VIP Treatment...

Front row seats in the members area!

May brings around one of my absolute favourite shows.... Royal Windsor Horse Show, and Addington Premier League of course! I was lucky enough to spend a few afternoons watching dressage and show jumping in the members enclosure at Windsor...what a treat!

The Legend Nick Skelton and the incredible Big Star retiring at Windsor

The above photo is of Nick Skelton and Big Star's retirement ceremony. What an Incredible partnership... they have done so much for the British Show Jumping scene. I am sure they will be sorely missed and the up and coming Show Jumper's certainly have some big shoes to fill!

It was lovely to spend some time spectating at Windsor amidst a busy competition week. Before going to compete at Addington on the weekend I was 'groom' for my lovely mother at Wellington Area Festival.

Hero was a star, unfortunately they had a sat nav error. A fun day out :)

The day after Wellington we were back on the road, on our way to Aston Le Walls, this time with Bonar (my brother) and his horse Drum Beat.

"It's an exhausting life on the road" Puppy Penny onto show number two of the week!

Bonar and Drum had a great time contesting their first British Eventing Novice competition. They finished the day with a fantastic confident clear round a tough XC track! 

Concentration Faces!

We then headed home to re pack the lorry. Out of the tack lockers came all the muddy eventing gear and in when the white boots and bling! Onto Addington Premier League...

Aramis T (Merri) and Affinity Bay (Finn) both competed on the Saturday of Addington Premier League Show, Merri was beautifully behaved with two top ten placings in the Inter I and PSG scoring 68% and 67%. In both of our tests we had a few small miscommunications which effected our overall balance in the movements but Merri showed her class throughout the tests and found all the technical work easy.

What it's like to sit on the gorgeous Merri

  Finn's Inter I test showed much improvement from the last time we competed. His pirouettes where more balanced and the two and three time changes were relaxed. There is still more to come in the trot as he gets stronger but over all the test showed relaxed fluent work. I was very happy to see a '9' on our sheets for the final halt of the test from one judge- This meant a lot to me as we have really been working on them and it's something that hasn't been good in the past!

Addington was very well run, there were a huge amount of entries!! Well done Addington on hosting a great show and I love the new surface in arena one!

With Maria Eilberg having a podium moment

Roller Coaster Weekend...in dressage terms..

Keysoe Premier League.

Affinity Bay (Finn) was competing on Saturday and Sunday in a total of two classes and Aramis T (Merri)was competing on Sunday for one class.

We arrived saturday with Finn and settled him into his new stable. 

His warm up was promising and I felt confident going into the Inter I test, however Keysoe was very busy and Finn found it very difficult to concentrate. Before I knew it we were freestyling- airs above the ground and legs flailing everywhere....! Doing his best impression of the karate kid! 

I couldn't be angry as inbetween those moments he tried to stay focused... alas!

After we put Finn to bed Mum and I went to watch the Grand Prix Freestyle which cheered me up. I went to bed thinking 'tomorrow is another day'...

 

Sunday was brilliant- he was with me in the work and showed the Judges what he can do when he is not distracted.

All of the judges marked Finn with consistent 7's with highlights in the walk pirouettes (8's) and some of the changes. 

He WON the class on 68.64% which is my first ever Premier League Win and its Finn's best score at a Premier League competition to date.

I haven't told Finn yet but this Win means we have directly qualified  for the Summer Nationals.

Concentration faces

I was so thrilled with him... the highs and lows of horses!

 From his lowest test mark to date on Saturday to his best on Sunday. I have made a big 'note to self' of all the things that worked to get him into the zone on sunday.

 So proud of him. Can't wait for the Nationals.

Aramis T competed Sunday afternoon- It was actually her first show of the year and she was SO relaxed and well behaved. Her canter pirouettes were very good and there was expression in the trot with relaxation and harmony. We had a few wobbly moments but over all I was thrilled with her performance. We were a bit disappointed with her mark of 66% as she can get +70% scores but unfortunately sometimes that is how dressage goes... I was pleased with her and we placed 8th overall at our first show of the year!

Merri sporting her competition curls!

Thank You Keysoe for a great show!

  Now we are heading to Addington High profile Show in a couple of weeks with some local shows between now and then.

Only a Jack Russel puppy would decide sitting on your shoulder is a good idea....

The Nationals 2017

Finn looking fab in the stunning Eqco quarter sheet which has diamonte binding!!

 We were so excited to be heading to the British Dressage Winter Nationals- not once but twice! 

First was the Pet Plan Inter I championships on the Wednesday then we returned on the Saturday for the Inter I Gala Evening.

  It's fantastic to make it the the BD Nationals and I would like to start by Thanking my sponsors for their continued support and also thank my team and trainers who help me everyday along the way.

Finnley enjoying some Blue Chip Calming Balancer

  Finn was a total star in the PetPlan Inter I- he was focussed (any exuberance before he headed down the centre line doesn't count!!) and he tried so much for me.

He was relaxed and swinging over his back and I was very pleased with his test. We had a blip in the first move off, last halt, and a very costly change of leg out of the right canter pirouette. If you want to watch our test in HD click HERE - Huge Thanks to David from Harveywetdog Productions for filming my test.

Love our new WOW saddle with extra straight panel and deep dressage seat...plus a few extras so it fits Finn and me perfectly!

After we had washed Finn off and made him comfortable I checked the online score... note to self- always check the official score board!

I was totally confused as my scored went up as 56%... my support team all said it was a good test and I felt it had gone well so I was left scratching my head! Turns out it was a typo! It was actually 66.94% which put us into an early lead!! 

Ready to go in brand new Equilibrium Stretch and Flex Flatwork wraps- such great boots.

We finished in a fab third place overall and received some beautiful rosettes and prize money!

Finn wearing white Eqco bandages enhanced with stunning silver thread.

  Saturday Nights Gala Evening didn't go to plan. The HUGE atmosphere and crowds really got to Finn and I couldn't show him off at all. He made it round with many mistakes but survived! So it was a great experience for us both and we have certainly learnt from it. Thank you British Dressage for the opportunity.

Finn wearing stunning Eqco grey and silver bandages...my favourites!

Over all we enjoyed our time at Hartpurty- massive thank you to my Mum who was super groom all week!