What an exciting week that has just been!
On Tuesday afternoon I took Sam and Joss cross country schooling at Coombelands in preparation for their hunter trials over the weekend. Both were very well behaved as expected and jumped everything first time. I am very pleased to have Mum back riding again, she helped me warm Sam up whilst I took Joss round the course first to save time. I am enjoying being able to hack out with Mum again back at the yard which I have not been able to do for a long time.
Thursday brought about the first competition of the week. By far my favourite Hunter Trial of the year, and one that I have been doing since I was about 6 with my ponies. Stonehall Hunter Trial is a proper hunting style course with hedges, ditches, numerous drop fences and is probably one of the longest covering about 10 fields! I had three fabulous clear rounds starting with Sam in the Open Novice course. This was the first time he has done a course on his own and it was only his second hunter trial. Absolutely nothing phased him in the slightest and he merrily cantered away out the start box. My second round was on Joss in the Open Pairs which I did with Ellie and Twiggy. We had SO much fun and a right giggle going round. This was the first time Ellie had done the pairs and it was down to me to be SAT NAV (purely because I was the only one to have walked the course!). Rather proudly we came 3rd as we were 1/3 of the only clear rounds! Very kindly Bridget Lyne brought Skip for me to jump round the Open to the world class at the end of the day. Skip gave me a wonderful ride round in a very mature manner. I was unsure how she would cope with all the varying terrain and unusual fences but she took it all in her stride and as ever, jumped amazingly.
Click this link for a snippet video of Stonehall Hunter Trials.
Back home for a very quick turn around (and a lot of tack cleaning) to re- load the lorry for Somerley Park International Horse Trials on Friday with Elvis. After the cancellation of Goring Heath we re-routed to the extra day at Somerley Park which they had very kindly added on to the event. By 7.30am Friday morning, all morning stables had been completed and Elvis (along with companion Sam and co.) were on the way to Somerley. Mum, Ellie and I travelled in the lorry whilst we were followed down by Sue and Edward in the car. We arrived in perfect timing to be towed in by tractor (always a good start) but at least the rain had stopped! The ground conditions were not fantastic but the ground team at Somerley had done a fantastic job to keep the show on the road and actually the course rode very well. Unfortunately I had the second fence down show jumping as Elvis was having a good look at the spectators but he then did jump very well. Cross country I had another fabulous ride and we cruised round inside the time and were one of a handful to do so thanks to my new stopwatch! I was worried about the jump to the water but in the end I had no need to be, as you can see in the video he popped through it easily. Having no time faults meant we climbed up the leader board to a respectable 8th place. I was delighted for Elvis to finish in the top ten in his second Novice and pleased that the last minute entry had been worthwhile. Click here to watch my show jumping and cross country at Somerley Park Int.
The cancellation of Goring Heath also meant that on Saturday we could do Munstead Hunter Trial with myself riding Sam and Edward riding Joss. We went round the 80cm pairs and jumped a clear round making that a 100% clear cross country strike rate for the week. Edward rode a fantastic round for what was only his second ever cross country. It is lovely to be able to help and watch Edward progress with Joss as it is nice for the owners to enjoy their horses as much I as enjoy riding their horses. Mum much to my amazement got quite a decent video of our round at Munstead which I will be adding to my YouTube in the next couple of days.
After Munstead we were back in time for the arrival of a new pony. 'Jasper' is a 5 year old Connemara that has come to MJEventing to help progress his education, especially on the flat. I will look forward to working with him and seeing how he improves. If you would like your horse or pony to come for training please do not hesitate to contact us.
Finally to finish off what was a very long week, on Sunday evening I was treated to a lovely hack up the South Downs to finish the Easter weekend. Nothing clears your head and prepares you for a new week more than cantering through fresh air with peace and quiet!!