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***
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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 We have been very busy and had quite a few things going on over the last week or so as Diaz returns home and Roxie and Milli pick up great results at our first indoor jumping competition as the winter shows begin. Diaz was very pleased to see me weekend before last when I went to collect her from Liphook. She has responded very well to the treatment she was given and is looking much more like her usual cheeky self. She has 10 days left of rest before beginning to do some walk work. Hopefully she'll be back out competing soon Roxie and Milli had their first indoor competition last weekend and I was a little unsure how they would both react to competing indoors as Roxie hasn't competed indoors for almost 2 years and Milli hasn't either for the last 18 months! The weather wasn't great last Sunday and when it was raining, it was very load on the roof which they didn't like to start with but they both jumped very well. Roxie was first out and she jumped a super speedy double clear to win the 90cm open. As she jumped so well, I thought we would give the Discovery a bash. I wasn't sure how confident she would be jumping the bigger fences as she is very aware that it hurts if she hits a fence with her knee following our fall. We jumped clear in the first part of the course so went on in to the second part of the course for our jump off. Roxie continued to jump very well, she tapped a few of the bigger fences but nothing fell resulting in us picking up our first Discovery double clear. As I didn't push her for speed in the jump off I didn't think we would be placed but turns out there weren't many double clears and we were the fastest of the double clears to win this class as well. With a quick horse change between showers Milli was first to jump in the 1.05m Open class. She jumped a lovely round, with a speedy jump off to go into the lead.....yes I know we were first in but we did manage to hold our lead right to the end and went on to win the class! As Milli has been jumping well in our lesson recently and feeling much more like her normal self we entered the Newcomers as well. We went quite early in the class and Milli jumped another super double clear. I didn't push her in the jump off as we are looking to pick up our four double clears to gain qualification for the second rounds so didn't want to risk an unlucky pole after a tight turn! There was plenty of entries in the Newcomers so I got Milli untacked, both Roxie and Milli booted up and back on the lorry before going to grab something to eat whilst watching the last few jump. I was very pleased to find out that we had finished in 5th place. I couldn't be happier with how they both jumped, 4 classes, 4 double clears, 4 placings and 3 of them were wins! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures or videos of us in action as I went on my own, so please find attached pictures of our prizes and them enjoying a well earnt couple of hours in the field once we got home! SG Equestrian
X ***Keep Calm & Canter On*** Roxie and I had another stay away show, this time it was the NAF British Riding Club National Championships. Back in July we qualified for the Senior Jumping & Style section at the Area 10 qualifier held at Felbridge Showground. After much thought I decided why not, lets go to the championships and see how we get on! I was amazed that Roxie had won the qualifier as although she is a very smart and pretty looking horse (biased I know!) but her style over a fence has never been that great, she has her own way of getting from one side of the fence to another and after many years trying to change this I accepted we couldn't so we would just have to try and improve it best we can! After the clear round after clear round she has been jumping recently I was quite hopeful so after a morning of packing, riding the other horses and bathing Roxie we loaded up and set off........to Lincolnshire Show Ground, yes LINCOLNSHIRE!! My satnav was saying 4 hours 35 minutes so I was hoping it wasn't going to take us much longer than 5, 5 and a half hours tops - how wrong was I! The motorways were very busy and we came back to a standstill on the motorway where ever the was traffic joining and /or leaving! After almost 7 hours driving we finally made it there and parked up. Roxie had to have her vet check before I could find out what stables we were in. It was quite windy in the field which all the horses were finding quite exciting, apart from Roxie she stood, or should I say posed whilst the vet checked her over. We were then given our stable number and luckily Roxie had been given one of the permanent stables :) It was a great stable actually, on the end of the front block and she had a lovely view out across the showground and could see all the rings! After getting Roxie settled in her stable and grabbing a drink I decided to tack her up and took her for a ride around the showground to stretch her legs which she enjoyed. We wandered over and had a look at the ring we would be competing in the next day and then headed back and settled Roxie down for the night and she tucked into her dinner very happily! Waking up the next day it was raining, in fact it had been raining since about midnight and being in the lorry with a flat roof I hardly got any sleep due to the rain on the roof!! The rain continued and after accepting that I was going to get wet that day I got myself sorted, mucked Roxie out and started to get her ready. Our time was 11.42am and with the class starting at 8am I was hoping the ground was going to hold up well as Roxie is still barefoot behind. We tacked up and headed over to the warm up and had timed it to perfection as after warming up we went straight in to jump our round. We had to stand in front of the judges box to start with and Roxie was a little bit tense so fidgeted a bit, we then had to go off and do a little show for the judge, showing them a bit of walk trot and canter on both reins until they ring their bell and you can then begin to jump your round. Roxie quite liked doing the show as she got to show off her party piece movement - her medium / extended trot! The bell went and we began our round. Roxie jumped a really nice steady round for me and listened to what I was asking of her (for once!). We finished the round and Roxie's run of jumping clear rounds continues!! I was very pleased with how she had jumped despite the rain and slippery ground. I took her back to the stable, got her sorted and then headed back to the lorry to start packing up....driving home was not something I was looking forward to, especially as I was very wet and cold! After sorting the lorry out I headed over to look at the scores. We picked up a respectable score which I was pleased about but unfortunately we did pick up 5 time faults which pushed us out of the top 10 placings. I wasn't too bothered as I was very pleased with how she had jumped and I didn't want to push her any faster and risk her clipping on the ground. On looking at Roxie's score sheet after, I didn't totally agree with the judges comments - they has suggested I do a little more grid work at home to get the horse to use their back more and bascule over the fences! As mentioned previously Roxie style of jumping is unique and there is no changing it, especially not now she is 15 years young bless her! Back to the box I went, took Roxie for a leg stretch (she wasn't too interested in walking around, she just wanted to get in the box out of the rain as quickly as possible!) and then loaded Roxie up and began our journey home, hoping and praying that the rain hadn't caused any accidents on the road! Exactly 5 hours after leaving Lincolnshire we arrived back home in Kent, luckily the traffic hadn't been too bad for us and on a positive I had finally dried out a bit I got Roxie unloaded and settled back in her stable for the night and headed home to get some well earned sleep myself! Please Click Here for more pictures and a video from our time at the Riding Club Championships!
SG Eventing X ***Keep Calm & Canter On*** I hope you are well and had a great bank holiday weekend. We certainly did with 3 great days away jumping with Roxie and Milli at the Weston Lawns Bank Holiday Bonanza! Now where do I start?! Maybe first I should suggest you go a grab and cuppa and a few biscuits as this may be a long read.....I hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed our time away! We didn’t have a great start, we had only got a few miles down the road and we were already held up as a land rover had rolled and collided with a dust bin lorry which put us 20 minutes behind already! Needless to say the traffic didn’t get much better to be honest, most junctions on the motorways were busy but then again I guess it was always going to be busy with people going away for the bank holiday. After a rather hot and stressful journey we finally made it there, all-be-it 2 hours after we had planned but we had got there. With the light fading my mum and my brother, Oliver were starting to put their tent up whilst we got the horses settled into their stables for the night, although someone had put their horses in two of our stables which meant our 4 horses were all split up which they weren’t happy with to say the least! Thankfully the organisers at Weston Lawns managed to sort it out for us and they were all together and tucked up in their stables for the night. It had no got rather late so once we’d had a bite to eat, showered we all headed to bed and it has to have been one of the coldest nights I can remember for a long time in my little lorry.....heating needed before our next stay away! Day 1 - Saturday 27th August The girls looked very pleased to see me in the morning as they didn’t settle that well, they aren’t used to staying away from home that much so it was all a bit out of the norm for them. We got the day of to a good start with Roxie jumping a lovely double clear in the British Novice in the main ring. I later realised that the later part of the course was timed so without any tight turns we missed out on a placing but at least we got our second double clear. As Milli hadn’t settled very well I decided to jump her around this too as a confidence booster. Things couldn’t have gone more to plan and she jumped a super confident and speedy double clear to win the class! There was >70 competitors in the class so I was very pleased with Milli’s win and Roxie finished in 20th place too so things got of to a great start. After a short break whilst the course was changed I was back on Milli and jumping in the Discovery. I was planning to jump a nice steady round as we still have double clears to pick up at this level this year to qualify us for the second round next year. Milli was jumping a great round but we had an unlucky pole down as we headed back towards the gate towards the end of the course, Milli took her concentration of the fence momentarily and looked across into the warm up (think she was trying to find her horse friends!) and she just tapped the top rail. After an afternoon in the stables I took them out for a nice walk in the evening which they very much enjoyed and it seemed to help relax them a little for the night. Day 2 - Sunday 28th August Milli was first to go today, jumping in the main ring again and this time we were going straight in at the 1.05m National Amateur Qualifier. Milli still hadn't settled that well and the whole time she was away from the stables she was looking around trying to see any of her friends! Because of this we picked up an unlucky 8 faults for two fences down. Roxie was next and this time we were jumping in the Weston Arena. First class was the 85cm National Amateur Qualifier class, rather small I know but Roxie hasn't ever done much showjumping anyway and after her accident I just want to take her out and let her enjoy life and have some fun. Have some fun was certainly what we did and after clearing the first part of the course the handbrake came off in the jump off and despite missing one turn towards the end due to Roxie going a little too fast, we finished up in 6th place! Staying in the Weston Arena for the rest of day 2 and Roxie was to jump again, this time in the British Novice. There hadn't been many clears when I went in and my main aim is to collect our four double clears for British Novice so I went in planning on jumping a steady double clear. After stepping up the speed in the last class, steady was off the menu for Roxie so I put her to the test a little bit and after jumping the first part clear we put in some quite tight turns and Roxie took on the challenge well, completing the round clear and we finished in 3rd place......two double clears, two placings, all in one day - this is un-heard of for Roxie showjumping! Milli was jumping in the last class in the Weston Arena on day 2, the Discovery. Having not jumped in this ring before with Milli I planing on a nice confident round for her and she jumped a great round for me. Like the morning though, every corner we went round she was busy looking where her friends were as opposed to at the jumps. This caused us to pick up another 8 faults which was a little frustrating, but on the positive she was jumping confidently at least. Day 3 - Bank Holiday Monday - 29th August After starting to get things packed up in the morning as we would be driving home later on the Monday, Roxie was first to jump and again we were in the 85cm first off and Roxie jumped another super double clear, yes - still no poles knocked down!! We finished in 3rd place in this class which I was very pleased with. The classes in the main arena that day had >70 / 80 competitors in so Milli's first class wasn't going to start until well after lunch. Roxie jumped next in the British Novice in the Weston Arena and I thought I would see how fast we could go and how tight we could turn, Roxie was more than happy to answer and she responded with VERY fast and I can do tight turns too mum! She jumped another super speedy double clear! At the time I didn't realise how everyone else was jumping in this class and had to dash off and get Milli ready for her class. I later found out that Roxie had finished the competition how Milli started and we had won the British Novice! Milli was entered in the 1.05m Memorial Trophy class in the main arena which seemed to be a very tough course, with very few clears! We went in and after Milli being a little unsettled to start with her concentration was solely on me today which was great. She was jumping a great round but we did unfortunately pick up 4 faults at the second to last fence, she must have tapped it so lightly as I didn't hear her hit it but it fell which was very frustrating. As she had jumped so well I entered her in the next class which was the Newcomers but despite getting everything packed, stables emptied, lorry loaded it had got to 4pm and they still hadn't done the mounted prize giving for the 1.05m class so I had to withdraw as it would have made our day incredibly long with the 4 /5 hour drive home left to be done! Thankfully the drive home was much better than the drive there and we arrived home just after 9pm. Got the horses tucked up in their normal stables, which they were very pleased to see, the lorry locked up as unloading and cleaning that was a job for Tuesday! On reflection, although Milli's results didn't look great on paper, I was very pleased with how well she jumped, very confidently and there wasn't any stops or hesitations.....hopefully I have got the old Milli back! Over the next few months with Milli I will try and get my remaining Discovery double clears before April 2017 and we have also qualified for the 1.05m National Amateur Second Rounds which are towards the end of the month and into October. What can I say about Roxie, we were all and still are amazed at how well she jumped! She loved every minute of it and her face lit up every time she was taken out of the stable to be tacked up. My aim with her now is just to let her have and enjoy a slightly quieter life on the competition front. she is never going to do what she did before our fall and I am so lucky that she is back jumping again so we are just going to have fun at the lower level now. We had a weekend at home last weekend but Roxie and I are back out competing this weekend at the British Riding Club National Championships at Lincolnshire Showground.....hopefully the drive up on Friday isn't as bad as our drive to Weston Lawns! #wishusluck
SG Equestrian X ***Keep Calm & Canter On*** Things have been a little quiet over the last few weeks or so on the competition and riding front as I broke the bone in my right hand and dislocated the knuckle by my little finger! It didn’t hurt at much to start with so I just kept my last two fingers taped up (my little finger was sticking out at a funny angle and getting in the way!) but after 10 days like this I eventually gave in to my work colleagues and went to get in x-rayed to find out there was a spiral fracture! Luckily I only had to have it taped and not a cast so I was already doing the right thing to help it heal! I tried my best to take it easy but still rode too much no doubt! Anyway back to last weekend and it was great to have Roxie and Milli out together again and thankfully this time they remembered how to behave, well, sort of!! Roxie was first to go and despite Milli calling from the box and scrapping her front foot she was very leased to be out jumping again and jumped a lovely clear around the British Novice. There wasn’t many jumping clears but two of us went through to the jump off. As this was Roxie’s first British Showjumping show I didn’t want to go too mad in the jump off as I’m keen to get her double clears. I did get a little bit carried away and pushed her on between fences faster and kept my turns quite tight! Roxie responded very well and listened to what was being asked of her which is a first when it comes to showjumping! We finished our round and won the class by 10+ seconds when we listened to the times so I was thrilled! It may only be little but when we were so close to loosing her just over 2 years ago, I never thought she would be back out competing again so I’m so pleased with any results we get now! Please Click Here to view more pictures and a video of Roxie and I. Milli was next and she has slightly re-deemed herself from her cheeky behaviour when we last jumped out at Felbridge. Milli jumped a lovely double clear around what seemed to be riding as a rather tricky Discovery track to win. We were the only combination to jump a double clear! We just have 1 or 2 (I must check) double clears left to collect for Discovery now and then we will start to jump and collect double clears for Newcomers! Please Click Here to view more pictures of Milli and I. I have a bit of a weekend off this weekend as we have a friends wedding on Saturday which, providing the weather is nice to us, i’m sure will be a great day! We have SJ training booked in for an evening next week as well as some more competitions over the next few weeks so will keep you updated with how we are all getting on as always :) I had a long weekend, with Friday off work which was nice, although it was a busy day with shopping and competing at the Kent County Show. I had been asked to ride a young horse belonging to Mrs Marietta Fox-Pitt in the Young Sport Horse Show class. Sandy is a 4 year old race horse who raced for the first time last year and is getting her career of to a great start with good placings. We took her to Kent County so she could gain a bit more competition experience. To start with she found it all incredibly exciting and performed quite a few acrobatic displays.....good job I'd put my 'sticky bum' jods in, keeping me stuck to the saddle thankfully! As the class went on though she began to settle and performed a nice individual show. Sandy did a very nice trot up for the judge.....I think I looked quite entertaining at this point 'sprinting' along next to her! By the end, Sandy was standing quietly in the line showing how much she had learnt from the whole experience. We finished in 4th place and received lovely positive comments from the judge and had she behaved slightly better she would have been much higher up the placings which was nice to hear. We were all very pleased with how she did though. :) Saturday was a day at home, getting Roxie and Milli ready for the Riding Club Area showjumping Qualifier at Felbridge the next day. This was a competition I was very much looking forward to, more so on Roxie's side as this was her first competition back out jumping since our fall which was two years ago.....how time flies. Roxie and Milli haven't been out to a competition together since our very long day at Tweseldown back in June 2014, where poor Milli ending up standing on the box for some time whilst Roxie was being looked at and stabilised at Bell Equine! Anyway, back to the competition at Felbridge, and Roxie was first to jump. We were doing the senior jumping and style qualifier, where you have to do a short show before hand to show the judges a bit of trot and canter on both reins before they ring the bell and you can begin to jump your round. As I was travelling there it started raining which made me slightly anxious as Roxie is still bare foot at the moment and didn't want her to slip on the grass. She felt happy on the ground in the warm up so in we went and did our individual show bit which I'm sure Roxie enjoyed and then began jumping our round. The turn from fence 1 to 2 was very tight and we had a bit of a near miss and slipped as we made the turn. Roxie recovered very well and went on to jump a really good round and CLEAR! It wasn't very big, only 85cm but with Roxie's injury to her knee I know she isn't going to go out and do what she did before hand so my main aim for her now is to take her out and enjoy doing what she is still able to do. We had to wait a little while for the scores to go up and when I looked they were all very tight with marks ranging from 66 to 70! I was over the moon when our score of 82 went up, Roxie had won!! This means we have qualified for the Riding Club National Championships in September which is rather exciting! For more pictures and a video please Click Here! Following the prize giving Milli was next and she wasn't the usual Milli that was for sure! I'm not sure if it was the excitement of being out with Roxie that got the better of her or going somewhere new as she hasn't jumped a Felbridge since she was 4 years old and the main ring is lower than the ground around it, with a big lake type bit in the middle so it can be quite daunting. Milli just got a bit anxious and felt like a four year old again! Possibly because she hasn't been out competing for the last year, so I have now decided to back off with the bigger classes and take her out to jump some Discovery height classes so she finds it easy and enjoys it.
SG Equestrian x ***Keep Calm & Canter On*** Last weekend we had a busy day at the yard catching up on all those jobs that get 'forgotten' about and then on Sunday I went to Pachesham Equestrian Centre for one of their British Showjumping shows. I have never been to Pachesham before and have to say it was a lovely venue and very easy to get to so will be returning :) The first class I did was the Discovery and on entering the arena Milli was a bit spooked by the big pillars you walk through to enter the arena plus there was a lot for the horses to look at and although Milli has competed at International BE events, thinking about it she hasn't had much experience in smaller arenas, especially were there is lots going on around the arena.....worth noting when ever we go somewhere new. Putting this aside, we started our round and she was going great guns, a bit too forward really as she took off a stride early for fence 4, spooked which resulted in her chipping in one tiny stride! As I had already gone forward slightly, as she chipped in another stride she then sent me flying - literally!! I came down on her neck / head as we landed and Milli being cheeky Milli, very helpfully 'not' put her head down on the landing depositing me on the ground in front of her! As i got up and looked at her face i'm sure she would have been laughing out loud if she could! All the years I've been riding, i think this has to be the first time i have ever been 'jumped' off! Putting this behind us we went back in the arena to jump the 1m05 class and she jumped a super stylish double clear to finish in 5th place. There was one turn which we didn't do which cost us a few places but as it was only her second competition back out jumping in almost a year it is more important to me that we jump some good rounds at this stage, any prize money is always a bonus though! Please Click Here to view more pictures as well as a video of our round. (unfortunately there was nobody there to video my involuntary dismount in the Discovery class!) I did have a fantastic lesson on Milli Wednesday evening with David Pearson-Smith, she was jumping out her skin as you can see from the picture attached.....a 1m45 triple bar felt like 95cm :) Her technique is really improving too and David is getting excited about how far she may go! I have a quiet weekend on the competition front with the horses this weekend as it is my boyfriends birthday and my sisters 18th birthday on Saturday so we are having a BBQ / pool party - fingers crossed the sun shows up!
Next Friday I will competing at the Kent County Show on a mare called Sandy who is a beautiful roan / grey racehorse owned by Marietta Fox-Pitt. We are doing a young sport horse class which I am very looking forward too. Then next Sunday we have the riding club area 10 SJ qualifier for the national championships which I have two horses entered for, but am not entirely sure who i'm taking yet! I hope you have a lovely weekend and catch up soon! SG Equestrian X Keep Calm & Canter On*** I hope you are well :) Just wanted to give you a quick report following the rather busy weekend we had out competing both days last weekend! Diaz was first out and on Saturday we headed up into Suffolk to compete in the BE100 at Stratford Hills BE Horse Trials. This is a great event, the team behind it make it such a friendly and enjoyable day out! On arrival Diaz had a leg stretch and a drink before I went off to walk the XC course ter getting Diaz, or us both 'prettied up' and ready for dressage I headed over to the warm up. Diaz was nice a quiet at the beginning of the warm up but there was quite a few swallows around the field and they seemed to be getting quite angry and started swooping around all the riders in the field which Diaz didn't particularly like and she wasn't the only one! We went in and she performed a nice test, she is getting more consistent each time out which is great. Although she was a little tense due to the birds in the arena, we picked up a new PB mark for our dressage as we scored 31.0. I was right in thinking it was a consistent test, our marks ranged from 6.5 to 7.5 so although no fancy high marks they were consistent which is the main thing so now we just need to work on making those 6's into 7's and those 7's into 8's and we'll be picking up scores in the 20's.....fingers crossed! We had relatively close times so with a change of tack I headed over to the SJ warm up. We timed it perfectly, popped her over a few jumps and in we went. The SJ course had been causing slight chaos with not many clears and quite a few stops so I went in putting all this out of my mind and Diaz jumped a cracking round! We did unfortunately pic up 4 faults at the first part of the last combination, which was right by the commentator's trailer so maybe her concentration wandered momentarily as she just tapped the top pole. On to XC and it was a testing track for Diaz but she has run confidently around the two over BE100's we have done so I was hoping for a good round. We set of jumping the first few fences very confidently and didn't mind jumping fence 2 which was light into dark we entered the wood. As we left the wood fence 4a was a decent sized drop down fence (also in the novice!) and fence 4b was a skinny barrel type fence just 2 strides away. Diaz jumped off the step very boldly, perhaps a little too boldly as she pecked as she landed on the stony ground and despite both our best efforts to continue over the 'b' fence, with it being so close we kind of ended up on top of it unfortunately. I checked Diaz over, circled her round and she jumped the fence very confidently on the angle. She absolutely flew the remainder of the course and popped strait off the double steps and over the flower bed fence towards the end of the course without hesitation so she didn't loose any confidence which is most important. She galloped up the final hill really well to, pulling all the way to the finish line. Despite our issue at fence 4 we only picked up 7.2 time faults so she would have been well inside the time! To view more s of Diaz and I along with a video please Click Here! I was very pleased with how well she ran and it was just very unfortunate for her stumble on the XC course, getting all three disciplines to go right, on the same day is always a bit of a challenge, but Diaz is one to learn from situations like this so roll on our next event! After a rather long drive home from Suffolk, Diaz got turned out for a few hours in the field to have a leg stretch which she enjoyed. I on the other had still had some jobs to get done on the yard and horses to ride that evening. Once I was all sorted, horses tucked up in bed and my tack all cleaned ready for the next day, I went to bed myself! "Zzzzz" The next day I woke up before my alarm despite the long day the day before, might have had something to do with the excitement of taking Milli out competing maybe!? Milli hasn't been out competing for about 10 months, in fact since Hickstead last year! We headed over to Cobham Manor for a British Showjumping show there as we are going to concentrate on her showjumping for the time being as she appears to be rather good at it! Although she has been training over rather big fences I entered the 95cm open, just so she could have a play around over a smaller height and also as I wasn't sure how she was going to behave as she has been known to have the odd excitement overload previously! Not that I needed to worry, she was almost on her best behaviour and jumped a lovely clear around the first round and just had an unlucky fence down so 4 faults in the jump off due to a little buck between fences on a related stride! I was pleased though, as after this pole down I decided to test her turn ability and did a super tight turn to a double of uprights, which she took easily in her stride which was good! After a little wait between classes we were back in the ring, this time jumping in the Discovery as we are trying to pick up our discovery double clears, before jumping bigger tracks so we are ready for next year's second rounds! She jumped a faultless round around a track that was causing plenty of faults, in fact we were the only combination to jump a double clear so went on to win the class! I couldn't have asked for more from her on her first trip back out! To view more pictures of Milli and I out jumping along with videos of each round please Click Here! With Diaz and Milli both on great form and Roxie ticking over nicely (she's next out on the 10th July at a style competition!) I can't wait for the next competition with each of them!
Until next time, SG Equestrian X ***Keep Calm & Canter On*** Just wanted to give you all a bit of an update after we have had quiet few weeks on the competition front but have been busy training and I have also been doing a few non horsey things which makes a nice change. All the girls are going very well at the moment.....long may it continue! Diaz, Milli and Roxie have all been out for some jump training over the last few weeks. All of them jumped very well in my lessons with David Pearson-Smith as you can see from the pictures :) Weekend before last we had a non-horsey morning as I was invited down to the Kent Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance site in Marden, which I was quite nervous about. I saw the air ambulance land at a horse competition held at Chilham Park a few years after my accident and it was a very emotional yet un-explainable experience. As we arrived I started feeling a little bit shaky and then when I went round and saw the helicopter I started crying.....not something I do very often! The doctor and paramedics said that this is completely normal. The sight of the helicopter brings back memories to your brain, even if you don't remember what actually happened that day, your brain does apparently! It was a very interesting day and we were chatting to the doctor and paramedics working there that day for about an hour. I was being quizzed well and truly and they found it very interesting finding out what I could and couldn't remember from the day of my accident and also how my recovery has been since. As we were talking about my accident, the pilot came over and he asked when it was, February 2010 was my response and he looked in the book and said, "17th February?" Turns out he was the pilot that flew me to the Royal London Hospital and from what we had said he remembered the day. He was part of the amazing team that saved my life!!! Just as we were about to go out and see inside the helicopter they were called out, so as they like to be up in the air within 4 minutes of receiving each call, they were very quickly up in the air and off they went! Last Sunday I took part in a 5KM colour run which was organised by the KM Charity Group and we could choose the charity to raise funds for. I obviously chose to run for the Kent Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance and managed to raise a whopping £640 which I'm so pleased about! HUGE thank you to everyone who very kindly donated as this charity means a lot to me! I completed the run in just over 22 minutes and was first lady to cross the finish line out of the 600 starters (500 adults and 100 children). I was chuffed with my self and although I know 5KM isn't a huge distance to run, when I think back over 6 years ago and with my injuries it was unsure if i'd ever walk again let alone run and do all the riding I do I gave myself a good pat on the back for completing it! I'm actually enjoying doing a bit of running again and despite damage done to my back and pelvis I'm coping better than I thought so who knows I may even do some more....10KM next maybe :) As you can see from the pictures there was definitely a lot of colour during the day and I think all runner were very grateful for the glasses provided before the race began! I love the action shot of me running through the colour dust! We have a very busy weekend ahead as I am planning on being out competing both days! Saturday we are off to Stratford Hills Horse Trials with Diaz for another BE100 run and then Sunday I'm hoping to take Milli to Cobham for the British Showjumping show that is on.....wish us luck! Hopefully I will have a good report for you next week :)
SG Equestrian X ***Keep Calm & Canter On*** |
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January 2020
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