Our old Horsebox was a very basic, very old two horse tin with no living really to speak of!! This always made staying away rather interesting, and not in a good way! It was always cold, wet, dark and miserable! My poor mother even had to sleep in the horse area if we didn't take a tent! So we decided it was time to upgrade and after looking at lots of websites we found one that looked perfect for us which was also local! We immediately liked it and after our mechanic vetted it for us we bought it!!

It's an Iveco converted by Oakland, two horse, 7.5 tonne lorry. It has full living - toilet, shower, TV, gas hobs, a grill, fridge, loads of storage space, heating, seating, a removable table and sleeping space. I absolutely love it and think we are very very lucky to have found it and for a good price too! Can't wait for our first outing in it and we will be able to fully put it through it's places at Glanusk where we will be away from the Wednesday through to the Sunday!

Well after our unfortunate fall at Aston the main aim of Pontispool was to get round the XC with 20 penalties or less in order to gain our qualification for the Junior National Championships at Glanusk U18* and boy did we do that!!!

The dressage was a bit disappointing really. The first mistake was that this time I gave him too long to warm up and we needed to have been doing the test ten or fifteen minutes earlier than we got to. This meant by the time I did my test he wasn't going quite as nicely as he had been a few moments before. However all in all I was very pleased with it. No mistakes really and his second canter - walk was really good! The first few movements were a bit dodgy because he suddenly tensed up, but from there on in I was quite pleased with it, and felt that overall it was better than Aston Le Walls. The judge however distinctly disagreed and we got 41.4 which I was very disappointed with. I felt sure it would be a 30's test. Ah well, the joys of stressage as I like to call it!!
Some stills from the video can be seen below. (click to enlarge)

Onto the Show Jumping! I had been told that the SJ at Pontispool can be rather large and technical so I was surprised to find that in fact it was quite small. It was certainly smaller than Aston Le Walls and I hadn't felt that Aston was particularly large at any rate! Having said that there were a lot of related turns and curving lines which meant that the track was more technical than ALW and didn't suit Jack because we have been struggling with our changes recently. However, I needn't have worried! We actually had a much smoother round than ALW (bar one rather long shot I saw to a big rustic parallel) and we didn't actually break into trot once because all his changes were fine! Unfortunately for whatever reason we had number 5 (a very simple upright) down, so finished with 4 faults. Again I only have stills from the video because although my brother took lots of photos, he is away at the moment so I don't have them yet!
(Click to enlarge)

Finally it was Cross Country time! Mostly the course was quite nice but there was a new combination at fences 10 and 11. Ten was a skinny log/brush and then you had to turn quite sharply right handed to 11a which was a skinny corner on top of a mound. Such that you basically had to take off for the corner on the upwards slope, and then 11b was another skinny brush down the bank four strides after the corner. It caused a fair few problems all day I think. The other problematic combination was the penultimate fence, the water. It was a jump over a log directly into the water and then a short four strides to a step then one stride and over a roll top. The log is was causing a lot of horses to spook and some very experienced combinations had stops/falls here and retired.

Jack popped number one nicely but didn't have the best jump over fence two and then had a blooming good spook at the trakhener at 3, so I gave him a smack and he picked up and gave me a brilliant feel over a combination of roll tops at 4ab and a big hay cart at 5. He jumped the double of angled hedges at 6 & 7 very nicely and got a fab stride over the parallel at 8. There was then a nice big galloping stretch down to a simple but big box at 9 and then it was the combination at ten and eleven. We got a bit close to 10, but turned well and I pushed him on up the slope for a forwards shot over the corner and then down over the skinny clear. I was very relieved to have got that done after our fall at the corner at ALW two weeks ago. He jumped 12 and a double of logs at 13ab very well. Flew a brush fence at 14 and then popped neatly through the bounce at 15 and 16. Jumped out of the wooded section over the owl hole nicely and then cantered on up to an upright at 18, down a slope and then up two big bounce steps at 19ab which he jumped well, and then 3/4 strides to a double of brush fences which he jumped brilliantly! Down the other side and then it was a jump onto and off of a bank at 21ab. He jumped on and off very expressively because he was worried there were goblins in the ditches I think! Flew a box at 22 and then it was a long downhill stretch before the water. I saw quite a long stride at the log into the water, but knowing that he isn't 100% bold jumping into water I just sat back and drove with my seat and ensured I was ready for whatever he did. He put a little stride in and had a good look so scrambled over the log slightly, but picked up and jumped up the step on 3 strides and over the roll top. Popped over the last and finished clear! Brilliant! Surprisingly enough we were inside the time. I thought this was odd because I hadn't gone very fast because it was hard and I wanted to make sure I made no silly mistakes! But I think the time was set quite kindly because of the hard ground.

So all in all a very good day. The Dressage was nice, just unfortunately a pretty rubbish mark, 4 faults show jumping and then clear XC inside the time which means that I now have my qualification for the Junior National Championships U18CCI* at Glanusk in July! To top it off, we came 9th in the end so got a rosette!

Jack now has four week off eventing until Glanusk 1-4th July, so my next outing will hopefully be Longleat JRN with Belvedere. That does depend on him becoming sound again in the next few days and us getting some show jumping in before hand! Even if he doesn't make it to Longleat he should be at Glanusk with Jack but doing the JRN class on the Sunday instead of the three day event!

We drove down on Thursday evening because we had very early time on the Friday and stabled on-site at Aston Le Walls because Jack's old owner/rider Emma Humphrey kindly chucked one of her horses out for the night to make space for Jack! I walked the XC and SJ that evening and was feeling very happy about it all!

The following morning Emma helped me warm Jack up for the Dressage and we did our best test yet. Although we basically got the same mark as at Hambleden last weekend (We got 38.6). Hey ho, I think it was much more established in the outline and more energetic! Although we did loose marks in our simple change because he literally halted rather than walking!! After the dressage I had a little chat with the Young Rider selectors etc about me, Jack my age and our plans etc. They seemed very nice!
A few stills from the video (Click to enlarge)

Next up was the Show Jumping, Having jumped a Foxhunter on him and up to 1m30 I didn't feel over faced by the course at all and didn't think it was that big. However because it was in their arena it was very twisty and the jumps came up very quickly. Because of this I slightly panicked at fence two and consequently had it down. However the rest was brilliant and Jack picked up his paws beautifully, so just the four faults. It turns out the course caused a fair amount of problems so the 4 faults wasn't too shabby!
Again a few stills from the video (Click to enlarge)

Video of the Dressage and Show Jumping:-

Finally the Cross Country! Flew fences 1, 2 and 3 out of a fab galloping rhythm and then popped very nicely over the big brush in the water. Kicked on over the narrow log pile wall and a double of houses at 6ab. Next up was a bounce of brush's up onto a bank and then left turn down over a skinny log. He was brilliant through that and then galloped on over a big open ditch brush. The next fence was a double of round top palisade type things where you jumped the left hand side of the first and the right hand side of the second. Saw a good shot and jumped through really well. (Picture below)

Then it was onto one of the harder combinations. A log at the top of a slope, then a right hand curve to part B a big corner. He popped the log sweetly, locked onto the corner and jumped it really well hardly wasting a second! Galloped on over a straight forward pheasant feeder and then back into the main field and angled the wagon slightly to save some time. (Picture below)

Nice long gallop stretch up a field and then flew a big brush at 14. Next up was 15abcd, a log, two steps down and then four fairly short strides to a big corner. He popped the log nicely, and went down the steps very boldly. Far more boldly than I anticipated after Hambleden last week, otherwise I would have killed the speed a bit more beforehand, this meant that we found the four strides to the corner very short and arrived on three and a half strides. Poor Jack couldn't get his legs up in time and hit it, twisted sideways and we landed with a bang on the floor the other side of it! Absolutely gutted as he was flying up till that point giving me a fantastic round and it was such a stupid error that could have happened on a pre novice track! So annoying, I think we would have finished in the top 15! Luckily Jack escaped without any injuries and he trotted up brilliantly this morning! I appear to have hit the deck very hard and am rather bruised. Unfortunately my head took rather a large bang and I was concussed. However no major injuries and I have a shiny new HS1 hat now!!!

Video of the fall can be seen below (please excuse how blurry it is, mum was a long way away!)

The original plan had been to give him 5 weeks off and then head to Longleat OI, however Longleat is quite a big intermediate and I don't really want to leave me and Jack festering for 5 weeks after a big crash! So we have entered Pontispool OI in two weeks to ensure he keeps his confidence up, and hopefully we won't make any silly errors and will get our QR for the Junior national Championships at Glanusk!

There were some who thought that we were jumping in at the deep end by doing a CIC* as our second event, in reality, although it is 'international', it is actually only an expensive novice/intermediate novice so I too wasn't fussed by it. And indeed, I think we showed them that we were perfectly able/capable to do it!

We arrived early on Friday for our dressage, as soon as I got there I schooled him round for a bit and then brought him back to the lorry so that he could chill out and relax whilst I got myself ready. He warmed up fairly well, but it's not the warm up that matters, it's what happens in the arena - and that is when he gets tense! So I was busy concentrating on what Tor had told me in our lesson last week - longer neck and keep the rhythm around the corners and circles. The test was very pleasant and definitely an improvement on Withington. Although because I was concentrating on keeping him relaxed we lacked energy and activity. But I think it is going in the right direction! In the end we scored 58.1 (FEI score) which equates to about 38.7 in BE scoring. So not too shabby but plenty to work on!

The rest of the day was very relaxing because the SJ and XC was the following day. So I walked the course twice, once with mum and once with my friend and her trainer, which was interesting and useful. I also had a nice chat with the lovely Wendy who makes KanTeq body protectors, and met up with Matt and Emma from ELHEventing (Jacks previous owners/riders!) In the evening Hambleden had kindly organised a little drinks gathering for CIC* riders so we had some wine and nibbles and I also had a little chat with the organiser!

Onto the Jumping day! Jack warmed up really well for the show jumping and we went into the arena feeling positive in a really forwards canter. Nice shot at the first, but then he had rather a large look/spook at it, nevertheless we cleared it! Brilliant over 2 and 3, a little close to 4 but no issues. He jumped the two stride double at 5a&b really nicely and then it was a long 4 strides to an upright. I saw a lovely forwards four stride distance, but unfortunately Jack found this fence spooky too and wanted another look so backed off and added a stride and we had it down. Moved on and jumped the oxer to triple bar really nicely and then foot perfect through the final treble. So finished on 4 faults. Not terrible, but I was quite gutted with that as a clear would have been so easy for us! 
Photos below kindly taken by my friend Izzy Hocking (click to enlarge)

Finally, Cross country time! Flew over 1, 2 and 3 beautifully. Popped through the double of skinny brushes on a curve at 4ab without problem and then kicked on through the woods over the big ditch log. After that he took hold a bit so instead of kicking on I was riding rather backwards trying to get him listening to me. Nevertheless he flew up the big ditch step onto a rounded bank at 6 and popped off it very sweetly. Unfortunately I made a bit of a striding error at the skinny log just before the pond at 7 and we had a very sticky jump and I jumped the next fence minus my left stirrup. Opps! Anyway, off into the woods and popped a simple fence at 9 fine, then it was 3 big steep steps down. He took them very slowly and carefully bless him - I thought we may never reach the bottom! Then it was two bounce steps up out of the hollow and then 2 long/3 short strides to a skinny. He popped through that really well on a nice bouncy 3 strides. Kicked on over a corner and through an owl hole and then it was the water - small angled log, right hand curve to a small log with big drop into the water and then left hand curve out over a skinny. He dropped very slowly into the water but no problems. Popped the spooky cartridge box at 16 well and galloped on round to some Helsinki steps which we did without breaking stride. Then I had to spend rather a long time setting up for a skinny log on a turn before the final combination - a coffin. That was all fine and then jumped the last full of running despite it being quite a long course (optimum time - 5:58). Unfortunately due to the fact that he was rather strong and it was a twisty course we racked up 12.8 time penalties!

Video of the SJ & XC -

All in all not bad for our 2nd event together! A reasonable dressage mark, 4 faults SJ and clear XC. However I was aiming for a reasonably quick double clear so I am a little disappointed, but Jack was fabulous as ever! So onwards and upwards to Aston Le Walls OIU21 on Friday!