Tuesday 23 March 2010

A hectic weekend...

It started on Friday with an early start for Lincoln. Mum and I left at 4am, alarm clock at 2.45am (seriously unpleasant)!! We went in the little lorry with Noble Bestman (Steve) and Uno Di Landro (Landro) so that the big lorry could be packed at home by Alex and Felicity. Steve did a lovely test marred by a few unasked for flying changes and scored 31.5! His trot work was very flashy!! He followed up his good dressage with a lovely double clear to finish on 31.5 and a rosette for 4th. Landro having his first run of the year scored 33 and jumped a super double clear in the pre novice. He came home with a rosette for 3rd. He is now off to do a novice at Gatcombe on Saturday. Meanwhile back at the yard Alex and Felicity were busy working and washing horses, however Vancouver wasn’t too sure he wanted another early morning on Saturday and didn’t feel quite right when being exercised. So he was carefully examined and some pain was located in his foot and the offending shoe was quickly removed and he spent the day having his foot tubbed and poulticed! However it was obviously not meant to be, as on Saturday morning we trotted him up while preparing the others for travelling and he still wasn’t quite right. I am pleased to report that now he is fine and I hope to get a late entry in an intermediate section at Gatcombe at the weekend, fingers crossed! So the lorry left with Fernhill Cristal, Ginger May Killinghurst, Noble Springbok (Spring) and Blackwater Clover (Sid). Guy Pearson Gregory has been based with me while he is at uni in Reading so we gave him and Sid a lift to Lincoln. Grace and Spring were doing their first pony trial together and I think I was more nervous than Grace was which resulted in a few emotional tears when they finished a brilliant clear xc. They finished 2nd in the trial and have been invited to the final trial which is a great result for them. Meanwhile Cristal was first in the arena in the Young Rider trial and scored 35.5 which I was a little disappointed with. He did some lovely work, notably his shoulder in and canter transitions. However square halts were eluding us this week, so a little more practise required on those I think! He jumped well in the show jumping to have the first upright down which was a shame and we also picked up one time fault. Xc he was awesome and jumped everything brilliantly considering this was his first intermediate of the year. His next run is the CIC** at Burnham Market. My first run on Ginger was a learning experience which I thoroughly enjoyed. Her dressage was very good despite going a little flat in the arena, next time I don’t plan on being on her so long in the warm up. She scored 25.5 to head the Young Rider trial after the dressage. Show jumping was interesting and she had three down, however I am not too despondent as she improved in the arena when I left it more up to her!! Obviously she knows best….. Xc, her forte, was very good and I enjoyed the whole round. It felt a huge privilege to be riding such a xc machine. When everything was done and the lorry packed up we made a beeline for home as we didn’t fancy sitting on the A46 in the roadworks!

This week there will be an outing to Boomerang to take Eliza Sangsters horse, Mere Oak (Jambi) cross country schooling before my first run on him at Gatcombe at the weekend. Also Hunters Legend (Willy) is coming over for me to sit on him for the first time this year. He has had some issues with his feet and as we all know no foot, no horse so we have been spending a long time to get it all sorted. All being well he will be out and about soon.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Tweseldown...

Last week at home started with dressage lessons and a show jumping session later in the week. On Wednesday we took Vancouver and Jitterbug to The Hand Equestrian Centre to do some BSJA jumping. Both jumped very well and Jitterbug jumped double clears in the newcomers and the foxhunters and picked up 1st and 3rd rosettes. Vancouver jumped double clear in the newcomers to finish 2nd to Jitterbug and in the foxhunters unluckily rolled a pole at the last fence, but I was pleased at his overall performance.


(Noble Bestman competing at Tweseldown)

The weekend has seen a busy few days at Tweseldown. On Friday Vancouver, GI Master Caster (Caster), Jitterbug, Fernhill Cristal (Cristal) and Noble Bestman (Steve) all performed. Cristal finished fourth on 35.9 penalties having added 4.4 time faults to his very good dressage. He will go to his first open intermediate trial at Lincoln on Saturday, along with Vancouver and Ginger May Killinghurst. Vancouver finished just behind Cristal in fifth on a score of 38.1, having rolled one pole in the show jumping. Caster finished just out of the money in 13th, having decided to run him slower cross country and just let him settle into a good rhythm. Jitterbug had her first outing in 18 months and was extremely lively in the dressage which marred her faultless jumping display, however we’re not too worried as her next outing is at The British Open in Birmingham. Steve just had his dressage and returned on Saturday to do the jumping phases.

On Saturday we returned with Noble Bestman (Steve) and Royal Hilarity (Hills). Steve just needed to jump, which he did superbly and did a lovely double clear. However this was a very long drawn out day due to a delay at the event. Luckily the organisers coped brilliantly and were extremely helpful and managed to run the whole day’s competition except one section, by some small miracle! Hills also on his first outing of the season was extremely fresh in the warm up for the dressage and managed some beautiful acrobatic manoeuvres, shame they are not required! In the arena he did settle slightly and managed to score 32, despite being tense. This was followed by a double clear to finish 7th. On Sunday saw a return to the event too, and the lorry now knows its own way there!!

This week there are no mid week competitions and no jumping excursions planned. A small rest for the Membury team! At the weekend the lorry heads north to Lincoln for 3 days of competition. Luckily there is stabling on site so the horses will not have to travel on a daily basis.

Monday 8 March 2010

Isleham...

On Sunday we had our season debut at Isleham... It was a shock to the system when we worked out we had to get up at 2.30am!!!!!
We had FERNHILL CRISTAL and GI MASTER CASTER in the Open Novice, with VANCOUVER in the Intermediate-Novice.
Cristal started out with a lovely dressage to score the second highest place of the section with a 28.
Caster then followed suit with another nice test, he was a little tense at the start but settled really well in the second half. He scored 32.
Both boys then jumped brilliant double clears. The ground was getting quite deep so I took them quite steady, Cristal picked up 10.8 time penalties which was good enough for 3rd place. Unfortunately they had a mix up with Caster's timing and gave him 53 time penalties, they then realised there was no way I went that slow so changed it to 20 penalties, this in my opinion was unfair on the horse as he deserved a placing.. even with 20 time faults he finished 12th!
Vancouver not letting the side down produced another good dressage, with a 32, which left him lying 2nd. Unfortunately the ground in the showjumping was very deep now and he had 2 rails down, I think he just got a bit stuck in the mud!!
He then flew round the xc but after 2 rails I just went steady and picked up 14 time penalties but he still managed to finish in 9th place.
A good day all round and it was a long journey back with Alex Van Tuyll and myself singing along to the top 40!!! I hope no one could hear us!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday 6 March 2010

Jitterbug is a flying machine!!!

Last night I took Jitterbug for the Eventers Grand Prix Wildcard qualifier... I have already been invited to the British Open so it was just a practise run as she hasn't seen xc fences for a good 18months!!
She was absolutely amazing.. the corners were causing problems but she never wavered off her line! She ended up 4th as I didn't turn tight into the bounce as I wanted her to have a good line to it... she pulled off all the other tight turns and I am now really looking forward to the British Open in April!!!!

Monday 1 March 2010

Busy week ahead....

On Saturday I took Jitterbug, Uno di Landro and Noble Bestman to Addington for the JAS Final. Jitterbug excelled herself and won the Novice final. Noble Bestman was 5th in the novice too. Uno di Landro didn't disgrace himself and finished 5th in the pre-novice final, I just picked up a couple of time faults with him. In the Open Jitterbug wasn't feeling herself and had a couple of rails down and a couple of time. Noble Bestman also had a fence down with some time faults. But I was extremely happy with all three horses before the start of the season next week.



(Noble Bestman collecting Jitterbugs winning prize at the JAS Championships)

Then after a quick turnaround Alex and I left on Sunday morning to Crofton Manor for some BSJA jumping. We took Vancouver, Ginger May Killinghurst, GI Master Caster, Fernhill Cristal and Royal Hilarity. This was the new lorry full..... A good day was had and the weather was not as bad as forecast and everyone jumped some clear rounds. We even came home with some rosettes!! When we returned home I managed to show off Gino to some potential customers for him. He is my 4 year old stallion that I have been bringing on this winter with the plan to sell him on. He is beautifully bred and will make a fantastic competition horse. He has the most phenomenal jump, matched by super balanced paces> It is going to be very hard to part with him!



The rest of the week will be spent aiming towards my first event of the season at Isleham. On Wednesday, Nick Burton is coming to put me and the horses through our paces on the flat. If the weather holds up I will try and take a couple more cross country schooling on Thursday. On Friday, Yogi is coming to the yard to put a few of the horses through their paces. I normally try and do 6-7 horses with Yogi to make the most of his expertise. Then in the evening I am returning to Addington Manor to jump Jitterbug in the British Open Indoor Qualifier. Sometime this week I also have to fit in an outing to the gallops, not quite sure when! Luckily I have an extra pair of hands on the yard this week, Natalie has come to join Collett Eventing for some work experience. We are very grateful for all her hard work. Mum and Felicity have been brilliant in the cold weather and surprisingly both in high spirits considering how cold it has been…



More updates after Isleham, fingers crossed that the weather continues to improve and that we get a run at the weekend! Speak soon