Sponsored Rider Phil Brown writes about his first competition abroad.

Hi and welcome to my first blog as Fulmart Feeds new sponsored rider. I am very proud and excited to have the support of the company and will be keeping you updated on my progress throughout my eventing season.

Firstly let me tell you a little about me. I am an event rider and BE Development Coach based near Scarborough presently eventing a team of 4 horses up to 3* level and coaching riders in all disciplines both individually and through regular clinics.

We have just got home from a week away at Ballindenisk International in Ireland with my top horse Miss Brodie, or Jules to her friends. It was my first time competing abroad and only our second three star competition. With the class being the Irish leg of the Nations Cup series, we were in some very competitive company and our goal was to achieve another qualifying run towards future three stars and if I dare to dream, four star. We managed our qualifying score in the dressage phase, something Jules does not find naturally easy due to her excitable nature! Her jumping phases are her strong suit, however, we had an unfortunate two fences down SJ going through a double as she was a little feisty but she was really jumping out of her skin. The XC was a big, bold track but I needn’t have had any worries as she absolutely flew round four seconds inside the time, being one of only five combinations to achieve this.

I have always fed my horses on Fulmart’s Equilage range whilst competing at stay away events. However, like many horses Jules can go off her hard feed whilst staying away from home. I recently switched onto Fulmart Feeds’ Chillout Maintain nuts and she has eaten really well all week which I am sure contributed to her performance.

All eyes now move to Bramham in early June as this is our main aim for the season and has been a lifetime goal for me. In the meantime my other rides will start or continue their seasons.

I look forward to updating you again next month.

Phil

Sam plans for the summer and an exiciting new ride lands some impressive dressage scores.

I can honestly say I have had a fabulous month with the horses, slowly everything is getting back up to speed and my confidence is growing again. I have been trying to focus more on training and homework which has paid off when we've taken the horses out to competitions.  All have jumped clear or scored well in the dressage arena putting everyone in the prizes!

 

Last time I wrote we were just heading off Parklands for dressage.  My pony Fleur T was a superstar, with the work we had put in her scores went up a massive 6% and she finished 2nd in both her tests and gained two qualifying scores.  Overwater Emi made her first British dressage appearance and gained two 4th places.  This little horse is growing in confidence and is going to burst onto the event scene pretty soon.  My next outing was with my gorgeous new ride Billionaire Z thanks to Moss Farm Stud.  I was apprehensive at riding him at first having never competed a stallion before but he has been a true pleasure.  He is a real credit to his breeders and his owners and all I can say about his performance in the ring is.... outstanding! At his first ever BD competition at Epworth he won a class and was 2nd in the other with a fabulous 75%.  Less than two weeks later on an outing to Manor Grange he scored 75% and then went on to score my highest ever score in a registered competition with 78%.  To say I adore him is an understatement and I am so excited for the regionals with him, he has his Prelim points now so we will be stepping him up on our next outing.

 

This month also saw me start the event season ahead of Badminton on Dayton.  The week running up to Breckenbrough kept us all on our toes as my leg started to play up . A trip to the hospital showed that it's not quite right so with D's owner on crutches after a skiing accident and me limping along things weren't looking good.  After plenty of painkillers and some merriment the night before (at D's owners 50th birthday) we made it to Breckenbrough and... won!!! He went superbly well to win his section by a clear 8 points after finishing his dressage on a score of 22.  Even with the owner and jockey each on one leg plus a blow out on the M62 on the way home our spirits were high!  We were supposed to be heading off to Eland Lodge for our last run before Badminton but true to form the British weather put the brakes on that and the event was cancelled.  So now our next stop will be Badminton. We plan to do plenty of training and dressage before then as he also needs to gather his points for the BD regionals, its quite daunting to think that next time I write it will all be over!

Showjumping has been on the back burner with most of the jumpers doing fitness work but I have made my first appearance with Zaronda this month.  She jumped a great double clear and felt great. Gott You J made his first registered appearance a winning one, I didn't take the reins on this occasion as I didn't feel it was fair with his inexperience to only have me with one balanced leg so my good friend James Askew took the ride and did a fabulous job. My stable star Ebolensky is coming back in this week to start her fitness program so I'm looking forward to getting her back in action and I'm sure she will be feeling very refreshed after her break, and like me ready to be back on the road.

I have also had my first ride on my new young ones; Henley and Houdini who have been broken in and are very exciting prospects.  I'm not sure on my plans for them yet -  it's been a little tricky to make decisions where to go with this pair as I have been told that I need more work done on my ankle.  I am booked in for another operation in the near future although no definite date has been set yet.  Thankfully my surgeon has told me that its not a major task and I'm hoping it won't keep me out of the saddle for to long.

April is a very special month as we celebrated Charlie's first birthday, I cannot believe that a year has gone so fast.  He's now started nursery and is loving everything and anything he can get his hands on.  I have to admit to the yard is very quiet when he's not around although I do get twice as much work done!

It's also been good to see all the people I coach doing so well, they have all been out in their chosen spheres winning prizes and having a good time.  I love getting updates, pictures and videos from them all keeping me up to speed on how they are progressing. All being well next month promises to be very interesting, there are lots of nice shows to look forward to and I feel that I have the best bunch of horses to ride I have ever had.  Despite some setbacks I'm feeling as ready as ever now to get going.

Watch this space...

Sam

Lincoln Horse Trails gets Herbie's season underway.

Spring is definitely my favourite time of year, the weather is starting to improve, the nights are getting lighter, everything's a bit more green and...It’s the start of the eventing season!!

Following our winter of dressage and then a fab skiing holiday (or two!) it was time to knuckle down and get ready for our first event of the season. We headed to Lincolnshire Horse Trials with Herbie and decided to enter the BE100 (a level lower than we were competing at in the second half of last season) as I always get a bit rusty over winter and I think it's good to get a nice confidence giving run under our belt.

Lincoln Show Ground is known for being quite open and a little bit spooky in the dressage so I was really pleased that Herbie behaved impeccably to score a very respectable 28.5 meaning we were lying 2^nd after this phase. He hasn't competed on grass since the end of last season so it was nice to see his maturity.

Next was the showjumping, it's in Lincoln Show Ground’s main ring which is really nice but gives them plenty of chance to spook! Again, he was really grown up and just had one daft fence down which was entirely my fault!!

Finally was the cross country. This year stopwatches have been allowed at BE100 so I decided to wear mine as it's good practice for the higher levels. Well...it is if you remember to set it off!!! I think we were a bit over excited at the prospect of getting out the start box and I totally forgot! Herbie was a dream the whole way round and never missed a beat. Unfortunately it meant we were too fast and ended up with 7 REVERSE time faults!!!

These additional faults dropped us down to 14th but I was really pleased that he came out fresh and keen and happy to back out doing what he loves. We're entered in the novice at Breckenbrough and Belton before aiming for the CIC* at Chatsworth in May.

In between our eventing prep we have also been out dressaging and with a win and a 3^rd we now have qualification for the Summer Regionals at Elementary. Whilst we were competing at Northallerton we bumped into Up With The Lark (who was actually competing in the arena next to us at the same time!), he is the dad to our next foal who is due in May and I even got a cheeky picture of him! 

Lucie