My first Point to Point @ Paxford! 29/04/2011
Well well well...I never thought I'd see the day! After years of longing to have a go at P2P-ing I finally got the chance! Mum lent me her team-chasing/hunt ride horse (Cloons Master Plan/Ross) to enter into the Tim Carter Hunt Memorial Challenge. It was run as the last race of the day, over just one lap of the course omitting the open ditch, and restricted to people who have never held a P2P licence. My friend from Eventing and work at Venetia William's kindly lent me all the kit and also came with her mum to help, support, watch and take photos! Below are some photos of me & Ross all kitted up back at the lorry before I had to put the ghastly number bib on!           Finally after a bit of hanging around & getting increasingly more nervous it was time to head to the paddock and parade!  Walking to the Paddock Mum paraded Ross in her snazzy new boots that she bought at Badminton whilst I chatted to Beth who was going to leg me up, posed for a few photos (to be seen below!!!) and got even more nervous & exctied!!      After fifteen minutes or so it was time to be legged up and make our way down to the start! Ross was surprisingly very well behaved whilst I was legged up but once the master who was leading us to the start blew the hunting horn he got considerably more excited and was very strong cantering to the start line!            Cantering to the start    Once down at the start we had our girths checked and a briefing where basically they just reminded us to go around the open ditch! And then finally...WE WERE OFF!!!! Perfect stride over fence one which was a relief! We got a bit close to fence 2 and Ross pinged me out of the saddle slightly...unfortunately this is where all the photographs were taken! What was more worrying was the person next to me flying through the air and landing very hard at my horses feet! Rather scary! There was a long gallop to fence 3 because we had to go around the open ditch! The leading horse took a dislike to the fence and ran around it but Ross flew it brilliantly, we really stood off it and it was an amazing feeling!  Fence 2                   Unfortunately fence 4 was where it all went a bit pair shaped! We jumped it well, but on the landing/getaway stride Ross tripped and did the most spectacular nose dive (he had a very green grass stained nose) and went arse over tit (muddy saddle) face-planting me into the ground in the process! Not ideal & such a shame as it was going really well and I was really enjoying it! Very annoying to have not finished the race but it hasn't put me off! I just really want to get out there and have another go....possibly on a proper Point to Point horse & in a proper race.....!!  Favourite photo Add Comment Stockland Lovell ODE - Cloons Master Plan 29/04/2010
Just a very quick blog, the day after Withington on Jack we took Ross down to Stockland Lovell for a Riding Club ODE there. I was going to be doing the PN there on Belvedere but had to substitute Ross in instead after Belv's chiro appointment etc. Getting there was interesting due to a horrible accident involving a motorbike and a horse trailer (returning from the event) so It was a bit rushed trying to get to the dressage. But that didn't seem to matter he warmed up beautifully and then did a really good test! I have to confess I was a bit disappointed to get 35 which was fairly average in the section. Last year we got 30.5 and the best dressage out of 40 people! But hey ho, such is life! (Click to enlarge)       Next up was the Show Jumping, he warmed up fairly well - no disasters anyway! Jumped 1, 2 and 3 fairly well. Came round to the double at 4, asked for a forwards stride and he slammed on the breaks. Represented and jumped the rest clear. So 4 faults for the stop and a very annoying 8 time penalties. Rather galling to finish on 12 in SJ on a careful horse that didn't touch a pole! I was gutted because I normally always get placed in the open (PN) at this event - 6th on my 14 2hh, 7th on Belvedere and last year - 2nd on Ross and 2nd on Rosie. Oh well!    Finally the Cross Country, I didn't know what to expect as he is so unreliable in this phase. I am pleased to report that we got around clear inside the time, but it wasn't the smoothest of rounds and was distinctly un-stylish! He didn't really feel in the mood for it! So not the best way to end the weekend, but no major catastrophes!     Well, yesterday we set off to do some BSJA on Ross and Jack at Allens Hill. I had Ross in the 1.00m Amateur qualifier, which was run as a single phase and was an incredibly long course!! He was jumping brilliantly in the warm up but kept on trying to nap out of the arena. So I was concerned that he might throw in the towel when we went into the ring. However we managed to get a double clear! (Even if he did plant himself in front of the double and then nap coming around to a spread by the entrance/exit!) Next up was Jack; he was in the discovery (1.00m first round). Unfortunately his jumping bit hadn't arrived in the post and so he was just in a snaffle, consequently he was quite strong and so we did have a pole down. But he jumped really well and considering it was my first course with him and I have only had him a week it wasn't too shabby! Although we had a pole down, the judges missed it and so we got into the jump off - It didn't affect the results as we were on a ticket so our score didn't count anyway! The jump off was a full up discovery JO - Up two holes, so set at around 1m10. This time I took my spurs off and jack wasn’t quite so fresh and we had a really super round. Nice rhythm and hit everything on nice strides! We got a super little clear, one of only two in the jump off. So we would have been second if I was registered BSJA.  Round one - 1.00m All in all a very good day, and very promising for our event season! I can’t wait to enter Weston Novice now! Hartpury (2) JAS - Cloons Master Plan 16/02/2010
Well, after a reasonably successful first JAS outing at Solihull I was determined not to make any mistakes this time and qualify for the finals at Addington. Well, unfortunately that didn't happen this time either! First off was the BE90, he warmed up very well so I wasn't too worried going in. However once in the arena he was really backwards and very behind the leg. This meant that we had a few awkward jumps where we didn't have enough energy to go on the slightly more forward stride and put some little strides in. Also at the ABC combination around the corner Ross had a rather large spook and very nearly stopped! So I was very disappointed with the round when we came out, having said that we did do a double clear so I can’t really complain too much! However, when the scores went up it showed we had got a style score of 30! Which was very very bad. At Solihull we got 18 and 20, and here we were one of the last! I know it is very subjective and I know that the round was very backwards with a few awkward jumps, but even so...I felt it was very harsh!! This is why I don't do showing!       Next was the BE100, after our backwards first round I decided to try and ride him much more forwards and we did get a much smoother round. Once again he didn't touch a pole and did a lovely double clear. I moved him on a bit more too so only got 4 time penalties, which combined with our rather improved style score of 21 meant that we finished on 25 and in 14th place. The time penalties cost us our qualification to the finals. Kicking myself, I could have easily shaved off four seconds somewhere! Below are photos from the BE100 (click to enlarge)          So all in all a bit of a mixed day, but two double clears so I can't really complain. (Jumped 43 elements and didn't touch a single one!!) Solihull JAS - Cloons Master Plan 24/01/2010
We arrived at 8:30 and I had to unfreeze myself from the lorry seat! It was perishingly cold on the way down, and no heating with a draft old lorry was not fun! I walked the course and I have to say, I didn't like it. The SJ part was fine, but the XC part had some rather difficult things in it, considering that this was supposed to be BE90 level. There was a triple around a corner, so you did the first element jumping into a wall, turned 90 degrees and out over a double. There were only two strides between A & B. Horrifically tight, and loads of horses in the BE90 baulked at it because they didn't want to jump directly into a wall! Oh and part B had a water tray with foliage on it underneath the rail, so that (plus the fact that horses turned a corner and were immediately faced by it) meant it caused problems! (The first four people all had stops here). There was also a double of meaty skinny's and a corner on a horrible angle - not many strides after a double and on a bend with a jump in the way so you had hardly any straight strides. BE 90 - He warmed up well. Went in, spooked dramatically at a banner on the edge of the area - not a good sign! The bell went, we popped number one nicely and number two - starting to feel better, he was jumping well and we had got over some fences! Round to three the double, nicely through that, four was an upright, that was fine. Five was a skinny upright, 6 and 7 were both fine. Then onto the cross country part. He flew fence 8, then a handbrake turn around the skinny's to a skinny brush, leaped that - this is a horse that team chases, I mean really. If he was going to pretend there were aliens, couldn't he at least do it at something that I could forgive him for spooking at! Popped the wall at 10, nice over roll top at 11. Trotted into the triple combination at 12, popped over turned, managed to squeeze three strides in - no idea how!! Then out over the next elements fine. Then onto the double of skinny's which I messed up! Ross doesn't do long ones as a general rule, and isn't reliable with skinny's etc anyway, plus he finds then scary and I stupidly asked him for a long stride. Cue a stop, then he took off out of fear wasting loads of time!! Anyway clear through on the second attempt. Then around to the road closed double, clear there. Very steady round to the corner, he thought about running out but we got over. Finally the last, which he flew! So I stupidly cost us a nice double clear. We also ended up with THIRTY TWO time penalties...opps! We got a style score of 18. Had we finished on 18 or even had 8 time pens we would have qualified for the championships. BE 100 - Well I was determined not to get time penalties this time! He popped around the SJ very nicely, but had the style at fence 5 down, not entirely sure why, but I must have done something to upset him. A bit rushed off the corner maybe? So onto the XC bit, I pushed on to try and make the time, flew the first jump at 8, tight turn, kick on over the brush, going for a forward stride. Ross was not amused and put a little one in. This horse likes to show jump in his steady pingy rhythm and does not appreciate being pushed out of it and make to go faster. And as he also doesn't like to go on long ones, this forward pace caused a few issues. However I was determined not to get 32 time pens again so I kept it up, this meant that we had some very sticky jumps. He put a little one in at the roll top too. Nice through the triple. Really pushed on down the long side. Then came to the double of skinny's...ahem...me very much thinking forwards, Ross a bit unsure and a dodgy stride = an extremely messy jump! We managed to get over the second part nicely though. Poor Ross, I don't think he liked the moving on business. He jumped the road closed things nicely, scrambled over the corner (very nearly ran out again) and absolutely flew the last beautifully! I was very happy to hear the words ''inside the time'' but quite embarrassed with how messy the round was. I was very concerned as to what horrific mark we would get for our style, in the end we got 20. Plus 4 faults for the pole, leaving us on 24 for finish. We came 20th in the BE 90 and 18th in the BE 100 (about 60 in it). So not too shabby, but it would have been nice to qualify for the BE 90 championships.  The photos from the BE 90 and BE 100 can be seen here - Solihull JAS Photos I apologise in advance for the dodgy lower leg position! I do quite like the picture in the BE 100 over the second element of the road closed double though!! Gadbury ODE On Ross 14/09/2009
Well, we just popped down the road for a little outing at a local event on Ross (Cloons Master Plan). He warmed up brilliantly for the Dressage. Absolutely fantastic, he is very good at dressage but I have never felt him go this well. Really good from leg to hand into a nice even contact. As I was waiting about to start my test a girl galloped flat out across in front on all the dressage arena's about 6 meters away from A while people were doing their tests. I could not believe it. I have never seen anything like it in my 8 years Eventing. It was disgraceful and I confess I gave her a bit of an earful about it. Unbelievable! Onto Ross' test. It was lovely; not quite as good as he was warming up, but very pleased. I was hoping for something in the 20's and we got 23!!! Very Pleased! (Click To Enlarge)                Then we had the Show Jumping, he was incredibly strong warming up and I had very little breaking power! Just before I went in the ring he started pissing around and napping slightly so I was very concerned he was going to throw in the towel in the ring. However I needn't have worried as he put in a super clear, he didn't even consider napping. Now the pressure was really on for the XC! (Click To Enlarge)          The Cross Country was very big and technical for a pony club intermediate (BE PN equivalent) but as he has gone round Gadbury so many times I was worried but not terrified about it. Although this was more technical than he has done for a long time. So we set off, flew 1, 2 and 3. 4ab was a skinny drop log down a small slope to another skinny. He has jumped this exact combination hundreds of times; we came round to it, perfect stride and speed, leg on and STOP. For no reason I could make out he just stopped. So I came round, represented and he went through foot perfect. He then flew 5, 6, 7 and onto a very big bounce of steps up at 8ab which he was brilliant through. We came down to the water at 9abc. A very very big roll top then into the water and out over the skinny. Perfect stride to the roll top and once again STOP. No reason. Went through fine on the 2nd attempt. Galloped around to the hedge, gave him a smack and he jumped huge. I nearly got jumped off. Popped up the step one stride to skinny hedge at 11 well and cantered down to the brush palisade three strides to skinny tipple brush at 12 so that my brother could take photos. Brilliant through that and galloped over the spread at 13, skinny house at 14 and box at 15. Great through the coffin at 16 and nice over the last at 17. So 40 penalties. Ross is such a depressing horse. 23 dressage, clear SJ and for no reason 40 XC. If he ran out I would understand as he isn't the moist reliable XC but unnecessary stops are horribly annoying. Blooming horse! He could be so good, and we could do really well BE if he wasn't so silly! (Click To Enlarge)         Rosie and Ross bring home more Ribbons...!!! 13/08/2009
Well, it was Foxcote Unaffiliated Pre Novice on Tuesday! It had the potential to be a very very bad day because a) Ross can nap and refuse to do anything and b) Rosie hasn't competed at this height for a while because she doesn't have much confidence at the moment so we would easily have been eliminated in the SJ!! Well I got there to do my Dressage on Rosie at 1:30, she did a very nice test so I hoped we would get a good mark! We got 34.4 which was fairly good in the section but I was a bit disappointed with. It turns out the judge wanted her to work more from behind... I then had a THREE Hour wait before Ross' Dressage. So we walked the course in the scorching heat and had ice creams! Ross wasn't feeling very obliging when I warmed up and the test was horrible to ride. He fixes his neck and locks his jaw against you. However, the test apparently looked really good. We got 34.8 which I was very disappointed with. The judge even gave Ross a 6 for his paces and said ''correct paces'' which for Ross is in my mum’s words ''very naughty'' because Ross has the most amazing elastic paces. You literally would struggle to find better paces! Sigh!  Ross Dressage I then jumped off Ross and got on Rosie for the Show jumping. It was an up to height course but mostly uprights which is good for Rosie's confidence. So I wasn't too worried. She was great over 1,2,3,4ab then I came round to a narrow style at 5 and I went for a long one which you NEVER do with her so she put another stride in and had it down. Totally my fault. Great over 6, the double at 7 was a bit hairy, 8 and 9 were fab. So four faults. Totally kicking myself!  Rosie SJ I then changed quickly for the Cross Country and went over to the start. She flew a little hedge at number 1 and 2, backed off but jumped well over a large number 3, perfect over a wall at 4 and a box at 5. Popped down over another wall at 6, 7 was a bullfinch type thing which she jumped HUGE as she didn’t want to touch the brush bits!!! Then sharp left turn over 8 a large palisade. Popped down the step to skinny at 9, flew 10 and 11 a ditch log to tyres. Launched over the palisade at 12 which apparently had a drop behind that I didn’t know about and almost fell off!! Popped 13ab and 14 the ditch palisade. Launched over the drop over stream at 15, great over 16, hesitant over the 2nd drop stream at 17 and lovely over the last. Super clear!! I then leapt off Rosie changed and leapt on Ross for my Show jumping. We went in and jumped off perfect strides over 1, 2 and 3. 4ab was a little deep, and the rest of the course was really good, so a great clear. It turns out the SJ caused carnage and out of 25 people there were only 5 clears.  Ross SJ Got back to the lorry got off and changed AGAIN and took him Cross Country. It was fabulous. No napping, no hanging, just lovely round he was really enjoying himself! Super over everything, no dodgy moments at all. So he got an awesome double clear! Results!! Rosie finished on 38.4 and was 7th and Ross finished on 34.8 and was 2nd, so two rosettes!! Unfortunately had I not been a Muppet SJ on Rosie, she would have been 2nd and Ross 3rd, Oh well! Cleobury OPN- Cloons Master Plan 30/05/2009
Well, first BE event on this horse. He is my brother’s horse, that mum hunts and team chases. He is very talented, but so fickle, it either goes really well, or he won’t do anything, and e.g. refuses to jump. So as I said when I was catching up with a friend when walking the course, ANYTHING could happen!  I have to say BE are very efficient, as soon as we get back, some guy pulls up in a car--BE doctor come to check me out! haha! alls good, but no sympathy from my friends, all Louise can say is ''did you fall off then??!!'' in a really scarky voice! HAHA bless, well she had a good day. So anyway, bloody typical, good dressage and SJ for once and then XC to pot. Had we gone clear XC we could have been 3rd/4th/5th depending on how close we were to the optimum time. Ross= fab dressage and SJ, crap XC Belv= rubbish dressage and SJ, and awesome XC! Ah well, you never know, I might get it right one day! By that I mean, we decided to take Irish Rose and Cloons Master Plan to a local show in order to give Rosie some fun and to give Ross a show jumping round before our PN at Cleobury on Saturday (considering at the Hartpury 1m SJ championships he refused to jump anything!!!) Then onto the Show jumping which was very under height! The 2'9'' was more like 2'3'', but hey ho, it was just for Rosie to have some fun! Anyway, I spoke to soon, the little madam had a stop at the first! Bless! The Clear round ring, had suddenly wacked their jumps up so they were a good 3ft-3ft3, with a lot more fillers than the main ring! So we popped her in that and she did a very sweet round and gained another rosette! Good girl! Video of the Clear round, and Pictures from the 2'9'' (click to enlarge)     There was a very long wait while they did the 85cm Top Score until the 3'0'' class, so we sat and got very hot eating an egg in a roll as they caterers had run out of food- humph! But eventually it came to an end and I warmed up Ross for the 3'0''. He was warming up very well, until he suddenly stopped at an upright taking me totally by surprise and leaving me clinging onto the side like a limpet! He must have spotted some monster and was clearly saving both of us from a terrible fate! haha! However, he went in and did a super round, double clear, not stops, and definitely no touching any poles! Next was Rosie, and this time I was not going to let her stop at the first. But she had already done two rounds and had had to wait hours for this, so was pretty switched off. This meant that she found the distance too hard to get in the double, put a little one in that really wasn’t there and had it down. Then on the final line, we came to a reasonable height spread, I could feel her backing off, took my hand off the rein and gave her two smacks of encouragement. But it was the wrong decision to make, as she then took advantage of this and ran out. Came round again, another smack, popped it very well. So eight faults. It caused lots of problems in the end, and Ross won, and Rosie was 4th. Si not so bad! Video of Ross' Novice Dressage test and 3'0'' SJ round, and images of Ross and Rosie in the 3ft (Click to enlarge)            Finally, it was onto the 3ft3. There weren’t many in the class so I was hoping for another double clear and win on Ross. However, as we came around to the 2nd, there was a crow on the fence wing, as Ross took off, it took flight and caught Ross' attention so he froze, and forgot he had back legs, so knocked it down. He was lovely around the rest of the course though! As it turned out, no one went clear and there were three of us on four faults, so they did the placings on the times of our first rounds which were not speed rounds, so Ross was the slowest and came 3rd. Ho hum, not so bad! (Photographer left after the 3ft unfortunately!) All in all, a VERY VERY hot long day, but we came home with lots of Rosettes (makes a nice change!) and ponies feeling very pleased with themselves I think! I just hope Ross can do the same at Cleobury Mortimer BE PN this Saturday! Pony Club Hunter Trial 03/05/2009
Just a very quick post, to say that Irish Rose (Rosie) and Cloons Master Plan (Ross) were very good and well behaved at our Pony Club Hunter Trial! Photos from 2'9'' (Click pictures to view larger)         Photos from 3'3'' (Click pictures to view larger)         | SponsorshipDo you have a high quality product or business that you believe in?
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