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November 2009

Elsa

Elsa has had her first two outings!

She visited Burrows Court Farm and at East Soley to take part in their Affiliated Dressage competitions. In both venues she was placed second in the Novice classes with her best result being over 68%. She enjoys going out and loves to show herself off, looking extra special with Hannah’s perfect plaits!

 

Zita

Zita has had more dressage outings.

Zita went to Abbey Dressage and Burrows Court Farm. At Abbey Dressage Zita was second placed in the Prelim test that was held in the outdoor arena. Although in the novice test, she was stunned with the unusual image of her very self in the mirrors or the indoor school! This resulted in a couple of extra halts and nearly  a rein-back, but she still gained a point and finished fifth.

At Burrows court Zita claimed a second place again in one test and finished third in the Novice with 67.5% !

Chance

I was very pleased with Chances performances too. To test the water at our first Affiliated Dressage comp. I entered him for 3 classes. 2 Novice and one Elementary test… thank god I had Hannah there to read the tests, one advantage in pure Dressage as supposed to Eventing dressage is that I don’t have to worry so much about where to go!  

Chance finished twice in 3rd place with his best score of over 67%! I was thrilled.

Although the last class was not as busy, the warm up was busy with competitors and riders from the first few classes. Chance kept calm in a busy arena and was so obedient in the tests, it was a real pleasure. A bit of extra tension outdoors cost us some marks but points were gained in all three test and I was very pleased.

Our outing at East Soley was during cold wind and rain, which resulted in a little more tension that day. Nevertheless, Chance stood well in his halts and walked lovely in the free walk and kept his cool in the medium walks … all signs of improvement  and we collected another point to his name so we have still plenty to be pleased about!

I owe Chance a huge Thank you, as he gave me some vital experience at Intermediate level. He gave me more confidence across the country.

Chance is extremely sensitive and can get anxious which I feel inhibits him to perform in the SJ phase to his full potential. I feel he is a very talented and athletic horse and feel his tendency to worry which also results in tension, is easier to manage in the dressage. For this, we have decided to “play” with the dressage for the time being!

I am extremely grateful to his owners Mick and Jacky, who have been so supportive and understanding.

September 2009

We have a new fellow on the yard! His stable name is Boris but his competition name is “Smart Line”He was bred by Mrs. L.R.J. Huxley and is owned by Mick and Jacky Pettett.

Boris arrived last week and is settling in before we start to back him. He was born on the 2nd of April 2006 and is currently around 15.3hh. Boris will soon have his own page to plot his progress whilst here.

Zita
 
After another outing at Hunters, we decided to find a different venue for our next competition. A late entry enabled us to go to Burrows Court Farm on the 5 September. Although we were pleased with Zita's effort in the tests at Hunters, we felt she did not move with as much power and balance as usual.
Once again, I asked for my mother's help an sure enough the difference was remarkable....
Although it wasn't as easy as planned... after studying the map, I opted for the (what I thought quickest ) scenic route to avoid the Motorway. We left in calculated, good time, relaxed and in good spirit... and arrived , having missed several signs ( hardly visible ones!) we arrived slightly less relaxed, sweaty and covered in pooh (Zita only) just 10 mins before her test!
With only minutes to spare we had a walk, trot and half a circle of canter before we went down to our arena. After spooking at the flowers on the way and nearly refusing to go past the judges box, Zita wowed the judges enough to win the class with 66.25%
After a quick breather we made the most of the time to warm up properly for the Novice test and sure enough Zita gained 71.25% finishing second! After all that stress we were clearly thrilled. What a good girl and thanks to Mum!

August 2009

Cruise had super run at Mattingley in his first PN Plus, finishing 9th.

He felt awesome cross country, a real joy!

We had a trip to Wilton on the 2nd of August with 3 horses at Intermediate level!

Foxy had to run in a "stiff" OI section. Pleased with his dressage performance, we tackled the tricky SJ course. Due to the heavy rain the previous day the ground was hard work. Fox started off a little "timid" which resulted in him dropping behind the leg. After a few fences though he found his confidence and rhythm and although we had 2 poles down I was pleased. He finished the day with a super cross country round!

It was Elle's first proper I run. I felt, we could have achieved a better dressage score as she was warming up beautifully. Nevertheless, her marks were good. She almost had a pleasing SJ round until the last fence, where we lost our line and she ducked out!

Disappointing, as we collected quite some time faults but we were determined to have a good XC round and succeeded! She was in great form and came home clear!

Chance did a lovely dressage test. Although he gets a little excited when going over to the ring, he tried so hard and performed so well, he made me smile!

The SJ proved a little too difficult. The "sticky" surface and the undulating ground made the situation tougher.

Although this was not a "typical" round for Chance, we have decided to leave the Eventing aside for the moment and focus on pure dressage whilst doing other disciplines for fun.

Chance is such a lovely horse who always wants to please, I feel at the moment he gets too uptight and worried jumping over bigger tracks, which stops him from performing over a fence... but I love working with him and I can't wait to take him out to show off our work on the flat!

We had little time to recover, before our 3 day. Elle set off to Hartpury! Thanks to Hannah's amazing work, she looked absolutely stunning whenever she left the stable! I was so grateful to her efforts! I loved the whole experience and felt so lucky to have my friends there supporting me throughout ;-) I was thrilled with our 49.6 dressage! Elle set off XC full of herself, coming down the hill jumping a difficult AB combination well, I lost a little concentration and drifted off my line to the water.... this cost me dearly as I never made it to the B element! What a shame! But I was made up with our SJ round the day after and left Hartpury thinking...  I can't wait to go again!! :-)

July 2009

Zita did it again !

Only her 3rd outing and her very first affiliated dressage competition and Zita couldn't have done any better! She warmed up, ready for action, making it clear to any horse in the practice warm up, that she was a no-nonsense "queen of the castle" and that no one should even try and query that! However, she did us proud winning both classes with two great results of 67.19% and 69.16% ... so nobody could blame her for her slightly "cocky" attitude in the warm up ... Well and I can't wait to go out again.. !

On July 13 Chance and Foxy set off to Tweseldown to run in the Intermediate classes.

Chance started off very relaxed and performed an outstanding dressage test, scoring 29.6!

He started off on the tricky SJ course with ease and only got a little tense after fence 8 where I encouraged him with a tap which cost us some poles at the end of the course... what a shame...

The cross country to me seemed a tough test with some big and bold fences well up to height as well us some more technical combinations. The course to me seemed full of turns and there was little space between fences to "get going". Probably also part of the reason why no-one was able to finish the course inside the time. But as usual Chance shone in this phase and we were all so very proud of him!

Foxy delivered a very obedient test scoring 36.8 in a class full of very experienced Advanced horses. He was unusually tense in the SJ phase which resulted in 12 faults and extra time.

For this reason, I opted for a "safe" and steady clear round cross country... to which he delivered without any faults! I was pleased with our first Intermediate run!

It felt like a tough day but most importantly, we were all safe and sound!

Both horses had not long to recover before Brightling Park CIC* on Sun July 19.

With a long journey ahead of us, we got up at 2.30am to set off at 4am...

Both boys were more tense in the dressage than usual. I felt the venue was very exposed and rather tight with a lot going on, which seemed to influence the horses concentration.

The weather was rather eventful too, and after getting soaked in the dressage the wind picked up so much, that the jumps were blown over and the competition was put on hold until some sandbags were put in place to stop them from falling!

This seemed all a little too much for Chance and I decided to retire him in the SJ after a he knocked a couple of poles. At the end of the day, he had nothing to prove in the XC phase and there is always another day.

Foxy knocked one SJ and was clear across the country. One of only 14 clear rounds over that course! He finished 9th.

I came back home exhausted and was so grateful for all the help of my brilliant girls (Becky and Hannah)  and I couldn't wait to go to bed!

Chance set off with Elle to Portman in early July, doing an Intermediate Novice, his dressage was much better, however he got three poles down in the SJ. In the XC he flew round with ease - rather fast actually - in fact the fastest of the day ;0)

Elle was a little more tense than usual in the dressage arena and changed leg in the counter canter and she generally felt a little behind the leg in the arena,,,  perhaps it was to do with the fact that she was in season but nevertheless, she made up for it in the other phases jumping a double clear, finishing 8th, needless to say she was in my good books again ;-)

Two days later we were off to Shipton Moyne, loaded up heavily with 3 horses.. Bailey was first to go in the 6yo class. He did a nice dressage test and jumped real well, only lost a little concentration which resulted in a pole. He went well XC and we were a little quicker this time too :-). I was pleased and we also got spotted by some fellow riders giving us compliments .. this cheered us up too!

Foxy held his own in the ON with a double clear inside the time. He felt superb across the country and he finished 9th, finally he got a well deserved placing.

Cruise set off last in the PN with a 35 dressage ( which included a cheeky spook!) and a double clear. He too felt effortless cross country and he ended up in 3rd place! I was thrilled!

June 2009

I have had several outings this month.

Cruise went to Ascott under Wychwood and after some sudden heavy rain, it was rather Ascott under Wychwater! Luckily the team there was organised and 3 huge tractors were constantly on the go pulling all the lorries into the lorry park.

10 days later he was off to West Wilts. His dressage was  a little spoilt by a lot of midges and we had a silly rail down in SJ. XC he started off real well. Unfortunately we got stopped at fence 10 due to another competitors fall. Luckily no one got seriously hurt but we got slightly out of rhythm which resulted in an unnecessary 20 penalties as we set off again. ... what a shame.

As I hurried round the xc course in the morning, thinking that although I have ridden here many times and I seem to know my way round almost blind,the course looked much more technical than usual and that for a first Novice (with Bailey) I would have to ride strongly...and well..... I was blind! Missing fence number 13!!! An easy, straight forward fence it was...It was an expensive mistake that caused elimination for Elle... although she was such a good girl!

Bailey was excited in the SJ and a huge buck after a touching a pole resulted in me having to do an extra circle to gain control!

XC he was super though.... I took it slow, as I felt it was a strong course that caused some trouble and I wanted to play safe. It payed off.

Although after that SJ round, I decided to go to Summerhouse to ride him round some BSJA courses and found it of great benefit.

Another training session with Lucinda Green at Boomerang was again of huge help!

I love Lucinda's passion for safe and fair XC-riding! Her experience and understanding of XC riding and her way of seeking to achieve results without compromising the good of the horse is invaluable and inspiring.I feel very lucky to have her helping me when she can.

Bailey and I competed for the first time and he produced a good test of 29! He "lit up" in the SJ arena more than I thought, which cost us 2 poles but he went clear XC and finished in 9th place.

The irish project: 2 lovely ponies from Kieran Guinness stud are with us to be backed, produced and sold. The girls ( Hannah, Becky and work experience Adelle) are doing good work helping me backing our irish ponies! ....We're on now :-)!

Sisko is coming back in! Sisko's holiday is over... he's getting back into work and is not sure what to think about it yet... he's not too impressed I suppose :-) ..

May 2009                                                                          

At my last outing at Mattingley I bumped into Lucinda Green.

While I discussed my cross country round, I took the opportunity to get some advice about the bits I am using. Lucinda kindly offered me to join her cross country schooling session at Boomerang the following week!

My plan had been to take Foxy along but tiny cut on his leg caused an infection which had to be dealt with some antibiotics. As he was sore on it, Cruise took his slot.

As usual, the training was informative, exciting and fun!

Elle

Elle had a great run at Whitington. She felt in top form doing a lovely dressage test scoring 23.1! After clear round SJ we set off on what I considered, a fairly testing XC. She went clear ending up 3rd due to some time faults but I was thrilled. She is now heading to Pontispool to do her first intermediate.

Elle was entered at Pontispool where she scored a good dressage mark of 29.1 unfortunately an early mistake in the SJ course resulted in a stop, which we didn’t recover from in time. I describe Elle as a horse that can be a bit “hot or cold”. At times she can switch over very quickly, which makes riding more difficult, especially during a competition. In this instance I could not improve her quickly enough and we ended up knocking a few fences down. After that, I decided to withdraw her from the cross country. There is always another day.

She has since jumped a few rounds at Roland Fernyhough’s and we were pleased with her then, as she performed to her usual standard.

Chance

Chance had a run at Moreton Morrell. Although the warm-up area was over crowded, Chance kept his cool and did a pleasing test. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a blip on the XC, where we came off a drop fence a bit too far off which resulted in missing the next fence. This fence caused me trouble that day! However, the rest of the run felt superb.

In the next phase I tried to ride him quietly and accurately to avoid penalties... it worked for the first part of the course but resulted it too many faults overall and I will have to go back to the drawing board on that one. However, Chance was bold, clever, balanced and just great at XC! A big boost to the end of our day...

Chance competed at Pontispool, he was more relaxed in the dressage but a couple of small mistakes resulted in a good mark but higher than usual. He started off super in his SJ round but unfortunately dropped some poles in the second half of his round… so more work and analyzing needs to be done. Chance flew round the cross country. He went round it superbly, bold and confident. I was so pleased!

Foxy Sox

In XC he set off at a super pace but got real suspicious coming off that same bank. A quick stop and "whip round" got me unseated. However, we finished the course safe and sound...

At Aston-le Walls I felt already an improvement in all phases. With a 33 dressage, he was in the top 5 . He tried his very hardest SJ and we just had an unlucky pole. In the XC he felt great and our confidence together grew with each obstacle. I finished feeling thrilled until I realised, that the last obstacle I jumped was the last one of the Intermediate course!

I was gutted for Foxy, as he deserved a good score. But at least he had a good day and luckily he doesn't know the technicalities of our score ;-)

Foxy had a real good run at mattingley. He had a good dressage ( would have been even better, if he hadn’t spooked at the flowers ;-)  ) but he had a double clear, which I was most pleased with. The course was fairly testing and I opted for an alternative, resulting in a few time faults, which I did not mind about as he was better off to go clear!

Our next outing is Great Tew ON, so let’s hope we can keep the good work up!

Another Outing with Zita!

Nevertheless, she scored in 65.83% in Prelim 14 and 73.63 in Prelim 4. Needless to say she deserved her dinner and a huge carrot with it too!

April 2009

Elle

Elle had a run at Goring Heath. After a disappointing dressage mark she jumped a lovely clear SJ and I set off on the testing XC course. An unfortunate spook and spin cost me an expensive 60 points but luckily, I landed feet first and was up in no time to finish the course.

It was close but a good thing to run her straight after our blip.

She ran round her first IN then with only one fence down in the SJ and had a clear XC....  to me, the world looked much better again ;-)

Sat 25th we set off to Hambleden... or tried too! The lorry was packed with two plaited horses and all the gear plus Meggy the "Nanny" for the lorry, and it didn't move!!! After an hour of fiddling with the battery and the electrics and about 10 phone calls later, like a miracle it decided to work!

Late and flustered Elle and I arrived to do dressage, it cost us a lot of marks, but at least we were there. The SJ was clear but with an unusual 6 time faults, Elle ran a confident and pleasing clear round across a testing course.

The weather and set up was superb at Hambleden and I felt lucky having two horses running there!

Chance

I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to ride Mick and Jackie Pettett's lovely horse Chance. Chance is an Intermediate event horse. I find him adorable and talented. He is very sensitive and always wants to please. I enjoyed our very first outing at Hambleden!

Chance was certainly showing off his paces in the dressage! After scoring a 9 for his medium trot we were on such a roll, that we nearly went out the arena ... but we finished just about in control  :-) with a pleasing score.

The SJ phase showed that we are still "new partnership" and the short time cost us too. The cross country made all up for it as Chance was fabulous and I loved the round! To finish the day Jackie and Mick put up the most delicious homemade food, which we all enjoyed thoroughly! What started off as a stressful day, ended up being a lovely day!

Cruise set off to Sapey to his very first BE event. He was very well behaved and ended up on his dressage score coming 8th. I was so pleased and proud of him... His next event will be much closer to home at Lackham College. I look forward to it!

Foxy was supposed to join Cruise to Sapey but managed to get handicapped just the day before. Losing a shoe and being a little sore, I was not able to run him. Disappointed, but not long and we will be off to Moreton Morrell....

Guinness

Due to financial commitments, we decided to find a new home for Guinness. Guinness moved up to Birmingham to a brilliant home and owner, just what he needs!

We hope that we can stay in touch!

Mum and Dad

My parents visited us for 10 days. As usual Dad worked tirelessly, tiding up, fixing things and was always on hand when turning out horses and mucking out.

Mum worked quietly through the horses, checking their physical and emotional well being. Great to have this unique opportunity and help. The benefit is always beyond words. Especially since we can always compare "notes" and discuss them. Plus, I enjoyed having my back treated for a change!

Outing with first timers!

The youngsters went to their first competitions!

Meggy played the Lorry Nanny and kept the two quiet on the lorry.

Off the lorry it was a slightly different story.... Zita went off on a mission to impress in every way! After an airborne 180 degree spin she eventually settled, giving me a real good ride finishing 2nd in both tests!

Fred too did well, although he was a little tense in one test, he proved his ability finishing also in 2nd place in the other test.

It was an eventful but pleasing day, worth all the excitement!

March 2009

Elle has had her first run at Stilemans, she competed in the BE Open Novice class.

She was full of herself, and settled in the dressage warm-up just in time scoring a 32.5.

The SJ and cross country went faultless but as it was her first event this season, I took it steady ending up with time faults. I was pleased with that start to our season, it still gives us plenty to work on but we got home safe and sound with another point to her name.

 

Friday 13th, I took Elle to the last series of Eventers SJ at West Wilts to jump a couple of bigger classes. She jumped a lovely double clear in the Novice class ending up 6th. But in the next class I left my spurs on... much to her dislike!! which resulted in a rather fast round, costing us some poles! I won't do that again in a hurry!

 

On the 18th I took Elle to Burrows Court Farm for an affiliated Dressage competition.

As she has now almost qualified for the Summer Regional Finals, I will keep going until we win another two classes! She was very well behaved scoring 69.2% in the Novice. Unfortunately, we came second in that class, so missed qualifying by less than 2%! In the Elementary 44 she was a little tired, having had a real good jumping session at Roland Fernyhough's the day before, she lacked a little spark and ended up 3rd with 65.6%.

Not there yet, but enjoyed it and what a good girl!

 

Our new horse on the yard ‘Foxy Sox’ is a lovely NZ thoroughbred. Owned by Ruth Mealy, who kindly offered me to ride and look after him, for the time being. He is a horse with more experience and I enjoy him thoroughly. As he came straight from his field to my yard last month, I spent the last few weeks getting him fit. I will now start taking him out to different venues, in order to get a feel for him and to get to know him better.

Foxy has also had a little outing at West Wilts and ended up in 5th place, just in front of Elle in the Novice class. We had a lovely school across country at Boomerang and I can't wait to take him places!

Elle went out to compete at Aldon this Saturday and ended up 10th. She did a lovely dressage test scoring 29 and had an unlucky pole down in the show jumping ring. She tackled the last phase brilliantly and bravely, although the cross country asked several questions of accuracy. The hilly ground plus the slightly twisty course cost us some time faults.

I was really pleased with her effort and with this result, I feel we are yet another step closer to our goal! (run at a 1* this year).

February 2009

Elle and Cruise went out on Saturday 22nd to Burrows Court in Gloucester.

It was an Affiliated competition and Cruise competed in the Prelim 18 and 19. He won both classes with 68.33% and 67.27%.

Elle competed in the Novice class and although she was ready to explode and added the all important sound effect (squealing) she gained 64.48% and ended up winning the class. Although much more settled in her second test Elementary 44 she was still raring to let loose... So a couple of flying changes later she got 65.6% and still ended up first. On the whole I was delighted with both horses specially since we got very encouraging feedback from the judges and even a 9 for one of the medium trots!

We competed at Hunters Affiliated Dressage on the 26th,

 

In Novice 37 Elle  came 1st with 68.92% and in the Elementary 43 she was also 1st with 70.34%

 

Cruise was a little spooky in the indoor school for his first test but got lovely comments from the judges, which were very encouraging. The second Preliminary 10 test was outside... he came second with 64.54!

January 2009

A New Year and a new advertising campaign, from ‘Sinners to Winners’, keep an eye out for the leaflets in your local tack shops or click here to see it, maybe you have a ‘sinner’ I can help with?

For updates on Zita and Weltstar have a read of their pages.

The end of December saw the arrival of Tyan Tramore a Connemara. Tramore was bought by myself and my mother as a ( future prospect for us to back, produce and develop) "project", and until he is old enough to be backed, as a companion to the horses out in the field.

Tramore is from the well-known Tyan Connemara Stud owned by Mrs Ann Halfpenny. He is very gentle and sweet natured and when loose-schooled shows real quality of movement and over little jumps. He has only just turned two, so he will still have over a year to enjoy his childhood before any work begins!

Elle (Legacy Flight) and Cruise have been busy going to show jumping venues.

Before they are off to registered competitions, they have taken part in Unaffiliated competitions. Both jumped very well at Hamstead Grange, comp. organised by the Berkshire County RC. Cruise jumped a lovely double clear in the 2'9 and had one pole down in the 3' 00 class. Elle jumped a double clear over the 3'00 course ending up in 3rd place.

At the Eventers Show Jumping competition at West Wilts on the 31.01.09

Cruise ended up in 2nd place in the intro class and 4th in the Pre-Novice class. Elle was 3rd in the Novice.

December 2008

Elle (Legacy Flight) and Megali have been busy doing affiliated dressage at Hunters Equestrian Centre Cirencester.

Elle won the Elementary class and both horses gained points in their first affiliated dressage debut!

 

Elle gained 7 points

Megali 8 points

November 2008

I was invited to visit Doris Luetz in Germany for a few days.

Doris is originally from Germany and is a trained Tierheilpraktikerin, this means, she has a qualification which specialises in animals and their health and well being with help of alternative(natural) treatments.

Doris has also worked with the world renowned American Horse behaviourist Mary Ann Simmonds. During her time spent in England, Doris worked with horses and owners on essential ground work, solving problems such as leading, loading etc. Doris has got three horses of her own and has has just taken two more into her care.

 

Doris is planning on opening an international horse centre this spring. She is setting up a centre in Mecklenburg vor Pommern, in the North East of Germany between Hamburg and Berlin. Her plan is to run different courses over the year and asked me, if I would be interested in helping.

 

I was delighted to be asked to play a part in her set-up and that we share very similar views and ideas and that our most important thought is, that the horses well being and happiness must always be the centre of our attention.

 

 We will look to run our first courses next summer! So watch this space for more details.