First of all I am delighted to announce last Tuesday I passed my LGV practical test so now have my LGV licence. Ellie and I then headed back to Lancing on Friday to complete the course with the module 4 CPC training and test which we both passed with flying colours. This means we are now both fully qualified LGV drivers!! That is a huge weight lifted off my shoulders now it is all done and completed.
Jasper, the pony who we have had in for schooling, has been going very well. His lateral work has improved and he has become a lot more uphill since his topline has strengthened. We were visited by his owners last week who were very pleased with his progress and are looking forward to the Summer ahead with him.
The weekend was then taken up by two competitions with the smallest and largest GG's of the yard, the first being Munstead Unaffiliated for Sam's debut event. I was very excited to take him as he is so much fun to ride and a truly lovely pony. He pulled out a very good test with a 34.5 which left us lying in the top ten after the dressage even though we had a slight miscommunication cantering down the long side (remembering this is only his second ever time in a grass arena!).
We then had a while to wait for our jumping, but he took it all in his stride and was so relaxed the whole day like he had been doing it his whole life. I was absolutely over the moon with his show jumping, first time jumping on grass and he jumped a beautiful clear round giving everything oodles of room! He has really started to flick out behind and is so neat over a fence. We changed and went straight to cross country. He set out the start box with not a single hesitation and flew round the course well inside the time to finish on his dressage score and in 3rd place. Not a bad first event!! He is most definitely a superstar in the making and has the most perfect temperament to go with it.
A full album of pictures from the day can be seen on my Facebook page.
After a successful day we returned home, I finished the riding at the yard and we re-packed the lorry ready for Hambledon International on Sunday with Elvis. With very civilised start times of 3.30pm for my dressage we did not have to leave until midday. This meant all the yard was done and all horses ridden before leaving which is always a bonus especially as we would be home late because my cross country was not until 5.50pm. We arrived in plenty of time to allow a good length of time to warm up for my dressage and find our way around. This was my first trip to Hambledon and I really liked the venue and the way it was run. Everything ran to time and they even had electronic live score boards which meant no waiting around for scores! Much to my relief Elvis was much calmer this time out and did a respectable test to score 35.8. Overall I was pleased with his test, especially his leg yields and free rein walk which were very good. Mum, Ellie, Edward and I then set off to walk what was a very tough Novice track. The first water came up very quickly and then you set off round the woods where there were numerous skinny fences, drops and a lot of steps! At the second water I planned to take the straight route over the log drop into it. We ran back to the lorry with only 20 minutes to my show jumping time so it was all hands on deck getting Elvis tacked up and ready to go. I have now fine tuned Elvis's warm up with Ellie for the show jumping. It involves minimal jumping, literally just doing 3-6 fences as this way he stays focused and does not get over- excited. I had watched the course and there were very few clear rounds and the fences were quite spooky! I have become a lot more confident with my show jumping and I rode the course very positively. This was rewarded with a clear round! I am so pleased Elvis is now showing how well he can jump as he is so capable.
I set off on the cross country as the event was starting to quieten down as it was getting near the end of the day. Elvis was flying round and had so far jumped the fences I thought would be tricky until we got to a very skinny brush before the second water complex. The approach was round a tree after a long gallop and I think for this reason Elvis locked onto the fence just a bit too late so he glanced past it. I knew it was definitely not him being naughty as he is usually so good with skinnies. I quickly turned around and jumped the alternative brush (as I had knocked down the flag from the skinny) which he popped over but this meant I had to take the alternative at the water down the step. This didn't matter, he jumped straight in no problem at all. We finished the course with no other problems, he is very good jumping cross country and totally loves it! As I had to circle I incurred quite a few time penalties but I was very pleased we had got round as it was only his fourth Novice.
Nigel Goddard from KSDigital photography very kindly got some photographs of me going through the bluebells on the cross country all of which can be seen on my Facebook page. Huge thanks to Ellie, Edward, Mum and Sue Bunn (Elvis's owner) for all their help and support over the long weekend as without them it would not be possible!