It has been an incredibly busy time of year for the team at MJ Eventing, hence the slow blog update! I shall start with the exciting news of introducing the newest member to the team; Levi. He is a 14.1hh new forest pony that I will be bringing on over the next few weeks. He has a super sweet temperament and I am looking forward to seeing his progression!
Levi
Back on July 20th, we travelled (incredibly early!!) to Farley Hall horse trials which was a new event for me. Elvis was a very good boy in the novice with a much improved dressage score of 36.3. The show jumping track had a few tricky combinations with a triple bar to planks on a related distance and then a strong treble uphill. Unfortunately we just had the first part of the double down but otherwise clear. I was confident going into the cross country because I thought it was a course that should really suit him. As he is a big horse, the bold, galloping course suit him the best. The bogey fence on the course seemed to be fence 5 which was a big open ditch with a brush behind, this had the person in front of me off and the person following me! Luckily Elvis flew it with no hesitation and round the rest of the course. Three fences from home I looked at my stopwatch to see I was well inside the optimum time so I actually slowed down to the finish so not to incur time penalties for going too fast! We finished just outside the top 10 so it was a very pleasing day.
Nigel Goddard from KSDigital Photography captured some cracking photo's of Elvis and I through the water complex which can all be seen on my Facebook page.
Farley Hall | Brighton Rock II
After Farley Hall, it was hectic at the yard preparing for the Hickstead Derby meeting. I jumped Elvis and Skip at Hickstead but I also was riding Twiggy and the other horses throughout the week as well as preparing for Rackham horse trials which was on the Saturday of the Derby meeting. For the first time I had a go at jumping Elvis in the Foxhunters (1.20m) at Hickstead which was a big step up for us! I am so proud of how far we have come together in the last year and a half. On the Sunday I jumped in the Novice speed derby in ring 2 which was SO much fun! It included walls, banks, ditches, skinnies, gates and water trays. Elvis totally nailed the bank to rail combination perfectly! We had a couple of fences down but the experience was brilliant. Skip just jumped in the 1m classes at Hickstead as it was her first time at the show and she is still very inexperienced! It was a very good learning curve for the both of us as we are still getting to know each other. I love going to Hickstead, and now being based there and being able to just hack over to the rings is a real privilege and makes life so much easier! It was lovely to spend the week among family, friends and owners.
Hickstead Derby Meeting | Skip To The Beat
Loving my gear (Shirt, belt, saddle, saddlecloth, bridle and breastplate) which can all be found at Arka Equipe.
On Saturday at Rackham I had Skip To The Beat and Strike Up The Band in the BE100. Skip had a new experience of doing her dressage directly next to the cross country with people screaming which she was not too sure about! She then went on to jump well but unfortunately struggled with the distances resulting in a couple of un-characteristic poles down however she was super cross country inside the time. I was very pleased with Twiggy's dressage and she scored a 30.8. I did not feel Twiggy however was quite right jumping, she was not jumping like her usual self. Afterwards, we found out she needed some adjustment to how she is shod as it did not suit her. Fingers crossed she will be out and about very soon!
And finally to bring you up-to-date, this weekend we were at Brightling International Horse trials. I had the most fantastic weekend and I can't thank everyone who helped me enough. On Saturday afternoon, Bridget (Skip's owner), Edward and I headed to Brightling in East Sussex for Skip in the BE100. Considering she is still technically 5 (not 6 until August) she behaves like she has been doing it her whole life. We had perfect weather conditions and Brightling has beautiful far reaching views over the countryside. She warmed up for the dressage very relaxed. I am now beginning to work out exactly what is the best way to warm her up and that is actually not doing too much! 15-20 mins suits her. She did a very nice test and was totally focused. We just made one mistake, she just broke at the end of the first canter before the marker but I was very happy with her test. We scored 32.3 and the best was only 29.8! Bridget and I then walked the cross country; I thought it would be a test for Skip with lots to look at and understand. Needless to say, I needn't have been worried as she then jumped a perfect double clear and inside the time. She was so confident cross country, it is like we have both just clicked together and she trusts me. I think her hunting with Bridget in the winter has really helped her be bold across country. Our efforts were rewarded with 4th place, meaning we have qualified now for the BE100 Blenheim eventer's challenge and gained a regional final.
Brightling International | Skip To The Beat
Straight from Brightling, Edward and I made a dash back to Warninglid in West Sussex for my best friend's Summer party before she leaves for travelling in the next week. The day ended perfectly around close friends. Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long as the 4.30am start was looming over us!! The alarm was definitely not welcome on Sunday morning but the thought of taking Elvis to do his first CIC* was very exciting! My dressage was at 8.56am so this meant getting to Brightling at 7.30am. This wouldn't have been so bad if my show jumping was not until 5pm! The weather was miserable, none of us had come prepared for the rain! We only had shorts and shoes with us! Elvis and I did our test in the worst of the conditions and this meant the judges had their windscreen wipers going bananas! We had a couple of hiccups in our test but overall I was actually pleased how he went. Our score was a little disappointing but for our first one I wasn't too disheartened. After warming up in the lorry, I couldn't wait to walk the cross country so I set out on my own (no-one else wanted to go out in the rain!!) in mum's mucker boots, shorts and some ripped waterproof trousers- this was all I could find!! The course was long and with lots of hills, combinations and three water jumps! The last water had an enormous drop in, even Pippa Funnell walked up behind me and said, 'That's a big drop for a 1*!'. I know Elvis likes Brightling but nothing could prepare me for the round to come later. Somehow, we managed to pass the hours by until my show jumping, talk about a lazy Sunday! Obviously our practice at Hickstead had paid off, as he jumped a near perfect round but such a shame he caught the last part of the treble combination as the distance was just a fraction too short for him. I changed quickly and we went straight to the cross country. All I can say is he was totally AWESOME!! I have sorted my braking issues out and now we were flying! After my round I couldn't stop thinking how much I wanted to go round again! Coming up the last hill I had a minute to go on my watch and I knew we could make it. He ate up the ground and we stopped the clock 5 seconds under the optimum time the finish line. We finished 24th out of 74. Very happy jockey!
I feel very lucky to ride these two lovely horses and I am really enjoying progressing with them up the levels. Huge thanks to Sue Bunn and Bridget and Martin Lyne for letting me ride them.
A full album of photographs taken by my sponsor, Nigel Goddard from KSDigital Photogrpahy and my (talented!) boyfriend can be seen on Facebook.
Brightling International | Brighton Rock II