Horse & Country blogger Stephanie Croxford updates us from the Winter Dressage Championships. Find out why Mr Hyde is in disgrace and Mr President is sulking.

Related links: Dressage

International event rider Gemma Tattersall does her first video blog for H&C. Meet 'Spike', and find out why Gemma ended up with soggy pants!

Related links: Eventing

This month has not been the best for me. One of the main reasons for this was a nightmare at the Blue Chip Winter Showjumping Championships. I know we all have bad days but my round in the Grand Prix was the worst I have ever ridden. I suppose we have to have bad days to appreciate the good days, but it was definitely a round I want to forget.

My other ride Boyce went lame the day before the championships and as a result is at the equine hospital in Newmarket so the vets can find out what’s wrong with him - fingers crossed he is ok. This also has a knock on effect as I did have a trip to Lummen in Belgium planned, but we have decided to leave our international debut for another month. Blah.

Fortunately my partner Spencer has been on a roll. His dressage horse Supa Nova has been out winning with some great scores, and Dougie was second in his first Prix St Georges. Finally, after five years, Spencer got to dust his tailcoat off.

Being the perfect partner is not always easy but I definately gained some brownie points when I surprised Spencer with a new horse. Goose is a bay yearling filly; she has the great blood lines of Ferro x Weltmeyer. Even though it will be a long time before we can do anything with her, we are both very excited as we have her four-year-old full brother in work with us now and he is looking to be an interesting prospect.

Spencer and I have another exciting new addition to our family in a terrier puppy, Lola - the show girl. She was bred by my friend Zoe Adams; she has already melted our hearts and loves her big sister Miss Babs - our Labrador. Let’s hope she is a good girl and doesn’t cause too much trouble!

We currently are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first of four foals. We have two foals due now and two due in a couple of months, all the mares are our in foal to our stallion Zamboucca. This year will be particularly interesting as we will be having full brothers and sisters. Above is a video of my favourite foal from last year who is by Zamboucca x Mayhill.

Well I will keep you all updated with what I am up to and if we have any foals soon. Don’t forget to follow me on twitter (@jaytigerhalim) or Facebook .

It’s a bye from me,

Related links: Show Jumping

Having had a less than ideal preparation for the Winter Championships (having fractured my hand) we set off with Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) to Hartpury not really being sure what to expect. Bracks was going well at home but I hadn’t been able to practice my tests as it seemed to be constantly raining and I’m not allowed to get my cast wet, so we were going on a bit of a wing and a prayer!

It was a bit hectic on the Friday when we were leaving, as we had had to take Roxy (Headmore Roxanne) over to Fairoak Grange at lunchtime in order to get her final Elementary qualifying point before we go to Saumur and I become a group one rider. Luckily, she scored over 70% in her first test so we didn’t even have to do the second test.

My first test at the Winters was the medium music class. Bracks had warmed up well and I had given her plenty of my trusty Nupafeed as she had been a bit tense in the arena walk in the morning. I was pleased with her test as, although she was a bit ‘looky’ she stayed with me and stayed rideable. We ended up on a score of 70.44% to finish equal fourth, so we were thrilled with that.

That evening, Mum and I watched the gala performance and, although a lot of the horses struggled to cope in the atmosphere, it was a good evening and the displays were fantastic. Charlotte Dujardin did a freestyle test to music, there were the Leaping Leprechauns and the Pas de Dosey Doe, which consisted of dressage and reining being done side by side, as well as a master class by Emile Faurie, so everyone enjoyed it and found it very educational.

We then had our final two tests on the final day of the championships. The first was in the Nupafeed advanced medium freestyle to music and I had decided before I went in that I was going to go for it, as it had been so hit and miss as to whether we were going to make it. Bracks was amazing and answered my every question and we thrilled to finish third, with nearly 75% behind two horses who had each already won a championship earlier in the week. As I still had another test to do Joanna Thurman-Baker very kindly let me borrow her horse for the prize giving!

Our final test was in the medium open and both Bracks and I were a little tired which led to mistakes, but overall we were thrilled with our work for the weekend, I can’t really complain with a third and a fourth with a fractured hand!

I also did an interview and filmed intro’s for my blog with Victoria and Jenny from the H&C team, so please be sure to check it out on Monday 7 May on 'Rudall's Round-up'!

Related links: Dressage

Having had a less than ideal preparation for the Winter Championships (having fractured my hand) we set off with Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) to Hartpury not really being sure what to expect. Bracks was going well at home but I hadn’t been able to practice my tests as it seemed to be constantly raining and I’m not allowed to get my cast wet, so we were going on a bit of a wing and a prayer!

It was a bit hectic on the Friday when we were leaving, as we had had to take Roxy (Headmore Roxanne) over to Fairoak Grange at lunchtime in order to get her final Elementary qualifying point before we go to Saumur and I become a group one rider. Luckily, she scored over 70% in her first test so we didn’t even have to do the second test.

My first test at the Winters was the medium music class. Bracks had warmed up well and I had given her plenty of my trusty Nupafeed as she had been a bit tense in the arena walk in the morning. I was pleased with her test as, although she was a bit ‘looky’ she stayed with me and stayed rideable. We ended up on a score of 70.44% to finish equal fourth, so we were thrilled with that.

That evening, Mum and I watched the gala performance and, although a lot of the horses struggled to cope in the atmosphere, it was a good evening and the displays were fantastic. Charlotte Dujardin did a freestyle test to music, there were the Leaping Leprechauns and the Pas de Dosey Doe, which consisted of dressage and reining being done side by side, as well as a master class by Emile Faurie, so everyone enjoyed it and found it very educational.

We then had our final two tests on the final day of the championships. The first was in the Nupafeed advanced medium freestyle to music and I had decided before I went in that I was going to go for it, as it had been so hit and miss as to whether we were going to make it. Bracks was amazing and answered my every question and we thrilled to finish third, with nearly 75% behind two horses who had each already won a championship earlier in the week. As I still had another test to do Joanna Thurman-Baker very kindly let me borrow her horse for the prize giving!

Our final test was in the medium open and both Bracks and I were a little tired which led to mistakes, but overall we were thrilled with our work for the weekend, I can’t really complain with a third and a fourth with a fractured hand!

I also did an interview and filmed intro’s for my blog with Victoria and Jenny from the H&C team, so please be sure to check it out on Monday 7 May on 'Rudall's Round-up'!

Alice

Related links: Dressage

It's been a while since my last blog, with Cheltenham and Aintree both been and gone. I only had the one ride at the Cheltenham's Festival, and unfortunately it was the slowest run race of the week. This was not ideal for me, so I had to settle for ninth place. I guess I'm going to have to wait till next year for my first Festival winner. It was a great week, with the highlight for me being Synchronised winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup. His owner JP McManus puts so much into racing so it was great to see him win this race for the first time. Other highlights were watching Big Buck's win his fourth World Hurdle, and watching Noel Fehily - one of the nicest guys in the weighing room - win the Champion Hurdle.

Then last weekend was Aintree, again Big Buck's was awesome on the Thursday winning the Liverpool Hurdle and making it his 17th win in succession. He is definitely one of the best jump horses we've ever seen in training. On the Friday I had my fourth attempt at the National fences in the John Smith's Topham Chase and for the first time I got round! It is such a thrill riding over those fences and my horse gave me a great ride, jumping from fence to fence. I think we both really enjoyed it.

Then onto Saturday and the Grand National itself. Unfortunately the race has been marred by a couple of accidents (see news story here) which was such a shame as it was the closest finish I have seen to the race ever. It was an amazing spectacle to see two horses fight out such a close finish after four and a half miles. Both Neptune Collonges (1st) and Sunnyhillboy (2nd) deserve so much more credit for their efforts than they are getting, because people are letting other issues take away from what a great race it was.   

On a much happier note, between Cheltenham and Aintree we had The Lesters. For anyone that doesn't know, these are the Jockeys' awards, and the evening was held in the Hilton in Birmingham on 5 April. I like to take my sponsors every year from mayiclaim.co.uk as my way of thanking them for their kind support throughout the season, and I think yet again they all had a good night. With no racing the next day, it gives all of us the chance to relax, enjoy the evening and let our hair down a little. So many stories, so little time!

Hopefully it won't be so long till my next blog, and hopefully I'll have some winners along the way.

William

Related links: Other | Racing

As I was driving back from the Blue Chip Winter Showjumping Championships after the Grand Prix, I felt disappointed with my four-fault round. My horse Diaghilev (Eric) jumped well but he just made an inexperienced mistake at the second fence. But then I took time to reflect on the same show the year before, when I was so unwell I couldn't even attend let alone compete, so really four faults wasn't so bad after all...

The day after the Blue Chip Grand Prix last year I was rushed into hospital where I ended up in intensive care. Numerous tests later (and a few scary hours for my parents) I was diagnosed with Addison's Disease. I had had an Addisonian Crisis, which is life-threatening. I had been extremely lucky for the doctors to finally work out what was wrong but I was extremely unwell with it. Addison's Disease is a rare, chronic, endocrine disorder of the adrenal glands. I had never heard of it before, and only about eight in a million people in the UK develop it each year. Most cases first develop in people aged between 20 and 50, but it can occur at any age. My adrenal glands have stopped working so my body no longer makes its own natural steroid. This steroid (Cortisol) our bodies produce, it regulates blood pressure and the immune system, it helps balance the effect of insulin in regulating the blood sugar level and it also helps the body to respond to stress. Cortisol is essential for life.

I now take replacement cortisols and this will never be stopped. At first I really struggled with Addisons. It took the doctors 10 months to get me on a steroid pattern that suited me and my lifestyle, but a year on I feel I am really starting to live with the disease as if I don't have it. Having the disease has really taught me to start appreciating life and all the small things. Addison's has a reputation of not allowing people to carry on living a normal life but I want to show new Addison suffers that this is certainly not true!

Following this year's Blue Chip Championships, I took Eric to Wales & West for their first Grand Prix class of this season and for a warm-up for the Welsh Masters. We finished up in third and I was thrilled with Eric's performance. You can watch a video of his jump-off above.

Hope you are all well and I will blog again very soon... In the meantime, you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Anna

Related links: Show Jumping

I have had a rather eventful few weeks trying to prepare for the British Dressage Winter Championships, but it hasn’t all gone according to plan... let’s just say that it is taking me a bit longer than it would normally to write this blog! 

With the main competition season about to really get underway with the Premier League shows and internationals kicking off, Gayle and I thought we would make the most of an easy week to organise a day off, which included a much appreciated lie-in as well as a pub lunch and an afternoon sat in the beer garden in the sunshine. Luckily the weather was kind to us and we had glorious sunshine all day, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the chance to sit down and relax.

We were then concentrating on getting Wiz (Wurlizer) and Del (Headmore Delegate) ready for Keysoe Premier League, and Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) ready for the Winters. It was all going well and we were pleased with how the horses were progressing, until Gayle and I were hacking one day and the horse I was riding got spooked by the air brakes on a lorry and whipped round, causing me to whack my hand on her neck. I thought I had felt something crunch and Gayle said I went a bit of a funny colour and by the next morning my hand was about three times its normal size and bruised right the way through, so I had to succumb to getting it checked out.

My sister, Kate, agreed to take me to A&E and we tried to get there fairly early as it was Good Friday so it was a bank holiday and we thought it wouldn’t be too busy. Having been told by the receptionist, triage nurse and doctor that my hand was very swollen, and having tried to explain that I ride for a living so I needed to be able to ride, only to be told that they couldn’t promise that, I was sent for an x-ray. The radiologist said that she would take two images and if there was something she didn’t like the look of she would come and take a third. You can imagine that I was not too impressed when she came back to take a third image!

The outcome was that I have fractured my fifth metacarpal (hence why this blog is taking longer than normal to write), and I was told absolutely no riding for four to six weeks as it could displace or rotate so it had to be completely immobilised and could not be pulled or twisted, but the doctor then said that he would like to put it in a cast, so it could not be pulled or twisted, so I thought that that meant that I could ride!

I had nearly a week off riding to let it settle a bit before I got back on. Riding is not the easiest activity to do with your hand in a cast, but I am managing and the horses are all going well, but the doctor was not too impressed when I went for a check up and I told him I had been riding as I thought I might need a doctor’s note... oops!
In for a penny, in for a pound (or a tenner is my case) as not only has Bracks got the Winters coming up but I have been invited to Saumur with Wiz in the under-25 and Del in the small tour, all while I’ll still be in the cast! Both Erik and Charlotte said that you wouldn’t know about it when I ride, so hopefully it will be good. Fingers crossed...

Alice 

Related links: Dressage

Jo Bassett is part of the British Young Drivers squad. Here is the second part of her video diary, leading up to the World Championships in July. 

Related links: Carriage Driving | Other

There have definitely been a lot of very exciting goings on at Headmore recently. We have had a very busy month competing, in which Roxy (Headmore Roxanne) and Headmore's rider Gayle have completed their summer regional qualification at Novice, and Roxy and I have nearly completed our Elementary regional qualification, even though she has only just started at the level. Roxy also did her first Shearwater Six Year Old class where, despite a rather tense and unsettled test following another competitor coming off in the warm-up, she still finished a very close third and qualified for the final.

Doris (Headmore Daydreamer)a rising six-year-old chestnut mare by Dimaggio, who we have recently welcomed back, now owned by Miscombe limited. She has got her Preliminary regional qualification with two wins and phenomenal scores of 74.55% and 78.36%, also with Gayle in the saddle. We also competed Evie (Elvedina), our accidental Brightwells purchase, for the first time in a Shearwater Five Year Old class, where we were thrilled with how she went. Despite a few green mistakes in the test she finished fifth, just missing out on qualifying.

I have also been competing Future’s Agessi (Future), owned by Malene Garfield-Davies, at Elementary, where we have had some very good scores and placings, while Malene has also been winning on him at Novice. Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) competed in her first Prix St Georges last weekend where, despite a very green and wobbly test, she managed to score just shy of 68% to finish fourth in a very strong class. If she can achieve that in her first test at the level, who knows what she will be able to do when she’s established!

I also took out he big man Wiz (Wurlizer) for his first outing since the 2011 Nationals. Following a six month break from competing, where we have been really concentrating on training and consolidating all of the Grand Prix work over the winter, he acted like he had only been to a show last week. We were all very pleased with our progress over the winter as he won the Grand Prix at Merrist Wood. Roll on the summer season, hopefully exciting things will come!

The wildcards were also released for the British Dressage Winter Championships and I was very pleased when I found out that Bracks was awarded a wildcard in all four of her classes, so will be competing in the Medium and Advanced Medium open classes, as well as the freestyle at both levels. Two of these classes are sponsored by my sponsors, Albion and Nupafeed, so I was very pleased when I heard that I would be competing in their classes!

Gayle has also started going to jumping shows again, so things are now pretty much back to normal, apart from Gayle getting kicked in the warm-up at only her second show back but luckily, apart from a very bruised and swollen calf, she was fine. Dolly (First Diamond) is already back jumping Foxhunter and it is like she hasn’t been away!

We have had a couple of new arrivals recently as well, one a new face and one returning. We have welcomed back Tank (Headmore Wimoweh), now owned by Joanne Graham-Whelan, for us to produce and compete, and he has already done his first Four Year Old class, finishing a close fourth and just missing out on qualifying. We have also welcomed Mischief (Tantoni White Mischief), owned and bred by Georgina Pole-Carew, a rising four-year-old 16hh bay mare by San Amour who will be out competing in young horse classes later on the year.

Until next time,

Alice

Related links: Dressage