Wednesday 13th August 2008

well the lucinda green lessons were very useful and interesting. she is very pro safety which is important especially with all that has and is happening in the sport at the moment.
I then went to wilton with opposition real deal with the intention of only doing the dressage and show jumping- for training purposes- and bringing him home as he had just run very well at aston advanced. he did a really sweet test and clear sj but felt great which was the main thing so i felt very prepared for hartpury the following week.
serious opposition did a very nice dressage at gatcombe championships and only had two down sj which was good considering the conditions and the course was very difficult. he ran really well xc but i didnt push him too fast as i knew he couldnt win it so i saved him for another day but he finished 23rd which was very good out of 100.
stylistic opposition also did a lovely test but she had three down and pulled a shoe off so i decided not to run her xc and to take her to hartpury fresh.

Tuesday 22nd July 2008

well we must be at least half way through the season now.... i have had a technical error with my website therefore i havent been able to up date my diary sooner. any way the horses are going exceptionally well.
Stylistic opposition has been 1st or 2nd in all of her novices so far this season and has just won the novice regional final at eridge. i then decided to up grade her to intermediate at stockland lovell and she went really well and would have been in the top 5 placings but unfortunately we had a silly fall at the second to last which was probably the most striaght forward jump on the course. but hey ho horses are great levellers!!!! she will go to gatcombe novice champs before hartpury international one star.
Serious opposition is also having a great season winning somerley novice then having some very good placings at intermediate before he won twesledown intermediate a couple of weeks ago. he will also be going to gatcombe novice champs beofre hartpury 2 star.
opposition real deal never seems to have much luck its always one thing or another for example he will be in the lead for ages and then get pipped to the post at the last minute by 0.1 of a penalty, but his luck seems on the up now with a very good placing of 8th at longleat cic** and 3rd to serious opposition at twesledown, he has also justcompleted his first advanced and made it feel so easy which is great so im going to give hartpury 2 star my best shot with him.
Aphrodisiac is on great form and has won a pre novice on a 18 dressage so we decided to move him up a level although earlier than we planned he was ready and he has now been round some of the more difficult novice tracks clear and got his first point.
so all in all things are good, i have a busy week of lessons, tomorrow flatwork with lizzie lauriston clarke and thurs xc lessons with lucinda green before competing at wilton at the weekend. so i will keep you up dated as to how its all going.

Wednesday 9th January 2008

well with christmas over now we have really started to increase the horses exersize so that they are plenty fit enough for when i start to compete. They have been schooling and doing lots of hill work and will have their first canter tommorrow and can there after start jumping. i am going away dressage training at the end of this week for a few days with some of the horses and will get the opportunity to ride some grand prix dressage horses which will be a great experience. I have also arranged to go up to gill watsons to train for a few days in febuary. She is a very knowledgable person and is the young rider's team trainer.
In between times i will be competing both affiliated dressage and show jumping as much as i can.
My 3yo, zippo is going to be broken in for a few weeks this weekend, which is very exciting as i cant wait to start working with him. I am aiming for him to compete in a few 4yo pavo's later on this season....

Thursday 6th December 2007

Well we're now getting into the depths of the winter here in wiltshire... the horses have had a nice long relaxing break where i turn them away for 5 weeks to \"re-charge their batteries\" and chill out and they have now started work again and after two weeks of walking they are ready to start progressive fittening work.
My aims for the winter are to train as much as possible both jumping and dressage and compete in affiliated dressage and show jumping. The reason for competing is purely to practice so that i am more prepared for the season- which always seems to come round faster every year- and to relax the horses to a competition enviroment.
I had a very good and exciting end to the season with my intermediate horse Opposition Real Deal in the lead for a long time in the intermediate section at Twesledown but at the last minute he was pipped by 0.2 which was frustrating but at the same time i was over the moon with the progress that this little horse had made this year. He is proving to be very exciting as are all in my yard, and although the weather has not let this season run smoothly im still very pleased with the progress each horse has made.
Next season i will have my other intermediate horse back on the road so i am looking forward to that very much. I hope next year we will progress as much if not more...

Sunday 12th August 2007

finally the rain seems to have eased for a little while, perhaps giving us a chance to run our horses.
I have not competed since the 7th of july, where i had stylistic and serious opposition both in the novice at Barbury Castle. It is renowned for being a very strong novice, therefore i thought it would be ideal to upgrade them to intermediate at wilton a couple of weeks later. They were both on great form, scoring good dressage marks, Jez (stylistic opposition) went clear show jumping, and prescott (serious opposition) had just the one pole as he was just a little keen, xc they were both amazing they never looked at anything... even the water where they seemed to say to me just hold tight mum as they launced them selves in. But all joking aside they both fet very bold and strong which was great.
I then went to twesledown on the following monday to do the intermediate with darley (espirit) and tj (opposition real deal) where i had another good day, i came out of my dressage on tj very dissapointed as all he wanted to do was go xc not concerntrate on the dressage, (as he has not been out since Houghton International back in may). Anyway much to my amazment he got a very good score they both had a couple of poles but generally nice rounds and good xc, infact tj seemed to be laughing at me as if it were a pony club track! that little horse wants to take on the world.
Since then i have been traying to dodge the rain but have been unable to compete due to the events being cancelled, so i thought to myself this is a perfect opportunity to practice practice practice!! so i have been show jumping a couple few times with my little 4yo jumping double clears in british novices and 3fts... bless him he seems to have settled very well into competion life. Tj jumped double clear in a 1m20 class and was 2nd whilst jez and prescott have been jumping clear round 1m15's also gaining some money on ther cards and more importantly experience. So i really hope this will pay off when i eventually get to compete.
I have been keeping up my dressage lessons with Jane breedon... who lives in the village which is very helpful, she often says to me... \"they are'nt dressage horses, they dont think like dressage horses, and they dont move like dressage horses, but they will do!!!\" and im sure we are getting there.
So im off to aston le walls on tuesday with tj, jez and prescott in the intermediate in preparation for Blair Castle the following week where jez and prescott will be competing in the CCI* and Tj in the CCI**. it will be a very long drive up there so i will have to find a good book, but it is a lovely event so very worthwhile. I will keep you posted on my news...

Wednesday 4th July 2007

Hi welcome to my new website. This is a real exciting time for me and the horses and I hope you enjoy my website and come back and read about what me and the horses have been up to!

Since the start of the season our plan was always to take Real Deal to CCI** level, and we entered the new event at Houghton Hall in Norfolk along with 140 others!
In with hindsight we should of gone to an event with less entries although the event was superb the cross-country caused huge problems even for the top riders but we had a very pleasing clear round and we are looking forward to his next ** later on in the year.

He has now just picked up work again ready for some intermediates as preparation for Hartpury.

My two fairly new rides, Stylistic Opposition & Serious Opposition have successfully upgraded to Novice after some wins at PN last year and Serious Opposition won a novice last weekend at Stonar. Both horses are being aimed at a *Star event this year and Intermediate shortly afterwards.

My little 4 year-old has been quietly ticking away at home putting on condition and we have taken him cross-country schooling where he shows much potential and was very bold and I am looking forward to taking him to some BYEH classes shortly.