That went quickly...!

Can't believe its the end of October....

I have now been to the Excel Talent Program induction day. It was a very interesting day filled with inspirational talks from people, such as Rebecca Romero MBE  who won Olympic medals in two different sports, captivating videos and lots of educational information.

I am now very much looking forward to the first training weekend!

The Equilibrium Products Photo-shoot went well and the shots are being used in the new catalog which you can pick up first  from 'Your Horse Live' where they have a stand.

Freaky Friday...

Today I competed the fabulous Cleopatra II at Windmill Farm in her first Medium tests....

The first test went well scoring 71% even though it felt a bit wobbly! 

The second test proved to be a bit more tricky as the corner at K seemed to suddenly be haunted! And apparently Daya is scared of ghosts. Some interesting moments but still some really promising elements meant she still got a reasonable score of 67% (to my shock).

Had some exciting news yesterday, I have made it to the Final viewing day for the "Young Professionals" award. It is held in March and I have a lot of work to do in preparation, including getting some experience on advanced horses (which I'm looking forward to!!). 

At the semi finals I got to spend the day with Carl Hester. I had a great time and learnt a lot so it will be interesting to see what I have to do at the final!

I am off to the BEF Excel talent program induction day on Monday....very excited except that weather warnings are looming that we are expecting the worst storm since 1987! ekk! 

Last Events of the 2013 season...

Urbanus II competed at Keysoe in the Open Novice section. He scored a 26.5 dressage and double clear. We went steady as the ground was a bit hard and incurred some time penalties to finish 4th. Louis then competed at Dauntsey Park where he got a great dressage score of 23, two down show jumping and went clear round a technical cross country course to finish 6th after some time penalties.

Weston Park Festival of Youth was our last event of the season. The manor house was surrounded by vast parkland which I found myself sprinting across with Louis within minutes of arriving at the event as we were extremely late for the trot up after getting stuck in traffic! Louis settled in well and enjoyed hacking round the estate and meeting new friends. The weather was freezing, I have never slept in so many layers or multiple sleeping bags!

Louis did his best dressage test ever and got a great score of 36.2 which put us in second out of about 80 competitors. The cross country rode brilliantly and we finished with a very quick clear round. One of the fastest of the day! Unfortunately the showjumping let us down, poles were taken out which dropped us down the leader board from second.

It was a great event and I cant wait for next season!!!

British Dressage Summer Nationals 2013....and more!

Well.... it couldn't have gone any better really!

Cleopatra II won the Elementary Stretch and Flex class on a brilliant score of 73% and her stablemate Bing came second on 69%! Cleopatra II's test was fluent, forward and accurate, she was on good form on the day and I couldn't have asked any more of her. Although Bing was a little bit nervous he really kept his cool in the arena and did a great test even with a bit of tension.

I didn't think my national experience could get any better....until Cleopatra II won the Novice open the next day on 71.8%!

Even now writing this and thinking back to the Nationals it seems like a surreal experience  filled with rosettes, trophies, rugs, jackets, TV interviews, podcasts, reporters and sashes. The horses got lots of beautiful new boots and bandages from Equilibrium Products who sponsored the class, which they are now using for every day wear and competitions.

Here is a clip of Cleopatra II's prizegiving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zMltz-e_kA


A lot has gone on since the Nationals.....

I have been selected onto the BEF Sport England Excel Talent programme. The induction day is at the end of October which I am extremely excited about! I also got an Interview for the Young Professionals award which was held at Carl Hester's yard. It was an amazing day and I felt very privileged to not only have a lesson from Carl but also spend the whole day watching him train and chatting about his methods.

Bing has been out competing at medium level, he has done four tests and won all of them (his highest score being 72%). Cleopatra II won the medium freestyle at Patchetts and is now aiming to go out and compete at medium level.
Mabel (aka Show-Off) made her debut at affiliated dressage and so far has had  a 100% winning streak with scores all above 70%!

Follow me on twitter to keep up to date with all the news as it happens @DaisyCoakley