Time seems to fly by when you are having fun…and the last few months have been incredibly busy.
Finley’s first event in July was at Tweseldown to face up to my demons after the fall in May. I decided to compete in the 100+ class to keep our confidence up. Again, our dressage continued to improve and this was reflected in the mark. He then went on to produce another fabulous double clear. This time for 7th place! I was thrilled to have been in the top ten at our last three events, which had already made my eventing season!
August was a busy time for Finley with three events before some time off. We competed at Smiths Lawn, Firle International and Wellington Horse Trials. Show jumping is our biggest demon; and despite the improvements we make, luck isn’t always on our side and Finley just needs to breathe on a pole for them to come down. He also gets a bit green and tense in big competition atmospheres so I have to work hard at controlling his nerves.
Smiths Lawn: I was competing in a very tough Novice section with lots of professional riders. I was so proud we held our own with a beautiful dressage test, few poles show jumping and a fab clear cross country in the time. This was the first time I felt him take me round a Novice track completely full of confidence. I was so thrilled.
Firle International: We stepped back down to 100cm; as I knew how tough Firle could be. We produced our best dressage test this year; and the mark reflected this. The show jumping was very atmospheric; and I did well to contain his tension and nerves, leading to two poles down. The cross country rode well with yet another clear just outside the top ten.
Wellington: This was our first 105cm competition at a venue I hadn’t been to before and what a super venue it was! This was the most atmospheric competition we had attended with so much going on with the horse trials and the game fair. I knew this could easily affect Finley and his nervous disposition but he coped so well. We finished in the top half after the dressage in what was a quite difficult and demanding test.
The show jumping itself was much improved with him being confident and clean up until the treble. He had a green moment heading towards a large bouncy castle filled with screaming children! We quickly corrected the blip and flew round the rest of the course. The cross country was long, technical and had our first jump in water! No issue for my fantastic flying machine and we finished yet again clear in the time.
September quickly approached and so did our last event of the season.
As we headed to South of England Horse Trials the weather was kind to us; and I was grateful it wasn’t too sunny with my cross country time being 5.45pm!
The dressage was a little tense; but I was pleased with how obedient he was. The marking was incredibly harsh for the whole section; therefore my score was good in comparison!
Showjumping – our continual demon! Finley really did jump well but the ground was soft and he clipped a few poles… again
Then onto our favourite phase – fantastic Mr Finley gave me the best ride to date and stormed round the Novice track as of it was a 90! He couldn’t have gone any quicker, but again the ground was very soft and really slowed horses down – so we gained a few time penalties.
This left us just outside the top ten BUT we finished the season on a high!
He has yet again jumped clear xc ALL season (despite our yucky E for my fall at Tweseldown – he however jumped clear!
We have endured the thrills of being placed; the spills of falls, and everything in between!
Finley has turned into a super event horse and I’m already planning next season with a winter full of hard work and training!
RANSOM
After Ransom had qualified for the Advanced Medium Finals of the Petplan Area Festivals, we awaited our next qualifier which was at Crofton Manor Equestrian at the beginning of July.
It was an incredibly hot day to be wearing tails! But as I love them I managed to grin and bear it. This was only our third PSG competition, which came with two costly mistakes; but thankfully was good enough for 4th place and the qualification for the Finals that I needed.
I have been lucky enough to have some training sessions at Oldencraig over the last few months as I was selected by the British Dressage Southern Region to be a guinea pig rider for the UKCC level 3 Dressage coaches. I have learnt a lot and it has been great to give back to a profession I love so much.
I know both Ransom and I needed more arena practice for our PSG so at the beginning of August we headed to Step Aside Dressage. My goal was to improve on my previous scores and that we did scoring 65.5% and coming second! We still had some errors, but he gained the higher marks where credit was due even picking up 7’s for his three time changes. I will continue to beaver away until the Finals.
We had one last competition before we headed to the Petplan Finals.
This was only a few days after I came back from holiday so Ransom was raring to go and extremely enthusiastic!
He performed very well – coming 2nd in the Advanced Medium and 1st in the PSG. He did have another costly mistake but it continues to be a working progress.
Our big day had then arrived. We headed to Oldencraig Equestrian to take part in the Advanced Medium Silver section, and the PSG Bronze.
Ransom behaved perfectly – I couldn’t have asked for more from him and no matter the result I was proud of what we had achieved.
We were just outside the top 10 in the Advanced Medium which I feel was harshly marked by one judge. And then a fab fifth place in the PSG!
We may not have qualified for the nationals but in my eyes we have won this season!
NELSON
Not to be out done by the other boys; Nelson and I headed to our first Veteran showing class. He still enjoys going to a party even at the age of 26 so we went to a local venue. I haven’t been in the showing ring with him for about ten years. We used to be quite successful in the Working Hunter Pony classes. He behaved beautifully and did a lovely show. This meant he won his veteran section then was Reserve Champion. We received an Olympia qualification ticket, as well as qualification for the Hickstead Sunshine Tour. Nelson pulls it out the bag every time he goes out. I’m so glad that he still loves his job.
LG Eventing and Dressage 