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