Laura - Petplan Equine Ambassador

The last few months have certainly been testing; with some extreme highs and some rather painful lows! But either way we continue to learn, develop and strive to improve. Finley had his British Eventing Novice debut at South of England horse trials. The weather was beautiful and the ground was well prepared. I couldn’t have asked for a better day as Finley was absolutely amazing. He performed a really calm obedient test for 32 which is a huge improvement. We had two poles show jumping, which I was thrilled with considering this is our weakest phase. Then it was onto the cross country. He soared round the big track with a few time faults. I was over the moon with him, and was a great start to his step up to Novice.

Two weeks later we were competing at Hambledon in our second Novice. This is one of my favourite events to attend and I was looking forward to it. Sadly we took a step back with our show jumping resulting in a few fences down. The cross country course was proving to be extremely tough with many people retiring, getting eliminated and having many time faults so I was prepared for a tough ride. Finley yet again acted like a superstar taking everything in his stride and when he was a little cautious I was there to support him and he flew! I was all set to be inside the time with a fab clear up until the third from home. He clocked a dog in the distance which led to a lapse in concentration and us bypassing the fence. I then needed to turn a circle and cross my tracks and an annoying 20 penalties. We cruised home with only a few time faults and I was thrilled because he had gone clear but frustrated with the penalties awarded.

Our next novice run was at Tweseldown at the beginning of May. We had been working hard on our show jumping, and had made a number of changes to help combat our demons. The day started well with a lovely dressage test, and an improved show jumping (still room to improve further) but it was rhythmical and forward. He then flew round the bug bold cross country course jumping clear but sadly I flew into orbit at the last so didn't make it across the finish. It was a huge box brush, and unfortunately Finley's knees didn't quite pick up enough. I have to thank the first aiders and St Johns Ambulance for their efficiency and care whilst I was on the ground. I have been having some intense chiropractic treatment since my injury, which has left me extremely bruised and with some issues to my hip and sacroiliac joint.

Not to be defeated… We headed for an easier run at Borde Hill to give us both a confident boost. Finley didn’t disappoint, and despite my riding not being up to scratch, he really pulled it out the bag! A continually improved dressage, one unlucky pole at the last show jumping, and a clear, in the time cross country for seventh place. Definitely the result we both needed. Click here for a clip of our run at Borde Hill.

Not to be outdone, Ransom and I have been working really hard for our PSG debut, which was delayed slightly due to our first competition being cancelled. We attended Pyecombe Dressage and entered the Advanced Medium as our warm up test. This was slightly tense as we had travelled with a friend, and he spent his time calling to her. We also had a rogue horse reversing at speed into our arena mid test! Despite this he still came second.

Next was the moment of truth… our first PSG. Ransom absolutely took my breath away with how he performed and reduced me to tears of joy! He gave 110% and all the hard work paid off as we not only came first in the PSG; we won the whole FEI class! We still had lots to work on but this was an incredibly positive start.

The following weekend we headed to Step Aside Dressage, to hopefully complete our Area Festival qualification. I was unable to fully give Ransom the aids needed following my fall, but he continued to impress me. We won the Advanced Medium class, and came second in the PSG with an improved score.

As we head towards the summer months, I have already achieved the basis of my goals for 2017. Finley and I have competed at BE Novice, and Ransom and I at BD PSG. So we will continue to train hard, improve, and hopefully conquer at the higher levels. It hasn’t been easy, and I’m sure we will have many more tests to overcome, but that’s half the fun isn’t it? It makes all those achievements even more worthwhile and rewarding.