Well, I am afraid this isn't much of a report! Jack had been going well on the flat leading up to the event so I was hoping that we could improve on Somerley 2* and try and get a late 50's double clear. However it was not meant to be! Early Friday morning we drove (well mum drove) the 4.5 hours all the way to the coast! (Norfolk). Unfortunately when we got there we were very unimpressed by the state of the ground, particularly the Dressage and the Cross Country. And as Jack is an old boy who had stiffened up quite a lot on the journey anyway we decided it was prudent to withdraw rather than to hammer him round on some rough hard ground. 

We stayed the night to give Jack some time to rest before setting off home again on Saturday morning. Albeit a slightly delayed departure because the lorry decided it didn't wish to start and we had to get the help of a local mechanic! All in all not our most successful weekend!

Firstly I am very sorry for the rather lengthy delay in writing this report! But things all got a bit hectic with organising everything for Burnham Market 2* which turned out to be a rather non-event anyway. But I will explain what happened there in my next report!

I went to Sapey with high hopes that Belvedere would continue to put in another very respectable & very correct performance like he has done at all his other BE100's this season. 
He didn't warm up brilliantly for the Dressage so I hastily got Mum to run and fetch Tor to give me a hand warming up. We got him going a bit better and went in to do our test. It was very correct with very few errors and thankfully the judge liked him as a horse and we ended up with a very respectable mark of 32. Actually one of his best marks with BE!

Onto the Show Jumping, I wasn't worried as am very happy jumping him at this height and thought that although the course was cleverly built with some downhill related distances that we would be fine - I was mistaken! We didn't have the best prep because the person before me had a very nasty fall and so we ended up hanging by the entrance for quite some time. Something which Belv doesn't really like doing, but in we went and quickly into a nice forwards bouncy canter. Jumped the first really well and then I'm not really sure what happened. We got deep to a couple, but nothing horrific and we maintained a nice rhythm and energy all the way round but came away with a very very disappointing 12 faults. I have not had more than one fence down on this horse since 2009! Not ideal and so I was in two minds whether to run him XC or not because we were now not in contention for a placing and the ground was quite hard.

In the end Mum and Tor persuaded me to run which probably was the right thing to do seeing as this may have been my last event on him. Anyway he flew round in his usual Belv style coming very comfortably inside the time!

Thankfully Howick is a pretty local event for us so although I had very early times we didn't have to leave at too much of an unearthly hour! Saying that, we still lhad to leave at 6am, even though I had walked the course the day before!

Belv warmed up very well for the Dressage but unfortunately had 5 minutes too long and so just wasn't giving me his complete attention for the test. That combined with a sloped and tacky (due to the mud) arena meant that we made a number or little errors/mistakes which brought our mark right down. We ended up with 37 which was very fair in the section as it was quite a tough marking judge.

The Show Jumping was a fair track, not too big, not too small and it flowed nicely enough. Had a quick warm up and then in we went. We hit everything on a good stride and popped around for a nice clear. Belv was a little bit 'tappy' but I think that is because he finds it quite small. I'm not complaining though - I quite like this BE100 lark - much more relaxing than 2*!!

Quick change of tack & clothing and it was off to the Cross Country! The aim was to set out like we meant it so that he was going a bit more forwards, rather than sauntering round in a pretty little canter! So 5,4,3,2,1 and off we went! Kicked on more than I have done on his other BE100 runs and he did a lovely round. Very sweet and happy and as it turns out, it was just as well that I kicked on because the time proved quite tight! We finished a very good 14 seconds under the time, although on the downside, I finished on the same score as someone else but they went slower XC and were closer to the optimum and so beat me!

All in all another very successful outing! We finished on our dressage score and came 3rd, gaining 12 foundation points! Belv's next run is Sapey BE100open and then he is heading to Withington to have a crack at a novice! Exciting stuff!

On Wednesday morning we set off at 5am on the fairly long trip down south to Somerley Park Horse Trials to do the CIC** with Jack!

My Dressage was at 10am but we weren't jumping till around 4pm so luckily we didn't have to get there in time to walk the XC first! But on the downside it meant hours and hours of sitting around getting more and more nervous as I waited and getting soaked! It rained pretty much all day! 
Jacks dressage has taken a bit of a knock recently for one reason and another so I wasn't holding any high expectations. He warmed up sweetly enough, but unfortunately was very tense during his test and there were a number or errors. Mainly in his straightness (or lack of!) and we also had an incorrect canter strike off which is very unlike him! But all in all it wasn't too bad and we got a fair mark of 61.7.

After a horribly long wait it was time to Show Jump! The weather was vile and the ground very slippery so the Show Jumping was built fairly small to take this into consideration. Even so it still caused enough problems. Jack however posted another fabulous clear, even if we did have a slightly gung ho moment down a line of 3 fences after I saw a flyer into the first element!

Finally Cross Country time! I was pretty nervous for this because it was only our second event of the season and it was quite a tough track! It was pretty technical in places and the technical bits were big as well!
However I shouldn't have worried, Jack flew round for a superb clear! Made absolutely nothing of the big angled brush palisades at 7, the very spooky water or the massive skinny triple brush to corner combination! Chuffed to bits! He finished strongly and picked up just 8.4 time faults which I was quite pleased with because I didn't really push for the time as I was aiming for a clear! The course caused a lot of problems for the other competitors too with a lot of people getting eliminated or retiring!

So all in all a very good outing! Another double clear from Mr Supplejack! But the good news doesn't end there....it turns out we finished in the top 25% and so were placed 12th and in the money! Result! 

Next outing for Jack is Burnham Market CIC** so let's try and do a similarly good performance!

Whilst Belv snoozed....

Jack got to work....!
The Dressage was very disappointing in the end. He had schooled really really well the day before but unfortunately both he and I became very tense in the test and it did not go to plan and we got a very disappointing 40.5. Generally our flatwork has come one leaps and bounds from last year and is of a good 30's standard. So this obviously doesn't reflect how we have come on over the winter :(

Next up was the Show Jumping (we actually managed to get to jump this time!) It was quite big, well relative to the BE100 courses I have been doing with Belv and as it was our first time out this season I was a little nervous! However he warmed up well so we went into the ring feeling positive! Wow what a horse, he absolutely flew round for a fantastic clear! Thrilled! Although our SJ last year was good, we almost always ended up with 4 faults and this was our first clear SJ at Intermediate!

Finally cross country time! Jack duly posted a fabulous and pretty quick clear and we came home with just 4 time faults which was quite reasonable in the section. We did all the quick routes without any issues and so got our first Intermediate double clear - gaining two points! Our dressage wasn't good enough to get placed, but we ended up 13th which was about half way which I guess isn't too shabby for an official Young Rider OIU21 trial!
So all in all very pleased! Next stop Somerley CIC**!

I took both horses to Aldon on the weekend and day one was Belv's turn. He was doing the BE100 running HC because the BE100open was on the Friday when I was at school!

He warmed up really well for the Dressage and I was pleasantly surprised to find him incredibly fresh! Last weekend at Tweseldown he had been decidedly dull and bored so it was nice to see him looking and feeling more enthusiastic about it all! He was doing extended trot everywhere which, although may look pretty, wasn't what I was going for! Anyway, I went over to do my test, went down the centre line and then had a massive panic. The arena had been moved across after Friday's tests and so the marks made on the Friday were visible in different arenas in the arena and I had a massive panic thinking that I was no where near the centre line and thus leg yielded over to the previous days centre line...then realised I was wrong again and leg yielded back! Needless to say the judge got out of her car and I started again! Opps! Not the best start and I lost 2 marks for error of course. After the centre line fiasco Belv did a very pleasing test and after we had finished got some nice comments from some onlookers, so I was a bit disappointed to get a mark of 38 which isn't brilliant for him considering it was BE100. But never mind!

Then everything started to go wrong....!
The Show Jumping was running 20 minutes late so we decided not to go over and warm up until later than originally planned so that we didn't have to hang around up there, what we hadn't taken into account was that I was one of the last few to jump and that if they caught up we were in trouble. I wandered over there and arrived a few minutes after my allocated time to find to my horror that they were packing up and that I had completely missed the show jumping! Completely out fault and an important lesson to learn, but how horrific!!! My mum then went and grovelled and they allowed me to go cross country!

However, that did not go to plan either. Off we set, flew around the first half of the course, and through the water. It was as I was approaching one of the fences after the water that I noticed to my horror that me cheek piece (which attaches my bit to the bridle) had come undone and was flapping! So I had to pull up and retire as the bit was only in his mouth due to the flash and my reins!!


Photos below courtesy of Izzy Mears

So all in all a bit of a pa-lava of a day! One not to be repeated ever again please!

I have just realised that I have been very lax and haven't yet done my Tweseldown report! I do apologise! It turned out to be a very good start to the season. It is quite a trek to Tweseldown for us but I didn't mind because it meant sleep time because my mother drove. Belv was only doing the BE100 because I want him (and me) to have a nice, easy and enjoyable time!

He warmed up for the Dressage in his own quirky manner but without any issue or drama and proceeded to do a very acceptable test. I was originally aiming for a low 30's test but unfortunately I messed up the halt quite badly and we got a very fair mark of 35.5.

The Show Jumping was small, but this was perfect for Belv as I wanted a nice confident clear. And indeed that is exactly what he delivered. We tapped a few and were lucky at the second last but the poles all remained in their cups and that's what counts! So we were on our dressage score going into the cross country - excellent!

Finally the XC - after a few rears in the start box we set out and I very nearly went the wrong way along the intro course. Opps! After a hasty change of direction we popped fence one, kicked on and flew round the rest of the track. Unsurprisingly no problems, and we finished around 8 seconds under the optimum if I recall correctly. Unfortunately had we been a bit slower we would have been better placed in the end as there were four of us all on 35.5!

All in all a very successful first run - we finished on our Dressage score of 35.5 and came 12th. So no rosette unfortunately, but it was all very close! 8th was on 35.3 and 13th on 35.5!!
Now I am looking forward to Aldon on the weekend where Belv is doing the BE100 (HC) on Sat and Jack is doing the OIU21 on Sunday.

Well, it was a bit of a roller-coaster of a week to say the least!
The Young Rider 2*'s didn't trot up until Thursday afternoon so we arrived on Thursday morning. This worked out quite well because I had a biology field trip on the Tuesday and Wednesday that I had to attend because we did our A level assessed practicals when we were there!
The trot up passed without any issues but we discovered that somehow I had managed to bring the wrong dressage saddle! Opps! Thankfully by the combined efforts of Tor and the father of a girl in a JRN team I managed to get the correct one in time for my dressage on friday.

The dressage was a bit of a disappointment, although Jack didn't do anything wrong he was very tense and understandably at this level we got severely marked down for it. We ended up with a score of 63.9% so annoyingly had he been more relaxed like he was at Gatcombe we would have got a mark in the 50's which was what I had been aiming for!

I was very nervous on Cross Country morning because there were quite a few fences on the course that I felt didn't suit Jack particularly well and were similar to where we had issues at Gatcombe 2* two weeks previously. The course was also very very big, however I needn't have worried as he gave me an absolutely fabulous round! Although he warmed up like a donkey he popped fence one and two very nicely, galloped onto 3ab, a curving four strides between two box fences. He actually slipped on the turn between the two fences but still managed to get the four strides! Fence 4 was a big drop log which I was quite concerned about, but I needn't have been, he didn't even hesitate and flew it brilliantly. Down the slope and then a right turn to a skinny at 5 which he jumped really well. Fence 7 was a straight forwards house which we took in our stride. Fence 8 and 7ab consisted of 3 logs on a curve with 5 strides between the first two and 3 strides between the second and the third skinny element. Jack was foot perfect through here and we galloped quickly onto the coffin, I got him back in plenty of time and then when I saw my shot in drove him to the fence very positively because I was concerned about him stopping. I think I may have slightly over done it because he then got a bit of a surprise when he saw the ditch and he put down on the rail and slid over the first element. However we recovered well and jumped parts b & c really nicely! Fence 10 was a lovely big parallel which jumped really well and then it was onto the first of the water complexes. This consisted of just one element - a very large and dark log with a big drop into a pond. I thought he would be very spooky of it but he jumped it absolutely brilliantly and gave me a wonderful feeling! The second water had a skinny roll top, then four strides to a log drop into the water, then a forwards 3 out of the water up a step and then one stride to another skinny. Although Jack was very spooky and hesitant over the drop in we just about made the 3 strides and jumped out over the skinny really nicely. The next two fences were very simple and he popped them really nicely. Fence 16 was a very narrow corner off a tricky turn and I did take the flag down with my foot but that doesn't matter. Seventeen was a big hay rack a few strides after the corner which Jack jumped very well, and then it was a gallop up a steep hill to a very big square box at 18. We got a brilliant shot to that and jumped it really nicely. Next up was the obelisk fence - a big skinny brush corner to a small step down and then three strides to another big skinny brush corner. We added a stride after the step down to the 2nd corner but popped through sweetly enough! Fence 20 was a big wide wagon and then 21, 22 was a narrow wall to a very big brush pimple fence. This rode brilliantly and the Young Rider chairman got an awesome photo of us over it! Kicked on down to a very large log pile which Jack popped really well, and then over a big ditch brush palisade. He was a little spooky but jumped it without any problems. Kicked on and galloped on up the hill towards the main arena, got a good shot over a simple fence at 25 and then we flew into the main arena to jump the last combination on the course. He gave me an amazing feeling over the teddy bear table at 26 and then we turned back on ourselves to jump the house to skinny wagon at 27ab. We stood off the house but got a lovely three strides to part b. Kicked on, flew the last fence and finished 9 seconds inside the time! What a brilliant horse! Absolutely thrilled with him!!

Overnight I was lying in 17th place, so I was confident that with a decent SJ we would be able to move up into the top 15. Unfortunately this wasn't meant to be, Jack wasn't quite right on Sunday morning and was held in the trot up and then consequently withdrawn before the Show Jumping. Such a gutting and upsetting end to what had been such a good experience.

Well after Jack's recent form I went to Gatcombe with high expectations and I was very confident that if all went to plan we could pull off a very good result. Either a double clear, or possibly just a fence in the show jumping. Well I suppose this confidence was our downfall - As it turned out nothing went quite to plan!!!

The Dressage was on Saturday and he came out feeling very well and warmed up really nicely. We went over for our test and after many laps of the arena finally went in. The test had a few tense moments in the walk and pirouettes, but other than that I was thrilled with how he went. It was unbelievably better than our test at Hartpury, and so I was hoping for a good mark in the 50's - As was my trainer and Jack's previous riders. Unfortunately the judging was quite varied and quite harsh and they gave Jack a mark that none of us thought was very fair - 64.7 (Just 2 points better than Hartpury!) This was very disappointing, but he went well and worse things have happened!!!

The following day was the show jumping and cross country. The SJ was a fairly up to height track (it was certainly very wide) however it was riding really well and not causing many problems so I was confident for that clear! He warmed up really well but was quite strong and heady due to being sat in the lorry all day as we were on at 4pm but were there for our trot up at 11am!! We went into the ring and got a fabulous jump over fence one, but then got a little deep to the planks at fence two and they came down which was a great shame. He then jumped 3, 4, 5 and 6 very well. Seven was the triple bar with 5 strides to an upright at fence 8. Unfortunately we swung round the corner on a bit of a wing and a prayer and ended up on a ''misser'' to the triple bar and landed on the back rail. Fences 8, 9, 10 and 11 then jumped really well. So we finished with a gutting 8 faults, something I had not been expecting and was very disappointed with. This was also our worst BE result in the show jumping this season.

Finally was the XC, after the disappointment in the show jumping I was determined to go out there and show everyone how it should be done. We got really nice strides over fences 1 & 2 and flew on down to a log at 3. We had a slightly odd jump over this (I think he misjudged the post and rails the other side of the jump as part of the fence!) Fence four/five was quite a test considering how early on in the course it was - Four was a log on top of a bank, you then went down the bank and curved right to a big corner. I decided to go direct as it was very similar to a fence we did at Aston Le Walls in May and indeed he did it brilliantly. Six and seven were fences in the hedge and then 8 was a big corner which he did well. 9 and 10 were straightforward fences and then 11 was a drop into the wood, curving three strides to a skinny log which jumped very nicely. Fence 12 wasn't very nice, it consisted of an uphill rail, then one stride down a step and then three insanely steep strides up a bank to another upright. We jumped it fine but a little messy over the 3rd element. Next up was a big bounce, followed by a wall and then a 90 degree turn to a hedge. We jumped this really well and he gave me a great feeling. Unfortunately it was after this that it went slightly wrong. There was a drop log in the wood where you couldn't see the landing, then down a slope to a drop wall, then you veered left and then had a sharp right handed turn to a skinny log on a lip where again you couldn't see the landing before you went down into the dip and up out over a skinny log. Jack was very suspicious over the first drop log and nearly stopped but he jumped the wall very well. I then failed to pick up on the fact that he was feeling un-confident about these drop logs where the landing falls away and I must have dropped him slightly just before the skinny log - He stopped dead. Came round the second time and did it and the following brush without much problem. After this point I stopped kicking as we were way down the order so when we finished we had a lot of time faults. After this incident came the water - a duck in and then a turn to a rail which he flew without any hesitation and then cantered on to an angled drop palisade to a skinny log. The second last fence was a huge trakhener style fence and then the last was a skinny tree branch. Both of which he jumped very well. So all in all, a stupid little error that cost us a top 50% finish and blotched both his and my record. Gutted!

Anyway, onwards and upwards and all that! Hopefully we have both learnt from the mistakes made - it can't always go right unfortunately and I think it has given me a much need kick up the backside to not be complacent and to ride every fence. So hopefully our next outing at Weston CCIYR** will be much more successful!

Sad news surrounds Hartpury Horse trials for me. I was supposed to be doing Hartpury on Belvedere and for about two weeks up to the event I had been staying with Belv at Tor's in order to get lots of training to ensure a good run. However on the Tuesday of Hartpury week Belv was diagnosed with a hock injury and will be off for the rest of the season. Not only did this mean that Hartpury was out of the question, but it also rules him out of the JRN National Championships at Weston Park. On Wednesday morning it was decided that I would run Jack at Hartpury in Belv's place.

So on Wednesday afternoon Jack was presented for the first trot up which he passed fine, even if he did spy a photographer, stop in his tracks and leap sideways!! 
Unfortunately because I had been away at Tor's with Belv I literally hadn't ridden Jack since Wilton OI two weeks previously and he had only been lightly hacked by a groom. This meant that our Dressage was not very up-together and we didn't do a very good test and got 66.2 which left us right down the order.

The Cross Country course at Hartpury was a very nice course and fairly big, however it was very straight forwards with only a few testing combinations. The main things to think about were fence 12ab which was a steep downhill combination of a log, then 5 slightly curving strides to a very skinny tripple brush, and also right at the end of the course were two houses one stride apart on a very acute angle and then a corner concealed just after a turn through a hedge. Jack sailed round the track and gave me a brilliant ride true to form. Didn't put a foot wrong and sailed inside the time. He finished well and sound and passed the trot up on Sunday morning without incident.

Jack is such a good Show Jumper so I wasn't overly concerned about the Jumping, but it was quite a long, up-to-height and VERY square track so it was still enough of a question. It caused carnage for the first 20-30 competitors with three people managing to fall off! However Jack did an absolutely class round and was his normal amazing genuine, pingy self! We almost had a clear round but I made a slight error to the last fence and the planks came down. Guttingly the four faults cost us a top 50 finish and a point. However I had a great time and am really pleased with how Jack went.....if we forget the Dressage that is!!! We climbed from 90 something after the Dressage, to 61st after the XC and finally to 54th after the SJ!!!

The next stop with Jack is Gatcombe CIC** and then seeing as Belv will no longer be going to Weston, I will take Jack instead and do the CCIYR**! Very exciting!!
I had some more good news this week too - I did my driving theory test on Wednesday and passed and then I got my AS results today.....four A's!!!! Smiles all round!