Well, it’s been a few manic weeks since my last update with horses going here, there and everywhere!
My last update finished talking about Lord Of The Owls, a really talented horse who had just completed his first Advanced event and was due to run at Withington. I’m pleased to say that he completed his second Advanced run well and despite being rather fresh in the dressage phase, he only had one show jump down and was phenomenal cross country.
My next event was Moreton Morrell. I had five rides including a new one, Squadron Leader. Squadron Leader is an ex racehorse and this was his first event. We competed in the BE90Open and he did a nice dressage test, had two down showjumping due to his inexperience, but then did a lovely cross country, so I was pleased.
Les Bossons competed in the BE100 and performed a lovely dressage test. Unfortunately, he had a panic leaving the dressage ring, due to the nearby clay pigeon shooting, and that stuck with him throughout the competition. That said, he had a great cross country round, so all was not lost!
My homebred, Floating Island, also competed in the BE100. This was her second time at this level. She did a good dressage test, was clear showjumping but, made a mistake cross country due to being a little green- but these things are to be expected with young horses.
HHS Foracruise tackled his second Novice at Moreton Morrell, again, he did a reasonable dressage, beautiful clear showjumping and a great cross country apart from a little star struck at a fence in the water.
Simply Sox was my fifth ride at Moreton Morrell and he came 4th in the Novice class, which was great. He did a lovely dressage test, had a double clear, and just picked up a handful of time penalty points so, all in all, a very good event for him.
The event schedule means that, at the moment, I’m rarely in one place very long, and just two days after Moreton Morrell, I was off to Hambleden International. With four rides it was, again, a busy day!
Lord Of The Owls finished 15th in the OI. He performed a good dressage test, had a double clear but did pick up some time penalties as I decided to take him slowly as his next event is Chatsworth CIC***.
Floating Island was out again in the BE100 class and had a great day apart from one down showjumping. Les Bossons also had one down in the showjumping phase, but a great dressage and clear cross country meant he finished 5th.
I’m pleased to say our feeding issues have been resolved and all the horses are looking great, feeling fit and are ready for action!
I’ve got a packed schedule at the moment so if you’re an eventing enthusiast, you’re bound to see me out and about!
Good times and bad times
Since my last update, I’ve experienced the highs and lows of competition life!
As I said in my last update, my super ride, Lord Of The Owls, was aimed at Chatsworth and, indeed, not only did we compete, he finished third in the ***. He was brilliant. He led the dressage with a score of 45.9, did a beautiful clear showjumping with just three time penalties, and was fantastic cross country. It was the biggest course he’d ever seen and we took all the direct routes. We incurred 20.8 time penalties as I deliberately didn’t push him, and although we didn’t win, I was truly delighted with him; I was absolutely thrilled.
I had two other horses at Chatsworth: Simply Sox and HHS Foracruise. Simply Sox won his Novice section. He scored 28.8 in his dressage, was clear showjumping and cross country, picking up just 1.2 time penalties for the latter. He was beautiful in all three phases even though the Novice course was enormous. I was thrilled to bits with him.
HHS Foracruise finished 16th in his Novice class, but he’s a young horse and this is only his third ever Novice. I was worried that the course was a bit big but there was no need, he was great. We have a lovely dressage, a spook in the showjumping caused us to knock a pole, and then we had a clear cross country with just a handful of time penalties. A very good weekend!
I was on a real high after Chatsworth and, at this point, I’d like to thank Dan Greenwood. I went for a dressage lesson before Chatsworth with Lord Of The Owls and Simply Sox and I was amazed by the improvement.
The next event was Mattingley. Simply Sox and HHS Foracruise were both entered for the Novice, and my homebred Floating Island, Les Bossons and new ride, Squadron Leader for the BE100.
Simply Sox put in another great performance. He did a 29.1 dressage test which put us in the top three after dressage, rolled a pole showjumping and was clear cross country with just 4.4 time penalties. He finished 6th in his section.
HHS Foracruise did very well too. He did a lovely dressage which produced a score of 31.4, was clear showjumping and cross country, and picked up just 8 penalty time penalties cross country as I took it slowly as the ground was hard and the course quite twisty.
Then I got on my third ride, Floating Island. She was due to do her three phases first. She had a really good dressage, clear showjumping and, as we started on the cross country course, we were in serious contention for a place. She jumped the water at fence 8 and, as we were cantering to the next fence, she locked on and tried to jump a post with a bit of a brush between the fences. I managed to pull her around it, but my knee hit the post and I fell. It was one of those ‘nothing falls’, actually, it was just like dismounting, but when I looked down, I realised something was terribly wrong…my arm was hanging on the ground. The paramedics arrived and were worried about my head but I was trying to tell them that my head was fine and that my arm was the problem! I had an air jacket on, which is a great device, but it does make it difficult to talk when inflated, so I was literally screaming at them. I was given various drugs, gas and air, and was taken to Basingstoke hospital. Whilst all this was going on, poor Floating Island was so shocked by the whole thing that she had galloped off, and couldn’t be caught for 20 minutes.
I got to the hospital and they said that they would be able to operate that day, but there were a number of emergencies and this pushed me back. On Sunday, a leading orthopaedic surgeon said he would be operating and he did. I had two pins in each bone, a plate in each and six screws. I had a cast on for a week and when the cast came off, I had no pain at all. I was off painkillers within a week and three weeks after the accident, I’m riding one horse a day and will be schooling and jumping again in week four.
My arm feels really good at the moment and I’m amazed at how quickly I am riding after such an awful injury. My first run will be at Longleat at the end of June where Lord Of The Owls will be doing the AI and Simply Sox, HHS Foracruise, Montiny and Les Bossons will be doing the Novice.
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