Qualifications...four horses, 12 tests.

As November is drawing to a close I'm happy to announce I have four horses qualified in 12 classes for the Winter Regionals in February. We gained final qualifications yesterday at Patchetts Equestrian Centre with Daya and Bing scoring 73 and 74% In the  Advanced Medium Freestyle placing 1st and 2nd. Finn (owned by Felicity Norrie) had a good competition, he scored 70% in the advanced 105 and one highlight was a score of 7.5 for his four time changes.

It was a busy evening at Patchetts, I had to ride two tests within 30 minutes of each other. On the way to the event I made a quick stop at Fred and Gingers Coffee shop in Kings Langely to grab some green juices to keep me going... After chatting for a bit to long to the friendly staff I left the shop to see Bing driving past in the lorry! Luckily my car is much faster than the horse box so I beat him to Patchetts! 

At the end of this week I'm looking forward to competing at Bury Farm High Profile show...

D x

.

November...

At the start of November I spent two days at a BEF Excel Talent Programme held at Solihull Equestrian centre. I had two lessons on Merri and Bing with Gareth Hughes, as well as a saddlery session with World class saddler Mark Fisher. There was also a position analysis session with Russell McGuire which was very interesting as it compared riding footage from a year ago. I got the chance to work with Adele Carter the strength and conditioning coach who was pleased with the work I have been doing at home with my physio Debbie Simm. Merri and Bing both got a turn on the weigh bridge.... And we will be keeping an eye on the mince pie consumption this Christmas! 

Louis, Finn and Merri had an outing to Bury Farm Equestrian Centre. They were all brilliantly behaved!! Louis won both his medium tests on 67 and 69%, Finn showed a lot of really promising work in the advanced 105, and Merri won the PSG on 70% which is our best result together to date.

Louis is now all qualified for the Winter Regionals at Advanced Medium and Medium level. He gained his final medium open points at Norton Heath where he produced two great tests to score 69 and 71%.

I have the final qualification classes for Daya and Bing at Patchetts for the advanced medium music, fingers crossed! 

All of the horses received brilliant physio treatment from Diane Daynard. We have some new stretches to try at home and a follow up visit in a few weeks. They all really enjoyed their massages and look forward to Diane's return. 

I'm excited to announce that BlueChip Feed will continue to sponsor us for the 2015 season, the horses all look fantastic and healthy and their support is really appreciated.

2014 Round Up....

2014 has been a year filled with highs and lows....

I couldn't have achieved any of it without the support from my Sponsors BlueChip Feed and Equllibrium Products, BEF Excel Talent Programme, the horses and their Owners, the team of vets, farriers and physios, my trainers and my family....Thànk you everyone, non of this would have been possible without you.

I am excited to announce that I am now supported by Sports Aid and part of the Jaguar Academy of Sport in association with Sport England, I am very much looking forward to progressing with their support and backing. 

Highlights of 2014.....

2014 has been my first year as part of the BEF Sport England Excel Talent Programme. The programme has provided inspiring workshops throughout the season, high performance training, support, celebrity guests, a greater understanding of the rules, legal issues, and a chance to work with a team who are the top of their specialised field and to gain a greater knowledge into sports nutrition, strength and conditioning, sports psychology, and the maintenance of a top level competition horse. All of these aspects help to improve us as athletes and maximise success. I have greatly enjoyed being part of this programme and am looking forward to my next high performance camp. 

In March 2014, I won silver at the British Dressage Young Professionals Award Final held at Talland School of Equitation. It was a fantastic experience and I highly recommend the programme. It provided me with interview experience, a greater understanding of costing within the sport, goal setting, creating a five year plan, and the opportunity to ride in front of Carl Hester, Dan Sheriff and Becky Moody. I really value the investment British Dressage have made in my future in the sport.

I have continued to train with Gareth Hughes, Jonathan Chapman, Ian Woodhead, Ali Berman and Dan Sheriff this year. They have helped improve my riding, my teaching skills and the horses. I have also had the exciting opportunity to ride in front of Stephen Clarke and Judy Harvey which has been extremely beneficial as well. 

In October, I got the chance to go to Kent to stay and train with Francis Whittington who won Blenheim earlier this year. Francis, as well as being a fantastic rider is also a very gifted coach and even with only four days , there was a noticeable difference in our style. I was able to compete British Eventing under Francis's watchful eye and put into practice everything I had learnt on my stay with him. With success!! 

I had three horses competing at the British Dressage Winter Nationals, Cleopatra II, Urbanus IV and Bing. It was very successful....

Cleopatra II won the Medium Restricted Freestyle on 75%

Bing won the Medium Resticted with Urbanus in a close 4th

Cleopatra II came 2nd in the Elementary Open freestyle on 73%

It was a fantastic Winter Championship and it was made even better as my sponsors BlueChip were there supporting and exhibiting.  It was also when I first saw the fantastic advert of  Daya and I on the back page of the British Dressage magazine promoting Bluechip Feed.  

We also had a good Summer Nationals, Show-Off competed at her first big show and Bing did a competitive test in the Medium Open. Equllibrium products were exhibiting at the Summer National's so it was a great opportunity to catch up with them .  It was then they told me that the advert Cleopatra II and I featured in had gone international! Wow!

The highest British Dressage score achieved this year was 80% posted by Cleopatra II and I at the British Dressage Regionals at Addington Manor EC.

Urbanus II was placed 4th at the picturesque Hambelden International Horse Trials in the 1* even though the weather was against us.

Louis was also placed 6th at Gatcombe Park International  Horse Trials and  I was thrilled to meet Princess Anne in the prize giving! 

Our best British Eventing result this year was a double clear 25 dressage at Aston le Walls under21 Open Intermediate.

As the 2014 season comes to a close..... I feel inspired and grateful ... It's safe to say I am much more weathered than this time last year, with more miles on the clock, dodgy knees, a pile of broken boots and holes in my jods but we certainly all had a great time.

#makingthedreamareality

D x 

Louis and the Arc Equine

The Arc Equine is a drug free, non-invasive, affordable and easy to use system that can be used in the stable and on the lorry. It uses minute, sub-sensory sequences of electrical currents which mimic those naturally occurring within the body. The following are some of the benefits of using microcurrent technology:

 May this year eventer Louis was placed 5^th place in an Open Intermediate, but finished the cross country with a deep gash 6” long diagonally across his knee. Excellent veterinary care on site to clean, stitch and bandage the wound gave us a good platform for healing, but we were very aware of the difficulties ahead.  To prevent stitches bursting, the leg was splinted and the horse had to be on box rest, increasing the likelihood of granulation and scar tissue, plus stiffening of the joint, not to mention loss of fitness and difficult behaviour resulting from boredom.

The wound 2 weeks after the injury....

 2.5 weeks after...

Along with conventional and complementary herbal therapies, we used Arc Equine daily. Initially we were worried that improvement was slow; it was more than two weeks before the stitches could be taken out. But clearly underneath the visible damage, high quality healing had been taking place.  The wound site rapidly resolved to the thinnest scar. The granulation visible at one stage has resolved almost entirely.  The knee joint returned immediately to full flexion, with no further physio treatment. Six weeks after the injury the horse was back in work. We took a further six weeks to rebuild fitness and do some dressage and show jumping before a cross country schooling session.  

 One month after injury....

All lights were green, and three months after the accident, Louis returned to competition scoring  27 dressage and double clear in a Novice, with the biggest grins on both our faces. Louis finished the season with another double clear and 29 dressage at Pulborough horse trials in the open novice to finish 7th.

Louis now wears the Arc Equine on a regular basis and it seems to reduce his stressy behaviour in the stable as well as easing musclesoreness after exercise.  His recovery was extraordinary, thank you Arc Equine. 

 Five month later you can hardly see the scar....

End of the season adventure.....

Louis and I embarked on an exciting adventure to Francis Whittington's for a short stay.... Francis is a very successful event rider, his most prestigious win was this year at Blenheim International on his fabulous horse Easy Target. 

Our stay was extremely beneficial, Francis is a brilliant instructor and made a quick assessment of our jump style and gave us a target to work on over the following days. 

We went cross country schooling (first time since our fall) and Francis made sure we successfully jumped down hill! 

Louis felt brilliant and I felt confident about going to compete at Pulborough, our last event of the season. 

Unfortunately I had a very early time so we were up at 3.30 a.m....I considered going to bed in my competition clothes as it was very cold in the morning...but it seemed a bit extreme!

We arrived at the event at 6 am, Francis and I walked the course almost in the dark... We had difficulty finding the fences at times so split up to look in different directions...it usually turned out neither of us were right and the fence was actually straight ahead of us! 

Louis did a tidy dressage test for a score of 29. Not bad considering the only dressage I had participated in all week was a lesson I gave to Francis's wife Sam, who also got a great score of 29 in the BE 100 later that day.

The show jumping went well, Louis jumped a great clear.

I felt a bit nervous before the cross country but kept reminding myself that it was the phase I love the most! Nothing beats the thrill of cross country! 

It felt great to be wizzing round the course and we finished clear with five time penalties and were placed.

Later that day the weather was horrendous, there was thunder, lightning and really ridiculously heavy downpours. I felt very happy to have gone early and missed the bad weather as we took shelter in the First Class Images caravan (photo courtesy 1st Class Images).

A great end to the season!

D x 

 

September....

September is coming to a close...I got two black eyes and a broken nose.... Ok not quite broken but it hurts enough!

I have had two main events this month, the British Dressage Nationals and Morton Morrell British Eventing, quite a mixed month.

Bing had a good Nationals scoring 68.34% to finish 11th in a very hot medium open class and Mabel had her first Big show experience, and her reaction was one of shock.

Louis competed at Morton Morell the following week, and it was all going very well tilll the cross country. We went out the start box on a score of 29 (one pole to add to a 25 dressage).

Unfortunately we had a good ride till fence four then I couldn't tell you what went wrong but Louis and I had a rotational fall. I have never eaten so much dirt in one mouth full, but it didn't stop me voicing my immediate concern as to where Louis had disapeared to (I can only remember taking off). 

We both seem to be fine, Louis has a few scratches and will need physio, and I have a bruised face and legs. Air jackets really are amazing, it protected all of my torso.  

This lifestyle never fails to keep you grounded and put it all into perspective.....

Goring Heath 2014

Louis competed at Goring Heath open Novice, we were up with the lark to get the horses ready to travel. 

The journey was fairly stressful, and just as we gave in and dialled the number of the event organiser to admit we were lost, a tiny yellow sign pointed us in the right direction for the Horse Trials...phew! Directions are not my forte at the best of times, let alone at 6am with road closures!

Louis was great to warm up, his trot and canter felt really through and connected. The dressage test went well, there were two small blips, the halt before rein back was brief and one excited transition. Louis mark wasn't as low as we hoped for and he went onto the show jumping with 33 penalties. 

After jumping a great clear round we changed our kit and headed on to the crosscountry phase.

The cross country course at Goring was very strong, there were a lot of up to height questions from start to finish. Louis felt mega! I think I might have been smiling the whole way round (apart from when my teeth were gritted when I had the ride strong through the water complex). Louis finished with some time penalties but I'm thrilled with how well he is feeling and jumping. 

Our next event is Morton Morrell in a few weeks. Between now and then I have training on Louis with Ian Woodhead and Jonathan Chapman. And training on the dressage horses with Gareth Hughes, Ali Berman and Dan Sheriff in lead up to the BD Nationals.