Petplan Equine
Sponsored Rider - Juliette

April- to July Update

Finally the season is in full swing! Despite some dubious weather and lots of cancelled or over-subscribed events, both horses are having a good season so far and we have somehow avoided the dreaded ‘ballots’!

After her tooth removal over the winter, Jess had a slow start to the season, really not in full work until March. I am very anxious that she will only continue to compete as long as she is enjoying herself as she gets older. She owes me nothing and I won’t push her once she starts to slow down. We started with a fun visit to Poplar Park in Suffolk for an unaffiliated run around their BE100 cross country course- with an emphatic clear round finishing well inside the time I returned home to renew her BE membership!

She has since had two BE runs with the BE100 at Keysoe and the BE100Plus at Little Downham posting double clears at both events and finishing 10th at Keysoe. The new timing rules for this season mean cross country time faults are now incurred for every second exceeding 15 seconds below the optimum time. This has narrowed our target window of time (previously there was a 25 second window) and she has been 3-4 seconds ‘too fast’ at both outings! We may have to invest in a stopwatch, this rule is proving costly!

I attempted a personal first at Keysoe in May and took both horses to event on the same day. I managed it, and both went well on the hottest day of the year but I won’t do it again! Jess was very clingy and refused to settle on her own whilst Boodles was competing so we had a bit of a nightmare trying to keep her calm!

After such a strong start to the season I entered Jess for another BE Novice and will head to Buckminster for our fourth effort at this level in July. We have yet to post a clear cross country round at Novice- hopefully fourth time lucky...

Boodles travelled up to Cheshire in April for our annual eventing training camp at Somerford Park. We had show jumping and cross country training over three days with eventer James Somerville. Boodles made some amazing progress and our aim of BE100 this season is certainly looking achievable. We tackled several technical cross country combinations over the course which really pushed us forwards. Boodles has certainly found renewed confidence in the phase which has showed in his competitions this year. He has not had a cross country jumping fault since last season!

Soon after camp, Boodles posted a best ever placing at BE90 finishing 7th at Norton Disney. The hard work is paying off! He didn’t quite manage to repeat this performance at Borde Hill in May, with a disappointing inconsistent show jumping round that day for 12 faults. He managed to redeem himself though at Stratford Hills three weeks later, with a good dressage score, a single pole down show jumping and lovely a cross country round to finish in 10th place. Our own competition training in May came under some strain as I struggled to find enough time to ride as much as I would have planned. This is an incredibly busy time for us at the practice with foaling season in full swing and competition horses busy competing (and injuring themselves) along with a steady stream of colic and miscellaneous emergency calls; I had a nightmare weekend on call to contend with; and found myself mucking out at midnight on several occasions. It’s not always easy to balance eventing two horses with a full-time job!

Boodles and I are feeling almost ready for a BE100, I am hoping that our first one may come in July or August. Boodles had a fortnights summer holiday in June then he’ll start again with some more show jumping practice in the next few weeks. I really think holidays are beneficial for horses when they are working hard, giving them mental and physical time out. Boodles always returns to work fresher and more focused!

I had a lovely opportunity to feature in Petplan Equine’s magazine Paces which will be sent to customer in September so look out for me. I ride at Contessa Riding Centre near Ware for a lesson on the gorgeous Lusitano stallion Unico. Great riding is all about knowing the correct aids to give your horse so I was able to practise these skills with the help of a dressage schoolmaster.

Needless to say it was harder than it looks! I had an amazing morning, managing some flying changes and a few strides of piaffe! The article is all about being correct which I hope readers find useful. I will certainly return for another session!

Find out next time how Jess gets on at her Novice at Buckminster (the countdown is on, and I’m feeling nervous already!) and see if Boodles and I manage that significant step up to BE100.