Monthly diary — June 2014

The dressage was unexpectedly in the main arena instead of the usual quiet tucked-away one and he was totally over the top. The showjumping followed a similar vein so I withdrew from cross-country. CF is an easy character but has always been a difficult, over-zealous competitor but we’ve had some special moments together - fastest XC in his section and 4th at Belton in April being one. He went to his new home in Germany with Sharon my ex-head girl, after I’d left for my next travels - I haven’t yet been home to the empty field and I’m not looking forward to it. The search is now on for its next occupant.

In Saumur, two of my Austrians gained valuable experience but sadly didn’t qualify for WEG. Then, via teaching in Scotland, I headed to Ireland to support Lissa at Tattersalls 2*. Disappointingly Destiny failed the first vetting - we think a new splint is responsible. Next came seven US clinics in 14 days across six states. As these ended, news filtered through of the tragic deaths of Ben Winter in Lumuhlen and Jordan McDonald at Nunney. So much has been done to try to ensure mistakes in our sport don’t cost the ultimate price but still these tragedies occur. I feel our biggest priority is to ensure riders take responsibility for every fence - a responsibility which has been eroded over years of spoon-feeding and setting riders up with helpful turns and prep fences and, more recently, brush top fences which can accommodate bad riding. In addition, I question the pressure that beeping stopwatches and minute-markers put on riders, pushing them into high-risk split-second decisions.