Hi Everyone
It’s about time we all had a good catch up, I'm sorry I
haven't been updating much recently; things have been pretty crazy for me over
the past few months. I've been having an
awesome time enjoying some new experiences within the sport and pushing myself
up to a whole new level!
Last time I blogged I’d had a really lovely time at Bramham which was
my first major result since having baby Charlie since then the show has been
full steam ahead...
We went to Buckminster with the gorgeous grey man Dayton for
his first BE100 the step up didn't faze him at all and he flew home to finish
8th, he did a fab dressage but an annoying pole really dropped us down but it was
a huge learning curve for him. He gave me our best cross country ride ever
which was pleasing and we were looking forwards to our next one. Unfortunately Frickley wasn't our event, as
usual his dressage was brill but he struggled in the show jumping with the
undulating ground. We just needed him to
be a little wiser which will come in time so we decided to run him slowly cross
country and finish on a good note of a fabulous clear as some of the fences we
pretty tricky with him being new at this level.
We were pleased with him and knew we had plenty to work on as he has
found everything so easy. It's actually
quite nice to know now where the major improvements need to be made.
With the eventing done early for me at Frickley it was all
stations go as we took five of our showjumpers to contest the jumping. Despite the rain they all jumped double
clears and won prizes but Zoronda was the star of the day winning the big class
of the weekend the 130m open. It was our
first big win together so we all left feeling thrilled just a bit soggy.
The previous weekend saw us venture to Durham for the Waterford
Equestrian Show. We were using this as a
warm up for my first 140m with Zoronda and Ebolensky was preparing to jump her
first 125m. The weather was glorious and the horses were fresh, they jumped
their socks off again to give us the great warm up we needed. Jumping in the big class at Driffield Show was
just awesome!! I loved it! We had a mistake in the combination of the 140 which
left us out of the prizes and then in the speed class Ebolensky showed her
class with a steady round in her first ever big class and Zoronda flew round
for 4th place. It was well worth getting up at silly o'clock for, the
experience was invaluable!
Another weekend away the following week at Netley Hall where
Dipinahoe picked herself another ticket to the national championships. Unfortunately Cornets Steal had a scare the
previous weekend so although she pulled herself together an uncharacteristic 4 faults
meant she didn't collect her ticket. Ebolensky
had her first foxhunter win and Zoronda won me another 130m being the pocket
rocket she is!
My favourite show of the year had to be Bakewell though,
another crazy early morning and all for one class but it was just fantastic. The ring was beautiful and the experience of
jumping a brilliant double clear to finish 2nd was one of my highlights this
year so far. As always Zoronda was
brilliant, she flew round from first to go in a hot jump off to lead most of
the way. The course was tough and only
one other could beat us and it was only by .2 of a second; to say I was thrilled is an understatement. The most memorable class for me has to be the
big class at Royal Lancs, it was huge!! I have never walked a track of 150m
before and believe me when you can't see over the top rail it's pretty
daunting, what's even more daunting is knowing the mighty midget Zoronda is
only 15.3 so she can't see over either! I had considered going to try and find
her a springboard! It was the most thrilling round I think I have ever jumped -
she didn't need a springboard, bless her, she was elastic and made light work
of the huge fences. My inexperience at
that level cost us the last fence, I tried to add a stride that wasn't there,
she tried so hard bless her but it was impossible so we rolled it but what a
buzz!! All I wanted to do was go back in and have another go!
The following day required me to keep four feet on the floor
and have a slightly different focus; the British dressage regionals. We
didn't have the best start; Dayton came out a bit boisterous on the first day
and after trying too hard in the test we both basically made a mess! He forgot
how to do the moves and I forgot the test, what a useless pair we appeared to
be! I was furious with myself for letting Dayton down but luckily the first day
we had only planned on having a look round, so I went home, got a firm grip of
myself and pulled myself together. Good job really as our regional was stiff
but we both focused and we qualified!! We finished 2nd, what an improvement on
the previous day. The funniest thing was
D's owner Josie and I had been joking prior to the class that my new goal was
to win a BD novice regional but after the previous day's performance it seemed
a long way away so to finish 2nd was awesome.
I now have the higher goal of...
I want to win the national title; at home everyone else thinks I'm mad!!
After his brilliant performance that weekend and the fact
that qualifying the Nationals is such a big achievement we decided up withdraw
him from his BE events at Shelford and Richmond as the ground has been so hard
we didn't want to risk anything. It's
just been practise, practise, and practise for the big guys and me and with the
Nationals looming now it's all getting very exciting!!
The show jumping Nationals was a bit disappointing for us
this year. I had a severe case of 4 fault
disease, all 3 mares went brilliant but we're all just unlucky to roll a pole -
it was very frustrating but I suppose you can't win everything.
After missing eventing on Dayton it was fab to be given the
ride on Rachael Evison’s Scylla D'Ouilley for her first BE at Richmond this weekend. We weren't sure what she would think to it
all, having only previously been show jumping, and with my hectic schedule we hadn’t
had much time to train her but she took in the whole day and all 3 phases in
her stride to finish 2nd. We
need to improve our dressage score, she was perfectly on the marker but I
needed to dare her more for the higher marks.
That said the jumping was just brill and now we are aiming her for
Frickley in September and then she will step up a class a Bishop Burton in
October.
After the chaos that has been summer 2015 we are looking
forwards to our family holiday in October, it will be Charlie's first one and
we can't wait. Charlie has loved his summer socialising at all the big events
and meeting lots of new people. Even
though he is just six months old it's been amazing to see him grow and watch
his confidence with others mature as he enjoys life on the road with us. He loves his busy days out and is exhausted
when he gets in. I took him for a day’s teaching at Thornthorpe last week. I think everyone valued his opinion as he
giggled through the day, I'm sure he will take over my job soon!
Things are quietening down a little now, the main focus this
month is the Burghley final in the BYEH 5y/o with Farah and obviously the BD
Nationals and our preparation for those. So not quite time to put my feet up
and relax yet! We aim to do a couple more BEs if the weather stays on our side
and then we will be starting our new bunch of exciting babies ready to do it
all again next season.
I will try not to leave our catch up as long next time, hope
you have enjoyed my update!
See you soon
Sam x
