World Class squad training

Last week the development squad met at Vale View Equestrian Centre for training with olympic judge and trainer,Frances Verbeek. Our last session was back in February so I was really looking forward to showing her the improvements we've made since then. The first day we worked mostly on the way of going and suppleness, she was pleased with the progress we've made. The second day was test riding,this was the first time we had ridden the Grand Prix away from home since August so it was a little rusty, after Frances helped me work through some of the movements again to increase the implusion and energy to gain some extra marks.We also had a group lesson in the afternoon, I rode Bugsy who on the first day was having a lot of fun, squealing at every opportunity! He is improving rapidly now, he is showing some super trot work and lovely changes. He is such a natural performer I think next year could be fun in many ways!

Next weekend its time for the selection trials for World Class, the last two years have flown by and the dreaded interview and selection process is looming. After such a difficult time last year losing Nemo, I'm hoping a good performance on the day and the progress we've shown this year will be enough to secure my place again but I know there's tough competition ....... wish me luck!

National Championships 2008

Photo by Image Point

For the first time in years the sun was shining at the Nationals. We had brilliant show, Charlie was on great form in the Inter II finishing in 4th place just a fraction behind the top three. One judge placed us in the lead, shame the other four there!It was good test with 8's in the passage and changes, I was thrilled with him, he is really rising to the occasion now and looking stronger. It means so much to go well at the Nationals after a long season and years of training, I was definitely smiling! After a short break in the field he will be primed for the World Class selection trial in November and continue training through the winter ready for the Grand Prix season next year.

Photo By Image Point

Lucky was 10th in the PSG, one of his best tests this year. He showed much more cadence and relaxation and I was delighted to be in the top 10 in such a strongly contested class, we've had such a great year with him, it was a perfect end to the season. He's now going to spend a bit more time as Lindsey's school master and I'm going to play with the Grand Prix work over the winter.

I also had a busy time as trainer for two of my clients competing at their first National Championships. It was great to be there to support them,remembering how daunting it is to be there for the first time. Diane and Holme Park Kascade came 3rd in the Novice Restricted and 8th in the Prelim, really well done, she will now go on to compete in the Home International, for her regional team! Poor Olivia was not so fortunate when the crowd clapped at the end of test next door causing her young horse to spook, it left him unsettled, such a shame as he was looking like a top 3 place up to then. I must say it was far more nerve wrecking being trainer!!

So after an easy week winding down its time to start clipping and gaining winter qualifications with Bugsy, he can take the top slot while these two recover from a very busy and successful year!

71% Win!

Photo by JT Photography

Charlie had a successful pre Nationals outing by winning the Inter II on 71% getting us the biggest picture ever in Horse and Hound! He was on great form, so much stronger and more enthusiastic, scoring plenty of 8's from the list 1 judge.

Next week we are competing in the National Championships at Inter II so I'm hoping for another great performance. Likeur is also competing in the PSG and Inter I. This year I also have two of my clients in the Novice restricted and Prelim finals so a busy week ahead!

Charlie wins at Grand Prix

Charlie was a star at Fry's CDI and Premier League show. He won the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special!

I was really pleased with him, he had loads more energy which was probably due to our new system of drastically increasing his energy feed just for the competition rather than having him on a constantly high level. He really worked well in the warm up and for the first time this year he kept the same feel through into the test.He scored mostly 7's for the piaffe and passage work but unfortunately lost alot of marks for the tempi changes in both tests which is annoying as they are normally his strongest movement. I really feel we have turned a corner and he is now feeling much stronger and more comfortable with this level.

Lucky competed in the CDI International Small Tour and was 3rd in the PSG on the first day, another really consistant result. Some strange marking ,with 25 marks difference from one judge on the 2nd day in the Inter I was disappointing, he'd done a similar test to the day before, thats dressage! Still we qualified through to the freestyle on the sat evening, they put on a great show at Fry's with a huge atmosphere and loads of people watching. He coped amazingly well as he's a very anxious horse but still some tension meant the risky circle of tempi changes didn't come off so we finished in 5th place. Still I was proud of him and he even managed to stand still while I was handed a microphone to do an interview after the test!

Hartpury CDI Festival of Dressage

Photo by Kevin Sparrow

This was Likeur's (Lucky) first International competition. We had been nominated to compete after achieving some consistently high scores lately and it was his first outing with the Union Jack on his saddlecloth.

We arrived on Wednesday and after getting all four horses settled in and worked we eventually sat down to eat at 9.30pm. Thanks to Vanessa, my client who was competing in the premier league section of the festival, we had a lovely spag bol under her new swanky gazebo.

Thursday was Charlie's turn to compete in the Premier League Grand Prix. It wasn't his best test ever, however, he did get two 9's for his two tempi changes from the International judges and we were placed 8th.

Lucky flew through his trot up for the CDI, despite a long battle with a skin infection in his leg prior to the show he looked like a two year old springing up the arena and refused to stand still for the ground jury. We finished up the day with more of Vanessa's cooking, this time fillet steak! Lindsey was enjoying someone else taking the responsibility of feeding us all for a change as she had three horses to groom for.

Friday was the first day of the CDI with the Prix St George. Lucky went well and we finished 8th on 65%. Just a little tension in the trot work kept us from the top 6 places. After all the other horses had worked, I helped Vanessa with some last minute test practice ready for her first competition in two years the following day. That evening we headed off to Carl Hester's birthday party at his house nearby.

Saturday was the CDI Inter I with Lucky. After slowing down the speed of the trot I was really pleased with how the test was going until a mini hurricane blew up just as I started the canter work. The arena boards started to bend and wobble and the rain meant that everybody watching on the bank got up to put their coats on! He coped well but got very tense and anxious so that left us in 10th place on 64.8%.

On the same day Bugsy had his first day competing in the Premier League Advanced Mediums. He was still feeling very fresh and really enjoying staying away at a show. He entered the new indoor school with a huge amount of presence and confidence then just lost it a little in the test. He finds it all quite exciting but loses concentration at times but is definitely a star in the making. He finished the day with two 2nd's - one on 68.9%!

The last day of the CDI was the Inter I freestyle. It was always going to be a difficult day as we were using Nemo's music and there were inevitably a few tears shed. However, it proved worthwhile as we produced a lovely test with a brand new ground plan that was untried in competition and finished 4th place on 68.9%. It was great to finish well up the placings - well done Lucky!

Our day was far from over though, Bugsy was 3rd in the medium only due to the fact that the background music in the indoor school was too loud for me to hear the test being read!

Vanessa also finished up a great week by winning the medium restricted class on her first time out.

Bugsy Qualifies for regionals...

Bugsy (Walkman BC) finished his qualifications to the regional finals last weekend by winning both medium tests and scoring 70%! We are so pleased with how he is progressing and as he is still a little green we will take him out a few more times before the regionals to get some more milage.He will be competing in both medium and advanced medium at the regionals finals in the beginning of August.

Somerford Premier League

Lucky on top form!

Lucky had a fantastic show scoring 68% in all three tests and finishing 3rd in the Inter I which qualifies us for the Nationals. He was only beaten by the Pigeley's two mega expensive horses. The international judge had us placed 2nd ahead of their famous 'World Breeding Champion' Spirit Freedom!
Lucky was so rideable and hardly made a mistake in all three tests. He was also placed 4th and 6th in both the PSG classes ahead of some super horses. He has put himself up there with the best Small Tour horses in the country and hopefully a place in the International competitions later in the summer.



Charlie's Grand Prix Debut

Charlie made a good first attempt at Grand Prix and it was a huge achievement for me having trained him from a two year old, what a long journey! He was going really well but towards the end he got a little confused at having to turn up the centre line and 'do something'. He finished up the last centre line in passage and then halted at X as he has done all these years, he was horrified when I started kicking like mad trying to get piaffe! After a few failed attempts and a lot of grunting I abandoned the idea and finished in a lovely passage and decided we had a few things to discuss before the next time out!

Bugsy wins first time out!

We made a fairly last minute decision to enter Bugsy in his first competition, after taking him to Carl's for a lesson last week we realised he was ready to be 'seen'. He proved that he was more than ready by winning both the medium and the advanced medium on really good scores which qualified us the regionals in the Ad Medium and partly at medium. He was really great in the warm up and was only a little tense in the first test, to be expected as its his first outing since October. Its such a shame the photographer wasn't there I'm sure he would have made a pic in Horse and Hound, we'll have to settle for a write up.
Lucky also proved he's back on form by winning the PSG on 67%, He was much calmer and although he still wanted to get hot in the canter work, this time I was able to control him and we completed the test without any mistakes.It seems his new regime of daily turn out and reduced walking is working so we bravely entered Somerford Premier League next weekend hoping this test wasn't a one off!

Sheepgate Premier League

Charlie in piaffe

Last week we headed up to Lincolnshire for a busy few days at Sheepgate, Charlie entered in the Inter II both days and Lucky in both PSG and Inter I both days! Charlie seems to be much more consistent this year with another 2nd place in the Inter II, the first day was not great, I over cooked the warm up and he was tight and flat so the next day I changed to a fairly short warm up and only put the pressure on in the last 5 minutes, this seemed to work well and he did a good test with 8's for his one and two tempi changes.The foreign judge had us placed first by 10 marks ahead of Teutone, an established Grand Prix horse so that was very encouraging especially as he had judged very harshly all week.Charlie is out again next week at Addington to test the new warm up regime before the next Premier League on the 16th May.
The plan this time for Lucky was to see if two tests a day would take the edge off him.It seemed to be working the first day when he did a fairly steady Inter I and with quite a few mistakes was 5th place but the second day he came out very electric again and after some good trot work he blew up in the canter which was such a shame as he was feeling much more under control than last time out,the conclusion this time is that he is getting too fit, having a fair bit of thoroughbred in him we need to adjust his training system from the other warmbloods so he's going to walk only 20 minutes a day instead of the 1 hour 45mins that the others do and we are going to get him turning out everyday for a few days unwind.

Great start to the season!

The competition season got off to a great start this year with a win on our first outing with the new horse, Likeur (Lucky). We won the PSG qualifier at Manor Farm on 68.7%, we nearly abandoned going as the snow began falling as we were about to leave and it continued all though the warm up but he was great and only a few mistakes in the test kept us from reaching 70%.We also got a picture and write up in Horse and Hound so not a bad start to our season together!
Last weekend was the first Premier League show for us and also Charlie’s debut at Inter II, he proved that he was more than ready for the leap from PSG by coming 2nd and qualifying for the National Championships. He really showed his talent for the more difficult movements and scored a 9 for his two time changes. I’m really confident that my dream of training a Grand Prix horse from the start is going to be realised soon and all the experience I gained from training and competing Nemo is going to be much needed with Charlie.
Lucky had a much less successful outing this time, he was very tense on the first day and after hitting himself in the extended trot causing him to go very lame for a few steps he recovered but unsettled went on to make some mistakes. After working him again in the evening he came out much more relaxed the next day and warmed up well, so I was hopeful for a more settled test.....I couldn't have been more wrong! He came into the arena on fire!I really struggled to contain him in the extended trots and failed at times, the test continued with explosions in every movement,in the end I had to laugh as he was having such a great time!
We have done much reflecting since then and are hopeful that the change onto haylage earlier that week is the culprit so he is now on 'detox' rations until our next outing at the end of the month. Lets hope our 'schoolmaster' returns to normal by then!

Lucky and Bugsy pics

Help at last!....

At long last we have eventually found a groom to help us at The Windmill. We’ve been really struggling since the two new horses arrived - trying to get all four worked every day and mucked out etc. However, as of the 10th March, Alison is moving in! She’ll take care of the yard, help tack up and wash off etc so I can start teaching at lunchtime. She couldn’t have come at a more important time – the Premier League season starts next week and we’ll desperately need a reliable hand we can leave the non-competing horses with while we’re away with the other two and help re packing the lorry endless times this summer! We really hope she will enjoy joining the team.
Big has shown this week that he’s finally getting his flying changes, he managed one on each diagonal at X whereas up until now he could only do them through a repetitive exercise in exactly the same place. Must be sinking in at last! Hopefully now he’s getting stronger PSG won’t be so far away! The two new boys are coming on well, Lucky will be out to his first competition in a few weeks then he will start the Premier Leagues at PSG/Inter 1.

World Class Squad Training

Last week I had two days training with Francis Verbeek, she is a Dutch trainer and also an O Judge. My only other encounter with her had been on my selection trial for World Class when I remember her yelling during my medium trot 'more.....more....more!' We were already going full throttle, then she yelled ' now extended trot', all I could think was ' there isn't anymore!!' but I didn't think saying so would help with my selection much!
So this time with the dread of extended trot I quickly suggested that I needed to work on my canter and one time changes! We had two great sessions, she is such a positive and enthusastic trainer, demanding but quick to get excited about the good moments. She focussed on correct bending, quality of paces and throughness. She encouraged me to stay more in control of the one time changes by using only seat aids to reduce the reaction and keep him from flying so high and to decide before starting exactly how many I was going to ride so that he didn't take over. Then with the piaffe/passage we were to do transitions into piaffe for only one or two strides so that he didn't get stuck behind my leg. Without one step of walk in 45 mins we both feeling a little stiff the next day for our 8am lesson but we soon loosened up to produce some much improved work. Francis is hopefully back in October for another squad session so I'd better get training hard!

Just arrived!

On Sunday we picked up our two new horses. This is Bugsy leaving his old home. He is an 8 year old liver chestnut Hannovarian by Wie Weltmeyer. He has competed at medium with his previous owner and has started his changes. We plan to compete at medium and advanced medium this summer, and train towards PSG at the end of the year. He's a real character and quite closely related to Charlie who also has a huge personality - must be grandfather Wensel!


This is Likeur, we have called him Lucky for short. He is competing at Inter I and is a very young 15! He is going to compete with me this year in Small Tour and then be Lindsey's schoolmaster. Both horses came from a lovely lady who decided to give up dressage - lucky for us!

Some Pics....

The Stables

Big (Titanic) working at home

Into the New year......

Both the horses had a quiet time over Christmas and it should have been the same for me apart from being convinced to join my fiance, Sean and my friend on a hack over the new year in Devon! I had to switch off 'dressage mode' as this poor old mare had no mouth and hung to the right for the whole hour and a half! I certainly wasn't paying them £25 to school her!

Now we are back in full training again with a trip to Carl Hester, my trainer, last week and World Class squad training on sunday. Both horses went really well, Charlie is showing some super piaffe and passage, starting to get more uphill instead of bouncing around which he is so good at! I'm working hard on his one tempi changes as they are still HUGE and lacking some control, so he's only allowed to do a few at a time for now or I slowly get thrown higher and higher into orbit.
Big is looking great and getting so much stronger, he is getting most of his changes through now and they are going to be really lovely.He's now doing some 'baby piaffe' and showing some great steps, its all going to so easy for him when he's developed the strength.
Through the World Class development squad we were given opportunity to use the Pliance system which reads the pressure points under the saddle, its a pad under the saddle wired to a pack around the riders waist the sends constant readings back to a laptop. It measures the amount of pressure whilst the horse is moving in all paces and is so useful in making corrections to the balance of the saddle.Technology can be great!

We have slowly started our search for another horse, tomorrow we are off up north to see a horse that I am quite excited about.....watch this space!