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Shelford Manor: Jack & Skippy 4th PN!!

Nothing but consistent eh?! Was thrilled with my babies at a last minute plan change. Jack didn't provide us with his usual and consistent 31/32 dressage, but the marks in his section were all quite high. But, he was brilliant jumping! A very grown up round in both the SJ and XC put him well up the board for a 4th placing! The star for me, was a very low mileage Skippy! She was totally brilliant from start to finish! She's only done one event, where she was 5th at Intro (Solihull) 6 weeks earlier! So her confidant and scopey double clear here was very welcome! I think this is another horse to watch out for!

Brigstock: 4 of 4 double clears, 3 of 4 placings: Jack 5th PN, Victor 9th Nov, Diva 12th Nov, TJ 14th CIC**!!!

Go team!! Another event I adore, again, inviting, big and bold courses, beautiful going! I'll start with my TJ... I was thrilled at his dressage test, as he was soft and fluent, and for his stage of learning at this point, he did as good a test as we could have done! And to finish on his dressage score was just magic! People like to poke fun at his stamp... an unlikely eventer, eh... I get the last laugh when I have such an enjoyable ride! People are starting to sit up and take notice of him now he's putting the rest in their place!!

Victor was fabulous from start to finish, a test I was proud of, and jumping felt amazing... Diva also the same, but being early days with her at Novice I let her take her time a little cross country, to finish just outside the placings. Jack, again made us all proud, a stellar 32 test, and double clear was only good enough for 5th... I'll be happy when he gets his win!!

Aston le Walls: TJ 5th Intermediate

I always love Aston le Walls, the course is inviting whilst technical enough. Diva was dragged out of the field last minute to replace a less than happy Victor, and she rewarded me by behaving and performing brilliantly! Our dressage was marred by a confused judge, but her tests are going in the right direction! She jumped like she'd been doing Novice all her life, and finally trusts herself cross country! TJ, was amazing... my boy is really going from strength to strength this year! I was miffed with myself for maybe not putting my food down a bit more on the cross... he got the same time as last year, when we completed the latte rhalf of the course with only one stirrup!! If I'd have known before I started I'm confidant we could have won! Anyway... hindsight is a marvellous thing, and I had to be more than chuffed with his 5th place!

Moreton Morrell: Diva 6th OpenPN

Diva has her Mojo back! After being a little cautius to start this season, she has reverted to superstar! She felt absolutely amazing jumping, I think my thanks are due to Nigel Taylor's help getting her believing in herself again XC! Jack had an amazing first PN, with a brilliant dressage test, and an easy clear SJ... unfortunately our scalps were claimed by the skinny blue box coming out of the water! Think it took him (and a ridiculous number of others) by surprise; enough to cause the course builders to change the fence for the following day's competition... unlucky!! Victor went for a sweetener following Belton, and although it doesn't look great on paper, I was thrilled with how he jumped... shame our dressage test was next to the water, when one competitor needed a lot of vocal encouragement through the water... the kicking and screaming came for our medium canter, which Victor thought was highly amusing!!

Solihull: Jack 3rd Intro (2nd Intro!) Skippy 5th Intro (1st attempt)

Two days of competing here were a compelte pleasure. Solihull put on a great show, and it's so nice to show my owners some hospitality! Solihull put on a great spread, and make the owners feel very important! We had some very good results as well, which always helps! Skippy was attempting her 1st Intro, and to be double clear and placed 5th was incredible! Jack also showed great consistency to finish on his good dressage score for 3rd place! Diva was a little inconsistent in her contact in her dressage, and the judge seemed to be very cross about it, but her jumping was very good! Henry surprised us by not performing so well in the SJ, but to find he had twisted his shoe, and was very uncomfortable made me feel awful for doubting him! Tucker was very good all round, though one fence down did preclude him from the placings.

Eland Lodge: Jack 4th Intro (1st outing!)

It was Tucker and Jack's first proper party, and Diva was there to try and find her Mojo!! It was lovely to have Jacks owners with us for the day, makes it feel like a real social occasion when the sun shines!! He made us all very happy for his 31 double clear at his first ever event; and finished 4th in his section. Even more fabulous was the generous prizes provided by the sponsors - Dubarry! Tucker was very well behaved, although felt very green competing on grass for the first time!! He is SUCH a big horse to contain within a 20 X 40, especially withough front studs!! He felt very classy on the XC though, and that, for me, was the main thing for his first time out! Diva did what I felt was a beautifully soft dressage test, but the judge didn't seem to like her elasticity... I don't really mind what they thought- it is going in the right direction!! And the most important thing is... Diva has her Mojo back!! She was fabulous cross country, and was enjoying it again!!

Belton:

A mediocre couple of days competing... Though the going was good- firmer than I expected!- it didn't end with the glee the last two events did... Victor again, did a good dressage, but shone with a beautiful clear in the SJ... but then couldn't answer my question when galloped at a corner... think I slightly bruised his confidence, as his previous "yeah whatever" attitude wavered at the following fence again... I'd have liked a let up fence between two such questions, but hey- you can't have it all!! TJ was quite tense in his dressage. I knew it would be a good experience for him thinking about the long term, as with all the trade stands, and flowers, and long arena, will set him in good stead for his first three day! He had an uncharacteristic show jumping round, so I decided to have a real steady lope round his Intermediate XC course. He didn't seem to understand why we were going so slowly, but I think a very good educational round for him... He answered every question like a pro, and he feels such a classy horse cross country. I was slightly miffed to find, when viewing the score board, that I'd somehow managed to miss a loop containing two fences!! Well, I'll be more careful next time, won't I!! Glad we only had a 40 dressage and were having an educational rather than competitive day!!

Weston Park: Victor 4th place N

It turned out that having entered 3 for the Novice, I only took one... So Victor got a whole day to himself! It was a beautiful day in the sunshine, and the going was great (apart from the SJ!) I wish Weston, with all that space available, would give us more than a postage stamp to warm up and compete showjumping on!! Victor struggled with the tight twisty course and the gluey ground, to take two fences down... but more than redeemed himself on the cross country!! He did a lovely dressage test, and motored round the XC to finish 4th despite his 2 rails in the SJ... well done my boy!!

Lincoln: TJ 3rd place Intermediate

TJ got to go to a party all on his own! It was beautiful sunshine, and Mum came with me, so it was really like the good old days! Tj was wild warming up for the dressage! I thought I'd never be able to halt at X let alone do the other movements I was supposed to do for Intermediate!! Luckily he decided that once we'd halted at X maybe Mummy wanted him to relax a little for his test! THANK GOD! He did a 37 test, which was a fair mark for his freshness! Following him being wild for the dressage he came out feeling very grown up for the jumping. He feels like he's really matured over the winter. He proved this with an absolute copybook double clear. The SJ was up to height, and causing lots of problems- but he felt strong and consistent. XC was out of this world. It was a strong course, taking plenty of scalps, and he made it feel like PN. I didn't rush him, but he doesn't need to waste time being set up, so only picked up a hanful of time faults finishing 3rd!!

Traliblazers dressage: All qualified 2nd round: Victor had a victory!!

Tucker had his first party 'between the boards'! I'm very excited about his future, gaining an 8 and a 9 in his first ever test!! Diva also produced a very good test, placing 3rd in her class, and Victor won his Novice test! All 3 of them have qualified for the 2nd round! TJ did a Novice class HC, as I wanted some test practice in a double bridle, and he was half a mark behind Victor... shame he didn't remember this for the following day at Lincon!!

Oasby: TJ 7th place ON; Victor 16th place N

First outing of the year, and I'm not sure who was more excited- the horses or me! I was very disappointed with both dressage tests, as they've been working so well in the run up... but their excitement got the better of me! However, they both feel much more grown up this year jumping! Having not been out hunting or XC schooling I was using this as a bit of a trial run! TJ did a beautiful and easy double clear with no time penalties. Victor jumped his socks off, but had one fence down when he got a little onward bound at an upright! XC was fabulous!

Stafford:

Diva and Vodka both did smart tests... unfortunately for Vodka his rider had a meltdown and forgot her dressage test! The dressage judge seemed to think similar thoughts for the whole section, and most of her marks were early 30's! So having pulled off a 31 dressage one silly fence down put Diva right out of the reckoning! (only ever had one other fence down!). Vodka Show jumped very well, which was nice as his owner was watching! But having not been XC on him for 5 years we were obviously not completely on the same wavelength. It wasn't until he'd stopped that I realised he was considering it! Big disappointment, but it would have been unfair to have been placed having gone wrong in the dressage!!