Monthly diary — October 2012

Meanwhile, Lissa’s two Euro–blood girls are progressing although Daisy enjoys field acrobatics and twisted an ankle, forcing rest. Her gymnastics continue in the stable, where if alone, she stands on her hind legs and rests her chin on the stable wall to see what’s happening. She’ll happily stay like that for ages, which was a little alarming at first…

Lissa took Jack to Osberton 2* and leapt from 76th after dressage to 18th with a super double clear in the time – a huge confidence boost. His dressage needs work but he’s done little for a year and is not naturally supple. It’ll be interesting to see how they develop.

I managed to fit in Little Downham with CF. It’s a lovely event with each discipline conveniently about 100 yards from the trailer park. Unfortunately that’s about 500yds too close to the cross–country for CF when he’s meant to be thinking about dressage. Our test was tense but contained at least.

In the showjumping, the fences he cleared he jumped beautifully, but we still had three down. The real challenge was the cross–country, advertised for advanced first–timers but I was glad I was on a brave 16–year–old – it caused huge trouble. CF was fabulous, finishing the event and our fun season with a 13th place.