Addington Premier League Show

Addington, our second Premier league of the season.

Merri was miss consistency scoring just under 68% for another top ten placing in a HUGE Inter I class.

Our test showed some highlights and improvements in areas we had been working on. Unfortunately we had a mistake in the changes due to a distracting wheel barrow man popping out behind the judges hut just as we were approaching! 

Looking forward to our next one at Wellington Equestrian Centre on the 7th and 9th of June.

Photo- Kevin Sparrow

Huge thanks to our sponsors for your Support!

Exciting News!!

Daya approves- beautiful quality, super smart, rugs.

Finn loves the Diamond range brushing boots!

Life with horses certainly has its up and downs.. but receiving a phone call from a fantastic company  offering sponsorship certainly made for a very happy day! And much excitement for the future!

Catago are a very sucessful Danish Brand who have been in the UK for a few years. I am extremely excited to announce that I will be working with Catago and their team.

They have the most beautiful, luxury products, made from really high quality materials.

I look forward to sharing more with you all in the future about our work together... and until then.. here is an insight into their Diamond range!
The Catago website- see my facebook to find a stockist near you!

What an experience...

Last October I started on the Young Professionals Programme (YPP) supported by the British Equestrian Federation. 
The YPP consisted of a mixture of Show Jumpers, Eventers and Dressage riders. Having this diversity within the 
group allowed us to all exchange experiences, and we came to realisation that, although we came from different disciplines, overall we were developing within the same industry and shared so much in common.



Overall the programme gave us access to specialists within the industry, we learned so much, gained vital information and had some fantastic experiences.
On our last workshop we visited the Betcholshimer's yard... it was completely stunning and such a privilege to have an insight into their day to day workings. 
We then returned to Hartpury college and spent the afternoon reflecting on our experiences, making goals and plans moving forward in our careers.



The Dressage riders had another fantastic opportunity on offer, we had the chance to win the Young Professionals Award, which is a bursary kindly sponsored by Core Context Consulting. 
We had to create a personal statement, five year plan and a business plan. Followed by a 10-15 presentation on "Where we see Dressage as a sport going in the next 10 years"
It was great to further explore where our industry was heading in the future and I really enjoyed the process.

I am very pleased announce, I was lucky enough to receive the Award, and now have the support to pursue some exciting career developments...so watch this space! 
I am extremely grateful to British Dressage and Core Context Consulting for this opportunity!

Here is the link to the YPP Programme, applications open in July! 
The experience has been fun, informative and tangibly effective.

Do you meet the criteria?? Apply for YPP HERE!

First Premier League of the year!

Our first Premier League of the season was at Keysoe Equestrian Centre. 

Keysoe is located in Bedfordshire and takes us about an hour an a half to get there. We had a very civilised competition time- 3pm!

The warm up was extremely busy. Merri wasn't very pleased with the quantity of horses in a such a small space but she coped very well and felt relieved to go outside to the competition arenas when it was our time.

She was a star, the trot work felt great and we got good scores. We gained 7.5's and 8's for some of our eight meter circles as well as the two time changes.

We placed sixth overall in a huge class of 40 competitors on 68.77%.

Merri enjoying a post test snack!

Earlier in the week we competed locally at Windmill farm in the Prix St George Freestyle class.

We had not competed in a music competition in a long time and Merri was a total pro.

Our floor-plan included long sweeping half pass lines, pirouettes out of counter canter and all of our changes on half (or whole) circles. We placed first and are looking forward to dancing again soon!

Next stop, Addington Premier League!

Calming Balancer- The perfect mix!

I was very excited when Blue Chip told me they were bring out a Calming Balancer, I definitely had a horse who could benefit from some calming...

Since feeding the Calming balancer I have noticed an improvement in Finn's results...
I tend to gradually start introducing the balancer in the days leading up to a show. This means there are no sudden dietary changes and it also influences the horses mood when travelling and adjusting to the competition environment.Finding the right diet for your horse is so important and its amazing how adding something new in the right quantity can make such a difference!

Finn feels more relaxed and rideable which allows him to produce the work he is capable of.
From my experience if your horse is wound up before you get on, it is often to late to get them to truly relax, you have to do everything you can to stop them from getting stressed in the first place.
We tend to do things like allow turn out in the field the day we travel to a show, which can help keep stressing and excitement about leaving the yard to a minimum.

When competing at a Premier League show we tend to go away for about three days so we also try and incorporate some hacking in this time if the venue allows, and if not, we walk the horses in hand.

The calming balancer consists of ingredients such as magnesium and chamomile, which have proven calming effects. the primary reason for combining a calmer and a feed balancer is that stress and digestion have a very close relationship; stress can cause digestive issues, and digestive issues can cause stress.

The probiotics in the balancer restore the natural balance of the gut flora and help to maintain the natural well- being of the digestive system.

watch our video HERE..

Inspiring times!

Mid February I drove down to Hartpury College for a Young Professionals Programme training day. We had the privilege of the Gold medal winning Olympian Helen Richardson-Walsh come and talk to us...
Helen talked about her road to the Rio Olympics and what she believe gave her and her team the gold medal advantage.

She believed it was her teams Culture. By this I mean their values, behaviours, morals, awareness of themselves/others and the appreciation of difference within the team.

Helen spoke about the ‘vision’ which they lived by,
“Be the difference, create history, Inspire the future”. This vision is bigger than an Olympic gold or the individual athletes, it is about inspiring the next generation, the ultimate dream.

The reality of life for Helen was tough.. There was a lot of pain from training, constantly being assessed and competing against other top athletes who she had close personal relationships with. It was the uncertainty and challenge that made having a clear set of values and morals all the more important, to keep driven and motivated every day.

As a team they had a set of values and from these they created a written statement.

“Respect differences, Listen, Got your Back, Belong now and Forever, Connection, Communication, Stamp out fires Early, Strength, one Team.”

Helen and her team lived by these words everyday which put in place the behaviours that eventually became habits. This allowed for them to be the same team under pressure, even at the Olympics. This is what Helen believed allowed them to Win Gold at the Rio Olympics. Thank you for coming Helen!




Overall February has been a productive and inspiring month-I am very thankful to the organisations that allow me to continue to progress and grow. Physical training can be really tough in these Winter months as it can sometimes feel like you are not moving forward but really it just highlights even more how important mindset is, to overcome such challenges and find the best way forward!

Expectations Exceeded....

This month has been very educational.... what with snow and horrendous weather riding at the moment has been feeling at times less like training and more like survival mode! The weather has not stopped everything though! I have been extremely busy teaching clinics at some fantastic venues, going to training days and travelling down to Hartpury for the Young Professionals Programme.

We have had a few weeks of decent weather, luckily Judy Harvey brought some sunshine for my most recent training session! Merri was a total star! Watch a very short snippet of video from our session HERE. 

We have booked another session for March in already so fingers crossed the snow clears soon so we can get practicing!

Through the Pony Club I was invited to attend a CPD day at Bury Farm. Initially I was a little concerned about sitting in the big cold indoor school all day but my expectations were definitely exceeded. 

We whizzed around all morning listening to fantastic talks! Our first talk of the day was from Charlie Unwin a sports physiologist, who has coached five different olympic disciplines and has a particular interest in accelerated learning. An inspiring start to the day! 

We then went and found Russell Guire from Centaur Biomechanics in another class room, we talked about tack and some interesting new discoveries that Russell has experienced during his gait analysis controlled experiments. 
The day was very interesting, I picked up a few tips and new information and also had a chance to chat with Neue Sheule about bitting! Hopefully my horses will appreciate some change with regards to bits in the next few months.