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

July! how time flys!

So this month has been one for training and coaching mainly. Now we are all qualified for regionals and the Summer music championship we have a quieter competition calendar.

I drove up to Hartpury last week for a 'Young Judges' day. This was my first time judge training and I really enjoyed it. Jo Graham was an excellent host and it was a very interesting day. We learnt in the class room, watched videos, had interactive group discussions as well as watched some advanced medium combinations competing at the Premier League competition.

June update

Training with Judy Harvey

June... summer has finally arrived!!
It has been beautiful weather in the UK, which means riding early and teaching in the evenings for me.
We have had a busy month, training with Stephen Clarke and Judy Harvey whilst also getting our final points for summer qualifications.We have competed at Wellington Premier League and Windmill Farm on Aramis T and now she is having a quieter time before getting ready for regionals.

Addington Premier League Show

Addington, our second Premier league of the season.

Merri was miss consistency scoring just under 68% for another top ten placing in a HUGE Inter I class.

Our test showed some highlights and improvements in areas we had been working on. Unfortunately we had a mistake in the changes due to a distracting wheel barrow man popping out behind the judges hut just as we were approaching! 

Looking forward to our next one at Wellington Equestrian Centre on the 7th and 9th of June.

Photo- Kevin Sparrow

Huge thanks to our sponsors for your Support!

Exciting News!!

Daya approves- beautiful quality, super smart, rugs.

Finn loves the Diamond range brushing boots!

Life with horses certainly has its up and downs.. but receiving a phone call from a fantastic company  offering sponsorship certainly made for a very happy day! And much excitement for the future!

Catago are a very sucessful Danish Brand who have been in the UK for a few years. I am extremely excited to announce that I will be working with Catago and their team.

They have the most beautiful, luxury products, made from really high quality materials.

I look forward to sharing more with you all in the future about our work together... and until then.. here is an insight into their Diamond range!
The Catago website- see my facebook to find a stockist near you!

What an experience...

Last October I started on the Young Professionals Programme (YPP) supported by the British Equestrian Federation. 
The YPP consisted of a mixture of Show Jumpers, Eventers and Dressage riders. Having this diversity within the 
group allowed us to all exchange experiences, and we came to realisation that, although we came from different disciplines, overall we were developing within the same industry and shared so much in common.



Overall the programme gave us access to specialists within the industry, we learned so much, gained vital information and had some fantastic experiences.
On our last workshop we visited the Betcholshimer's yard... it was completely stunning and such a privilege to have an insight into their day to day workings. 
We then returned to Hartpury college and spent the afternoon reflecting on our experiences, making goals and plans moving forward in our careers.



The Dressage riders had another fantastic opportunity on offer, we had the chance to win the Young Professionals Award, which is a bursary kindly sponsored by Core Context Consulting. 
We had to create a personal statement, five year plan and a business plan. Followed by a 10-15 presentation on "Where we see Dressage as a sport going in the next 10 years"
It was great to further explore where our industry was heading in the future and I really enjoyed the process.

I am very pleased announce, I was lucky enough to receive the Award, and now have the support to pursue some exciting career developments...so watch this space! 
I am extremely grateful to British Dressage and Core Context Consulting for this opportunity!

Here is the link to the YPP Programme, applications open in July! 
The experience has been fun, informative and tangibly effective.

Do you meet the criteria?? Apply for YPP HERE!

First Premier League of the year!

Our first Premier League of the season was at Keysoe Equestrian Centre. 

Keysoe is located in Bedfordshire and takes us about an hour an a half to get there. We had a very civilised competition time- 3pm!

The warm up was extremely busy. Merri wasn't very pleased with the quantity of horses in a such a small space but she coped very well and felt relieved to go outside to the competition arenas when it was our time.

She was a star, the trot work felt great and we got good scores. We gained 7.5's and 8's for some of our eight meter circles as well as the two time changes.

We placed sixth overall in a huge class of 40 competitors on 68.77%.

Merri enjoying a post test snack!

Earlier in the week we competed locally at Windmill farm in the Prix St George Freestyle class.

We had not competed in a music competition in a long time and Merri was a total pro.

Our floor-plan included long sweeping half pass lines, pirouettes out of counter canter and all of our changes on half (or whole) circles. We placed first and are looking forward to dancing again soon!

Next stop, Addington Premier League!