South of England – 28 September 2013

SOE is one of my favourite events. I took Ollie & Holly again but this time Holly was entered for open novice.

Holly had a year off last year trying to put her into foal that did happen but instead I fell pregnant!! So she has had longer off then expected.

I started the season off in July and started her off Open BE100, last event of the season I decided to do novice, and hopefully the start of next season going Novice.

Early start 8:00 am dressage on Ollie, we did an average test of 32 and double clear, I thought there were a lot of questions to ask XC for a BE100 but no problem for Ollie (the show jumper!) he came 1^st finishing on just his dressage score.

I was pleased with Holly's test of 30.5, we had 4 faults show jumping and a lovely clear XC (finishing 17^th), I’ve not competed at novice level in a year, I was so happy to get around and clear. It's so nice being back on my lovely mare hopefully be back doing Intermediate and International classes next year.

Now on the agenda will be BSJA with Holly, Ollie and JJ (Cullawn Royale), Dressage and Combined Training. I’m hoping to do 1.30m classes with Ollie, he’s already qualified for 1.15m second rounds.

The horses will only have a week off this year when I'm away in Dubai as they have only done half a season. 

Wearing my lovely Charles Owen AYR8 hat from Dragonfly Saddlery (www.dragonflysaddlery.co.uk).  I wear it now for both dressage and showjumping as it's so smart!

Charles Owen - AYR8

Just before the BRC Championships I took a trip to Dragonfly and picked up some some luxuries!

My favourite being the Charles Owen AYR8 hat with the red and white piping (ready for my Team GB call up!!!)

I'd liked and been after the hat for a while, probably the most famous wearer is Charlotte Dujardin.  I was hoping that the hat would send vibes down to Corby and he would perform like Valegro!

I've always wanted a showjumping hat too - this hat is perfect because I can use it for both.  I'm a fan of the Charles Owen hats, I've the lovely special limited edition purple skull cap which I use for cross country and also have a couple of others that I use for both schooling and competitions.

The hat drew many admiring comments throughout the Championships.

As you'd expect for a Charles Owen hat and hat of this quality it's nice and lightweight, breathable and comfortable to wear - as well as being stylish which helps!

Watch out for more pictures throughout the summer as I'll definitely be sporting it at events!

If I've sold it to you - but basically it really does sell itself pop down or order online at Dragonfly they do it in several different piping colours!

http://www.dragonflysaddlery.co.uk/addtocart.asp?categoryid=12&subcatid=30&hr=r&categoryname=Hats&subcatname=Riding&itemid=3011

British Riding Club - Dressage Championships 30-31 March 2013

I represented my riding club (Rother Valley) at the BRC Winter Championships in Hartpury.

We were a team of four, myself with Corby, Clare Walton-Cole with Theo, Sarah Baldwin and Sweep and Tanya Draude with Bill.  We were accompanied by our helper - Tina Jackson, who did a great job.

We qualified at the end of last year at Ardingly coming 2nd as a team with 3 of the team placed.  I was 1st in my arena at Ardingly with Corby.

Corby dressed and ready to go - I didn't want him getting dirty.  His Dragonfly hood and rug did a good job of keeping most of him clean.

We left Sarah's yard at 10:30 am on Friday, first stop was the BP garage at Kippings Cross to stock up on M&S goodies for the journey!  Which was a good plan as the journey took 6 hours in the bank holiday traffic.  We stopped half way through the journey hoping for a toilet break but the queues were so massive we ended up using the handy WC in Clare's box!

We arrived at Hartpury around 5:30 pm.  We couldn't unload the horses from the box until they had been checked out by the vet because of the recent outbreak of EHV.   We unloaded the horses about 6:00 pm and got them settled in their stables.

Sarah, Clare and I took our horses into the school and gave them a quick schooling session.  Clare's horse, Theo, was feeling a bit fresh!

We went out for a pub meal after we'd put the horses to bed around 8:30ish.  The local pub was closed so we had to drive around to find another.  Luckily as Sarah had trailed up Sweep & Bill she had her lovely X5 to chauffeur us around!  We then found a gastropub thanks to Tina's Iphone and had a nice relaxing meal.

Then back to the cold horsebox and a very squished and cold sleeping arrangements!  I got up at 6:30 am although I was actually awake most of the night!

Clare was first on at 10:06.  She did the same test as Corby and I, Prelim 13 and did a good test around 64%.

Next up was Sarah on Sweep doing a Novice 27 test.  They got around 63%, unfortunately despite the 2 amazing flying changes (these weren't actually in the test) he scored a little lower than perhaps he usually would.  But hey you can't be a Champion 2 years running and he just thought he'd give the other a chance to get the red rosette.

I was next to go, before my test I took Corby on a short hack and for a bit of schooling to relax him.  Before we went into the arena he spooked at the cameraman (luckily he didn't during the test!).  He felt good in his test and scored 69%.

Perhaps it was my new hat from Dragonfly Saddlery.  I was sporting the new Charles Owen AYR8, which some of you may know is that hat of choice of Charlotte Dujardin!  I felt smart wearing it and had lots of compliments.

http://www.dragonflysaddlery.co.uk/addtocart.asp?categoryid=12&subcatid=30&hr=r&categoryname=Hats&subcatname=Riding&itemid=3011

Tanya was last to go with Bill she was doing final Novice test.  She did a very nice test and came 6th in her arena.

Corby and I ended up coming first in our arena, the hat clearly did bring good luck.  Corby and I then had a mounted prize giving, a chance for Corby to wear his smart white Stretch and Flex boots again supplied by the lovely people at Dragonfly.  They clearly are a popular flatwork wrap as quite a few of the horses at the Champs were wearing them.

 http://www.dragonflysaddlery.co.uk/addtocart.asp?categoryid=11&subcatid=205&hr=h&categoryname=Horse+Boots&subcatname=Flatwork+Wraps&itemid=2915

Prize giving with Corby sporting his wrap boots and me in my lovely hat and Mountain Horse boots - which are still proving to be the most comfortable boots I've owned!

As a team RVRC came 10th out of 28 teams.  You may recall we were the Champions last year but I wasn't disappointed as I thought we all well, it's a long trek and it was a cold weekend!

We ended up leaving Hartpury at 7:00pm.  The journey home was much quicker only taking 4 hours.  We got to Sarah's yard around 11:00 pm where I unloaded Corby and packed up my lorry so I ended up finally get home around midnight!  I slept well that night in a comfortable bed.

I had Sunday morning off as Mum kindly did the horses for me so I got a lie in.