Amy - Petplan Equine Ambassador

I don’t think it is likely that I am ever going to start an update without stating ‘it’s been busy’! But busy it most certainly has been! Hartpury was such an exciting time, taking Jasper my Sport Friesian to his first big Championship and riding Tico for the first time in the NAF 5 star indoor. In the bigger atmosphere Jasper remains such a sweet little horse but Tico gets adrenaline pumped with nervous energy. Historically I was a brave rider; I started my dressage career backing young dressage horses for the late Andrew Graham of DHI. I also took horses in for breaking and problem solving! So inevitably over the years I have sustained a few injuries. I absolutely love starting horses from the beginning, creating a true bond and training through the levels. This has been something I have been lucky enough to achieve with my homebred Tico. He was bred from my first dressage horse ‘Annie’, I watched him be born, grow, play and develop into the spectacular horse that he is today. However, at big shows he gets such a ‘high’ that I struggle to control his 18.2hh mass of pumping muscle. Literally, pumping! I can feel his heart pounding in his chest and through every piece of him! Every Championship he frightens me near to death but after his initial antics he always seems to perform. I would however, prefer not to get to the point of hyperventilation and nausea in psyching myself up to ride him!

This year’s Winter Championships were our biggest learning curve to date. Tico and I had our usual heart stopping moments; but I let him down in his first test. We went into the arena and he had a little melt down, only when he wanted some reassurance and positivity I melted down too. I was so disappointed with myself, all he needed was someone to tell him he was fine and to go for it but all he got was me saying ‘I don’t want to do it either’! This played on my mind a lot. Next we had the NAF 5 Star indoor to tackle. I was right on the brink of deciding to withdraw because I knew if we both broke down again that would probably be the end of our competitive career. It sounds so stupid, but if I couldn’t find the guts to go for it, there was no point putting ourselves in that position. Somehow we both got ourselves together and nailed it. We produced a mistake free, all be it tense test but most importantly we got round! This left me with many things to consider.

Our next aim was the Petplan Equine Area Festivals with Tico at Medium and Advanced Medium. However, I decided that if we really are to master the big Championships we needed more experience so on returning home ensured that we qualified for the Regional Championships at Elementary. These were held at Somerford Park, the year before Tico had done his adrenaline pumped performance getting to the warm-up the day before competing. This was probably the worst melt down we had had and is what knocked my confidence at the Winter Championships. But I was quite determined that this year, he had been there before, survived Hartpury and that no messing was allowed! Guess what, we smashed it! He was great, my positivity boomed into him and some confidence was restored. We finished 3rd out of 40 with two top judges giving us over 72% but one judge marking us nearly 7% down. A little frustrating to nearly win the class but we had just overcome some big demons so getting round with a very decent score and a podium finish was more than good enough for me. Of course it was the top two that directly qualified for the Nationals but still we went home happy.

Then, as I was writing this update, John, my ever supportive boyfriend, called to say that the Wild Cards had been released on the British Dressage website. I didn’t even think he knew about the British Dressage website! But what fantastic news. So in two weeks’ time Tico and I will be contesting in our debut Summer National Dressage Championships.

So as well as Regional Championships there have been Petplan Equine Area Festival first rounds. Tico and I competed at Myerscough College in the Medium and the Advanced Medium. Myerscough is a local venue so he is used to competing there making it a relaxed affair which I very much needed! He did a super Medium test with just one whoopsy in left medium canter where he added an unnecessary flying change but he won with a fabulous score of 70.25%; we were delighted. We confidently took part in the mounted presentation which Tico calmly enjoyed. Next up was the Advanced Medium. Some of the work especially the half-passes were more fluent and powerful than the first test but it was our changes that let us down. Currently Tico has one super change and one not so super change. The 91 test has five changes; three on his good and two on his not so good rein. So our aim was to nail the good and do our best with the rest. That went to plan until the last good change where I had stopped riding and assumed it would happen – big whoops but lots of great work. We were first in and gained a score of 65.38%, not bad considering the mistakes and being new to the level. Not for one minute did I think we would maintain a lead, but we did and Tico won that class too. This is where the Petplan Equine Area Festivals are so great because realistically I do not feel competitively ready for this level but the Area Festivals are a great environment to give it a go. Super fun and friendly and like I found out, no one’s flying changes were quite ready! It’s something to work on for the Petplan Equine Area Festival Finals in October at Manor Grange. Our aim is to qualify from here for the Winter Dressage Championships held at Hartpury.

Jasper has had some well-deserved rest time following the Winter Championships. He is six and had not had a break since being started at four so seeing as though we rode ourselves out of being able to compete at the Area Festivals this year (due to riding the level at the Winter Regionals) it seemed the perfect opportunity. He was turned out for eight weeks and is now enjoying being back in and working. He performed a demonstration for a local riding school Pony Club which was his first outing since the Winter Championships in April. I thought he might have been giddy as he is very energetic but he loved every minute and was very relaxed with his audience who gave him a lovely applause. He is such a cutie and many adults and children fell in love with him that night.

We are aiming to qualify and ride the Elementary Winter Regional and keep pushing up to Medium for next year. He is super elastic and energetic and super fun to ride but I do feel we may have a challenge ahead in teaching him his flying changes. Although he is the type of horse that once he has learnt something it stays. Watch this space! If you are interested in keeping up to date with our journey follow Amy Tilston Dressage – Petplan Equine Ambassador on Facebook.