own and won both the Novice and the OI, however Steve was right behind her with 2nd in both classes!
They both jumped 2 lovely double clears, with Jitterbug scoring a 4 in the Novice and Steve a 5. Then in the OI Jitterbug got 2 and Steve 5 again!
The next outing is the JAS final and I hope they both continue their winning streak!!
I was laso pleased with Landro who finished 7th in both classes, just adding 2 fences in each class... he found the arena a bit tight and the fences came up a bit quick for him. He seems to be improving each time and will be a better horse outdoors!
This morning we had Yogi for jumping lessons on the horses that didn't go to JAS, they all went really well and seem on good form....

Hectic few days...

We have had rather a hectic few days.
On Saturday we were JAS at Hartpury, I was riding MINIMEE, UNO DI LANDRO, NOBLE BESTMAN and JITTERBUG.
In the BE100 Minimee jumped a lovely double clear but was HC so wasn't placed. Landro then followed with a fluent double clear which won him the class.
I then had all 4 of them in the Novice, Landro and Minimee both had one fence down in the sj and xc sections, but jumped well and Landro was placed 10th.
Steve was next and he was on top form again and repeated his win from last weekend after leaving all the fences up!
Jitterbug also jumped double clear and finished 4th.
In the OI Steve and Jitterbug both jumped another double clear, this time finishing 3rd and 4th repectively. Another successful day out!
On Sunday we went to pick up ROYAL HILARITY, he has been at Di Lampards over the winter having some showjump training. I had a lesson on him and he has come on leaps and bounds!
The next 2 days were spent at World class training at the Unicorn centre. I took GINGER MAY KILLINGHURST, GI MASTER CASTER and FERNHILL CRISTAL. It was 2 days of dressage with ANgela Tucker and Gill Watson. They all went really well and seem to be on the right track for the season ahead! It was so exciting to have Ginger there and I really feel I'm getting to know her better now!
Off up the gallops today, JAS on Saturday and then lessons with Yogi on Sunday....