We had yet another great weekend out evening with Milli, this time at Goring Heath BE Horse Trials. We were entered in the BE100 and we were planning on this being our last run at this level....so we wanted a good run!

We had pretty early start times which wasn't so good....you know your out on the yard early when it's still dark outside!! Being out so early also made me realise that many of the lights bulbs need replacing as it was still pretty dark once I'd turned the lights on!!!!! Haha, another job to be added to the to do list.....

 Anyway, back to Goring and as soon as we got there I set of to walk my XC course whilst mum and Sophie took Milli for a walk round and put her studs in. As always the XC at Goring is very technical and up to height, but I felt Milli was ready for the challenge :)

Dressage was first and I have been riding slightly differently on the flat with Milli recently. We have been trying a more 'workman' like approach to our
flatwork and I am pleased to say it is working and the judge commented on what a  confident picture we portrayed :)

On to the SJ and it was up to height with many related distances but Milli just makes it feel easy. If anything, I think she is finding it a bit too easy now as
we picked up an unfortunate 4 faults when she forgot about her back legs over a spread as she was too busy looking at the surroundings!! Not to worry as after
this she jumped brilliantly though and at the end of the day she is still a  baby, but it is nice to see how quickly she learns from her mistakes!

Now the fun bit, even Milli knows this is the best bit as we jogged over towards the warm up and whilst warming up she kept having the odd little buck and squeak to herself......odd horse!!! Due to the hills and undulations at Goring it is normally quite hard to get inside the time so I set off quick and meant business! The course ran backwards to how it has run for many years which seemed  to make the time slightly more achievable. Milli absolutely flew round, taking all the direct routes, including dropping off the step into the water, and came home clear inside the time! :)

I was chuffed with how she went and I have now plucked up the courage to move her up to Novice level! I have been discussing it with mum for quite a few weeks now as she is showing how much potential she has but I don't want to over face her so early on in her event career. However I have now decided that she is ready to move up, so she is entered in the Novice at South of England which is going to be an educational outing for her preparing for this level next year, so lots of training to be done over the next few weeks.

For some more pictures and a video from Goring Click Here. 

Until next time,
SG Eventing
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Keep Calm & Canter On

Apologies for the lack of Blogs over the last few weeks.....I've been very busy at home and at competitions with some of my Clients however the very few competitions I have been to with my own horses they have been producing some great results.

Lets start with Chilham BE (2) Horse Trials at the beginning of August. Milli was competing in one of the BE100 sections. The hard work on her flatwork has continued and is really showing changes now and thankfully the judge agreed with us and awarded us with a super score of 32.0 (68.0%). This put is in the top ten after dressage so it was al to play for.....

Milli jumped a cracking SJ round with nothing to add to our dressage score of 32.0 so we couldn't wait to get out on the XC course. It is a big technical track at Chilham and as they say 'a great last BE100 track before moving up to Novice level' so it was going to be a challenge for Milli being only 5 years old but something I felt she would cope with!

Milli went on to prove how much she is coming on and learning as she produced a super clear round inside the time which meant we finished on our score of 32.0 which, once we'd sorted Milli out we were informed that we had finished in second place! This was our best result to date and we were very pleased to be contacted by Horse & Hound after the event about our 'Home-bred hero' (see below).

For more pictures and a video of each discipline at Chilham please Click Here...

The next few weeks after Chilham I was very busy out at competitions with both my sisters and a few Clients who all produced super results, including many individual and team placing plus best dressage scores out eventing too :) WELL DONE GUYS!!!!

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We were competing in the 5 year old qualifier section and it was our last chance to qualify for the young horse championships....Unfortunately we didn't manage to gain qualification as competition was very high but once again Milli performed amazingly well for yet another placing.

Lets starts at the beginning, things really weren't going to plan to start with, the traffic was chaos with many traffic jams along the way which resulted in us arriving at 20 minutes AFTER my original dressage time!! Thankfully the organisers allowed me to go last which was greatly appreciated but the section ended in 15mins time so I ran to grab my numnah whilst mum tacked Milli up and managed to put one stud hole in each foot for me whilst I quickly got changed. I jumped on trotted over to dressage and they were waiting for me so in we
went......I had a quick canter around the arena before the bell to start. Considering the circumstances Milli performed a super test for me and we scored 35 which put us mid field.

I then ran round the XC course and it looked to be riding well but it was up to height and there was many tricky combinations with skinnies, corners and
angled fences. Before this though we had to tackle the SJ and when I passed a fellow competitor leaving the SJ arena I asked how it was jumping.....'like a
demolition derby' was their answer.....great!!!!
 We had a nice warm up and Milli felt great.....her small feed of Hickstead Horse Feeds sports mix after dressage definitely gave her a bit more energy!! She continued to jump really well and we did a lovely clear which there were very few off!! 

I had a quick change and we were down in the XC warm up waiting to be called to go. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.....off we went and Mill was an angel, once again jumping a
super clear inside the time which meant we finished on our dressage score of 35 and in 6th place! I was chuffed to bits with how she went considering we didn't have a great start to the day!!

For more pictures from Firle please check out Milli's Competitions Gallery page...

Next outing is this Saturday where we're competing in a BE100 section at Goring Heath Horse Trials. Providing this run goes to plan then we are hoping to finish the season off with a run around the Novice track at South of England International.  It will be an educational run for Milli as she now feels ready for the next step up.

Keep checking back to see what's up next and results from Goring Heath next weekend too.

Also I am holding a XC clinic at Bonfleur XC Course, Maidstone on Saturday 14th September and still have a few spaces left so if you would like to join us then please Contact Me a.s.a.p. too book in.....

Until next time,

SG Eventing
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Keep Calm & Canter On