Work in progress as Herbie goes up a level at Bishop Burton and Belsay

June 2015

The end of last year and beginning of this was very much dedicated to working towards our trip to Badminton Grassroots and whilst we had a wonderful time down there it’s actually been great to get my teeth into the next challenges.

Herbie at Bishop Burton

Towards the end of last year I felt Herbie was ready to move up to novice level but decided to wait until after Badminton before we did this. Bishop Burton was 3 weeks after Badminton and only 5 minutes down the road so we chose this as our first run at the higher level. It may have been local and a lovely event but it certainly wasn’t a straight forward course! On the day Herbie did an average dressage to score 33 – he was a bit naughty and used the wet conditions as an excuse not to listen! He then had two fences down in the showjumping before we were ready to set about the cross country. I felt it was a tough track for a first novice having been ‘beefed up’ following the Junior Europeans which were held there last summer. Herbie coped really well with just one refusal early on course which I’m putting down to rider error! It was at fence 4, a log one stride to a decent drop, I was busy slowing him down and should have been kicking! To his credit though he picked up and flew after that tackling some particularly tough combinations with great maturity. Whilst the final result wasn’t that impressive I felt he showed plenty of ability at this higher level which is all I really wanted from our first novice run.

Prize Giving at Belsay

Following Bishop Burton we trucked up to Belsay near Newcastle on a very windy day for Herbie’s second novice. The conditions were testing but we managed to pull a 25 dressage out the bag to lead the field by nearly 5 marks! The showjumping had a big atmosphere, was up to height and technical (I’m getting my excuses in early!) so he had 3 poles down, whilst I was disappointed with this I actually felt he jumped ok. The cross country course was in a lovely setting, skirting around the edge of Belsay Castle with plenty of questions and a difficult water towards the end. Herbie was great and flew round clear with just 5 time faults so I was thrilled to bits with him. It turned out the showjumping had been very influential so with a strong dressage and cross country showing we ended up in 7^th place and with Herbie’s first proper BE point.

His showjumping still needs more work and he’s getting used to jumping these bigger courses but I really believe it will come and I’m very excited to establish him at novice level and work towards our first 1*.

Mum and I also managed a weekend off to head over to Bramham Horse Trials, the weather wasn’t great but it didn’t hamper what was a lovely weekend of top quality eventing. It was also great to see the girls out there in force with Nicola Wilson winning the CIC*** and Flora Harris winning the CCI***. There was also only one man in the top 6 across both the CIC and CCI competition – usually unheard of!!

Next up is Skipton Horse Trials in 2 weeks’ time for another novice so I’m hoping the sun will start to shine!

Best wishes

Lucie

Looking foward to Bramham, one of my favourite events of the year.

Well its definitely back to all stations go on the yard right now. This month started off slightly slower than planned when our first event of the season at Richmond was cancelled because of the awful weather. A quick change of plan and we went showjumping. All the horses have been on fine form and have been jumping lots of double clears and bringing home plenty prizes.

We did our first Burghley Young Event Horse qualifier at Chatsworth.  It was a relatively slow day for us with only taking Cornets Steal and Ginacolada so it was nice to wonder round and enjoy the show from the spectator angle and also catch up with friends.  Neither of the mares were in the placings this time but they were both fabulous especially Gina who was having her first real show who she ended up finishing 12th.  It was a really nice day out, Charlie enjoyed seeing everyone and Millie always loves a day at a show bathing in the sunshine.  After this event Cornets Steal will have a short break.  I think it's important to recognise when you have a nice baby and nurture them through the levels.

 Last weekend we had our first Event of the year at Bishop Burton.  Dayton was brilliant scoring 31 dressage and jumping double clear but my eye for speed is definitely out as we collected 6 time faults which left us in 10th, not a bad result and a kick on for me to practice going faster! It was then off to Shelford to give new ride Scylla and Ginacolada their first ever event runs.  The girls were great but green xc errors left them out of the placings, however, they gave us plenty to look forward to this season. I also welcomed back Jack Jones aka Bobbys Swop, finishing with a superb 4th place on our first outing.  He is such a lovely horse and for a 6y/o he is something pretty special.  

We have just returned home from a very busy weekend at Waterford Equestrian.  Dipinahoe picked up her ticket to the Discovery final with a fabulous triple clear and 3rd place in the regional.  She did exceptionally well considering there was only 9 clears from over 50 starters! Cornets Steal and Ebolensky were unlucky to role a pole but there is always another one and they both jumped smashing!  Ebolensky jumped her first ever foxhunter and was double clear and the new girl on the block Carlensky showed us exactly why we find her so exciting jumping and awesome double clear in her class. It was nice to hear news from home that Tracey Clarkson and Eleta had a good show at Bishop Burton, jumping double clear in the British novice and in their first Discovery, winning a prize in both -  it must be my training skills! My old faithful Grace and her new owner Sally Granger have been competing in dressage and coming home with a rosette every time and it was great to see Sally had polished up her jumping boots.

I am going to have a couple of days chilling now, I have bought myself a nice little project to work on for the summer and I will introduce her in my next blog post.  It's an interesting venture for me that I've wanted to do for a while now. This month promises to be an interesting one, planning for Bramham is the main priority right now.  I'm taking Cornets Steal and Ginacolada and there may be a catch ride as well.  Bramham is one of my favourite shows so we will be making a weekend of it and I hope to get a few moments to enjoy doing the spectator and family thing as well.  If the sun shines, even better!

Hope to see everyone there!!

Sam

Badminton is an excellent training ground for Eventers International

May has been an exciting month what with Badminton to enjoy which had all of us on the edge of our seats during the show jumping.   On the Saturday as no one was competing we had 9 people watching the red button, mostly people training with me so it was an ideal time to show how it should be done and discuss each person’s weakness.   A valuable days training.

The following week found us at Aston Le Walls for the unaffiliated ODE and for myself my first competition for over a year.   Both Paddy and Mr Sneezy aquitted themselves well and I was very happy with their performance.   Sadly Marina hit the dirt as Dino took exception to the tyres at fence 3.   Marina re-mounted and finished somewhat annoyed.   So the next week was spent working on this and their round at Keysoe was right to the point and they will now go up to Intro next time at Mattingley.

Paddy and Mr Sneezy did the 100 at Keysoe and finished 3^rd and 5^th respectively, so I’m glad to say I am getting my eye back in.

This month also saw a new addition to the year in the shape of Lorna Collins with 2 horses.   Lorna, due to an accident, has not competed for 15 years so this is an exciting challenge, but one that I am enjoying very much.   Next month sees the return of Meghan Healy who at this very moment is at Tattersalls 3DE in Ireland.   Good luck Meghan and more of this next month.

Tiny