August's Diary

Week 1

This week has been a frustrating one.
Nothing has gone drastically wrong but on the other hand nothing has gone perfectly.
After doing so well at Hicksted last week it was always going to be a tough week to follow.

Monday lots of paperwork, the novices to ride, Carl & Star to canter. Simple!

Tuesday we did more work on the novices getting ready for Smiths lawn on Wednesday.

Mark took Zoe, (our groom) and her horse Ria XC schooling at Ely event centre. As they did not have a brilliant time at their last outing.
Being only 1/2 hour away with super novice fences it is an ideal course to play around with the novices.
They went very well, all set for Wednesday.

We had to leave fairly early to get to Smiths Lawn. Whenever we have to go around the M25 to reach an event we allow an extra hour for the traffic. This time we arrived in good time. Having arrived in gorgeous sunshine, to then finish walking the course in rain, this set the scene for the day.

Mark rode Marvel who did another very good dressage (how boring) show jumping Mark and Marvel made a very rare mistake, disagreeing on what stride to take into a fence. They arrived on none! For an unfortunate 10 penalties. XC they did a very good clear. It won't be long before Marvel wins a novice

Tanya had three to ride.

Muffin, this was his first novice. Doing a good dressage of 23, and it still could be much better. He went on to have 2 fences down show jumping. Quite unlike Muffin who is very careful, just baby mistakes away from the collecting ring. XC he did a super clear, jumping very well into the 2 water fences, which were quite tricky.

Ghillie did a reasonable dressage show jumped clear in the most torrential rain, then went on to thoroughly disgrace himself XC. Upon leaving the start box forward steering seamed to break. Leaving us in an impossible position to jump the first fence. After circling and jumping it perfectly 2nd time he then went on to jump a very good round. He still doesn't feel 100% comfortable in his mouth, so we will have to get him checked again.

The star of the day must have been Kiwi who at only his 2nd horse trial did a good dressage, jumped well with only one down, again in the most torrential rain. Then jumped clear around the XC.

Zoe, and Ria didn't have such a good time. Having cracked the dressage and jumping she went very well around the XC until the 2nd water. Where luckily Zoe, didn't fall of, but did get eliminated. Back to the drawing board, with water schooling.

Thursday we took Carl, & Star to Newmarket cantering, along with Goofy.
This is Goofy first proper work since his 2nd place at Newmarket. He certainly left our two standing. (And we thought we go quickly)

Friday we travelled down to Gatcombe, Carl & Star had dressage to do in the afternoon.

Well Tanya really should have stayed in bed. She managed to make 2 mistakes in Stars test. Nothing drastic halted at G not X, and changed rein across the long diagonal, not the short. Very stupid
Then even worse she went in to do the same test on Carl, and managed to miss out a circle!
Thank goodness this doesn't happen very often.

We stayed at a yard nearby overnight to jump & XC on Saturday.

Both jumped well, Carl doing a good clear, while Star just tapped one down. XC Carl did a good clear, we were trying out a new bit so didn't go too quickly.

Star had a big hiccup; stopping at 3 drop fences on the course Tanya retired him.
This would be the first time Star had ever stopped XC. So we were hoping there must be a simple explanation for it.

We decided to take a slight diversion on the way home, (via the M25 south, instead of via Birmingham!) in order that we could meet Roy, our physio.
We met at a service station on the M25 where he very kindly checked Star then treated him.
Roy found soreness around his withers and chest areas, almost defiantly as a result of his fall at Lolworth. Hopefully this should sort out his reluctance to jump down.
Our day still was not over, on arriving home we found a tiny nick on Carls knee had blown up and was very sore.
Giving the cut a good clean we dressed it, started him on antibiotics and decided to call the vet in the morning.

Sunday morning, no chance of a lay in! Up early to ride a few horses each, then off to see a horse for sale.
The vet came to see Carl; he thinks that he has nicked the tendon sheath that runs across the knee. Hopefully, not to serious, but a weeks walking to let it heal.
The horse we looked at is a full brother to Marvel, very similar to him he has the same super laid back temperament.
We shall put a bid in for him and fingers crossed may have a new horse.

A good excuse to sit in front of the telly on Sunday afternoon was the coverage of Gatcombe.
Although a very well deserved win for William Fox Pitt, we were rooting for Vere Phillips ended up 4th on his late wife's horse Coral Cove.

As we said, not a dreadful week just a little frustrating.
THAT'S HORSES.

Week 2

Another busy week, so what's new!

The good news this week is that Carls knee, which he banged at Gatcombe seems to well on the way to full recovery, and he is back in full work. So hopefully we are back on track for Burghley.

Monday and Tuesday we spent at home, well almost. Monday we went to Newmarket to see a horse someone has for sale. It wouldn't suit us, but would be a nice hunter.
So apart from that trip out we tried to get as many jobs as possible done.

Wednesday and Thursday we competed at Aston Le Walls horse trials.
This is the home of Nigel & Ann Taylor. This is the first time that we have competed there.
Nigel had done a good job with the going, aerating it almost continually during the 4 days of competition.
They really had a mammoth task with nearly 1400 entries.
But it all seamed to run very well.

Our novices were out on Wednesday. The show jumping seems to be there week point at the moment.

Mark did a good test on Marvel only to have two fences down. Then he went on to disgrace himself on the XC by running out at a corner.

In his defence it was a tricky XC for novices with 3 narrow fences as well as the corner and 2 waters. So he actually went very well just making a 'baby' mistake.

Tanya had 3 to ride Ghillie did a good dressage, then in the show jumping managed to lose his concentration coming into a double having the first part down getting it between his legs, leaving him no chance to jump the 2nd part.
He finished with a cricket score of 20.
XC he went very well, gaining a well-deserved clear.

Kiwi got very excited in the dressage. The XC runs alongside the dressage field, so he obviously thought this was where he should be.


This feeling carried through to his show jumping, he was very keen resulting in two down.
By the time it was his turn to go XC he was very obviously thrilled jumping a nice clear.

So that left Muffin to save the day.
He did a very good dressage scoring 18, which put him first at that stage.

Show jumping we still couldn't get it quite right.
This time only one down.

XC he went beautifully finishing with only 4 time penalties.
Muffin finished 4th earning him is first BHTA points.
Sarah (his owner) has promised him his own headcollar with his name on!!

Thursday was the older horses.
This time it was Marks day to be busier, with two rides. Competing Smudge, for the first time. (Tanya thinks he is too strong for her)
He did an ok dressage, which is normally Smudges strong point, but it takes time to get used to competing different horses. They all react differently in the arena.
He jumped well with only one down.
XC, on the intermediate course there was a very tricky combination of three narrow log piles. Set on a curve with 3 strides between. This fence caused chaos throughout the day.
Smudge was one of its victims. Not getting the turn to the second element, gaining 20 penalties
He did try to pull with Mark, but by the end of the course Mark had managed to have him on a long rein. (Very tactically ridden)

Murphy Marks second ride went very well, with a good dressage.

Jumping a good double clear with 8 time penalties to finish 4th.
Very pleasing, for his debut performance this autumn.

Tanya had Star in the Advanced Intermediate. The reason for running him was to find out if he was comfortable jumping, especially down hill fences, after last weekends mishaps at Gatcombe.

He did a good dressage, only one point behind the leader.
Show jumping he went well only having the last fence down.

XC he started a little cautiously but got more confidant as we progressed, finishing with a good steady clear.
So it looks like Roy managed to sort out what was sore last week.

A day at home Friday, washing all the dirty breeches & shirts, which seem to be all we have to wash at the moment.

Off very early on Saturday, this time to Brockenhurst horse trials, another first for us.
Set in the New Forest it really was a very picturesque event.
The weather was glorious, far too hot to be competing!

New Forest ponies by the side of the road

We took some of the novices, along with Star to do the advanced.

Marvel contemplating the day

Marvel did a very good dressage, clear jumping and stormed round the XC until the penultimate fence, a snake shaped fence, which entailed jumping three rails all on the angle.
At this he glanced of the second element, earning himself 20 penalties, and losing first place!

Ghillie and Kiwi played follow my leader.
Both did good dressage tests, then both managed two have two fences down jumping.
XC they both did very good steady clear rounds.
Hopefully soon they will all manage to get 3 phases right on the same day!

Stars dressage was due to be at 5.30pm Saturday evening. Then the plan was to stay overnight to jump and go XC.
Walking the course in the morning we decided that he would not run XC.
The ground was very firm, despite efforts at aerating the course.
So once we had finished the novices we voted that we would not stay for Stars dressage, but start the journey home.


Star taking it easy at Brokenhurst

By the time we got home it had been a very long day.

Sunday, an unexpected day at home.
Tanya was counting on hot weather, time for a little sunbathing. No such luck. A very humid cloudy day instead.
No sunbathing, but we managed to fill the day riding instead!

Next week: Oving Horse Trials on Tuesday, then off to Cherbourg CIC in France on Wednesday for the rest of the week.

Week 3

Nothing exciting to do on Monday, ride the novices, then to Newmarket to canter Carl & Star. Then for a change paperwork!

Tuesday we set of early to Oving horse trials. Tanya had 9am dressage with Muffin.

She obviously was still asleep in the test managing to go wrong.
Despite her abysmal efforts he still managed a very credible 25. It is a good job Muffin is looking very smart on the flat now.
Unfortunately he had 2 down in the show jumping but went on to do a very good clear XC. Going all the direct ways, including the notorious drop to arrowhead.

Ghillie and Kiwi played follow my leader

Both did ok dressage tests both had one down jumping then 2 lovely clears XC, again going all the direct routes.


They are improving all the time; we must remember that Ghillie only came out of racing in January, and Kiwi in June.

Mark and Marvin did another good dressage, then an unfortunate fence down jumping. XC he was quite naughty and ran out at the drop arrowhead. Time for some arrowhead schooling at home.

Wednesday we gave the horses going to Cherbourg a jump. Marvin had some arrowhead schooling and behaved beautifully, lets see if it worked next time out.
The rest of the day was spent getting ready to leave at 5pm for Cherbourg CIC in France.
The horses and the lorry are the easy bit to get ready. Making sure we have all the necessary paperwork, vets checks etc. that we have all our clothes, and that there is nothing that needs attending too while we are away takes far longer.

Anyway we left on time, having a good trip down to Portsmouth to catch the 10.45pm ferry.
We prefer to travel at night, there is always less traffic, it is cooler in the summer for the horses, and we find they seem more relaxed.
The ferry trip was beautifully calm, so after 7 hours sleep we arrived at Cherbourg port.
The event itself was only 15minutes drive from the boat near the French village of Martinvast.

This was the second year the event has run, with 60 competitors in the CIC* And 70 in the CIC** the organizers did a brilliant job.

Tanya was British Chef D'Equipe (nanny) someone obviously thinks she is responsible!!
She was quite apprehensive. Looking after 30 British riders, many who had not been abroad before.

As it happened, she really had a very easy job. With a very helpful, and English speaking (very useful) team running the event. There really were no problems.

The atmosphere at the event was excellent, quite carnival. On the jumping and XC days there was a big crowd of spectators all cheering and clapping the competitors home.

Music played almost continually, along with a roaming band, which toured the XC during the competition. (Being lucky not to be run down by the horses)

CIC's (one day internationals) are defiantly going to get more popular. Providing better prize money, and 3-day qualifications. With the benefit of not being too hard on the horses, they really seam to be the way forward.

Cherbourg will defiantly be on our list for next year.

We suppose we should remember that we had 4 horses there! All in the two star.

All did good dressage tests, although you looking at the scores you could be mistaken.

Star collected 55 (a little mean) Carl 59 (also a little mean) Murphy 68 (very mean with a 30 point difference in judges) and Smudge 61 (disgraceful again a huge difference in marks)

We were not the only competitors a little aggrieved, but funnily enough the French all did well!
Maybe they could have an English judge along with the French next year, (as they did in the one star) what the French are looking for is obviously very different from what we are used to.

Show jumping was next with a good big course.

It looked set to cause a few problems. As it turned out the course jumped very well, with 36 clears. Our 4 all jumped very well, all clear.

XC, well built, and very well presented (as the French now how) although not a huge track the XC asked a few questions.
With quite a number of narrow fences, and 3 waters it caused a few problems. The time in the 2* was tight, and you really had to kick from the start.

Tanya decided not to run Carl XC, as there was nothing for him to learn from the course.

Star went very well, just gaining 2 time penalties.
Smudge flew round with Mark inside the time.
Murphy did an ackward jump into the first water, scaring himself a little, then at the next fence a corral with an arrowhead in (which came up very quickly). He stopped; he jumped second time and proceeded to finish the course very well.

Star and Smudge both finished in the prizes SEE RESULTS as did our team of Mark, Tanya, and Daisy Dick which finished 3rd.

It didn't take long to pack the lorry up, and set of for the ferry. Of course loading the lorry up on the way with a little French beer and wine. Always a good reason to go to France!

Arriving home at 11am on Monday a little shattered we apologise for the diary being late up.

Week 4

By the time we recovered from Cherbourg it was half way through the week!
Luckily we didn't have too much on. Although Tanya, had lessons to give every day.

Tuesday we worked the horses in the morning then travelled well into the fens to look at some horses recently imported from Russia.
A little bit of a wasted trip as there was nothing that we would buy.
But you have to look.

Wednesday we left early to go XC schooling at Ely Event centre, with Lilly and Amt two of the young horses. Both went very well as it was there first ever XC school.
Mark had one mishap on Lilly, she spooked as we cantered round a potatoe field. Managing to go into the potatoes and falling A, over T.
Mark looked very funny pulling potatoes out of all sorts of places.

After schooling a quick change over at home then time to take Carl & Star to Newmarket cantering.
Although it is always nice to be able to use the fantastic facilities in Newmarket, we tend to get a little bored at this stage of the season with cantering.
Along with the relief when they canter well, and trot up sound the next day, we will be glad when all the canters are finished.

Thursday we spent the day with Bridget (a pupil of Tanya's) who was trying a horse over the XC course at Gt. Whitchingham.
Being 2 hours away this took the best part of the day. The horse went very well so not time wasted, now only the vet to pass.

Friday started well with Carl schooling nicely, only to find that he had slipped a hind shoe, and managed to tread on the toe clip, making himself very sore.
Not what we wanted the week before Burghley.
We poultice it up well, and arranged for the shoe to be replaced on Saturday. Nothing else to do but hope that it would be ok.
Why is it always whenever you have any hiccup on preparation for big events, you always seem to get everyone planning there trips to the event, along with the press calling for interviews.
We now never count on going to an event till we actually get there.

A weekend at home, as always whenever we get a free weekend it always feels very relaxed.
Although nothing really changes, still horses to school, lessons to give, and paperwork to stay on top of.
Time to get a new page on the web site SEE FACILITIES Steven Hill our farrier came on Saturday evening to replace Carls shoe.
He walked up sound after so we hope all will be ok.

Other news this week, Emily (a pupil and livery) has bought Lilly, SEE FOR SALE
She should be ideal for her hunting this winter and to event next year
And we must not forget Mark got bucked off on Saturday!! .

Hopefully good news next week. Highclare Horse Trials on Monday, and then of to Burghley. Fingers Crossed.