AFTER A WEDDING BREAK ITS BACK TO BUSINESS FOR TEAM "STEPHENSON"

July 2014

A lot seems to have happened since my last blog back in June, notably, I got married!! We had such an amazing day with friends and family and my first pony who is the same age as me made a surprise guest appearance which was just fabulous! Since then I have had 2 weeks away on honeymoon but am now back and busier than ever with the horses.

Frickley Park was our first event since the break and holds a special place in my heart as this is where we won our regional final qualifying for Badminton last year. Both horses were in the BE100 as a nice run to get us back in the swing of things. Alfie was on first and never put a foot wrong all day, he did a lovely test to score 31.5 and then posted a double clear inside the time to finish 3^rd. I was really pleased with him as he jumped his socks off and now feels ready for his step back up to novice at Skipton in 2 weeks’ time.

Herbie was a good boy on the whole with a solid dressage (also scoring 31.5). He then when onto the showjumping phase where he jumped the first four fences well, he then had fence 5 down which caused him to spook and run down to the double which was on a related distance and had both parts of that down. We then regrouped and jumped the final 3 fences nicely. Unfortunately this meant 12 faults which was frustrating but he is still young and hasn’t been out eventing since Bishop Burton in May. He redeemed himself by jumping a nice clear cross country but was obviously out of the placings. We had a really good day at Frickley and the event is really lovely, definitely a place we will be visiting again.

In addition to the horses I have also been dabbling in a bit of dog showing! I decided to enter my gorgeous Jack Russell, Maple, in the dog classes at Bishop Wilton Show. We had so much fun and won 3 rosettes!! Maple wasn’t so impressed with being paraded around so I can’t see her making a career out of it!

On the horse front, Alfie is now entered in the Novice at Skipton in 2 weeks’ time and Herbie has his first BE100 regional final at Bold Heath the following week so we’re all systems go on the training front.

Lucie xx

SAM JIMMISON - A NEW RECRUIT JOINS SJ HORSES AND PONIES AND WE GET SOME NEW WHEELS

Lots to write about this month.

We had a fab trip to Bramham.  All 6 of my rides went well with 2 in the top 10 of the 4y/o and Grace finishing 7th in the 5y/o.

Bramham was followed by dressage at Manor Grange, where I won the two prelims on the one to watch; First Caresino and Dayton did his first novice tests finishing 2nd in the first and he won the second.

Skipton followed with some BE; Grace finished 3rd with a double clear in her section and Dayton was 2nd in his section with a great double clear. I took 3 horses to Speetley;  Etasja, Carnroe Lady and Alexia and they all went double clear and finished in the prize money.

We did a bit of stress less dressage to start off some new babies and from a class of 7 all won a prize.  Even our new stable star, Dayton, did his first elementary and won, with a massive 74% score. 

Then it was Eland Lodge BE, Dayton was 2nd again and my new ride Penhill promising vision finished 8th.

Some good news but also a little sad, my very talented 4y/o Florina was spotted at Bramham and is now sold. We waved her off to her new home a couple of weeks ago so with money burning a hole in my pocket there will be a new 3y/o on the block very soon! 

Esmeralda a 5y/o I sold recently jumped a great triple clear to qualify for the British novice final, she is now owned by a good friend, which is great because I train both her and her new owner, so I get to play a part in her continued progress.  

On the yard side of things we have a new recruit at SJ Horses and Ponies - Jess has been friends with us for years and joins the team on a permanent basis.  We’ve grown so much over the past couple of years that we needed an extra pair of hands.  Jess has been looking for a job, so it worked out perfectly for us all.  Jess's first outing on the team couldn't have gone better, wining prizes on all three of her rides.  Jess has her own horse Vivaldo who she also competes so we are looking forward to a fun filled summer as a team.

My business partner Bev purchased a new HGV 5 horse lorry in June.  We are thrilled to have a bit of luxury to travel in for both us and the horses... and Millie the Jack Russell.

It’s been a busy and exciting few weeks and I’m sure it’s set to continue!

Sam