I can't believe it is December next week.....where has 2016 gone?! It won't be long until I start writing my review blog of 2016 and although it doesn't feel that long since I wrote my last one, there has been a lot that has happened so I'm hoping it will be a good read! Back to last weekend and I was out with both Roxie and Milli jumping at Blue Barn Equestrian Centre. With Roxie jumping the first two classes and Milli jumping later in the day I knew it was going to be a long day! Entries were big with 45+ in the first class and 30+ in the second class! ![]() Roxie was on top form, even though she was feeling rather fresh and slightly mad, she jumped brilliantly again! Roxie jumped two lovely double clears in the 90cm Open and the Discovery. She not only won the 90cm Open but she also won the Discovery class as well! In the Discovery we finished a mighty 6 seconds ahead of 2nd place, which coincidentally was Milli! Roxie has picked up 2 double clear now, just two to go for Discovery second rounds. Think she is loving all this jumping. Talking of Milli, as mentioned a moment ago she finished 2nd in the Discovery jumping a nice double clear, which I think means we have now picked up all four double clears so roll on the second rounds in after April next year! Milli then a little gap before the next class as after she has been jumping so well in training I'm now aiming to jump some bigger tracks with her. ![]() After missing a class it was the Newcomers and Milli jumped a super round but unfortunately we did pick up 4 faults at the smallest fence on the course! Because of this I decided to jump Milli in the 1.15m Open, which although not huge, is the biggest we have jumped affiliated before! At nearly 4pm, after being there since first thing I offered to help set the course and along with the fantastic helper who was with me, Rylea, we moved the fence numbers so you would have thought I would know the course well?! Unfortunately that wasn't the case and after jumping fence 9, which was the first fence of the jump off and was also fence 1, I continued on the dog leg towards fence 2, only to realise at the last minute that fence 10 was to the left of fence 2! I had to circle round to re-approach fence 10 which upset Milli a little causing us to have an unlucky fence down! I was very frustrated with myself and felt like I let her down as I'm sure she would have jumped clear without my mistake! As they say, we all learn from our mistakes......remember the course!! #sackthejockey Please Click Here to view more pictures and a video of Roxie's winning rounds. Please Click Here to view more pictures and a video of Milli's super rounds. I am so pleased with how well Roxie and Milli are both going and we're not slowing down just yet, we still have a few competitions planned before Christmas for them both as well as some between Christmas and New Year! After these competitions and the festive period I think they will be having a small well earned rest! I have been back on Diaz again and it felt great to be sat behind her fluffy little ears again! Lack of daylight hours isn't in our favour at this time of year but I have a few days off work over the next few weeks so looking forward to getting as much riding in as possible.
After a few busy weekends competing we are having a nice and quiet weekend at home! Although the horses will be having a nice weekend, with the festive period fast approaching I suppose I'd better start my Christmas shopping.....wish me luck! SG Equestrian X ***Keep Calm & Canter On***
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We had a great weekend out competing last weekend. It was the Area 10 Riding Club Winter Intermediate SJ Qualifier. Roxie was entered and after a last minute withdrawal from the second team I subbed Milli in to make up the team. In the first round 3 out of the 4 team members in Roxie's team went clear so we went into the second round on a team score of 0. In the second round 3 our of the 4 team members jumped clear again so we finished the second round on a team score of 0. Roxie had jumped two super double clears so as well as a team placing up for grabs we also had an individual placing to play for. ![]() Out of all the teams entered, only two teams had finished on a zero score. The other team jumped off first and only one rider jumped clear so we knew if we played safe and went for clears we could win the team competition. Me and Roxie were first to go and Roxie is getting the hang of the SJ malarkey now and she knew it was time for a jump off! As soon as she landed over the first fence she turned so I decided to up my game and go for it! Roxie flew around the rest of the course jumping a cracking clear and picked up a fast time too. The rest of the team jumped brilliantly with all 4 members jumping clear in the jump off so we knew we had won the team competition which has qualified us for the Intermediate Winter Championships which will be held at Bury farm next April, 2017. ![]() Both myself and Georgia Davey were in the running for individual placings as well as the team win. When the individual results came out I was delighted to find out that Roxie and I had won and Georgia had finished in 4th place, very impressive considering she was riding a friends horse she had only ridden once before! Milli also jumped some lovely rounds, clear in the first round and then we were very unlucky to have the last fence down in the second round. After the bigger tracks Milli has been jumping recently she didn't back off that much but it was a good confidence booster for her to go out and have some fun. The rest of the team I was in with Milli jumped well and just a few baby mistakes and poles left us out of the placings. All in all it was a very good day out and this is the second championship Roxie has qualified for......April next year is going to be a busy month! We have the BS Blue Chip Winter Championships at the beginning of the month and then the Riding Club Winter Championships towards the end of the month! Please Click Here to view pictures from the day out as well as videos of all our rounds.. To finish of the weekend I had my first sit back on Diaz last Sunday and she felt great and was very happy to have me back on top. She now has a few weeks of walk work ahead of her but I can't wait to crack on and get her back out competing with the other two. 'No rest for the wicked' as they say and after a busy week at work, a SJ lesson Wednesday evening, we are back out competing again next Saturday, this time at Blue Barn which will be a nice change after the last 3 weeks of competitions being at Duckhurst. Roxie and Milli are both again aiming to pick up some more of our British Showjumping double clears.
Hopefully there will be another positive report back next week.....wish us luck! :) SG Eventing X ***Keep Calm & Canter On*** ![]() We were out competing last weekend with both Roxie and Milli! We went to Duckhurst Farm for a bit of show jumping and they both jumped very well. Roxie was first to jump and we were doing the Horse Quest UK Novice Championship Qualifier, as well as 50 plus other competitors! This was clearly a popular class with everybody waning to qualify! Roxie jumped a super clear round for me getting us through to the jump. 24 riders in total made it through to the jump off. I was drawn quite early in the jump off and people were going for it so we went for it too, handbrakes off! After all I had nothing to loose! Roxie responded very well and went well into the lead after jumping a super fact clear for me. We held this lead right up until the last competitor who was fractionally faster than us resulting in us finishing in 2nd place. I was very pleased as with this placing we have qualified for the Blue Chip Winter Championship Finals held at the fantastic Hartpury Arena in April 2017! Please Click Here to view more pictures and videos of our rounds. on Roxie's Gallery page! ![]() After a few hours on the box due to big entries, it was Milli's turn to jump. We did the Discovery class aiming to pick up our last double clears at this height. I didn't go silly in the jump off part of the course as didn't want to risk a silly 4 faults. Milli continued to jump a lovely round picking up our 3rd double clear....just one more to go before April for second rounds I was planning on jumping in the Newcomers on Milli but due to being there from the start and by the time the Discovery finished it was gone 3pm and as we had been there all day I swapped Milli's entry to the 1.05m open. We put on our 'meaning business boots' and Milli jumped a super speedy double clear to set a speedy time. After un-tacking Milli and loading up to go home I headed over to hear the results. We finished in 2nd place, 0.3 or a second behind the winner! Please Click Here to view more pictures and videos of our rounds. on Roxie's Gallery page! I was very pleased with how they both jumped considering Roxie had a bit of time off a few weeks back due to 'playing' a bit too close to the electric fence and Milli is jumping in not much more tack than a headcollar! Milli is being ridden in an English hackamore at the moment and she is loving it, the extra freedom she gets has really improved her way of going and her jumping. The steering took a bit of practicing but after a few weeks of work she responds so much more to how I'm sitting and my position, so much so if I move a little too much she turns very quickly! Very beneficial in jump off turns and it clearly showed at Duckhurst!
I am hoping to be back out this weekend with Milli, again at Duckhurst probably. Then Roxie will be out next weekend competing in the intermediate winter SJ qualifier for the riding club along with other members of the Royal Oak riding club. SG Equestrian X |
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January 2020
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