With Berkshire College Horse Trials cancelled I was incredibly lucky to get a late entry into Stratford Hills Horse Trials so we headed off just north of Colchster on Sunday 17th June.
 

Roxie was working very well in the warm up and I began to notice a huge improvement in Roxie's attitude and concentration after giving her some Global Herbs SuperCalm Instant sachets. She continued to remain relaxed and calm, perhaps to calm throughout her test and scored 34.5 putting us in the top 15. I was very pleased with this mark and changing her dressage bit has really helped her accept the contact better. Now I can continue to work on her impulsion but at this stage I would prefer her to be too cal than getting too tense!

With a quick change of tack we headed over to the SJ and the track was causing problem after problem with most peoplr coming out with 8 / 12 faults! I hadn't got chance to walk the distaces but they looked like they were ridig on a slightly forward stride! She warmed up really well and ou round was flowed really well. Unfortunately we did pick up 4 faults at fence 8, a fence many many others had too! With just 4 added to our dressage score we moved right up the leaderboard so it was all to play for out on the XC.....

5, 4, 3, 2, 1....Good luck! And of we went. The course was quite challenging with lots of combinations on very acute angels so it was going to be a great test for the new 'magic' bit! We set of brilliantly and took all the direct routes. She jumped brilliantly through the water and after I pushed her on up the hill to fence 15. She didn't really listen when I asked her to steady but jumped 15 well but after that she began fighting slightly and threw her head up as I turned the corner and went up the gravel slope to fence 16.....because of this she didn't see the slope and tripped! Thankfully she was very lucky and got back to her feet in no time but grazed her knee and bit her top lip so I decided to retire her there. She had jumped all the complex cobinations with her eyes closed and I didn't want to risk further injuries before Barbury International!

Thankfully Roxie is fighting fit and was completely fine this morning, no swelling or lameness :) She enjoyed a day relaxing in the field, in what we haven't seen much of.....SUNSHINE!!!

I am now starting to get incredibly excited for Barbury International as I've never been there and everyone I speak to says what a great event it is even if the XC course is HUGE!!

Pictures and video of Roxie at SHHT are now 'live' so please feel free to check them out....

All the other horses are going brilliantly as well, Dizzy is walking and trotting on the lunge with me on her now and is great when picking out all her feet....she has such a great attitude :) Tiffany is continuing to improve and is going beautifully on the flat now working towards elementary level at home. We are hoping to get her out a.s.a.p to some competitions but we are so busy eventing with Roxie and Milli at the moment! There is a video of Tiffany schooling coming soon so keep an eye open!

So, until next time,

Keep Calm & Canter On

SGEventing
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Who else is fed up with this weather? Most of you that live and work outside I guess!! I know they said we needed the rain and hose pipe bans were introduced but the 'Weather Gods' have taken it a bit too far now......eerywhere is water logged!

Due to the excess rain many events have been cancelled and Berkshire College joined that list on Thursday, which is our 3rd event so far this year to be cancelled due to the weather! This was going to be my last run with Roxie before Barbury International and eveyone I have spoken to about Barbury have said that the XC course is BIG!! I desperately wanted to get another run in as she has only had one run in the 'magic' bit!! As soon as I heard about BCA being cancelled I ran inside and managed to get a late entry into Stratford Hills Horse Trials, so we are now off to Essex on Sunday instead! I just hope this one doesn't get cancelled too....

Just to give you all a quick update with how the other horses are going:
Milli is working very well at the moment and we are preparing her for the BYEH at Barbury IIternational in a few weeks.
Tiffany is continuing to improve both on the flat and over jumps. We have been doing quite a bit of grid work with her and Milli which is really helping them. Hopefully we will get Tiff out to competitions soon!
Dizzy is being a little sweetheart! She was quite 'wild' when she came and didn't like her back feet / legs being touched! After just a few days she was letting us brush her legs and pick out her feet brilliantly. She has now started the 'backing' process and is already lunging and long-reining with a roller on!

SGEventing is now completely up and running and I am being kept incredibly busy teaching, many new Clients as well as riding horses for them :)

Check back early next week for an update on how Roxie goes at Stratford Hills, with pictures and videos, well providing the event doesn't get cancelled because of the damn weather..............

So, until next time,

SGEventing
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Keep Calm & Canter On

After our control issues at Tweseldown I spent a small fortune on a new bit which I was hoping would answer all our questions.....and.....I am pleased to report that the 'magic' bit worked wonders!

We arrived and my mum and sister got Roxie unloaded whilst Max and I went to walk the XC course. The course looked good, it was up to height and very challenging! Particularly fences 11 and 12 which were two off set skinny houses, and I was going to wait and see how she was going as to whether I would go the direct route or circle in between, but more on that in a bit......

First we had to do our dressage, or stressage should I say! Roxie warmed up realy well and I was hoping to do a great test. Unfortunately the aren I was the furthest arena, nearer the XC and the SJ so as soon as she heard the tannoys and saw the XC she tensed up a bit, GREAT! She did settle down during the test but the judge had already taken a dis-like to Roxie! We thought her last medium track was great but the judge scored her 5 and commented "running" We scored 41.5 which put us mid-field.

I have jumped her twice at home in her new bit and she seems to like it! After watching a few SJ I got Roxie tacked up and went to warm her up. She was jumping well, so in we went. Roxie jumped really well and listened to me, which is what she didn't do at Tweseldown, so this was a huge inprovement!!! We did pick up 4 faults, which I think might hve been the wind  as I didn't hear Roxie touch the pole!!

With a quick change of clothes and boots on Roxie we set off for XC. I was really looking forward to this part as it would be a great test to see how well this bit would work. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO.....off we went at a great pace and Roxie was really responding well to everything I asked her. She came straight back when asked and popped through all the combinations making it feel incredibly easy :) I decided to go the direct route through the two skinny houses an fences 11 and 12 which rode really! Roxie listened to me and let me set her up on the perfect line and put in a forward one stride between the two skinnies! She finished well and took quite a bit of stopping....I think she could have gone round again!!

Once I had Roxie all sorted out we went to look at the scores, we got 6.4 time faults. This was one of the fastest rounds in my arena so I was pleased as I did a bit of testing with the new bit! Had I allowed her to gallop inbetween all the fences we would have made the time easily! The 'magic' bit works...YES :)

I was chuffed with how well Roxie went at Eridge and I know she can go so much better in the Dressage, so i'm not too bothered about that! Our next run is Berkshire College and this will be our last Novice run before we make to move up to Intermediate!!

For more pictures and a video from Eridge please check out Still Learning's Gallery page.....

After Berkshire College we are at Barbury International on the 28th and 29th June with both Horses....Roxie will be doing the ROR IN Event and Milli will be doing her first BYEH $ year old class! So, so excited for this event that i'm counting down the days :)

So, until next time,

SGEventing
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Keep Calm & Canter On