Wow. I have been especially tardy with my up-dates so I have about 2 months worth of stuff to tell you about……

The BRC Horse Trials Nationals 100 at Swalcliffe Park – What a weekend. Mum, Woody and I went up late on the Thursday evening after I had got back from work. We arrived and set-up our camp in the dark. Woody was very good and settled into his temporary stabling well, although he wasn’t very impressed with not being allowed his head over the door unless we were there.

The Friday was dressage day. We met up with the rest of my team (a lovely group of girls) for whom we had managed to save parking next to us. Woody warmed up well, but he kept putting his tongue over the bit. Eventually I jumped off and we cranked his noseband and flash up tight, which he grumbled about, but kept his tongue in place. The test went ok, though could have been better, but I was very pleased with a 28, which put me in good standing in my arena. We then met up with the others to walk the course. I was actually surprised as I thought it looked quite big! And asked a few toughish questions for the level. It was also very hilly! But it was a beautiful BE100 course and I was looking forward to riding it. In the afternoon we had a group ride round the roads and tracks, which was rather exciting!! The horses were clearly all feeling well and on their toes and I was VERY glad I had put Woody’s Pelham in for it!

XC day dawned dark and stormy but with it came Jade and Adam. 🙂 I was feeling quite nervous and some of the rain bursts we had before my start time did not help. The ground quickly turned muddy and slippery and having re-walked the XC in the morning I knew there were now places I would need to take care.

Eventually my time came around and we started round the roads and tracks, just as the rain re-started. My timing was fine (although the paper with all the timings written on disintegrated within minutes in the rain!) and we reached the steeplechase with a minute to spare. That was great fun! I really pushed him on and he flew round. Another bout of roads and tracks and we were back at the 10 min box. The vet was happy so off we went onto the XC.

Thankfully the rain had now stopped. What a round! He was a total super-star and felt great going round. He had a good gawk at the big duck before the water but felt really confident around the rest, flying over the couple I had been concerned about. We did however have a rather sticky moment at the second to last. It was a combination fence, large log/brush fence with a few strides to the second element. This was divided into two parts, my level could jump either the left (the nicer bit – a sweeping line to a wider part of the fence) or the right part (a straight approach to a very angled part of the fence – the Novice part). After re-walking in the morning I had decided to play safe and go left. Woody jumped the first part of the combination and left a front leg. We slithered over, stumbling on landing (an over-reach boot flying off in the process), had no time to turn so I picked up the reins and kicked and bless him he flew straight over the trickier right side (see below pic on right). What a star!

Photos thanks to Action Replay Photography



He finished well and much washing/rinsing/icing/claying ensued. I was worried he had caught his knee in the awkward jump but he seemed ok and walking him later on in the day he seemed happy and sound. We had only picked up a few time faults in the XC so I was very pleased as the course had caused issues for quite a few.

A pub dinner and bed before getting up early for the Sundays trot-up and final show-jumping. Woody seemed quite happy after his exertions the day before, but it was not to be. The vets weren’t happy with him and thought he may have pulled a muscle over his back and hind quarters saving himself over the bad jump in the XC. So we had to retire. I was gutted. Many a tear were shed by both me and Jade. 😦 We watched my team mates show-jump, packed up our camp and made the long journey home feeling very deflated….

Luckily the vet came in quickly to check him out. She wasn’t worried about the strain and after a few days he was back to normal. However she wasn’t very happy with his feet. I had noticed they were starting to look a bit flat over the last couple of months and she agreed, so after consulting with my farrier we decided on a long term plan of action to get him feeling more comfortable and stronger behind. After a few days getting used to his new ‘high heels’ he felt fab and after our physio had also sorted him out he felt better than ever!

We were now back on track for our next outing, the BE90 Regionals at Milton Keynes. I love MK and am very sad that this was their last year of BE events so I was very pleased to be going there for my regional. I won’t go into all the details but needless to say Woody was a superstar and we finished on a 28.4 double clear. Unfortunately we were in a very hot section and even with that score we still only finished in 12 th place! So no Badminton for us next year. But never mind. 🙂

Photos thanks to Ultimate Images

With the feet now looking better, but more work to do, I devised a plan with my vet. At the end of September I was due to be in Hong Kong for two weeks with work so we decided this would be the perfect time to make more changes to his shoeing and give him time to settle into them while I was away. I decided therefore that we would finish our BE season before I left, with our last event being Goring Heath. The last time I went to this venue was many many moons ago, and I fell off in the showjumping and then got eliminated in the XC (thanks Monty!). But it is a lovely place. Another hilly XC and big and bold. A suitable test to finish the season. Being a bit out of match fitness though I just wanted us to have a nice confident run and finish on a high. And that we did. A good dressage, a couple of poles SJ and the most fantastic/confident XC he has ever done! I was utterly over the moon! It was a fun day from start to finish with many laughs and left me desperate to get out there again next season. I definitely think that if we work hard over the winter training and we plan it right we could start tackling some nice Novice courses next year. 🙂

Photo thanks to Ultimate Images

There was just time for one more quick outing….. So off we went to Blenheim for the Riding Club Eventers Challenge. It’s a tough course of show-jumps and XC fences up to 1.05 and I really wasn’t sure how we would get on. I really wound Woody up in the warm-up, getting him really forward and in-front of my leg and it worked as he did a super round! He knocked two show-jumps but they were just un-lucky rubs. I know that is what we need to (and will) work on over the winter but I am so pleased with how he is coming on. I had a fantastic group of friends around me on the day, helping and cheering me on and I utterly loved the experience. And at the end of the day that is kind of the point.

Photos thanks to Gary Horner & ES Photography

So then Woody had his 3 week holiday, well spent relaxing and getting fat and hairy in the field. He deserved it though, and although he was bored by the end I hope he enjoyed his rest. He has come back into work full of enthusiasm and the plan is that we will dressage and show-jump over the winter. We’ve already been out for our first Elementary BD scoring 65%!!

I’ve realized a few things this season…. Firstly that I am incredibly lucky to have such a super pony. He really never fails to amaze me with his trusting, genuine, happy go lucky attitude to life. Secondly that a lot of work goes into this eventing malarkey! Even when you only do it for fun! Also that I have a lot of people who support and encourage me. I think nowadays it is very easy to push yourself far beyond your comfort zone, especially with pressure from social media. But we and our ponies are all individuals, at different levels in our training and competition lives and there is no right or wrong answer on how things should be done. I do think the most important thing as a rider you can learn is to trust your gut. Move up when it feels right for both of you, not because you feel you have to. And if it goes wrong, move down again. There is no shame in it, we all have to do it from time to time to re-build/substantiate confidence, whether theirs or ours. I hope that I do now and always will apply that logic to Woody and any other horses I ride. And that it stands him in a great place for a continued successful, competitive but ultimately fun career ahead. I think I owe him that.

xx