The Finals

I was really excited to compete for the first time in the British Dressage Small Tour Championships.
It was a real surprise to qualify as Finn had done two Inter I's to qualify and the semi Finals was his third ever competition at this level!

 The Final Championships was hosted at Houghton Hall Equestrian Centre in Cambridge.
Affinity Bay travelled up on the Saturday with myself driving (eek!). We arrived in time for the midday arena walk before an evening test.

The evening test went well other than a blip in the 3x changes and another in the canter pirouette.
Finn scored 67% which could have easily been 70% if we had one less mistake. The sheets were very high marking for the good movements, however, scoring a '3' is always costly in a double mark movement!

The following day we contested the freestyle. Finn was excellent but the music crackled a few times which resulted in a couple of 'explosions!'.... which again were costly.

Overall I was really pleased with his performance. His general was of going was good and he is starting to get a lot more 8's on his test sheets which bodes well for the future.

Our Final result was 7th place after scoring 70% in the music class.

I would like to say a huge thank you to sponsors Blue Chip Feed, Equilibrium Products, Calm Leisure, Lisa SparrowHawk Performance Coach and Eqco Design- none of this would be possible without you.

And also a massive thank you to Phil for the fab photos.

The NOT so Glamorous side of dressage...

   Rain, rain, and more rain... but it didn't dampen our mood competing at Bury Farm in search of those last points for British Dressage Regional qualification.

   We are happy to say the points were plenty with Jo Brett's wonderful Cooter scoring 68% in novice 22 and 71% in novice 38! Cooter scored very well in his transitions and canter work.




















  Angela Coakley's Hero proved his stamina and bravery out in the pouring rain contesting medium 61. Luckily his Irish roots meant he wasn't adverse to a bit (or a lot!) of rain and he did a super test.
A few accuracy marks lost but we will blame that on the rain.... could have done with a riding hat with goggles and wind screen wipers!
Check out our video from the day to get an idea of the weather...The Not so glam side of dressage

A Day of Firsts....

Myself, stand in groom Kate,  and Affinity Bay embarked on a road trip to compete in the Small Tour League competition held in Solihull, Birmingham.

It was a day full of firsts...
It was the first time Kate had groomed for me, my first time driving Finn, first time competing in the Small Tour League and we finished in First place! It was a really great day!

The journey went to plan- Finn didn't have any complaints about my driving and we had a civilised time with plenty of coffee (thanks Kate!). We arrived at Solihull with time for Finn to settle in and enjoy a relaxing massage in his Equilibrium massage pad.

In the Small Tour League you can compete at PSG or Inter I level. Affinity Bay was entered in the Inter I- you do a straight dressage test in round one then onto the Kur afterwards. This was the first time I had done two tests in one day since Finn was competing at Advanced Medium level!

Finn was lying in second place after the first round. He scored a respectable 67% but had a mistake in one canter pirouette and anticipation led to another mistake in the three time changes. The rest of the test was fluent and harmonious with some good marks, especially in the trot work.


Finn produced a stunning freestyle test- he was a dream to ride and I couldn't believe how "on" the music we were. Having only ridden the test once (which was when I did the choreography!) I was chuffed at how well it went! It was also Finn's first time running through the test as when I practiced it I had ear phones in as he can get rather excited when there is music playing!!

He scored 71% and went into the lead not only in the Kur but that also meant he was placed first in the overall competition!

We are over the moon to have qualified for the final in December!

Thanks go to Kate for being a top groom, Judy FW for the fab music, my trainers Ian Woodhead and Judy Harvey, Sponsors Equilibrium Products, Lisa Sparrow Hawk Performance Coach, Eqco Design, Calm Leisure and Blue Chip Feeds.

Check out our video from the day a Day of Firsts

It was a real shock...

 Affinity Bay has qualified for the  Nationals in April next year in the Petplan Inter I championships!

Finn won the Inter I finals at Houghton Hall after completing only his third ever Inter I test. The test showed a lot of power and promise.  We were thrilled to take top position. In the recent months Finn's performance has increased thanks to his new Blue Chip Calm feed balancer. We increase the portion in lead up to the event and I have found a real difference in his general attitude at away shows, he is more relaxed and easier to handle. Thanks Blue Chip- Its definitely  making a difference!

We had two horses competing at Vale View High Profile Show. I had been there once before for BEF Excel Talent Programme training but I had never competed there.

The show was efficient and very well run ...  One thing Vale View couldn't control was the howling wind... which was a real wake up call when doing early arena walks!! 

The horses were a little unsettled at the start of their night away thanks to high winds and noisy generators...a Munch Block from Equilibrium Products Quickly settled them down and gave then something to do.

(Watch our latest Advert promoting Vitamunch and the benefits of using them when clipping) 

The Tastiest Secret

Day one Merri warmed up beautifully but unfortunately got very tense in the arena... so day two we made sure we did the arena walk and she felt a lot happier about the spooky arena.

Her test was fluent, harmonious and expressive. The half passes in trot were real highlights for me and we scored 67% to finished 7th.

Finn also produced a blip free test and finished 6th- clever horses!

With Autumn in full swing and Winter drawing in we have the perfect opportunity to increase training as the competition season gets quieter.

This month I have been lucky enough to train with Stephen Clarke, Judy Harvey, Ian Woodhead and started to train in hand work with Diane Thurman Baker.

It hasn't all been training though...

At the end of October I was invited to the British Show Jumping Awards Ball with Blue Chip Feed- We had a great evening and got to brush shoulders with the BS stars and Olympians... I even got a #SKELFIE (a selfie with Nick Skelton). 

Some things just have to be done....

Summer Fun....

Aramis. T gave me  fantastic ride at the Bury Farm Regionals. We scored 71.67% in a very hot Inter I class to finish second overall to the very talented fellow Blue Chip rider Natalie Kayal and DHI Homerun. 

Blue Chip Rider top 2!

 I was over the moon with Merri's performance, the trot work was expressive, powerful and harmonious and the canter pirouettes were a highlight for me in the canter.

BD Nationals

 We were lucky enough to receive a Wildcard to the British Dressage National Championships in September where Merri put in another cracking performance. Unfortunately there were a few blips which were down to some tension but I was very pleased regardless.  We scored a respectable 66% which had so much potential. Merri was a total pleasure at the show and our partnership is growing in strength.

BD Nationals 2016- what a good girl!

Affinity Bay has been coming along in his training. Judy Harvey and Ian Woodhead have really been helping me develope his ability to collect further and we have been doing some exciting work towards piaffe and passage.

He made his Inter I debut and his most recent score is 67% to win a PYO FEI at Bury Farm much to my delight! 

Not to be out done by the advanced horses.... Galanci RS made her debut in straight BD Novice classes and scored a whopping 78% & 71% to win both her classes! Exciting future ahead of the lovely Tilly!

Our latest project 3yo Ivanne by Eastwood (Ampere) x Goodtimes has also been making progress.... She has been backed now and putting on lots of condition with turnout and a daily dose of Blue Chip Balancer. She seems to have a good nature and is picking things up very quickly... her life has really turned around. Not long ago she was feral in a field in Holland!

Premier League Competitions....

June has been a competition filled month....

The real highlights have to be Wellington and Hickstead Premier League competitions.

Slowly sinking....

Wellington was situated first, at the start of June, on the busy competition calendar. The weather was almost sunny and the venue was efficient as always. The same can't be said for the weather at Hickstead.... We were towed into the gates in deep mud and a few days later towed back out in even thicker mud in more treacherous conditions. The team at Hickstead did an incredible job in the face of adversity ....our show kit is still recovering from all the rain and mud!



Tilly was the first to compete at Wellington Premier League and she set the bar very high for the other horses. At the tender age of five Tilly is showing real promise. She has a very trainable attitude and so far nothing has phased her in or outside of the ring. She warmed up beautifully and shortly went in to perform the National Five year old test. Unfortunately she was a little flat and was lacking energy (the journey had taken it out of her) but she absolutely tried her hardest for me regardless which is something you cannot train into a horse so we are very lucky. She did us proud and finished third which means we have qualified for the Hickstead National Young horse Final at the end of July! Exiting times! The next competition in Tilly's diary is Hartpury Premier League at the start of July. She is competing in the Shearwater Young Horse semi Final which will be an extremely hot class.

Affinity Bay had a good couple of days at Wellington. His first test was very expressive but rather tense and the second day he was brilliant. He produced a consistent PSG test with some exciting marks from Jenny Loriston-Clarke. Unfortunately one judge had us 20 marks behind the others so we didn't finish in the ribbons.

Hickstead was a valuable show for Finn, we finished 9th in a hot Prix St George class. He scored 65.96% and behaved impeccably. There was a big atmosphere and Finn concentrated and listened to me throughout the test. I have noticed a huge improvement in his training and focus at competitions since feeding Blue Chip Calm Balancer. He used to get exceedingly nervous before entering the ring (he would have sneezing fits etc) and would then drop behind me my on our first center line.
I am now finding he is staying more confident and enjoying his time in the ring rather than stressing.
I am very grateful for Blue Chip's support and think all of the horses are in peak condition at the moment thanks to the Pro and Calm Balancer (which they are all fed).

Merri was a star at Wellington and Hickstead. We broke the illusive 70% barrier at Wellington in the Inter I to finish 5th in a competitive class. I was absolutely over the moon with her test and the mark it scored. Our highlights were the trot half pass and two time changes... although there were  7.5's and 8's scattered through-out our sheets!

Merri didn't let Hickstead phase her either- We didn't have the best start in the PSG as we think Merri accidentally got her tongue over the bit but she went on to do some super canter work after sorting the bits out naturally in the walk. Our second test was the Inter I were we placed 6th on a score of 68%. The sheets were all positive and I was especially pleased to receive an '8' for the canter half pass zig zag over the center line as this was one of the movements I found trickiest when I first started Inter I.

Both Merri and Finn have a quieter competition period through July so we are cracking on with Piaffe and Passage training.... Merri is very talented at the passage and Finn has shown a natural ability for Piaffe... if I could make a hybrid mixing both horses talents we would be doing Under 25 Grand Prix in no time.....

Looking forward to seeing their progress over the coming months as they get stronger and hopefully we will be one step closer to achieving our Grand Prix goals....

Keysoe Premier League....

   Keysoe Premier League was a good show for all the horses. Affinity Bay was placed 11th on the second day. The first day his canter was brilliant but trot lacked expression and the second day the trot had more than enough expression but the canter was rather exuberant that led to some costly errors.

   Merri had a great test on the second day- she was really with me in all the work, unfortunately we had one misunderstanding in the extended trot but it didn't effect the rest of the test.
I was thrilled to score 7's from all of the judges in the canter pirouettes.
Below is a link to the test....

Merri's PSG- 67% 5th place

   Galanci RS made her debut at the Premier League in the 5yo Young Horse class.
She was incredible and really rose to the occasion.
She finished an incredible 2nd Place and qualified straight through to the semi finals!!

Young horse round 1

Young horse round 2

    I had the opportunity to go training at Hughes Dressage before the Premier League. We had a great day and learnt lots. Below is a training video....

Training with Gareth Hughes

   


   Todd had his first trip to Windmill Farm at the start of April. He was very well behaved and wasn't spooky at all. He produced his most relaxed tests to win both Prelims on 67 and 69%.

   Dante went to Addington (our second ever show together) and was extremely good. He navigated a busy warm up and spooky arenas like a pro. He score 66.9% with some green blips but over all he is showing so much promise for the future.

Competitions and Training...

Merri competed at Bury farm in the Inter I test. It was our second ever Inter I together and I was over the moon with Merri's performance. She produced a harmonious test with highlights in her trot half pass and temp changes. There were still some parts to work on but it was probably our best test to date. Merri won the class on 68%.
Merri's 68% Inter I test- 1st

The same day I had a new ride Camiro II owned by Sharon Higgs entered in the Prelim and Novice classes. Aero won the Prelim on 74% and then came 3rd in his fist ever Novice on 67%. He gave me a great ride and there is so much more to come.

Todd recently had a lesson with Ian Woodhead. We were working on simple changes as developing the half halt further. Todd worked really well.

I have also been training with Judy Harvey with Merri and Tilly. Merri was working on half steps and consolidating some canter pirouette work.

Judy Harvey- Merri

Tilly (Galanci RS) a new 5yo owned by Judy Firmston- Williams had a shorter lesson as we are still building her fitness. She was really well behaved and very relaxed.

Judy Harvey- Tilly

Affinity Bay was very lucky to have a lesson with Stephen Clarke. He worked brilliantly and Stephen encouraged our progress towards the Inter I tests. 

Stephen Clarke- Finn

Spring is in the air...

Spring is round the corner now.... I have seen the first lambs of the season which is always a symbol of hope for the warmer months!

We have been busy with competitions this month on some lovely horses.....
Finn was on this afternoon in the PSG.... although I did accidentally get on an hour early... bit keen!
Overall I was pleased with his test- we had an accidental set of 1x changes on entry and a few other blips but overall I was pleased with his relaxation for the rest of the test and he finished 3rd.
Thank you Bury Farm and everyone who supported a busy day!
Finn followed on day two with a calm test. Although he didn't get the memo that there were a line of four time changes across the diagonal... not two time changes as he so beautifully demonstrated!! I was really pleased with his progress in the canter pirouettes and most of the more difficult work. He finished 3rd in the Silver PSG and 5th Overall.
I am very grateful to Blue Chip feed for helping me tailor Finn's diet to his sensative character. We have just started him on the Blue Chip Calm Balancer... watch this space!

At the start of March Todd (owned by Jonathan Chapman), Cooter (owned by Jo Brett) and Affinity Bay had an outing to Bury Farm.
Cooter was brilliant and won Prelim 15 on 71% and a relaxed Todd was second on 68%. Then in Prelim 17 Todd won on 69% and Cooter was placed 2nd on 68%. Both boys showed improved confidence and marks- there were some 8's & 7.5's.

Later the same week Merri and Finn were out competing at Keysoe Under 25 High Profile Show. Merri did a very good PSG test on the first day to finish 4th in the Silver section. There were two big hiccups in the test but the rest of the marks were consistent 7's and 8's. 

Just Before Keysoe Finn was treated to a physio session from Diane Daynes- He felt amazing all weekend and I am still enjoying the rewards weeks later. 

I have been lucky enough to compete Sue Botha's Dante in his first Medium test. We went to Windmill farm to contest the medium 69. Dante really stepped up to the challenge and scored a green 66% to win the class! He was brilliant in all of the half passes and the canter work was a real highlight.

Breakspeare Riding Club were very lucky to have the brilliant Lisa Sparrowhawk  Performance Coach visit Blackwell's Cafe in Chipperfield. Lisa discussed many topics and created a great discussion about positive mindset in relation to riding and competing. She highlighted how we all perceive situations and images differently with some great techniques and also how mindset affects us physiologically (with some more hands on examples).

Thank you Lisa for inspiring us all!

March has been a very busy month (and we are only half way through!).

I have had had the opportunity to ride some great horses ( see Nugget below) and really enjoyed teaching private lessons and clinics/rallies alike.  

I am now looking forward to training with Judy Harvey, Ian Woodhead and Stephen Clarke in the coming week.

Competitions....

February has been a very busy month full of competitions and training.
Affinity Bay competed at the ever efficient Addington Manor Regionals in the Advanced Medium Open and the Advanced Medium Freestyle.
The first test Finn produced some mega trot work. He was feeling very hot which made his trot extensions, shoulder in and half pass very expressive. Unfortunately in the canter the excitement boiled over and we had some rodeo moments in the changes! Surprisingly   even with three big explosions we still scored 66%.
The Freestyle test was later the same day in the indoor International Area. I was pleased that Finn was more relaxed in this test, although he still thought it was necessary to add some extra tempi changes....
His final score was 69% to finish just outside the top 10.
Our last Regionals was at Merrist Wood where we competed in the PSG Freestyle.
I was thrilled with the trot work and the canter. We had correct three and four time changes and I should have been a bit braver by riding smaller canter pirouettes.
We had one very big blip in the walk to trot transition which as a result meant 4's for our shoulder in left. Unfortunatly there was no more music left to improvise another shoulder in left so that was annoying!
I was disappointed with the score but we did have one major mistake and one of the judges gave Finn a 4 for his changes (whereas the other 2 gave him 7's) which didn't help!
We are now looking forward to training with Stephen Clarke and going out to do our first Inter 1 together.

Todd (owner by Jonathan Chapman) and Cooter (owned by Jo Brett) went out to contest their first ever BD prelim tests. Cooter was a star and won both his classes on 68 & 67% and Todd came second on 65 & 67%.
Todd was a little unsettled in his first test which was caused by warming up with a stallion (he definitely felt a bit threatened!) but the second  test showed some more relaxation.
Overall it was a good day out and both horses were impeccably behaved.

I have been busy training for Pony Club and Riding Club, as well as doing some Private clinics in a beautiful brand new indoor school.

This month I was got a little mention in Horse and Hound Online in an article about dealing with competition nerves and how you prepare on show day....

I'm really looking forward to the busy month ahead with a few new rides and an exciting new baby horse who arrived a few weeks ago! Spring....here we come!

February

February has been a very busy month so far, I have had the pleasure of teaching at both Riding Club and Pony Club Clinics amongst teaching private lessons.
The competitions horses are all fit and healthy. Merri had an easier week after the Addington High Profile Show but we are now training towards the Under 25 High Profile show at Keysoe. Finn has Regional Championships this month. He is competing in the Advanced Medium and Advanced Medium Freestyle at Addington and the PSG Freestyle at Merrist Wood. The classes at Addington are huge in the advanced medium but generally looking like a quieter show compared to previous years!

Todd went to his second ever show at Quainton Stud at the start of February. He was super in the warm up, he travelled with another horse and they walked around together to start so that helped give him confidence in the surroundings.
The tests were in much better balance than those that he did at Addington a month ago. Over all I was thrilled with his progress and the judges made some lovely comments. There were gail force winds so trotting down the centre line was quite a challenge....
Riding in high winds is becoming a bit of a theme this February!!

High Profiles and a first outing....

Bury Farm High Profile show ran in December 2015.... Affiinity Bay was entered for three classes, the Advanced Medium, PSG and PSG Freestyle.
It was lovely to catch up with all the familiar faces that compete at the High Profiles.
Affinity Bay did well, he came third in the Advanced Medium, Third in the PSG on 66% and fourth in the PSG music.
I was especially pleased with his PSG performance as he scored highly for his half pass in trot and canter and his pirouettes have really come on. Unfortunately we made a costly mistake in the tempis.
Finn has now qualified for the Regionals at Advanced medium, Advanced Medium music and PSG music- We look forward to our last regionals under the Open/restricted BD rule system in February!

Todd, a green young horse I have been riding for Jonathan Chapman went out to his first ever party the first week of January!
He was brilliantly behaved! He coped with the warm up very well considering how busy it was and didn't spook at a thing.
We had two tests, the first was in the furthest arena at Addington down by the road where all the lorrys trundle in and the second was in the International Indoor arena. By the second test Todd was exhausted- but kept trying. He scored 68% for his first ever test. We had some lovely comments from the judges and one called him a 'cracking' young horse... haven't had that comment before!
Todd was pleased with himself and slept very well that night!

Addington High Profile Show

Addington High Profile show is the first big competition of the season. The classes were absolutely huge!
I was riding Merri and Finn in the Prix St George and the PSG Freestyle.

Merri warmed up well and stayed relaxed in the trot work throughout her test. She scored 7's and 7.5's for most of her trot work, shoulder in, 8m circles and half pass. The canter was also good scoring a 7.5 for her four time changes unfortunately we had a costly mistake in the three time changes. We also had a blip in the left pirouette but over all I was really pleased with Merri's performance. She scored 66.27% which was a top ten placing and won the Silver Section!
It was not Finn's day unfortunately....after warming up well we think he got his tongue over the bit in the test so I had to retire as he was clearly not happy. Retirement in a dressage test was also a first for me!

The PSG freestyle had many withdrawn as the snow hit on Saturday evening. Luckily we had late times so the majority  had melted by the time we left for Addington.

Merri was first to go... The trot worked minus  a small blip but overall it was very expressive. Her canter was good but unfortunately we had a mistake  in the 4 time changes which was costly and we didn't have a spare line to redo them as we were slightly behind the music. 

Finn was a lot more relaxed performing to music although he had two explosive moments in the medium canter and trot!  His music was very loud as I asked them to turn it right up as Merri's was far to quiet... but this meant it was a little distorted.

Overall I'm very pleased with both horses and now back to training to work on getting the marks even higher. 

Thank you Addington for running a super show!