5 days, 3 shows!

Regionals - February 2019

Sixth place for Galanci RS in the Novice Gold Freestyle.

We have had various setbacks which did not give us the best preparation this year.  Tilly was rather cross she did not get an invite to Hughes Dressage!  Never mind ... she far exceeded our expectations with her behaviour at the Merristwood Regional Championships.

We know there is so much more to come from Tilly. She really tried for me in her freestyle test.  Overall I was really pleased with her performance, we had one communication blip which was unfortunate.









Daya and I contested our first Inter I together at Bury Farm Equestrian Centre. It was a seriously windy day but nothing phases Daya!

Having had our time away at Hughes Dressage training at Grand Prix we were both feeling  stronger and more confident.
We had one mistake in the two times but over all Daya really tried and the test felt flowing and harmonious.














 Finn competed at Addington in the Prix St George.

Finn was absolutely fab! He was so relaxed and with me. This is his first time out in a while and he kept his cool ...even when there was a major outside disturbance during the walk in this test!

Very impressed with his behaviour and looking I am looking forward to going out again soon.









Huge thanks to all of our Sponsors, owners, vets, farriers and physios who help keep the horses happy, healthy and feeling fab!

Starting the year with a trip away....

January brought an exciting adventure!!  Daya, Finn and I escaped from Hertfordshire and travelled to Warwick training for a month with the fabulous Hughes Dressage.

Stunning views in the morning over Hughes Dressage

Finn looking pleased with his new space

The facilities at Hughes Dressage are absolutely incredible, everything is immaculate, well thought out, with the horses wellbeing at the forefront of every decision. 

Daya and Finn settled really well, they quickly adapted into their new routine of hand walking and grazing as well as some time on the walker, rather than their usual turnout in the field (which they definitely missed!).

Each week the horses had about three or four lessons and between training they stretched, lunged and had a day off. 

It was so good to train consistently with so much help. The horses absolutely thrived under Gareth's knowledgable tuition. 

Finn modelling his Blue Chip and Equo

I was so happy to see the improvement in the horses over the month. Daya and Finn are both currently training at Grand Prix..... we worked on finding the swing in the Passage, creating energy in the Piaffe, one time changes and lots of lines from the Grand Prix tests.

Thank you so much Gareth for all of the incredible training!! 

Daya rocking the Classic Dressage Double bridle

The team at Hughes were so welcoming and it was a pleasure to work on the yard during my stay.

Daya looking gorgeous in Catago Navy Diamond Range

A Ball!!!

I had a surprise invitation to a Ball....which was lovely,  apart from the fact I didn't pack a ball gown in amongst my breeches! and certainly not any heels!!  Julia Hornig was my 'Fairy God Mother 'and after finishing the yard on Saturday night I went into the house and there was a red ball gown and shoes in my size on the bed!  Awesome!

from the yard

Off to the Ball

We had a fun night with the wonderful Classic Dressage girls, thank you for taking me to my first ball of 2019!

Daya enjoying turn out when she got home!

I am so grateful to Gareth and Rebecca for having me, they are both so inspiring and have worked incredibly hard to create the ultimate training facility!

Also a huge "thanks to the team at Hughes" for talking care of me and the horses, we had a great time!

"Thank You" to the Young Professionals Programme for supporting me in this time away, it really was a career changing opportunity!

Digging a track in the snowy arena to continue training when we got back... "it was easier at Hughes!!'

Our Exciting News

Daya started our year off well with a win at Bury Farm EC on Monday, she posted 66% in the Prix St George test to win the class.

The test went well, I was especially pleased with the trot work, we had a couple of blips in the canter, but there is still so much more to come! 

2019 is getting off to a very exciting start for us... we are heading off to Hughes Dressage tomorrow,  training with two horses for three weeks!

I am extremely excited and very grateful to Gareth, Rebecca and the Team for having us.

I would also like to thank the Young Professionals Programme for helping us make it happen! 

I'm currently packing the lorry... there are Konig boots hidden in gaps, boxes piled high and rugs/saddle pads in every cupboard! Excited!

What a way to end the year!

Our last show of 2018 was the icing on the cake to a great year. Aramis T was Miss consitency the weekend of the Small Tour championships.

We qualified for the championships a few months prior at Woodlands Equestrian Centre winning the class on 71%.

The Small Tour championships were hosted at Keysoe Equestrian centre over two days.

The first day was a straight Inter I test and the second a freestyle, the marks were then combined to an average percentage which created the final result.

The first day were contested the Inter I, Merri produced some super trot and canter work to score 68%. The following day we performed our freestyle test to score 71%!!

We were over the moon with the test, it was probably the best the floor plan has ever worked to the music- we were so in time. Merri was relaxed, expressive and enjoyed her music performance.

There was a short wait for the scores, and it was extremely difficult to calculate where we might be lying in the results but it was starting the look more and more like a top three finish as the results kept going up.

We were delighted to finish in second place amongst some extremely hot competition.

This show was our aim with Merri this year and she couldn't have tried more for me :)

It was a great way to finish the year.

I would like to say a huge Thank you to my sponsors, owners, friends and family for supporting us this year, as well as vets, physios, farriers, venues and clients who we couldnt do it without.

A little update...

Tilly has qualfied for Winter Regionals!

Tilly has been out three times in Novemeber and achieved some great scores! We have been to Windmill Farm, Merrist Wood and Woodlands Equestrian. We have scored from 71% to a great 78%! Tilly is now qualified for the Winter Regionals at Novice Gold and Novice gold Freestyle.

Tilly had a year out after a field injury and she has come back feeling stronger than ever. She has a lovely character and her canter always puts a smile on my face!

Merri hasn't been out since we had a double win at Woodlands Equestrian in the Small Tour qualifiers at Inter I.
We are now looking forward to the championships at Keysoe EC in December.

Affinity Bay has been working well at home and we went out for a lesson with Stephen Clarke last week. We worked on getting the piaffe passge more on the aids and collecting the canter enough to be able to do more one time changes in balance. We are so lucky to have an increbible trainer like Stephen coach so locally! Thank you for having us Peta.

In other new I have recently been to the British Dressage National Convention. BD kindly gave me some VIP passes which meant we had a great view for the whole day and plenty of refreshments!
I was really honoured to receive the Young Professionals Trophy Awarded from Islay Auty, it was a lovely surprise!

The convention was very informative and inspiring. There were incredible combinations of horses, riders, coaches, vet and judges who gave us an all round view of the different aspects of training and performance.

Demo Day

Bury Farm's Unaffiliated Championships took place from the 22nd - 23rd of September 2018.

This was Bury Farm's first year hosting the Championships. The atmosphere was friendly and encouraging with plenty of opportunities for the riders to win prizes, to enter prize draws, raffles and receive goody bags for qualifying! What a great show, to arrive and receive a prize!

The day saw plenty of smiling riders even though the rain decided to fall. The day ran smoothly, as it always does at Bury Farm with such a great team.

I presented a Masterclass riding the talented Tilly (aka Galanci RS).

Tilly was a total star!!!! She hasn't been back in work that long and she loved showing off in front of the crowd. She was fairly relaxed and dealt with the entire outing like a professional.

Tilly scrubs up very well, although it did take two baths, as she has a real talent for attracting dirt overnight! Tilly looked very smart, dressed head to hoof in Catago Diamond range in white! 

We looked at techniques and tips that the riders could use over the course of the weekend as well as exercises for developing the trot and improving transitions in the future.

We explored what makes a good warm up and some exercises I use to get my horses feeling ready. As well as looking at one of my favourite exercises for a spooky or tense horse (I thought this may be appropriate for Tilly, although she proved me wrong and excelled herself!)

We then shared our top tips for the best test. How to warm up in a busy arena, what to do if your test goes wrong and some of the best ways to reflect on your test for future progression and development.

My wonderful Sponsors Catago, Equilibrium Products and Blue Chip feed kindly donated goody bags for all our Winners as well as a prize draw for all the competitors to enter.

Blue Chip Feed handed out free samples, caps, vouchers and lovely canvas bags which are so high quality I probably would use them to go shopping rather than at the yard!

Equilibrium Products shared some of their new release 'skin soother' with our winners, which smells of chamomile and spearmint- its great! 

As well as some £10 off vouchers for their online shop. Our three winners also received a set of Stretch and flex boots!

Catago sponsored all three classes and awarded first second and third with some incredible goodies from the FIR Tech range.

First prize received a FIR Tech saddle pad, the saddle pad is stunning it is high quality and also boosts healing and muscle recovery in your horse through its FIR Tech healing properties.

Second prize received a FIR Tech fly veil and third a FIR Tech poll guard, so a very good day for our winners!

SO many Prizes.. and this is before the riders entered the prize draw where there were yet more goody bags to be won and a Diamonte Blue Chip saddle pad!

The day was great fun for everyone involved and a huge thanks to Bury Farm for organising such a super show, it takes so much behind the scenes work to run a show like this, and even more work to make it so great! 

Reserve Champion for Aramis T

This was our first time competing at the British Dressage Summer Music Championships.....

Merri qualified for Prix St George class... 

WE WERE RESERVE CHAMPION!! 

So proud of Merri, she tried so hard for me and gave me a fantastic ride! 

Watch our video here