Roger that. But before the season drew to a close the last few months were jam-packed! I had a fantastic day training at Attington EC with Skip as part of the BE training series, 'Mark Todd Bridging the Gap'. The morning involved dressage 'test riding', so we chose the test we wished to practice and Gill then judged it like a competition and we then went through it and re-did anything that needed work. I felt like Skip and I learnt so much in this session and it was a great opportunity to ride through our 2* test and be critiqued. The afternoon then consisted of jumping. We walked a course with Gill and talked through our lines and tactics. We then took it in turns to jump round and again, review what went well/ could be improved. Skip jumped super and we went away filled with confidence.
In September we had to say a goodbye; 'Silken Dawn' found a lovely new home and we all wish her the very best with her new owners. She was a talented little mare with huge potential!
Aside from the eventing, I am very busy schooling and training many horses every week all around the county. One in particular I have had the pleasure of riding is 'Woodlands Be Classical' aka Onyx owned by Lily Furber. Lily asked me if I would take Onyx out to some competitions to re-gain her confidence. We took her to her first combined training at Felbridge at the end of September where she exceeded expectations to produce best dressage of 27 with a clear show jumping to take top spot and our first red ribbon together!
A couple of days later we made the decision to re-route Skip to Little Downham rather than Dauntsey Park after the very wet weather and Dauntsey being on clay. Luckily it was the right choice as the ground was perfect at Little Downham and even though it was blowing a hooley Skip very much had her 'down to business' cap on. As I watched many other horses cavorting around the warm up with the wind up their tails and freshly clipped, I took a moment to appreciate how wonderfully calm Skip is in testing conditions. She has a great head on her shoulders. She felt great in the warm up and I was determined to ride a 'brave' test and really go for it to see what we could do. The test felt amazing and she didn't put a foot wrong. Really really pleased with the leg yields, simple change and medium trot/ canter which have all improved enormously. It was one of the proudest moments in my career to say the Skip finally got BEST DRESSAGE, the only one to score below 30 with a 27.1 in the Intermediate. I knew she had it in her and I was delighted to finally break the 70% barrier! I was kicking myself after the show jumping as I did not gain a strong enough canter into the first fence resulting in one down - totally my fault. However it seemed a big track and Skip was clear the rest. We waited a while in the XC warm up as we seemed to be a long way down the list. Skip casually plodded round on a long rein whilst we waited; Bridget asked me if she was ok! I said, "Of course, she is just saving her energy". When it was our time, I was right. She was in that start box like a racehorse in the starting stalls. She loves the XC so much! Another incredible clear, inside the time meant she narrowly missed the top spot for 2nd place. She is very special with a huge heart.
Skip To The Beat | Little Downham Intermediate
Tweseldown marked the end of the season for some of the troops. It certainly was a weekend of highs and lows! On the Saturday, Elvis and Hurley were competing in the BE90open section. Elvis scored a 28.3 dressage and yet another double clear (he has not lowered a single coloured pole all season!) to finish an amazing 2nd! A great debut season for this little guy who has turned into a superstar. Hurley produced a much improved dressage that I was really pleased with, scoring second best dressage of 27! So pleased to have improved the dressage so much after just one event. He then jumped a lovely round show jumping but unfortunately having now found the 'forward gears' we had a little steering/ braking issue XC - nothing that something more than a snaffle won't cure! Other than that, he tackled a very tough track that a month ago or so I wouldn't have been sure we would have got round! Very much looking forward to next season with him.
On the Sunday, Des and Dunny were competing in the BE100. Yet again both scored below 30 in the dressage (Des 26.5 and Dunny 21.3) making it 4/4 this weekend! Des (despite being a little opinionated in the dressage) actually jumped a stunning double clear and really listened to me. He finished 3rd in his section! Silly me picked up 0.8 time faults XC as we were cruising along having a lovely time! In his debut season he has also established himself as a successful event horse. Dunny had scored best dressage when going into the show jumping, where we jumped 3/4's of the way round the course before the unexpected happened. We jumped into the last double where there was two strides but for some reason no-one really knows why, something went wrong and Dunny and I parted company on the way out! Both ok and lived to fight another day! Luckily Dunny has nothing to prove and we just put it down to 'c'est la vie!'. She's another one to have had an amazing season with 4 wins!! Although not a perfect result on paper, all the horses went really well which is all I can ask for as they are not machines.
Another little trip to Felbridge with 'Woodlands Be Classical' who pulled out another best dressage with 27.5 and a clear show jumping to land herself another red ribbon! Talk about consistency!
To draw the season to a close, we had a very exciting trip down to Aldon International in Yeovil for Skip's first CIC**! With storm 'Brian' attacking it was touch and go as to whether we would be able to compete. Mum and I set off early on Saturday morning driving through the very worst weather we have had all season. The roads were quite literally turning into rivers in front of our eyes and the wind was so strong over the hills of Wiltshire. My Mum was hero to get Skip there so safely, especially for a long distance trip! We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to still see patches of 'green' grass and we managed to get in and out without being towed- bravo to Aldon Horse Trials! However... the dressage warm up was not so green... in fact it was just a mud bath rugby pitch. This was another moment I thought to myself, thank goodness Skip does not need hours warming up and can pretty much go straight into her test! I just about managed to have a couple of trot and canter transitions up the verge - don't we just love the Great British weather! Luckily it wasn't so bad in the actual arenas although the tracks were a little holding. Yet again Skip did me so proud and tried her hardest. This was by far the hardest test she has ever done with half pass, walk pirouettes and canter serpentine's. I was so annoyed at myself afterwards when I realised I had halted a bit late on my last halt transition, it was meant to be at 'I' but the 'G' was mown and for some reason I rode for the mown bit! I won't make that mistake again... Luckily it did not ruin our mark too much and we managed to hit our target (score below 50 FEI) with a 49.7 FEI! This left us in the top 15 over night out of 76. This was Skip's first ever stay away show and she coped like a super star, taking it all in her stride. We had a lovely dinner that night with her owners, Bridget and Martin Lyne at the hotel they were staying at down the road. Mum and I pulled the short straw in the lorry and I can honestly say I did not sleep one bit in that storm!! All I could hear all night was the rain hammering down on the roof and panicking about the roof taking off Skip's stable! I rushed out in the morning to make sure she was ok and much to my relief she had eaten everything up and was totally chilled. Unfortunately after all the rain, the SJ warm up did not play to Skip's strengths and she disliked the going very much which unsettled her. However being a tough cookie she pushed through and I went in the ring just hoping for her to have a confident round. She actually jumped super in the ring, just clipping two uprights very lightly where I perhaps over- rode as I was worried she would get a bit 'stuck' in the going. A positive outcome. Over lunch I was worrying about the going XC but I thought to myself I hunt all winter in horrendous mud and I never worry about it! With that I pulled myself together and off we went. Skip flew round like a rocket. She may only be small but she sure packs a punch! It was absolutely exhilarating and she jumped impeccably. We stopped the clock on 00.00 and clear jumping. Although she makes the time so easily, a lot of it comes down to the trust we have in each other and she always knows what I am thinking and is constantly looking for the next fence. It is amazing how much time this saves when the horse really wants to do it for you. She was 1/4 inside the time clear XC which moved her up into 14th / 76- yet again in the prize money this season having been places in all her starts this season. She has proved so much and we are all incredibly proud of her. Such an amazing way to finish the 2017 season!
I finished this British Eventing season in 7th place in the 'league of riders gaining the most foundation points' sitting close behind the likes of Ros Canter and Kitty King. This couldn't have been achieved without my thoroughly supportive team, including all the owners, sponsors (Arka Equipe), physio, farrier, vet, trainers and top groom (Mum!) who have worked tirelessly by my side to help achieve my goals. This season I have achieved 12 wins (from BE90 to Intermediate) and 44 top ten placings (including top 10% FEI) out of 60 runs. I also completed my first Advanced which was a huge milestone with Myrtle and completing the Intermediate Championship at the Festival of British Eventing.
I was pleased to be able to celebrate with my team at a wonderful 'End Of Season' dinner held very kindly by Ed and Annie Allen who put on a splendid meal and my Edward for being a huge help putting the evening together. Big big thanks!
Even though the eventing has finished (and I am very sad!) we have still been incredibly busy with lots of horses to school and local competitions. Dunny has been back out at British Dressage where she went straight out at Novice to win both her classes! She hadn't been out since Tweseldown and she was rather excited to say the least in the warm up!!
Lastly to be up to date we had a trip to Hickstead for the Arena Horse Trials and Arena Eventing. Cumin (another pony I have been schooling this year) and Onyx were in the AHT80 and Elvis was in the AHT90 and Hurley in the AE90. A busy and very cold day! Cumin was first and scored best dressage with a 25. Unfortunately he picked up 4 faults after a little green moment at the water so he was just pipped to the post by Onyx who finished on her dressage score of 29.2 for yet another red ribbon! She is starting to make a habit of it! Elvis scored an amazing best dressage of 23.7 and even though we had the last fence down (a little speedy off the bank) he still came 1st and Hurley jumped a beautiful clear to win the AE90! All in all a very good day and pleased that I haven't become too 'ring rusty' yet!