We have spent the last week in Norfolk at one of my favourite events, Houghton Hall. This is the 4th year I have attended and it' s great to see it growing into such a popular event. We took three ponies, Boundalong for the CCI**, Captain Christy for the CIC*** and Pusiden for the BYEH 4yo class. I really like to take the youngsters away to an event such as this right at the start of their career as they learn a huge amount in a short time and that going away like this is not a big deal. Sid was the first of our ponies to compete, on Thursday. Although we knew that his flatwork is not yet quite up to scratch, his jumping was super, gaing the second highest mark in the class (35/40). This was followed by a conformation mark of 12/15. This was good enough to earn him a place in the final 10 which then return into the ring to be judged on 'star quality'. He behaved eautifully, coping with the atmosphere of the main ring really well and being placed 4th by judge Nick Turner. After all the adding up was done we finished up 6th, so not high enough to qualify for the final, but nonetheless a reaally good result and an educational experience for him. Although we were not the only ones to wonder how the winner came out on top after refussing in the showjumping and ditching its rider twice......

Also on Thursday was Muffin's turn for dressage. We know that this is a work in progress and it will probably take most of this coming winter to really get things as I want them, however we are making progress and the first part of the test was much more relaxed, it did become more tense after the medium canter work and then the mistakes started to creep in, but she does now allow herself to be corrected in these without a temper tantrum so we are (slowly) getting there. We came out with a disapointing but deserved mark of 67.5.

Friday morning was Smurf's turn for dressage in the CIC***, a new class at Houghton this year. I was really pleased with our test, I felt it was the best feel that he has so far given me, although having since watched the video I can see where the judges marked us down however I was still disapointed with a mark of 61.7.

By Saturday morning it seemed that summer was over and the rain was returning, although we were fortunate enough to get the 3* showjumping out of the way before it did. Smurf really rose to the occasion, but he is such a crafty old sod I think he knew it was something a bit special, jumping a brilliant clear, round what was a very decent track. He then followed this with a lovely clear across country. We took a last minute detour through the double of brush corners at fennce 17 after I felt him jump skew-wiffed over the first part, and after the duck outs we had at Burnham Market and Withinton over similar fences I didnt quite trust him. Perhaps I was being unfair to him though as over the rest of the course he was a saint, including through the quarry where the (very) skinny barrel at the top of the steps was missing its flags. We added 16.4 time penalties to our mark of 61.7, finishing up in 15th place, only just outside of the prizes, perhaps without our detour through the corners we may have just got placed but I cannot complain I am thrilled with how it went, for my first 3* and Smurfs first double clear at this level in nearly 7years.

Saturday was also Muffins turn for xc, after a lot of early problems at fence 8 a skinny log after a double on the mound, the majority of people took the longer alternative. Being as how we had nothing to lose, being in 59th place after dressage, and as I trust her totally to go where directed I chose to take all the straight routes and Muffy didn't let me down. She jumped a fantastic round, coming home just 1 second over the optimum time of 9 minutes. 

The trot up on Sunday morning was fortunately just a formality as Muffin was none the worse for her exertions, we then had a long wait until 3pm for our turn to jump, as by virtue of her super xc round we had pulled up from 59th to 25th place. The biggest problem faced by everyone trying to showjump was not getting over the fences but getting to them before they blew over, as the weather deteriorated throughout the day. Muffin finished the week off beautifully, and never even looked like touching a pole to finish up a credible 19th place, and even managed to get back into her stable before the thunderstorm hit!  Once we get her flatwork really sorted I think she is gong to be a very special little lady.

And so we trundled the 4 1/2 hours home for a quick turnaround and back out the next morning for 8am dressage at Borde Hill.

Tickeridge was first to go and did a very nice dressage test for a mark of 26.5. A lack of being schooled for a week however caught us out in the showjumping when Tigga got a little argumentative and had an uncharacteristic 8 faults. A super clear xc, and being one of just 2 inside the optimum time in BE100 sec k, was his saving grace, and we finished up in second place.

Next to go wa Brockley Star, and I have to give full marks to his owner Vicky Whiteman for preparing him as I only ever meet him at events. Broccoli really is the most genuine, honest chracter and in only his second ever BE100 got a dressage mark of 27.5 followed by a double clear and the fastest xc time of the day, (almost too fast, oops) to be a deserving winner of sec j, it was third time lucky atfter being second in both of his previous outings.

Lite My Fire was next to go and again we approached the dressage after a minimal warm up. Although things didnt go quite as well as at Brigstock, it is definitely the right appproach for her and will work well in a 'normal' week when I am at home to prepare her. Lulu then followed with a lovely clear showjumping, over a course that caused huge numbers of faults, in fact she was one of just 3 clears in her entire section. After being told I was nearly too fast on Broccoli, I then eased up a little too much across country and although clear, picked up 0.8 time faults and so had to settle for 2nd place.

Last to go for the daywas Coevers Diamond Clover, having an easy Novice run after his CIC* outing last time. Again I knew his lack of preparation would tell on him as he is a character who really needs to be kept 'under the thumb', however he achieved a reasonable dressage mark of 34, but added 8 to this in the showjumping. He added nothing further to this across country however and finished up a very credible 8th place. So all ponies came home safe and all in the ribbons it could not have been a better ending to a lovely week.

We have got a quiet week now, our next event will be Berkshire College and we have got some showjumping to do at South of England and then Royal International.

Brigstock in the Sun

Covers Diamond Clover, CIC*

Well it seems summer has arrived and whilst everyone headed south to the beach, we went north to Brigstock with Tickeridge, Lite My Fire and Coevers Diamond Clover. We kicked off on Friday morning with Tigga in the BE100 Lycetts 5yo qualifier. His dressage was lovely gaining a mark of 27.5, but whether due to the heat or that the showjumping was a little small, his jumping was rather idle and he added 4 penalties. The xc was a really good test with plenty to see and jump, the water especially caused a lot of problems, so I was very pleased that he jumped a lovely clear with no time faults and despite his showjump down he still came out on top so has qualified for the Championships at Osberton in October. Also out on Friday was Flynn, he had the dressage phase of his first attempt at a CIC*. Considering the issues that we have had on the flat, I was very pleased with his test, he was rideable and behaved well for a mark of 56.1, to lie 21st overnight.
We returned early the next morning for the xc phase with Flynn, which he thought was a far more interesting way to start the day! He put in a storming round taking everything in his stride and adding just 0.4 time faults which helped to pull him up to 12th place going into showjumping. This part caused real trouble across the class, especially fence 3, a large parallel off a very tight turn by the collecting ring. Flynn was absolutely super and jumped his socks off for one of the few clear rounds and as the horses placed above us continued to hit poles we crept up the leader board to finish the day 5th.
Last to go for the weekend was Lulu, also having her first try at a step up in class, in a BE100 section. Having discovered at the very last moment that I had completely mis-judged the time, I nearly missed the dressage, having to canter across the lorry park and go straight into the ring with no warm up at all, however this actually seemed to suit Lulu very well as she had no chance to get uptight and stressed out as she tends to do, and we scored a very acceptable 30.5. Unfortunately we added 8 faults to this in the showjumping, but she was super across country coping well with several things she has not seen before, and only just finishing outside the ribbons.
So now its back home for 2 days to prepare for a week away at one of my favorite events, Houghton Hall in Norfolk. We have Boundalong for her first CCI** and Captain Christy for my first CIC***. Pusiden is also coming along for the trip to take part in the 4yo Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse class. 

It has been one of those weeks that has shown just how bad and then how gereat this game can make you feel. Last weekend I had a lovely day out spectating and shopping at Badminton, I walked the xc and decided that of course I could tackle it, easy peasey, (lol, why is it that courses look so much nicer when you dont have to ride them) and then we watched some of the action, Sussex was well represented but I had to feel sorry for Tina Cooke - that water looked very cold, and Francis Whittington who rode such a great round only to have Lady Luck turn against him so close to home.

Our next outing was to Moreton Morrell. First out on the Wednesday was Lite My Fire, she has been improving every time out so I was hopefull that things would go well, however for some biizzare reason our dressage was nearly half an hour late, by which time her limited attention span had well and truely run out, so we ended up with a mark of 41.5. However she managed to redeem herself somewhat in the jumping with a lovely double clear, and is definately starting to feel much more grown up about the xc so all in all I was pleased with her and optimistic about her next outing in which she is going to have a crack at a BE100.

Then came Tickeridge, who as ever performed a beautiful test spoiled only by the fact that I had a total mental block and forgot where to go! We managed then a nice clear showjumping and then a fab clear xc in which he really started to gallop and jump much more fluently only to be told that I had missed out a fence, which made me feel like a complete idiot. His owners Bill and Jenny Cooke were lovely about it, saying that it didnt matter as he had gone so well and looked really good but I still felt a bit of a prat.

The following day began with Nyala in the Novice, things started out well, she can be a somewhat opinionated young lady to say the least, but she worked in well, the begining and end parts of the test were good but her tantrum in the middle knocked down the mark to 37. The jumping side of things posed no problems however and she jumped an easy double clear, although we did add a few time faults but just scraped into the ribbons to be 10th. 

Last of all came 707, he has not been quite himself recently and pulled a muscle on his last outing at Burnham Market, which did at least explain a lot about what went wrong there. So this time out we thought that he could have a nice easy run in a ON. His dressage was super with one of his best ever marks of 28, he was almost so quiet that I was concerned that he mat still not be right so I warmed up for showjumping with a little trepidation, however he very soon showed me that he was feeling absolutely fine and jumped a super round just making up a bit too much ground through a double and having the one fence down. He then proceeded to cart me around the xc in his usual style, but 3 fences from home he had a very naughty duck out at a step up ,bounce, to a small log, he has never refused with me without a genuine reason before so I was quite cross. He happily popped through it second time and completed without further incident. However bearing in mind his recent issues he will have a visit from the physio on Monday to check him out before maybe going for some schooling! So all in all it was one of those trips that could have been really good but ended up being rather depressing, but as my Mum keeps telling me 'You cant win 'em all'.

Saturday and Sunday were spent at Hambleden, with Coevers Diamond Clover having his Novice Regional Final and Boundalong for an Intermediate. It is not an event I have been to before but I will definately be going again, it's a lovely event with a strong but nice xc that rides really well. Flynn did himself proud, a 34 dressage mark in his first ever attempt at an intermediate test was good, he did get a little strong but was still rideable and I think that having more to do in a test will suit him. He had the very last fence down in the showjumping but felt awasome across the country, it was by far the toughest course he has met and he just devoured it adding just 1.2 time faults (only 5 horses made the time in the whole section), we finished up 18th, but it wasall very close, with a clear sj we would have made the top 10, but he was the only 6 year old in the section, at least a year younger than any other horse there so I was very very pleased with him.

It was a lovely relaxed weekend, being stabled on site with just one horse each day, we even had a bit of a lie in on Sunday as Boundalong did not have dressage until 12. Her test was a huge improvement on previous outings, I hope we are starting to understand each other better now and although she was still a little tense she was much more rideable than she has been before. 37.7 was about what I expected for her mark, I did have to smile at the judges comment that she was 'aptly named'. The showjumping caused us no problems and she stormed around the xc in amazing style, the whole thing felt much more in tune than our previous outings.The course itself didnt cause too many problems in our section however the time was having a lot of influence, and by virtue of being the quickest in the section we won, by just 0.2, with just a further 0.3 between 2nd and 3rd. It was a fantastic result made even better by the fact that it qualifies us for the Intermediate Championships at Gatcombe, hopefully by then our dressage will have significantly improved.

It's been another busy week for us with a 2-day Steven Hadley jumping clinic here at Golden Crossin which I rode Lite My Fire (Lulu) and Boundalong (Muffin). Steven has made the long trip down to Sussex several times now and as always the sessions were extremely helpful, keeping me on the straight and narrow, and making sure I dont develop too many bad habits now that I am out x-countrying again. Lulu made life rather difficult for both of us, I still dont think we have found the ideal bitting solution for her yet, and Muffin was exceptionally full of herself especially on the first day but both girls settled down to the task and were much improved by day 2.

Friday we made the first of our trips to Ardingly Showground as Tickeridge had day before dressage, he is getting to know that being plaited up now means he is going to a party, and so made life rather difficult for the girls to get him ready by jumping up and down and squeeking! But he is a total pro when he gets in the arena and scored a 27.

Saturday morning began as something of a disaster, due to leave the yard with 3 ponies by 6.45 my groom for the day didnt turn up and so I eventually departed by myself nearly 30 mins late. Fortunately my first horse in the arena that morning was Brockley Star, who was also being taken to the event by his owner Vicky Whiteman who had him all ready for me to just jump onto. Broccoli is such a lovely honest character, having his first attempt at a BE100, he just gets on with the job and earned himself a dressage mark of 30. Next up was Tigga's jumping, the ground was pretty sticky and many horses were finding it difficult to adjust after warming up on the all weather surface but Tigga took it all in his stride and jumped a lovely round. His xc started out really well, he is not the quickest horse, mostly because he is a little too relaxed about proceedings, but he seems to be improving each time out, and for the first time he really took a hold around the first half of the course. Coming back past the start he was definately distracted and started to 'hang' left in the direction of home but with a few sharp reminders we continued out onto the second half, the ground here was considerably more holding and he never really got back into his earlier rhythm although he continued to jump everything well and we picked up 3.6 time faults, although this still compared well against most others in the section. I am pleased that he is feeling a little bit more keen each time out. He won the section by 2 marks, but even better the win has put him on top of the BE Foundation Points League for the whole of the UK.

Broccoli also excelled himself in only his 3rd ever event, rider error gave us 4 faults in the showjumping but he flew round the xc without a seconds hesiation anywhere to finish in second place, its under discussion whether there is another event at which I may be able to ride him but his owner Vicky is hoping to be fit and ready to ride again in time for Borde Hill in May.

Nyala was the second 'non-GX-resident' for me to ride that day, although she had stayed with us for a few days before in order for us to 'fine-tune' a few things. Owned by Anna Goodson, who is currently not riding due to the very recent birth of her daughter Millie, Nyala is another short-term ride for me. We started out with a very reasonable dressage test as this would not be Nyalas' best phase, and I was very happy with a mark of 30. The showjumping was an exciting, although fortunately clear, stage. As she is extremely sensitive in her mouth we have been using a bitless bridle for our jumping over the winter and it has worked well, however in a large arena, outside for the first time it didnt work at all, luckily for all the fact that she gets herself into all sorts of trouble she does have a huge jump and is actually very careful. We went back to a happy mouth snaffle for the xc phase, which all went off without any drama, and I had a lovely ride finishing well inside the time to finish 2nd to our old friend Coco de Cara. I will be aiming to ride her again at Hambleden in a few weeks, this time in a Novice. Having so many of the young horses going so brilliantly has also meant that in addition to Tigga being top of the Foundation Points League, so am I in the Rider League, the first time I have ever featured in a National points table, which is hugly exciting, now to repeat the success at the higher level......

Sunday started out far better although in the end turned out to be rather less successful. Having taken Muffin to work her on the showgroound both Friday and Saturday I was hopeful that she would be settled and perform a nice test, however this was not to be the case. She did however go on to jump a fabulous double clear in what is still only our second event together and our first Intermediate outing. Murphy I felt was rather harshly marked in the OI section, although as usual anticipating what I might want rather than waiting to see what I actually ask him to do, we did have a couple of minor errors like a step back in the halt but he still didnt gain great marks for the bits that I felt were ok and ended up with a mark of 40. However he went on to showjump well, the soft ground being his prefered surface adding just 4 penalties. We have improved by one fence each time out so hopefully next time we will get the clear, lol. The xc was again brilliant and he was foot perfect around the whole course and compared well with the others on time, however due to his dressage mark we were well out of the money.

Last to go was Coevers Diamond Clover (Flynn), in Novice section N. An appalling dressage test, in which all his old habits resurfaced was not a good start, and I rather felt that his mark of 41 was exceedingly generous. His showjumping was as always good and he was unlucky to have a fence down, and the xc phase was super, Ardingly was the location of his first Novice run last autumn and it was nice to see how much more confident he felt in comparison, he skipped around the course easily and was one of just 8 horses to be inside the optimum time in his section. Flynn really is such a super horse it is easy to forget that he is still only 6 and I really feel that if we can get him sorted in the dressage phase he will easily take on an Intermediate.

I would also like to say an enormous THANK-YOU to all the people who helped me over the weekend but especially on Saturday, Anna Gorringe, Anna Goodson and her Mum, Suzie, Bill and Jenny, Sarah, Laura, Vicky, Karla, Harriet and Keith. X

There are some events where things always seem to go badly and there are some that just seem to be a 'lucky' place to be and this for me is Tweseldown, it was the location of my first ever event and my first win and several others since including the 4 and 5yo championships in '07 and '09. This weekend was no exception, things started quietly enough on Thursday with 707 and Captain Christy both in the OI. Brookes' test started well with some really nice trot work,-significantly improved by our lovely new saddle in which I can actually sit to his incredibly bouncy trot, but as always he anticipated the canter coming after the walk and got his knickers in such a twist that it was all a bit messy from there on, next came the showjumping. For some reason this often can become extremely disorganised at this event, and unfortunately this occasion was no exception, having been told proceedings were running approximately 10 minutes late I came to warm up accordingly only to be told that I had already missed my slot and to get warmed up asap, which I duly did, only then to be kept hanging around for nearly 15 minutes with no clear idea of when I would be allowed in. When we did finally get in Brooke most uncharacteristicaly had 8 faults and then out on the xc we had a stop at the bounce out of the sunken road. I firmly believe that his poor performance came from getting chilled whilst waiting to jump but he is absolutely fine now and we shall chalk it up to having a bad day.

Smurf was feeling extremly full of himself however and I thought produced a really nice test although with one rather large spook and a rather anticipated rein back, however the judge didnt like it at all and gave us a mark of 38 with lots of comments about being 'tense'. Our timing for showjumping managed to work out better although he also had two down which I felt he shouldnt have had although compared to our last OI run at Tweseldown in October when we had 16 faults this was a significant improvement. The xc however was fabulous and it was wonderful to feel how much he enjoyed himself, and although adding 14 time faults his was time was still within the first ten in his section.

Also on Thursday we took Covers Diamond Clover for day-before dressage, following his naughtyness at Isleham Mary Ann and I had decided on a new tactic for warming up, basicly we didnt! Ten minutes of walking small circles with lots of halts and then our first trot was as we entered the arena, unorthodox perhaps but it worked and Flynns most polite test to date put us within the top ten on a mark of 36.5. We returned on Friday morning for showjumping which unusually for the Novice sections took place in the main arena, this suited Flynn down to the ground as the big bold fences backed him off and enabled me to ride him forwards rather than trying to hold him off them. A lovely clear was the result and an equally lovely round across country adding just 2 time faults put us in front by just .3 penalties to take the win.

Returning on Sunday morning minus Lite My Fire who unfortunately had trodden on a stone, we still had Tickeridge and also Brockley Star, better known as Broccoli, a chance ride after his owner and regular rider Vicky Whiteman has broken a collarbone. Tigga was first to go and as always put in a lovely test for a mark of 27. Two lovely jumping rounds followed for him to finish on his dressage score. Broccoli was also beautifully behaved gaining a mark of 31.5, he also finished with a lovely double clear to take second place in what is only his second ever event, so between them we managed 1st and 2nd place in section Y, all in all a super weekend.

So now we have a few quiet weeks before aiming for Somerley Park and Burnham Market and my first Advanced, eek...   

Hi everyone, we are just back from our first event of the new season, having lost our local event at Stilemans we had a rather long trip up to Isleham in Cambridgeshire, but it was well worth the trip as the courses and the ground were fantastic, although proceedings were a little delayed on Sunday morning due to the hard frost, but the team worked so hard to get things put right, and full credit to them for their efforts. We travelled up on the Saturday and stayed overnight, as we had a nice early start with dressage for Flynn at 9am. After working in nicely he did a rather disapointing test getting stronger and more rude throughout and getting a deserved mark of 40. He did however redeem himself somewhat with a lovely double clear, in what is just his 3rd start at Novice level and his first run since he fell in the water at Pulborough last year. So with 10 timefaults added as I didnt really push him this early in the year we finished a respectable 8th.

Next came Lite My Fire, having her first ever 'proper' party. Lulu can be a very easily distracted person but was extremely well behaved and grown up and performed by far her best dressage test yet, followed by a clear round showjumping. Unfortunately things didnt go quite to plan across country when she ran out at a very simple fence because she didn't like the look of the pond next to it! But I think given some time and more experience she will become quite a nice little lady.

Last of all came Tigga, who put in by far the best performance of the day to win the intro section, finishing on his dressage mark of 32.5, he feels much more sprightly this year and for the first time was really attacking round the xc phase, so I'm quietly hopeful that we will really build on what he achieved last year. 

This next week will be a busy one as we have a Nick Turner clinic to look forward to on Tuesday, some dressage training on Brooke with Mary-Ann on Wednesday (I'm very much looking forwards to trying out our new saddle) and then on Thursday the two big boys Brooke and Smurf are headed to Tweseldown for the OI, on Friday, Flynn is out for another Novice, then on Sunday its back again for the babies in the Intro, plus a new ride, Brockley Star as his owner Vicky Whiteman is out of action for a few weeks with a fractured collarbone. Also at Tweseldown is one of our previous Golden Cross residents, Rembrandt III  with his new owner Louise Edwards so very best of luck to them.

So until next week, bye x

Well, thats it, the festive season is over for another year, so now its down to business, in just two months we will be out eventing again, aarrgghh!  So much to do before then! Getting back in shape, losing the winter fat, fittening work and generally trying to resemble an eventer, and never mind the horses, that's just me.  All the boys are back in now, Brooke (707), and Tigga (Tickeridge) have just had shoes put on and are beginning their walk work, the real babies, Sid (Pusiden), Bobby (Dyke Road) and Lulu (Lite My Fire) have been worked on throughout the winter months and are coming along nicely and Smurf (Captain Christy) also remained working as he had much of last year off and was rather bored of taking it easy.

So now we are just starting to really get going with jumping and dressage, with regular trips to Royal Leisure and BSJA at home on Dec 27th, a day of 4-fault-itus for me, -it must have been those extra few pounds I put on eating all that turkey, but on the whole all the ponies went well.

We are saying a sad goodbye this week to Coco De Cara, who is moving to pastures new, it was felt by all that his heart was not in the game at the higher level, so he is going to our physiotherapist Cathrine Fowdrey to compete at pre-novice and give her some valuable experience in the dressage arena, as this is where he really shines, so I wish her the very best of luck and as they live very locally we will be able to keep in touch with their progress.

Hi, hope you are all enjoying the snow, although it does make life a litle awkward when trying to ride, its times llike this when I think how lucky I am that we have the indoor school, - it makes my holiday seem but a dim and distant memory, even my suntan is fading fast. We have been out to a couple of parties recently, Bobby (Dyke Road) had his first  couple of outings at Royal Leisure Centre and was a little superstar, taking everything in his stride and has already notched up two double clears in British Novice and one in his first Discovery, so a very pleasing start to his carreer.

Flynn (Coevers Diamond Clover) has also been going exceptionally well being placed in almost every class, and he is finally starting to be a little more polite and not trying to cart me around so much. After the ridiculous amount of rain we have had recently there have been plenty of large puddles for us to play with and Flynn seems none the worse after his swim at Pulborough, he is one that I am very excited about for next season, although he is actually for sale I would rather like to keep him.

Captain Christy, (Smurf) has quite been put to shame by the babies recently, all of them have been impeccably well behaved and grown up, taking everything new in their stride, Smurf however has taken nearly 3 weeks to accept that the christmas tree in our school is not an alien waiting to attack, and when I took him jumping for the first time he stopped at the first fence in a Discovery!!! Needless to say he did get his bottom smacked for that and he has been jumping ot of his skin ever since, I find it so hard to be too cross with him though as it is so nice to see him feeling so well after the past year.

We also have a new addition to the team, Lite My Fire (Lulu), is a 5yo, 16h chestnut mare, the only girl in a yard full of boys! She had thus far aquitted herself very well and although rather green and with a typical 'chestnut mare' degree of scattiness she seems to be very willing to learn and a neat careful jumper, so we shall see how things progress.

Our dressage has not been neglected either, with several unaffiliated competitions at home all have been progressing nicely, our only affiliated day saw Rico Star, a horse I ride occasionally for Jayne Bramwell, complete his 10th novice win in a row, he is unbeaten at this level, he will now be moved up to elementary in the new year, to see if he can continue his winning ways.

Our last major outing involved no horses whatsoever, it was our Christmas Party. A lovely evening where it was so nice to have almost all of our owners, liveries, staff, friends and family around and a chance to say a huge thank-you to everyone for all their hard work and support throughout the year, it really is a massive team effort to keep this show on the road and it would not be possible without you all.

So, to everyone have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Successful New Year, I will speak to you all in 2010. xx

Its been pretty quiet these past couple of weeks with no ‘proper’ events to go to, we have however had two outings, one to Burghley for the 4yo BYEH finals  and the second to Stoneleigh for the BD National Championships. Burghley was a fabulous day out, Tigga was beautifully well behaved, taking the busy atmosphere in his stride, he really loves showing off to an audience. His dressage mark of 27/35 compared well however one down in the showjumping phase was heavily penalized and only scored 19/40. The conformation judge simply didn’t like his type though and only gave him 7/15 meaning that we didn’t make it into the final 10. 

 Our next ‘party’ was the BD National Championships with Coco in the Elementary (Restricted) finals. He performed a really good test with his only blip being one rather muddled canter transition, which unfortunately cost us a placing, we scored 64.37% and finished 14^th, but with everyone between 8^th and 14^th finishing on 64% it was very close.

My biggest project over the quiet period has been backing our new youngster, Puiside.  A recent acquisition, purchased from Brian Lear, from whom we also found Tigga. ‘Sid’ is a 3yo bay gelding by Puissance out of a mare by Clover Hill, thus far he has been impeccably behaved, I actually sat on him for the first time just today. He will hopefully go to the BE Breeding Championships at Tweseldown next month for the in hand 3yo class and will then spend the winter playing in the field before beginning his career next year.

Well it’s a very short diary entry this week, but we have South of England to look forwards to next weekend, Archie will have another crack at BE100, Flynn will have his first shot at a Novice, as will Coco and Jif, whilst Brooke is in the OI and Fred is also attempting the step up to Intermediate. Speak to you all soon x

I feel like my feet haven't touched the floor in a week, to say we have been busy would be something of an understatement!! Firstly I will backtrack to last weekend when we took Tigga, Flynn and Archie to Burnham Beeches. Having already qualified (at Moreton Morrell) Tigga had to be HC in the Lycetts 4yo class but it was good experience for him to go out to another 'party', although he is the most chilled out 4yo I have ever known. His dressage sheet had one of the nicest comment I have ever received from a judge, "my biggest problem with this horse is that he is not mine", along with a score of 27.5. A careless moment showjumping added 4 penalties but nothing phased him across country and so we finished on 31.5. Archie (Rembrant III) had his 2^nd BE 90 event, and was much more grown up than his previous outing at Brightling, we managed a very reasonable 34 dressage mark followed by a double clear to finish 5^th. Flynn was a very naughty pony in his BE 100 dressage test, carting me most unceremoniously around the arena and at one point adding in the most enormous buck! Needless to say our score was pretty poor, but he did then redeem himself a little by jumping very well.

Monday had a nice early morning drive to Newmarket to collect Murphy from Rossdales veterinary hospital at Newmarket following the operation to reset his heart. All reports thus far seem promising but he is to stay on light duties for another month, before having anothercheck up, if all is still fine then we will be able to build up to full work so fingers crossed....

Ian and I were lucky enough to be given some tickets to go and watch an evening performance at the European Dressage and Showjumping Championships at Windsor on Thursday, we saw John Whitaker winning in his usual fine style but the highlight for me was the 6-bar competition, as the name suggests it is just 6 fences in a line, set 2 strides apart, and increasing in height down the line, each clear round proceeds to the next round in which the fences get higher. This went for the full five rounds, with the last fence an incredible 6'8"!! Guy Williams was the deserved winner after 5 beautifully ridden rounds, on a horse that has only been jumping Foxhunter classes. Nick Skelton was 2^nd, William Funnell was 3rd after wisely choosing not to jump his young horse in the final round. A lovely evening was then spoilt by sitting in a traffic jam on the M25 for an hour at 1am, grrrr....

Several weeks ago, Archie's owner, Fliss Gentle asked if I would be willing do give a demo of 'introducing a young horse to the principles of xc' as one of the evening entertainments at the 'Big Girls Camp' held at Plumpton College. Without really thinking about it I agreed, and so on Friday evening I headed down there. I can honestly say that I was petrified, training  my horses is something which I do every day but the prospect of having to explain it, and make sense to a crowd of people just turned me to jelly. Kerry Vineys' 4yo gelding Ferdi (Formidable Opposition), who has been at 'boot camp' with me for a couple of weeks was my 1^st ride, it was a genuine start for him as he has never seen anything like water trays or skinny fences before and he rose to the occasion beautifully, making just enough mistakes to show that he is actually a baby that hasn't been practicing but taking on the challenge and being wonderfully well behaved. Next in was nominated 'guinea pig' Marie, with her lovely big black horse Tom, who was an absolute gentleman, coming in absolutely straight to anything we put in font of him, allowing us to show approaches to skinnys, combinations, corners, bounces, etc. Last of all I had a bit of a play on Jif who benefitted from schooling over some very narrow fences after Hartpury, we ended up by jumping a keep left bollard that a student had 'found' on a night out!! Although when jumping the bigger fences I was having some real trouble with my 'Madonna microphone'! I hope everyone enjoyed their evening, any comments that anyone does have (good or bad) please email me at sam@sampenn.co.uk - feedback is always gratefully received.

Finally it was back to the weekend and our most local event at Firle Place. PQ kicked off the proceedings with a win in BE90 sec A, with a 30.5 and double clear, it was  a lovely way for me to end things with him, as now his owner Helen Carter is going to start competing him and I look forwards to seeing them out and about next season. Jo Carr and her team at Firle always make such an effort especially with the prizes, we won a lovely rug from Rainbow Equine (thanks Kerry) and a huge punnet of proper english strawberries donated by Countryside Caterers,- which were so yummy they were gone within 5 minutes! Tigga was again HC in the Lycetts 4yo class, he was the only one in his section to gain a sub 30 dressage mark (28.5) and jumped beautifully, rider error being to blambe for one down sj. If actually competitive we would have finished 2^nd. Archie made a step up to BE100 this time and although unplaced he was very good, 30.5 dressage is his best yet but 8 faults added sj was expensive, however he was lovely xc and nothing phased him, I really hope that soon we can find an owner for him as he will give someone a huge amount of fun. It seemed that luck was not on our side on Sunday morning, after his rather wild performance at Burnham Beeches, I decided to lunge Flynn before riding him, but in being a bit of an idiot on the lunge he managed to cut himself across his pastern rather nastily and so spent the day eating grass by the lorry. Coco also had a disappointing day, although a good dressage, 26 and 2 down sj which was actually not bad in his section he just didnt seem his usual sparkly self and picked up 2 stops at the stew pond, plus almost unseating me at the hay wagon. Fred and Jif saved the day however in the IN section, taking 5^th and 9^th respectively. Fred seems to be getting more sensible in his old age and has earned himself an attempt at intermediate at SofE next month.

Being a bank holiday weekend there was still one more day to go and so it was off to Highclere for the OI with Brooke at 5am Monday morning, picking up my friend Anna Gorringe, who was my helper for the day en route. I was a little disappointed with his dressage mark of 36.4 as he gave a lovely obedient test, with just a little anticipation before the canter, but he jumped a fantastic double clear well within the optimum time to finish 9^th.

Phew, well after all that we have a few easy days before its off to Burghley on Friday with Tigga for the BYEH Finals, I cant believe its September already!!

            Coco continued our run of success at the BD Southern Regional Finals at Oldencraig last weekend, taking the Elementary Restricted qualifier for the second year running, in a closely fraught class in which the top three were split by less than 1%. Coco’s test was perhaps not the most ‘expressive’ performance of the day, when compared with ‘proper’ dressage horses, the down-side of usually having to do our tests in a field with the excitement of cross country nearby, but it was very correct and balanced, earning us 67.47%. So now we just need to work on the sparkle before finals at Stoneleigh next month.

            On Tuesday we headed for Hartpury with Jif and Brooke. I always love this event as it is held on the college site which means fantastic facilities, hot showers, cafeteria, lovely stables, arenas to ride in, and... student bar!! With just two horses between Kym and I and no dressage until Friday it was a nice laid back few days, with just the small formality of the trot up to contend with. Every time I swear that next time I will wear sensible shoes, but no out come my 4 inch heels, Jif is so polite he allows me to just totter along, but Brooke could give Usain Bolt some stiff competition, at least it is entertaining for those watching!

            Jif’s dressage was rather disappointing, with a couple of silly mistakes and a generally unexciting test only earned us 61.1. Brooke however coped with the exciting atmosphere much better than I had expected and gained 52.8. Cross country day was also not one for us to write home about, with Jif being most unhelpful and managing to get eliminated at fence 12b the skinny arrowhead brush at the bottom of a steep hill. At least we got to know a bit more about him and now know what homework we need to do. Brooke was perhaps the most unlucky, a fantastic round was marred by a stupid stop going into the 2^nd water, after clipping the 1^st part quite hard he stumbled on landing and was simply unable to get his legs up and jump part b. The second attempt was fine and he still got home with just 3.2 time faults showing just how fast he can shift! With no 1* horse to have to get ready for an 8.30 am trot up we were able to enjoy ourselves at the Saturday night party and have Brooke ready for the much more sociable time of 11, followed by showjumping at 2.30. A big stiff track saw few clear rounds and the last two fences caught Brooke, the 2^nd element of the double of oxers and the final fence an upright over a water tray, into which I think he kicked some sand and spooked himself as it was the most awkward feeling jump ever!! Most importantly they are both home in one piece and will enjoy a few days well earned rest.

            The biggest (and worst) piece of news this week is the departure of Pie from our yard. It has been a heartbreaking decision for us to have to make but he has been sold to a family in Lincs and I wish them the very best of luck with him, he has been nothing but a pleasure to have been able to ride and has been part of our family here for over 8 years both as ‘mine’ and with his previous owner Lesley and we are all giong to miss him so very very much. I cant write any more as I’m going to start blubbing, bye bye P-Man, be good and thank you for soo much. X                                    

Hi Everyone. Well we havnt been doing very much eventing this month but that doesnt mean things have been quiet for us, with 2 days of showjumping at South of England, in which Pie managed a 5^th place in Thursdays 1.10m Open. Brooke jumped well in Fridays Foxhunter but had 4 faults in the jump off. Very exciting however was the arrival of our lovely new rugs and jackets from Rainbow Equine, now we just need for the weather to be cool enough to be able to wear them! Our only ‘proper’ outing this month has been to Great Tew with Coco and Murphy. Coco as always produced a great dressage, again stepping up to novice level which allows him a little more chance to ‘show off’. The showjumping however proved to be our downfall with 4 down, it seems that after hitting a fence he worries and runs flat over the next fence, usually hitting that too, before being able to re-compose himself with a short break, ie around a bend. The cross country was a huge step in the right direction though, with a super clear around what was most definitely the strongest test he has yet faced. Murphy I felt also went well in his dressage although his mark of 38 showed that the judge felt otherwise. Our showjumping is slowly coming together, although we still have very different ideas of what is comfortable, and we managed just 4 faults although it was not the prettiest round ever seen! The cross country was easy-peesey for him though and although quite slow as he is not yet fully fit he popped around everything with something very close to a smile on his face. Since his outing he has definitely perked up at home and when we went to do some canter work on the downs this week he was considerably more lively! 

            Our main ‘party’ this month has been our own Derby Show, held here at Golden Cross. Most of the ponies jumped at some point over the weekend, Tigga was first to go, contesting the first class each day, a 1m open. He jumped brilliant rounds on both days with one down in the jump off on day one and second place on day two. He is really starting to get the hang of the game, and is learning to wait a little rather than being ever keen to jump anything and everything as soon as possible! Murphy and I are getting a little more used to each other every time, or at least I’m learning not to interfere in his way of doing things, although his way of going is totally different to all my other rides, which are very forward-going, but Smurf never really feels as if he is going anywhere and will always add in extra strides if possible, he jumped reasonably well though, with 4 faults in the Newcomers on Saturday and also in the 1.05m Derby on the Sunday. Pie had the most success over the weekend, with 6^th in the 1.15 Members Cup on the Saturday, then 5^th equal in the 1.05 derby and 3^rd in the 1.15 Derby. Brooke jumped superbly in Saturday’s 1.15 Members Cup, for 4^th place but was very naughty in the Eventer’s Grand Prix on Sunday towards the end of a very fast round a refusal at the water jump scuppered our chances and dropped us down to finish 12^th. It’s such a fun class in which to take part and we will be back for another shot next year. Our thanks to Russell Stevenson for his sponsorship of this class which continues to grow each year.                                                                              

            Well next week we have a nice local trip to Eridge Park, and by all reports its going to be a hot one, so until then.... x

Well we have some high points and some low points to report this week, after a lovely sunny week spent at Houghton Hall in Norfolk. However prior to our trip there was a trip to Aston le Walls with Brooke for an intermediate run. His best intermediate dressage so far (34.6), followed by a double clear with no time penalties was good enough for 2^nd place.

Following this was our final ‘trial’ for the CIC2* team. This took the form of a practice run/display of the team dressage test at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.  For us Eventer’s who prefer our dressage to be performed in a quiet corner of a field at about 8am, before the spectators arrive or the loudspeakers start or anything exciting starts to happen, there was no more exciting atmosphere for our ponies to contend with, - carriages on a metal road, the fairground, and a hunt parade to name just a little of what was going on. Pie in particular found this all rather too much to cope with, especially once he heard the hunt horn blow! And best wishes to Jonathon Chapman, who has been a huge part of our training and suffered a very nasty fall at Aston le Walls. Unfortunately after this rather lively performance it was decided that we were not one of the most suitable candidates and we were not selected as part of the team to travel to Hungary. This was a very disappointing decision for us, however we have received a lot of training and made many new friends along the way, so best of luck to the guys who did make it.

              Tuesday saw us trekking up the M11 to Houghton Hall. With so many entries, it was necessary to begin the 1* trot up on the Tuesday, set right in front of the main house, a very grand start to the proceedings, and fortunately just a formality for Fletcher. Wednesday began early for us, with trot up for Pie who was the first to go in the 2*, this was swiftly followed by dressage for both. Fletch performed a lovely relaxed test for a score of 55.3. Pie’s test showed some good moments but was marred by some tension and received a mark of 61.              

             Thursday was a quiet day for the older boys and so it was Tigga’s turn to shine in the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse (4yo). It had been his first ‘away party’ and throughout Tuesday and Wednesday had been quite unsettled. However by Thursday noon when we came down to get the fella cleaned up, he had relaxed to the point where we found him fast asleep and snoring! He went on to perform beautifully, with both the highest dressage mark (33 out of 35), and the highest jumping mark (37 out of 40), plus 12 out of 15 for his conformation, leaving him at the top of the list going into the final phase. In our minds he was by far the best and showed himself off well, however the judge disagreed and placed him just 6^th out of 10. Fortunately for us,  the marks added up in our favor and we finished up 2^nd overall, qualifying for the final at Burghley in September.

Friday was Fletcher’s day for cross country. After a rather naughty moment in the practice arena, we set out on this beautiful course and had a lovely round, taking all the straight routes and finishing well inside the optimum time. Luckily his owner Ali just made it in time to watch after a rather fraught drive up from Sussex that morning. This put us in 5^th position overnight and therefore it was a real blow for all concerned when he was unable to Show Jump the following day due to a bruise in the foot. With no Show Jumping for Fletch, Saturday just involved cross country for Pie. As 2* ‘pathfinder’ I was a little concerned, although without cause as he also gave me a lovely ride, again taking all the direct routes, and finishing with just 5.6 time penalties, seeming very few although they proved expensive in the end. Sundays trot up fortunately was passed without hitch, after an early morning bath - the perils of a pony with more white patches than black! After having Show Jumped in heavy rain here for 2 consecutive years it was lovely to have a hot sunny day for a change, and a clear round finished the week of nicely. We finished well outside the money in 35^th but our first double clear in a CCI2* was a huge confidence boost after our disappointment earlier in the week.

Following Houghton Hall, Fletcher’s owner Ali Emery has made the decision to retire him from Eventing. As the horse who took me to my first novice, intermediate and 1* competitions he will always have a very special place in my heart and I will miss him a great deal. I would like to take this chance to say a huge thank you to Ali for allowing me to ride him for the past 3 years, he has taught me a huge amount and I wish him a long happy retirement in the hunting field.

            Next weekend is a nice local trip to Borde Hill, so until then ...

We have had a pretty busy time since my last diary installment, the weekend following South of England we saw us back at the same venue for the Ardingly Riding Club ODE, with the 4yo Tickeridge in the intro section. A respectable dressage of 30.7, plus 4 to add Show Jumping and a clear across country gave us 6^th place but more importantly he took everything in his stride and behaved better than many of the older horses have been known to when out at a “party”, and as such gave us plenty of confidence to take him to Moreton Morrell for their Lycetts BE Young Horse Championship qualifying class. A few genuine “baby”’ mistakes in an otherwise nice test scored 31.5, and one fence added in the Show Jumping gave us 35.5 to which nothing was added XC.

It really is a lovely feeling to take such a bold youngster out, thus far nothing seems to faze him and he genuinely loves to jump, occasionally attempting to take on whatever lays in his path, (such as the hedges around our fields at home - that just happen to be on the other side of a X-pole.....! )But the end result was, we won!! A fantastic result for his owners Ian, Bill & Jenny - who spent most of her day shaking from a combination of nerves and excitement.

Sandwiched between these two trips, was Withington Manor, a compulsory run for those of us hoping to make the European CIC** Team. In addition to taking Pie we also took Fred for the ON  and Brooke for the Intermediate. Fred ran reasonably well although a very tense dressage test put us well out of reach of being placed.

Brooke also started on Saturday with “day before” dressage, and also performed a very disappointing test, although with that wonderful thing called hindsight, I should have realised that after having to pass very close to the XC start en-route to dressage he was never likely to settle. The next morning however he fully redeemed himself by being one of only 3 horses throughout the whole day to finish on his dressage score, pulling right up the board to finish 4^th.

The important pony this day though was Pie, and having learned my lesson with Brooke, I was taking no chances in allowing him to wind up prior to his test, and ears were firmly stuffed with cotton wool for the trip over to dressage and also for the warm up as the XC course for Sunday came through the corner of the working in area. With ear plugs duly removed at the last moment we went on to perform a pretty good test, gaining several 8's for the trot work but my canter “needed greater collection” and I was a little let down by a mark of 38.6. One very unlucky pole down show jumping added 4 to this mark, but being one of just 2 in our section to get home inside the time XC helped our case greatly and we finished a respectable 7^th, with 5 of our prospective team finishing within the top 10, it was a good day for all.

Well we have a non-eventing weekend to look forwards to now, so hopefully a chance to sit down and catch some of Badminton on the telly, then next week

It’s  off to Aston le Walls and then Royal Windsor for a display of the team test, this is a great opportunity to practice this in public, as it is an entirely new concept for most of us to have to perform a dressage test accompanied by 5 other people, all together in the arena, and so a huge thank you to the organizers for allowing us the arena time.

After that its straight off to Houghton Hall for the CCI 1*/2*, and with a sizeable contingent from Sussex there should be at least one good party.....

Catch up soon. x

It was a rather mixed trip to South of England this weekend, with some unexpectedly good results and some real disappointments.

Things began with Friday afternoon dressage for Private Quigley, having his first crack at a BE100. A reasonable if slightly tight test for a mark of 30.5 left us within the top ten overnight.

It was an early return on Saturday morning for an 8.20am show jumping, one fence down added 4 before we headed out across country. PQ gave me a super round with just one genuine ‘look’ at the first of the steps down with earned him 20 penalties, but for his first step up a level we were all delighted with him.

The next in line was Pokey’s Bally Milo, who was once again in the BE100 to try and encourage him with an easy outing, putting in his usual super dressage and clear show jumping. I thought we were working along the right lines as he really pulled me around the first half of the course but once again a simple hanging log before the steps down was to prove his undoing, he really is an infuriatingly suspicious horse and we may have to think long and hard about where we go from here.

Coco has had a couple of easy weeks recently, having missed Somerley Park after having wedges fitted to his hind shoes, as he has very low heels and was becoming rather sore over his back, so with this and some new techniques to try out in the show jumping (not his strongest phase), it was always going to be something of an experimental run. A fantastic dressage test which felt much more relaxed and more swinging than of late was a great start, and a score of 23 put us in front, but our show jumping was something of a disaster with 20 to add, however some of the round was an improvement and with more work, I feel we will start to get things right. A refusal at the drop was rider error but otherwise a reasonable trip cross country.

Another early start on Sunday morning threatened to be a repeat of day one after getting just a mile out of the yard and realizing that I had forgotten the passports! A swift return to the yard soon rectified this but it was not a good omen. Our first dressage test of the day was 707 in Intermediate sec J, his first run at this level since 2007 and also his first with me. I proceeded to experience a  real ‘blonde moment’ midway through the test by completely forgetting which movement came after the shoulder in left, and coming to an impromptu halt at c to ask the judge for directions! VERY embarrassing! This rather upset our rhythm and thereafter he became even more uptight than usual and we emerged with a score of 40.5. However with the fastest double clear in our section we pulled up to finish in 2^nd place, which was a huge boost to morale all round.

Getting lost in the dressage was not a mistake I was going to make twice, although after being held up waiting for Brooke’s xc, Pie’s warm up consisted of less than 10 minutes and the test was rather less than his best, earning a score of 30.5. 16 penalties added show jumping was most out of character but he put in a good clear across country and after a few easy days of playing hookey in the field will be headed to Boomerang on Thursday for our next CIC 2* team training session.     

Next to run was Fletcher who picked up a nasty over-reach in his show jumping and was withdrawn from the cross country stage. But to finish off the day, it was Fred’s turn in ON sec P. Each time out he improves and becomes more settled and today was his best yet, 34.3 dressage but an almost calm double clear inside the time earned us a 3^rd place, one of which I was very proud for the simple reason that Fred is my own pony and I am biased!     

Well after such a busy weekend we will be having a quiet day or two before our trip to Boomerang on Thursday and then it’s back to South of England on Sunday, this time for the Ardingly Riding Club ODE, and our 4yo Tigga’s first event. Our next outing with the older boys is Withington Manor in two weeks, so until then.....Bye

It’s been a couple of weeks now since my last installment and we are now well into the swing of things. After a hectic start we had a couple of quiet weekends and used the opportunity to give our youngest pony, Tickeridge, also known as Tigga,  his first outing to a ‘proper’ party, at the local Firle Hunter Trial.

As the first horse of the day to go around it was a nice quiet way for him to get used to the idea of going out into the country alone and he was a star, after a little wiggle at the start he realized that he was there to jump and took everything in his stride, producing a lovely clear.

We also paid a visit to Pippa Funnell for a training session with Pie and Brooke (707). As always Pippa made me focus strongly on my own position and balance, thus allowing the horse to work correctly rather than trying too hard to ‘make things happen’- which in fact usually ends up restricting the movement in some way.

Our next ‘real’ event was to the beautiful Somerley Park in the New Forest, with My Friend Freddie having his first outing of the season after unfortunately being balloted from Tweseldown, and 707, both in the ON, and On A Par contesting the CIC**. Wednesday was a rather quiet day with just Pie’s trot up and dressage. After our training session earlier in the week I was feeling confident and Pie delivered a (mostly) good test, with the exception of a “fragile” medium walk and a very nice but unrequired flying change halfway through the first canter serpentine. We did score several 8's though and ended up with a respectable score of 51.7, putting us in 15^th position.

The following day began nice and early with Brooke, who’s dressage is becoming a little more settled each time, scoring 32.5. A very uncharacteristic 12 faults added in the show jumping was a shame, but a super clear well inside the time across country ended the day well for him and showed that he should be ready to tackle the intermediate next time out at South of England. Fred also performed a reasonable test with 34.5. Freddie is also a horse who worries himself a lot and is also learning to settle down a little more each time, and after being taken slowly last year having spent the previous 2 seasons out of action through injury, he is finally starting to feel stronger and much straighter, especially in his jumping. One mistake in the show jumping and a steady clear cross country was also a pleasing result for him. The highlight of the week however was Pie’s performance in the afternoon, with a super double clear finishing in 12^th place, our best placing yet at this level.

Two days later it was off to Goring and back to earth with a bump. With Fletch and Pumpkin in the ON and BE100(O) classes respectively. Both performed very nice tests with both scoring in the 20's and both show jumped well, Fletcher is feeling so much better in this phase this year and his 4 faults were definately down to rider error!

However it all went rather pear-shaped cross country with Fletch deciding on a very sudden change of direction at the first of the corners, marring an otherwise super round, and Pumpkin again having issues with a hanging log approaching the water. It seems this year he has become very suspicious of fences where he can see something in the gap beneath, as 2^nd time, after having a closer inspection, it is no problem. We can only keep working on it and try to find a solution.

Suggestions on a postcard please................

Anyway it’s a fortnight now until a very busy weekend at South of England, in the meantime we are hoping to be hosting our first outdoor show of the year here at Golden Cross, dependant of course on the wonderful British weather... I’ll let you know how it all goes. X

Firstly let me introduce myself, my name is Sam Penn and I am an event rider based at Golden Cross EC in East Sussex. I have a talented string of horses and my ultimate aim for 2009 is to be selected for the European CCI2* Team Championships in Hungary taking place in July with “On a Par”.

As I make my first entry into my diary the 2009 season has already begun, and for us, it was with a bang! A very loud one, just three days before Stilemans and unfortunately emanating from somewhere beneath the horsebox! An emergency visit from our friendly mechanic revealed that a new head gasket was required, I know nothing about the inner workings of engines but apparently it was a rather big job.

So I trundled of to Stilemans in a lorry very kindly loaned to us by our neighbours with two of my younger horses Pokey’s Bally Milo (Pumpkin) and Coco de Cara (Coco). Both performed well in both the dressage and show jumping but unfortunately both had rather too good a look at the first of the steps down at fence 11, incurring 20 penalties.

However the two older boys brightened up the weekend. On Sunday Fletch was placed 3^rd in the ON and 707 (Brooke), a new ride for me this year, coming 4^th also in ON.

After a huge effort our lorry was back on the road in time to head to Tweseldown on Thursday with On a Par (Pie) in OI. The dressage warm up looked more like a rodeo ground with lots of horses feeling a little fresh at this early stage and definitely looking forwards to a run across country.

Pie certainly knew that the fun bit was just around the corner but held it together to produce a good, if slightly tense test of 33.2. An unfortunate pole down show jumping added 4 but just 14.8 time penalties, 3^rd fastest in our section, saw us finish in 4^th place, just behind Tina Cook and Miners Frolic!.

A fantastic result for my little coloured ‘pony’. Friday was again a little disappointing with Coco and Pumpkin, after being 1^st and 2^nd after dressage and both with good performances show jumping, a stop each across country put paid to their chances, back to the drawing board there I think.

However Fletch again managed a super performance to be 10th in ON. I’m hoping that all the work we have put into his show jumping has finally started to pay off....... touchwood!

Sunday saw us return to Tweseldown, this time with my BE 90 (intro) ride Private Quigley (PQ). This 15h coloured gelding is such a fun little man to ride and put in a super performance to be 3rd.

It has been an interesting start to 2009 but I am so excited to see how the rest of the season unfolds, with the support of the team at Golden Cross and my new sponsors Rainbow Equine its onwards and upwards. Our next outing is to Somerly Park with Pie contesting the CIC2*, Brooke in the ON, with My Friend Freddie who will be having his first outing of the year, and Coco in the pre novice. Followed swiftly by a trip to Goring, with Fletch and Pumpkin. I shall keep you posted....

Sam X