A tremendous season for Sam, finishes with one of her favourites winning the HOYS Foxhunter

The 2017 BE season is now over for me and it's been full of ups and downs but it has been fabulous. When we last caught up I had just enjoyed a rare weekend off due to the disappointing cancellation of Skipton because of the weather. We headed off to Bold Heath not knowing quite what to expect. After a 4 am start I was more than frustrated with Freddie's dressage score after what felt like a fabulous test.  He went on to jump his best ever double clear so I was feeling a little deflated as I watched the online scores showing us lying in 5th place. The class proceeded but no one seemed able to do a double clear and we ended up winning the section by quite a few marks and gaining the all important Osberton qualification we were looking for. Upsalls Lorna was unlucky to do her dressage in a monsoon and took quite a dislike at first but once she settled her work was so good she finished in 2nd place. The babies expertly piloted by Jasmine were also fantastic with Bollywood jumping her first BE double clear and Houdinii finishing in 6th.

Dayton scored another brilliant BD result the following weekend finishing 2nd in another area festival, I hoping he is saving his win for the semi's next month. With the gorgeous British weather putting paid to another event at Cumwhinton we decided to head for some showjumping at Sykehouse.  As a few end of season championships are getting close it seemed a good opportunity to introduce some of the horses to a bigger test. Both Freddie and Lorna stepped up without an issue; Lorna finishing 2nd in her first newcomers class and Freddie at just 5y/o doing his first 120 class, in the dark under floodlights.  He had a really unlucky pole but learnt so much.

Shelford saw us add a new member to the string in the form of Joanne Pullan's Diamante.  She made our debut together a winning one in the 4y/o qualifier, this was the first show this special young mare has competed in her life and I am very excited about her. Freddie stepped up to Novice without any hesitation.  He scored 29 in the dressage and flew double clear, just a couple of cross country time penalties saw us finish 3rd in good company.  This was also my first competitive appearance at this level. 

This was a great warm up for Burghley where the competition was stiff, as was the challenge, but as always Freddie stepped up well. He just missed out on a top 10 prize which would have been a fairy tale ending after the year we have had but I still wouldn't want to take another horse home. Every time out he gives me 100% and our partnership is becoming pretty strong. At Richmond, Dayton picked up his third consecutive Badminton qualification, even when the worn out jockey forgot her test for the second time in two days, whoops!  I also forgot it on Diamante but luckily she was so prefect that she still won the class on an amazing score of 23 almost 10 marks ahead of her rivals. Dayton finished 2nd in his qualifier so luckily all worked out fine and I think it was a kick up the backside I needed to slow down a little and get my head focused on the important events coming up.

Walking the course for the big class at Frickley on Friday evening was a bit daunting! Neither Freddie, Lorna or Doodle had seen anything so demanding and the championships were looking competitive with some seriously competitive combinations qualified. Doodle kicked the day off with a fabulous dressage which held her in 3rd place but her inexperience showed at the tricky water combination. Nonetheless I was so proud of her, she completed confidently and jumped a great showjumping round to end her season and in my opinion, has learnt so much in her 3 events she is looking very interesting for next year. Freddie did his best dressage test to date with Lorna not far behind to both go to the tough cross country in the top 10. I was conscious that the course asked things they hadn't even yet seen in training so I was prepared to train round but they both picked up the reins, pricked their ears and answered every single question without fault to finish inside the time, moving the both into the top 5. The showjumping was also a tall order for Lorna and an unlucky rail out of the combination was costly. The course was well inside Freddie's capability but I wondered if he would feel tired being only young and inexperienced.  However, he tried 110% and flew round clear moving us into the lead.  Unfortunately the winner followed us as she was closer to the optimum time even though our dressage scores were the same.  It was quite an emotional moment as there was a time that we didn't even know if we would have a Freddie so for him to give me his all and finish 2nd in this class where most of the horses were already double his age felt really special and exciting. Lorna also finished in 7th position which if you had told me as I walked the course on Friday evening she would just finish I would have been proud.  To win a prize blew all my expectations out of the water, she was only gingerly doing 90cm in March and this equaled a pretty decent Novice track. Dayton also had some of the limelight winning his 100 section on his dressage score after we decided the challenge format wouldn't suit him, I was pleased with my decision after his confident performance.

The weekend had been an excellent warm up for this years main aim the BE young horse championships. With a few bits to tweak with training I was feeling confident that I had done all the preparation I could. We had a fabulous draw as the times we had meant we did dressage on Thursday and the jumping phases on Friday. I felt this would be great as it meant I could really focus towards each challenge, as we left on the first day both horses were top 10 with Freddie in 8th and Diamante in 3rd. I was more than thrilled as there were some of the best riders in the world in the class. I really felt that both horses had given me their absolute best. Diamante made a silly error in the jumping that dropped us a place but her faultless cross country and confident performance at only her 4th ever show left us feeling so lucky to have found her. Freddie was just a superstar jumping one of few faultless double clears to pull up to 3rd, with the winner only two marks ahead. 

Bishop Burton was on the agenda for the following day but arriving to knee deep mud was not at all funny.  I attempted the dressage on Fleur and her bold attempt gave us a score of 29 but I decided against jumping and withdrew, my ponies are far to precious! Houdini and Jasmine having already done their dressage they decided to continue and jumped a brilliant double clear to finish 4th in their section and end their season in a fabulous place.

I made a special journey to watch a very special combination at HOYS and was totally blown away with their performance.  To think it was a year to the day that the outstanding Ebolensky gave me my first ride in a professionals championship at this very show it was a dream come true to go and watch her win the world famous and much sought after Foxhunter title with Mathew Sampson in the driving seat. They made me so proud, the team behind this amazing mare always knew she was special and for the 4 years I was privileged to ride her we often joked that one day she would win this class so to be sat their when this incredible combination made it look effortless was definitely a highlight of my career and a very emotional experience that I can only thank Ebolensky, Matt and the Evison family for making possible.  On that note i'm going to say bye for now as I sit and ponder what to do for the next few months now the season has ended.  I have a few things up my sleeve so I'll catch up soon and let you know how things go.

Sam x

Angel looks ahead to a winter of dressage

This month has been a fun one; we've been concentrating on a lot of dressage training and have decided that dressage is going to be our thing over the tough winter months that are ahead! 

Tom Tom was sent on a dressage boot camp earlier on in the month with Sonia (our dressage coach) to work hard while I was away from a few days.  Since then we have been practicing lots on our canter transitions as this is something we both struggle with during competitions. When I went to my last dressage competition, although Tom was super and came 2nd, the transitions were what let us down as he can fall into them rather then staying elevated in his frame. We have been practicing our dressage at least 4 times a week and have also done some lovely hacks to keep his fitness up in preparation for dressage and perhaps a bit of winter showjumping to!

Tom Tom and I have also been training in the technical side of showjumping.  As he is so big and I am so little, practicing harder turns and balancing over the jumps has benefited us both.  I taught Tom to listen to me and I then respond to him quicker. The last couple of months I haven't competed as often as I would have liked, much of this has been down to time pressures, so I made the decision to take some time from competing to focus on dressage to get the little mistakes corrected so that those extra marks could be added on.  Over the next two weeks we will be out and competing now we are finally starting to get everything together!  

Our aims over the winter are to compete at novice and and hopefully progress to medium.  We are going to join BD and see where our journey takes us.  With the practice we have been putting in he is really starting to pick himself up, this has made a huge difference to how he goes and something we'll be continuing to work on.

So for now it's been all about preparation - hopefully next month we will have some winning stories to tell! 

Angel

Ellen joins the GB Youth Development Programme at the Millstreet International Horse Trials

It's fair to say that as my event season draws to a close that it has been one I certainly will not forget! However the star moment will forever be trekking overseas to compete in Millstreet International Horse Trials, to contest the CIC* as a part of the GB Youth development programme last month.

With my competition due to start on the Thursday, we aimed to arrive late Tuesday night, which would allow Kidogo a day to settle in and loosen up after the 15 hour trip across! With alarm set for 2am on the Monday, we loaded up and set off for the 5-hour journey to western Scotland, where we caught a 2 hour ferry to Northern Ireland. When parked on the outside deck we realised that the Kidogo (K) and a fellow young riders horse were in fact going to have an open view of the sea whilst travelling, which didn’t seem to bother them as we traveled smoothly over the Irish seas. On landing in Ireland the horses were inspected by officials, before we began the 7-hour journey down to the bottom of Ireland, stopping every few hours to water the horses and top up haynets. When we finally arrived at Millstreet, we unloaded the horses, and had a look around the enormous facilities containing 6 huge outdoor arenas!

On Wednesday I walked the cross country course with one of the six U18 coaches who had traveled out to help, and was very impressed by the turn out of the course: running alongside fountains and the second water jump was even boarded by an actual mill and waterfall! I also took the opportunity to give Kidogo a school in the dressage warm up, as well as watch a few of the tests that were running in the afternoon, there I realised that I was going to have 3 dressage judges the following day! After a meeting with the rest of the youth squad and coaches to discuss the course, and also the plan for the dressage, I washed and plaited Kidogo for the first day of competition.

With dressage and show jumping on surfaces the stress of studding was removed, so after finishing quarter markers and putting on my tails, I set of to begin my warm up 35 minutes before my test. He warmed up really well and after taking off his brushing boots we headed down the centre line, where we did one of our best tests to date. On return to the stables we were gutted to see that my mark was far from what we were hoping. Even though we did very accurate movements, we were criticized against the flashy horses for not having the basic paces. Having to put the disappointment behind us, I soon set off to watch the first few show jump to confirm my thoughts on the lines I would take before I hopped on board to warm up. I warmed up doing a figure of 8 over a tall cross pole to loosen K through his body, then followed this by opening up his jump over some low and wide oxers, and taller uprights. Ready to go in I set off up the shoot into the main ring; I trotted in before pulling up and saluting in front of the judges. We set off confidently and jumping a solid round, however just had one hiccup when we landed disunited and I cut my corner to fence 3 meaning he never saw it and we lost our balance, picking up some annoying penalties, but not touching another fence. After untacking K and carroting him, I set off to walk the xc course again with GPS to mark out my minute markers, for the xc the following morning.

 The Saturday morning saw me going for a third course walk, before tacking up and heading over on the 10-minute hike to the xc start. Having not show jumped that day I warmed up over some show jumps before angling some xc jumps, and heading over to the start itself. K gave me one of the best rounds yet, and the commentators absolutely loved him! Having not known much about his breeding, it turned out that his sire lived only a mile away and one of the commentators actually had a foal with the same father as K! 

K was a complete saint all week and really deserved his union jack on his numnahs! We gave him a day relaxing and grazing on his Equiblox Original forage blocks on Saturday whilst I watched the 3* competition, before setting off back home that night for the second 15 hour journey! I can’t thank my trainers enough for pushing me throughout the season to get to this level, and Fulmart Feeds who are such a big part of my team, and offer so much support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcL2rm9zBSg&t=120s 

Ellen

Frickley Park National U18 Championship gives Ellen and her Northern Team mates in a 6th place

In a space of one month we have two of the years biggest events of my eventing season.

Opening the month saw Frickley Park National u18 championships. On arrival on Wednesday afternoon, we parked up and stabled with the rest of the northern region, and then set off for a leg stretching hack before I took Kidogo to familiarise himself with the arena and grandstands. I had an early night before getting up first thing in the morning to give Kidogo a quick school before trot up, which he passed.  As the rain kicked in I began watching back the video of my last dressage lessons, before tacking up and heading to my warm up for 35 mins. I will be the first to admit that only two weeks before my test our dressage was at rock bottom. About 5 dressage lessons in 2 weeks, I felt like everything was on the line. He warmed up difficultly, with the slopping hill giving him every chance to run through the shoulder, but we worked through it and when called to the ring we had done all we could to prepare. As we went down the centre line I had never felt so proud, knowing where to optimise each mark after going through my test with judge Andrea Peel, he went through each movement accurately. Scoring our first 9 FEI, finishing with a total score of 46.9, with one judge giving us over 70%, this put is in 2^nd place in the region, when I looked it up in the stables we were literally jumping around for 5 minutes.

That evening we went to the welcoming cocktail party before watching a demonstration out on the front lawn. Friday saw a relaxing day with no competition for me, so I spent the day watching other team members, K went on a hack and I walked the xc course with the u18 team coaches. We warmed up over some show jumps and xc angles, but with two people to go there was a hold on course so my warm up had to stop. Unsurprisingly K bossed around the 7.5-minute course inside the time easily. But I felt very strange when the rest of the team took Kidogo for his wash off and I was left jobless. The afternoon was spent walking K and checking his legs to make sure he was feeling his best for trot up Sunday morning and show jumping afterwards. After his sound xc performance we moved up into 14^th out of 80 going into show jumping. Kidogo had a half hour loosening up school before trot up which he passed. As the course was changed for the one star, I watched the first few people jump out of the bottomless mud. Knowing that there had been only about 5 clears out of the first 50 to jump, I had to ride K more forward than ever before. A positive round meant that he touched a couple of the oxers in front. These three performances meant we finished 24^th, and 2^nd in the region, helping the northern team to finish 6^th.

A week off work for K didn’t mean holiday for me, as Finnegan went to the pony club open area eventing at Northallerton. Where he posed a lazy dressage test, but scored his personal best mark of 29. He jumped an improvingly mature round show jumping round, but was caught up at a turning line to have the square oxer down in front. He followed this by jumping the quickest round xc of the day, placing him in individual 2^nd and qualifying him for the pony club championships. However I am not able to take him as I am leaving for Millstreet International, Ireland with K at the same time.

Next month I will be writing about our adventures to Millstreet.

Ellen

Dressage preparation pays off

So what have I been up to this month, well I finally managed to take Tom Tom out to compete in the novice 27 at Ilex farm!  It has been a while since we have been able to compete but all the hard work and training finally paid off and he was amazing. Firstly, Tom Tom is super chilled out and he takes competitions in his stride, but as soon as he put one hoof off the lorry his big ears lit up like there was no tomorrow! The sun was shining and the atmosphere was calm and collected meaning that we could both properly focus on the test. We had only practiced the test a handful of times, but each time we continued to improve! My name was called and the test begun, Tom was cool as a cucumber and even though he decided to throw in a fancy flying change across the diagonal (personally I think that deserved a bonus point), we managed to come first in our section and second highest overall individual! I was over the mood and we still have so much to give, but to be fair the test it’s self wasn’t a huge ask for Tom but what it did do is help improve our accuracy during a dressage test.

Tom Tom has continued to improve in his dressage and is proving to be quite the dressage diva! We have spent a lot of time with our dressage trainer Sonia Baines this summer; he has just undergone dressage boot camp for 5 days so has come back very much competition ready, now we are just finding which competition will be next! A lot of our training has been based on improving Toms uphill paces and working on an advanced outside, really practicing to push him through his paces and pick his entire body up. Even though Tom is using immense amounts of energy he is still having a bag of his Fulmart feeds haylage everyday along with the conditioning cubes and it really does help to make a difference, Tom is never fizzy from the haylage, he always has enough energy to keep going though!

Next we are aiming to start doing some affiliated dressage as this is our main focus for the next couple of months and also to begin competing in BYRDS. Toms dressage is good but we still have a lot to work towards and when hopefully my next blog will be as positive in results as this one has!    

Angel 

Qualifying has been tough but patience pays off for Sam

After a shaky start to the season I'm pleased to say that things are ticking along quite nicely right now. As I'm writing I'm just on my way for a very exciting experience... a lesson with the world class duo that is Tim and Jonelle Price, hoping that I can learn lots after the 4 hour journey.

After I last checked in with everyone Brahman was my next big event, unfortunately things didn't quite go to plan, with 5y/o Freddie still well out of action the two 4y/o found the whole experience a little bit much.  They both behaved well but just not as focused as I would have liked which at 4y/o sometimes you have to accept they just aren't quite ready.

With that behind us we set about getting busy with the whole team. Skipton was next on the agenda and we had a great weekend, quite a long one with competing both days but it was worth it, both Uppsalls Lorna and Dayton were brilliant.  They were both placed with not quite perfect performances leaving me with a little homework. The babies were back the following day and were all fabulous, Jasmine rode my own Houdini for the first time in competition and flew round, he's quite a big lad for such a little jockey and having only had him two weeks they had improvements to make but a good solid start. Both my own Fleur and Joanne Pullan's Charlie Harper did brilliant tests and jumped double clears to finish in the prizes as well.

The next week was the week we had been waiting for but with his final bloods due it was a little nail biting waiting to get the go ahead for Freddie to return to competition.  We had been working him quietly at home and had a catch up plan in mind if he was strong enough and he surprised us all, even the vets, with everything coming back clear and his muscle enzyme levels back to normal so it was back to business. We took him to Sykehouse for a quiet round to see how he felt and he loved it, it was like he had never been off although afterwards he was exhausted bless him, time and patience and lots of TLC was all we could do.

After a light week he headed off to his first BYEH class at Weston Lawns, he was such a good boy.  The dressage was less than perfect after he stumbled in the medium but I really felt he tried hard and he jumped a beautiful clear round.  After a long wait for the top 10 he did feel pretty tired but he pulled it out to put in a great performance and after giving me 100%. I was gutted for him to finish 4th and miss his ticket by half a mark but I was obviously thrilled by his performance and how well he coped.  It would have been a fairytale achievement for him but with more chances later on I remain hopeful.

Eland lodge and Aske were interesting events, Charlie Harper was a dude at Eland scoring his best dressage ever and showing huge improvements and flying round the showjumping and cross country to finish 5th in the open section.  Grafiba can only be described as frustrating. After doing the most beautiful test to score 18 he couldn't give the showjumping the same level of concentration, finding a demon behind a banner.  At this point I didn't know about my amazing score so happily plodded round the cross country thinking 'oh well he's only a baby and it's his first BE - we will practise more' but after his lovely clear Neil informed me of my score - he finished 3rd missing qualifying by one place, very frustrating! At Aske the following day I started to feel that I was a show jumper that definitely couldn't show jump any more! Both Fleur and Lorna did great dressage tests but both had a pole down with clears inside the time cross country; Fleur even managed to catch up to the one in front of me on the course! They both finished in the top 5, so I suppose I could use the excuse that everyone was clearly having the same problem as me.

Freddie cleared up my virus the following week by jumping another lovely round this time at Field House in the BYEH his dressage was beautiful and in a tight class where all 10  in the prizes were separated but 4 marks we finished 7th. A slight change in scenery saw Dayton head to Aintree for the Petplan Elementary Regional, he did one of the best tests he has ever done to finish 2nd.  I was early to go in the class and led the whole way to the last one to go and was pipped by .2 of a mark, obviously I was thrilled but gutted too!!! I like winning😉

An early start at Buckminster, one of my favourite events proved worthwhile. Upsalls Lorna won her section on good company and her performance was pretty faultless. She gave me the best ride all day and as all the evening riders out there know, it's not often you have a ride that makes you smile from dressage to cross country.  This little mare is growing in confidence every time out now. Freddie made his BE comeback, I was worried about him and how he would cope as he hadn't had much training and only two runs in 2016.   I thought it was a big ask going straight round the 100 but he trusts me and I know he's a jumper so I figured we should be ok. He did an awesome dressage in a tough 5y/o section to be in with a chance at qualifying.  A beautiful showjumping clear followed but a couple of time penalties cross country cost us and we finished 6th.  Sadly for us, just 5 qualified - a scenario which was starting to become the story of my life. I was thrilled with Freddie though, he tried so hard and didn't doubt me once. Dayton also won a prize in his section, he did a beautiful test but his showjumping demons caught him a little but he redeemed himself with a smashing cross country round.

 Stafford proved a very similar scenario, Freddie was very distracted in the dressage, it's not his favourite phase and although he has improved lots his imagination does tend to wonder when the white boards are involved.  His classy double clear was only good enough to finish 12th in a section which required a 25 dressage to make the top 7!! Grafiba was well in the running for his 4y/o ticket until he found the step into the water scary and decided crocodiles could be in the jump. I can forgive him as he had never seen a step in before so the trip had been an education.

Northallerton saw me start my new ride Sue Cliff's Doodle on her BE adventures.  With this event being only her second show in her life we had absolutely no idea what she would think and being only 5y/o she would either love it or hate it. She was a dream from start to finish with her dressage score of 26 to finish 2nd. Fleur was her usual confident self to finish 6th and Shelley Cleave and James Askew's Bollywood made her BE competition debut a brilliant one with Jasmine riding, it was a sink or swim approach and she definitely swam.

Ryedale proved successful and Freddie finally got his Burghley ticket finishing 2nd and this must have been all the warm up he needed to go on to Frickley and win his 100 section with a 26 dressage. Frickley was probably the best weekend eventing we have ever had.  All the horses were super consistent with all 8 winning a prize. Lorna was 4th on her section after getting reverse time penalties. Dayton finished 5th with two slow time penalties, the jockey definitely forgot how to use the stop watch! Jasmine beat me on my own horse!! Houdini won his section with a 26 dressage beating me on Doodle at her second event finishing on 27. Fleur was 2nd finishing on a score of 27, Charlie Harper finished 7th and Jasmine on Bollywood finished 9th in their sections.  To say I was proud of them all and Jasmine is an understatement, it's not often all the plans come together at once with horses, they like to keep things interesting.

We were a little disappointed that the event at Skipton this weekend was cancelled but I have to admit to enjoying less rushing round and actually catching up on a few jobs.  We did sneak off for a bit of practise to the local cross country facility with the new boy who has come to sell, Kate Musgrave's Larry.

We are still very busy but things are winding down a little now, the whole team now seems focused and they all are enjoying the routine of training and shows.  Let's hope the rest of the season runs smooth and we can enjoy what's left of the summer, with lots of lovely events coming up and all the horses feeling smashing it's looking promising.

Sam

 X

Everyone has a favourite event and our rider/blogger Angel writes about hers; Hartpury International

Well everyone it is a hot one this month! The grass continues to grow and the events continue to flow… The ground is perfect for those of you competing out on the fields this month, not too soft to slip and not too hard on the ground, perfect for clear rounds, I’m not even trying to rhyme anything either!

Summer here at last!

So what has been happening this month for us? Well, Tom Tom has been enjoying the grass very much, however he wasn’t very conditioned, and I decided to put him on the conditioning cubes, they worked a treat and he was strengthened, tones and conditioned in no time, no doubt he also had endless amounts of energy but isn’t too hot and fizzy!

No doubt everyone has a particular event they are excited to see, mine is definitely Hartpury International! How can you not like it? Every large event has an atmosphere that just makes you feel like you are at home and that is where you are meant to be. I remember going to Chatsworth international and watching as the crowd’s heads moved with the horse over every jump, I loved to watch all the dogs getting to know one and other and going on an adventure to each of the different stalls filled with my horses favourite treats… what we don’t always admit to ourselves is that no matter if you promise yourself that you won’t buy a single thing, you end up going past he perfect bridle, saddle cloth, boots, cross country colours, next thing you know you have 5 new matching outfits for you and your horse… oops how did that happen?

Loving my new Fulmart Feeds cap

Every event has its ups and it’s down, but one thing going to an event does do is inspire you to be the better you! I remember watching Charlotte at London 2012 winning the gold, that summer I spent 6 solid week doing dressage pretty much every day with no stirrups, thinking one day I could be just as good, and although I’m not quite up to that level just yet I did become a better rider for it and that summer taught me a lot. One thing everyone should do is find something that gives you that drive to want to improve and do it! You don’t have to be the best rider in the world to improve, but it’s those of you, who might not be the best, but put the best effort in, and that will eventually pay off and you will come out on top. My top tip for this summer is to make sure that every time you get on your horse, no matter how big your aim is or how small, you give you self an achievable goal and work to achieve it, the difference might start off small but soon you will see the huge difference it is making.

Angel

Ellen prepares for Frickley representing the North at the National U18 Championships

Another busy month has gone by as I have been intertwining my A level exams with the management of the two boys: Kidogo King and Fernhill Finnegan.

The main event of the month was the selection process for the National U18 Championships, where the different regions across the UK compete in both a team and an individual event held at CCIJ* level. (CCI meaning that it is held as a three day event, and 1* meaning over show jumps 1.15-1.20m and xc 1.15m). Each region chooses the best 10 combinations at Novice U18 level, with the best four scores at the end of the event counting towards a final score.

At the end of my last blog I mentioned that Kidogo and I had been long listed for this team. The long listed attended a two-day training camp at Northallerton Equestrian.  Our weekend started with a run through of the test we would complete at Frickley.  This was marked by a judge and we were given feedback to work on. Those who know Kidogo will back me in saying that he far from enjoys his flatwork and lets me know it every time we school, however, he can complete an accurate and competitive test when I ride him properly. In the sweltering heat it became very clear that my decision to avoid sun cream was a very poor one, as I still carry ex-burn marks with me now! The heat made our show jumping session in the afternoon a short one, and after popping two good rounds, we decided it was time to wash down and get out of hats and jodhpurs. During the day I showed the selectors and team coaches my plan up to Frickley, including 3x7 minute canters for Kidogo every 5 days give or take, as the course at CCI can be up to 9 minutes long!

The following day saw an escape from the sun as I had a flatwork session in the indoor school with one of the team coaches, working to improve my ability to optimise every mark -  my favourite bit of advice being, “make your first stride your best stride”. We also had the opportunity to work with the sports psychologist from Northumbria University, and talk through how to maximise performance on and off the horse.

After anxiously waiting a week I received the news that Kidogo and I had successfully been selected to represent the North at Frickley at the end of July!

My AS exams drew to a close on the 26^th June, and just 5 days later we headed to Aske Horse Trials. Both boys had rusty runs on the Novice and Open Novice. Kidogo pulled out a solid performance and although I didn't give him the best run, he still managed to finish 8^th in the Open section. 

Finnegan did a green test on the flat with some mistakes as he started to expect rein back and walk to canter, however his most mature show jumping round annoyingly did score him a pole. A gap in his training was highlighted on the cross country when we came to the last combination; a double of angled corners.  He just didn’t quite understand it and had a disappointing run out at each. I bet you can guess what we worked on in my next two jump lessons! I do think that he has now got the hang of them as he posted a double clear with his best dressage test to date in the BE105 at Northallerton this weekend, with his highest placing finishing 2nd. Only 0.1 behind the leader.  If I had been one second quicker on the cross country, and we hadn’t decided to grind to a halt when spooking at a fence judge at the last fence, then we would have had the win but unexpected spooking is a very Finnegan thing to do! 

Northallerton was Kidogo’s last run before Frickley where he did a solid double clear but had to go HC as he is now a Grade 1 horse having accumulated too many points over his 10 seasons of eventing. He did think it was intermediate when we jumped the entirety of the stream instead of cantering through it.

Next time I hope to round up on Kidogo and my experiences at Frickley and see how Finnegan performs as he goes to his PC Area eventing at Open level (BE novice) in a bid to qualify for the PC Championships.

Ellen

Ellen heads to Brand Hall International for the National Junior Championships

My name is Ellen Hobson, I am a 17 year old event rider based in York competing up to Intermediate and CCI* on my two horses Kidogo King and Fernhill Finnegan.

Coming from a non-horsey background I have built a strong team around me since I started eventing back in 2013. In 2015 I was lucky enough to find Kidogo, a 15.3hh, 15 year old, chestnut roan gelding, who is incredibly trying, cheeky and a little demanding (when it comes to food). Having moved up to novice last spring and completing my exams, I travelled over to Ireland for a few days to find young horse to ride alongside Kidogo and move up the ranks with. After trying 9 horses on one day, we brought home Finnegan, a 16hh, 8 year old, dark bay gelding, who is a very ‘quirky’ (a nice word for spooky, opinionated and an overgrown baby), bold and talented – when I got Finnegan last year he had done bits and bobs but nothing properly, and his progress over the last year is incredible.

As the BE calendar was published over Christmas, I cautiously highlighted Brand Hall International, with the hope of qualifying and competing in the National Junior Championships.  With the goal in mind I set out to achieve my qualifying Intermediate run, where I travelled from my by base in York to the Central Scotland horse trials in Edinburgh. The event started with dressage on the riverbank at the base of almost a castle on a hill. Kidogo took me around all three phases like the complete legend that he is to finish 9^th, in a section that included Ben Hobday on his Badminton ride Mulry’s Error!

Wednesday saw a full on day of packing the trailer with all our tack, the boys Equilage bales, Alfalfa and stable equipment, before we set off for the 130 mile trip to Brand Hall Thursday morning. On arrival we unloaded the boys, they had their passport inspection and then settled into their stables to munch down the grass floors. Meanwhile I took Kidogo off for a quick loosening up session before his trot up in the afternoon. I glammed up Kidogo, and changed into my trot up outfit, and trotted up Kidogo in front of the Brand Hall House. The evening saw us taking look at the one star course and giving Finnegan a cheeky peak at the arena walk around the international arenas.

Friday lunchtime saw my dressage test, excited to my tails for the second time, and to be able to do my double salute the two judges to conclude my test. Kidogo did a good test for 53.7 FEI. After his test I went for the a second walk around the one star course with Helen and then ANOTHER walk around the xc course this time around the novice.

Saturday was set to be the biggest day of them all, with the one star course to do on Kidogo in the morning and all three phases of the novice to do on Finnegan. An extended warm up for the cross country on Kidogo as unlike the usual one days, I had not jumped any show jumps prior to this. Knowing all seven of my minute markers and course in full we left the start box at pace with all to play for in the next 7 minutes and 25 seconds. Kidogo pinged around the course, eating up the ground; this horse is an xc machine looking for part D before I even turned to A.  As I came across the finish line we went into full speed ahead of wash down, studs out, cool boots on and vets on heart rate check. After about 10 minutes of cool down the vets gave the all clear for us to take Kidogo back to the stables, and have an unofficial trot up in a few hours. No rest for the wicked though as I was soon off to do Finnegan’s dressage test, where he came out little quick but settled nicely to do an improving test for 34. The showjumping followed where he completed a green but increasing confident round to jump clear. The weather started to turn from clear skies to grey as I set off across the country, but nothing was stopping Finnegan and I as we attempted the most technical course he has done. I pushed him for the time, opening up his huge stride and was to the minute until the last combination when I came with a bit too much speed and he completely ran past an incredibly skinny corner, when I represented he popped it nicely. Rather frustrating as he would have placed 3^rd otherwise, but we are better for it and will make sure I test the brakes next time!

Sunday morning started very early as I was up to give Kidogo a pre- trot-up loosening ride. After trotting up soundly we then jumped in reverse order. Having walked the course I knew the distances were long and being on a short striding 15.3 anyway I knew we would have to jump in with fight to get out on the set striding. Kidogo did not show any signs of having been cross-country the day before and jump very well, however I came in a little too strong onto the treble and double to take out the front rails.

We have had an amazing week to finish 14^th in the National Junior Championships, having learnt so much and gained championship experience.

Coming up Kidogo and I have a two day camp next weekend for the long list to be on the Northern team for then Novice U18 Championship held in July.

I'll be writing my Fulmart Blog every month so keep your eyes on the July blog for an update!

Ellen

A busy couple of months is overshadowed by the loss of a stable favourite.

I have just sat and read through my last blog and I have to say that since I last wrote I have experienced some great high's but also one of my worst low's. Things were looking fabulous the last time we caught up with Dayton on good form ahead of Badminton and the young ones seemed to be gaining form just at the right time as planned. I had a bunch of great shows on the calendar and it was full steam ahead....

Disaster struck on the morning of the BE at Northallerton.  After a successful day at Port Royal with Gea winning both her tests, we returned home to prepare three  for the event the following day. Everything was normal until the morning of the event when I reached the yard to find one of the horses seemingly with colic.  A quick call to the vet and I presumed the day would continue as planned but when I found one of the other horses off colour in the field my worst nightmare began...  as I explained to the vet when she arrived, something suspicious was going on and we both knew it wasn't going to be a quick job.  After and hour making the poorly horses comfortable and the vet doing tests while at the same time watching them deteriorate rapidly, we reached the conclusion that they had the dreaded Atypical Myopathy. We didn't have time to think about getting upset we knew we had to get them to the nearest Equine Hospital as fast as possible.  The rest of the day and pretty much the following week is still a blur; within hours the first horse had been cruelly taken from us, but we feel exceptionally lucky that the second horse survived.  We are still in the early stages of his rehab 6 weeks on from that dreadful day and at this stage we are unsure how the disease will have affected him for the future as it is such an unknown in the veterinary world - not many horses are lucky enough to survive.  When we collected him from the vets after his three week stay the vet that discharged him said he was the first she had seen in her career survive.  The statistics are scary but I would advise everyone to read up on the disease and be as prepared as possible.  It happened so fast and turned our world upside down in 12 hours. Had I known what I know now I feel I could have done more in the beginning and I will always regret only bringing one horse home, the experience will haunt me forever.

Getting positive again was really hard, all the horses that live with me are like my family and I became really paranoid about everything that was remotely 'out of character'  but I knew that life had to go on.  We had training planned and Badminton was only a week away. Even with my mind off the job Dayton put a smile on my face in our last training session at Vale View.  Our last outing at Manor Grange for BD went as planned with him gaining qualifying scores and wins in his Elementary tests.  Gea and Charlie Harper also put in great performances to win and finish second in their tests.  Everyone finished the day with a +70% score and they put a smile back on my face. So that was it we were off.....

Badminton was a pleasure, we finished 22nd. I felt I rode the dressage badly, I needed to be braver. D was a little hot in the warm up so I opted for safe and looking back I could kick myself,.  A championship is the time to ride for your life, not play it safe! He did give me a fabulous showjump and cross country ride which really pulled us up the final result.  If i'm lucky enough to get another chance I'm hoping it will be third time lucky.  

Joanne Pullan's Grafiba made his BYEH debut at Badminton.  Jasmine Watson took the reins for me only a couple of days before as my times for the Cup and the BYEH classes clashed.  She did a brilliant job to finish 3rd.  Graffi is a huge horse standing at 17hh at only 4y/o so as you can imagine being weak and gangling as well as a giant, it doesn't always make him the easiest but he tried his heart out and I could not have been prouder of them.

With my BE Novice debut at Richmond cancelled the focus was on Graffi for Chatsworth.  After missing his ticket by one place I was determined to give it my all.  As he was my only ride at Chatsworth it meant I could focus 100% in him and it paid off as we won! He gave me a super ride and really showed himself off, he is for sale as he is a little big for me to event so whether we make Burghley together we will have to wait and see.  With that out of the way there was only one place to head to... the airport.  After the events of the month I have to admit to not being sad at leaving everyone behind and heading for some sunshine with the family.  The horses had all been amazing at their respective events and they were ready for a quieter couple of weeks as well.

Feeling refreshed and with my mind back on the future I was straight back to a competition at Bishop Burton with Inola Smith's Upsalls Lorna.  The dressage was rather interesting which really disappointed me as she jumped a fabulous double clear. Nolly put it down to me not having seen her for a month and she had been enjoying lots of jumping competitions.  She has now had to knuckle back down to her training in the white boards ahead of her next run at Skipton. The following day saw Fleur T improve on her last outing to finish 6th in her Section at Shelford with a 25 dressage.  Charlie Harper made his BE debut also finishing 6th in his section.  The following day we waved off the super consistent cool dude Kelly's Star to his new home; he has been a real pleasure to produce and compete and I hope to see him out with his new owner very soon.

I have a few new rides for the next couple of months to get excited about including Bramham.  I'm hoping that everything is now back on track and even minus one of my all time favourites we can still enjoy the rest of the season and have a bit of success with the talented babies I have in the stables.

Sam 

Angel Gillott writes her first blog for Team Fulmart

So where do I begin guys… well  firstly my name is Angel and I’m now a Fulmart Feeds blogger.  Each blog will follow my personal journey through the horsey world, I will be talking about seasons, events, wins, thrills and spills, anything that will grab your attention!

Firstly, everyone knows the summer grass is coming through and we are getting to that stage now where the horses are slowing turning into large balloons as the summer grass hits, well this is what I thought would happen to Tom Tom (my horse) but turns out that’s not the case! Now most of you sitting here will think I’m the luckiest person alive to have a horse that you don’t have to worry about getting fat at this time of the year, well let me tell you now that is not the case… bearing in mind Tom Tom is 17hh TB x Irish draught and any work he does he puts on muscle and strips back the little fat he has, I thought this would be great seen as I was used to having an event pony that could live on fresh air but in actual fact it is more work than anything! You constantly end up worrying about keeping them at a nice weight and you don’t want to have to constantly bucket feed them with loads of feed and loads of grass because grass just means that when he comes in after hours and hours, his huge lips dangle from his chin and he stares at me with those sleepy eyes as if to say “mum I’m really tired and I’m going to bed, don’t even bother trying to ride me”, well this isn’t what I was expecting having a slimmer horse would be like let me tell you!

So after receiving the ‘Conditioning cubes’ and ‘Original Ryegrass’ everything changed, By using only 1 cup full of the conditioning cubs in breakfast and tea, not only has Toms coat become extremely shiny, he has conditioned his body fully and it still keeps improving, don’t tell anyone but it is a nice feeling when people ask you if you have used show sheen on his body but in actual fact it’s just the feed!  In terms of the Ryegrass, well his energy levels have improved massive amounts and I really mean it! I took him to Epworth for a nice training round ready for the BE season, dressage was fluent and calm, popped a couple gently in the showjumping warm up.  I got in the ring, the bell rang and he was so enthusiastic, clearing the jumps at 1.50m for a fast, clear round.  Soon as we hit the cross country he was cool as a cucumber and when we arrived back he had enough energy to go another two rounds.

Speetley BE100 open is next Saturday and we are so very excited, we would love to know what everyone is doing this up and coming month with their horses and if the summer grass has created and balloon pony’s around your ends!

 So until the next blog and adventure have a great month everyone and keep at it.

Angel

Dayton's preparation for Badminton Horse Trials shows early promise.

I think it's time for a little catch up again.

Things have got really crazy now at sjhorsesandponies, I've got so much to tell you all.

After my last blog we headed to Epworth to start our 2017 BE season.  What a fabulous event it was, with both horses placed what more could I ask. Dayton made it all feel easy and then my new ride for this season, Inola Smith's Upsalls Lorna, started our season together with a fabulous confidence giving run scoring a 29 dressage and double clear. I have to admit to going a touch fast cross country so getting reverse time penalties, she is just so quick and clever that I didn't even feel like we were galloping! Oops.

Lincoln was next... after Scylla D'Ouilleys (Ruby) car accident none of us envisaged her even competing this season but after the go ahead from the vet we brought her back into work and she felt as good as ever so I managed to get her a last minute entry.  The event was brilliant but the weather was freezing.  Ruby was superb, considering she hadn't even been to a show she did a good dressage to score 30 and the flew round double clear.  She is such an awesome mare and I'm hoping I can steal her from owner Rachael a little more this season. Dayton was on fire in the dressage scoring 25 but he was a touch to hot jumping as he had been on the gallops that week to get his fitness up for Badminton.  I think he thought he was in the national! So we finished just outside the prizes and with a bit of homework to do.

Next stop was Breckenbrough with my own and Neil's Fleur T (Blondie).  This was her debut and she was just fabulous.  I have to admit to having a huge soft spot for this pony and she confirmed how easy and talented she is by finishing 8th in her section.  She scored 29 dressage and had a very unlucky/green showjumping down.  She flew the cross country so she will have a quieter month now before running more in the summer period. Upsalls Lorna did another strong performance despite me making alterations to the dressage test.  She finished 7th with another double clear which was a relief as we had taken the decision to step her up a level the following week. The laugh of the event came at my expense... I forgot to unclip the air jacket, all I can say is I'm so glad Blondie is bombproof, quite literally!

I was disappointed not to get in off the waitlist with Carlensky, especially as I have entered my first Novice on her so feel I could use the run. Dayton put in a brilliant performance at Norton Disney to finish 3rd on his dressage score of 16, I'm sure I will never get to finish on a score of 16 and double clear and not be in with a chance of winning as the leader has already finished on a score of 11 - it was definitely a strong section! It was also a great day for a few of my clients, Kate Musgrave was first to get in touch to tell me she had won her first ticket to RIHS on her pony Charlie.  Kate is one of my regulars at Thornthorpe and after watching her in competition the previous week and feeling she should have won then I was thrilled with the news. Less than an hour later Carrie Pilliow informed us that she had picked up her ticket to the trailblazers finals.  It gives me as much pleasure knowing I've helped these guys achieve their goals as it does when I achieve my own.

We decided to take Carlensky mid week showjumping to Sykehouse as she hasn't been out in a while but she showed us she doesn't need the practise by winning the Newcomers with a lovely round. Kroon Freddie jumped his biggest ever track to finish in 2nd behind her.

Eland lodge was my last run with Dayton before Badminton and he felt brilliant, albeit we added a few moves in the form of walk to canters and a change in the dressage but he jumped his best ever double clear so with a few more training days planned we are feeling almost ready for the big day. Upsalls Lorna stepped up a level with ease, she scored her best ever dressage score of 24 and jumped a beautiful double clear round a very bold course, I really feel she is starting to trust me now and enjoy her job. After the 3am alarm and the fact that it was my first ever event self transporting the results were a bonus, driving and riding is daunting when you haven't had to do both before!!

Next week I head to Northallerton BE, we then plan some British Dressage and Showjumping outings before hitting the road to Badminton, I'm also taking Joanne Pullan's Kroon Freddie with us to compete in the BYEH class before he heads to Chatsworth the following week, as usual it's all stations go but that's how we like it!

That's it for now. I will write again in June.

Sam x