H&C

"I had a very good feeling about 2012 at the start of the year, but the first couple of weeks of the New Year proved me very wrong. Unfortunately, we lost our older dog, Scrappy, very unexpectedly. He slipped a disc and deteriorated very quickly so in the space of two days he went from running around the yard to us having to make the awful decision. Gayle spent the last two hours of his life feeding him chocolates that were left from Christmas, he loved the coconut crèmes but wasn’t so keen on the orange ones, and spat them out.

Heading for a fall

I also had a bit of a nasty fall from Wiz - you may have heard as Mum plastered it all over facebook and it then made Horse & Hound. At 12, and as a Grand Prix horse, Wiz should probably know better, but at least he is feeling well. I was told I was lucky not to crack my hip, but after a few easy days I was back riding so no harm done. I did blame Gayle though as she had said now that she was back up and running it would be my turn next. However things did perk up, Gayle was allowed to start riding again and has been on a mission, surprise surprise! She has also started jumping again and her rising seven-year-old showjumper, Dolly, who I have been schooling for her on the flat while she has been off, was unreal - so at least I did a good job on her.

Back out to parties

We have also been starting to compete again as it isn’t long until the winter regionals, and both Roxy (Headmore Roxanne) and Bracken (Headmore Boadicia) have been going to some parties in preparation. We weren’t sure Gayle would be fit enough to compete, but she and Roxy have been well away, winning a novice with 70.38% and an elementary with 65.88% at Merrist Wood, before then winning two novices at Crofton with 68% and 69%. Not bad as Gayle had only been back riding for two weeks, Roxy hadn’t been to a show for three months and there was room for improvement in all tests. Bracks also made the trip to Merrist Wood having also had a break from competition for three months. I was very pleased with how relaxed and rideable she remained as she normally gets a bit over the top when she hasn’t been to a show for a while, and she felt much more established and more confident in her work, and much stronger in her body. She won the medium with 67.35% and advanced medium with 69.19%, despite there being a few ring rusty errors and miscommunications between us where we hadn’t been out for a while, so we are all well on the way in our preparations for the regionals.

Crash hats compulsory

The new rules came into force on 1 December 2011, meaning that crash hats are now compulsory from prelim to advanced medium level dressage and in young horse classes. I am very pleased with my new Antares hat as it is so light it doesn’t even feel like I have one on, but it was slightly odd seeing everyone in crash hats in the warm up. It won’t be long before everyone is used to the change and it will be the norm, especially as there are now so many smart crash hats available that we can still look classy and stylish whilsee wearing one."

Until next time, 

Alice

“It has been a busy weekend for the H&C team, and in our quest to bring you the best footage for our show Rudall’s Round-up, we have been out and about on location.

What's the French for Stallion?

First stop, the was the Stallion event at Hartpury, run by the British Bred Sports Horse (BBSH) association. The day was a real spectacle with interviews and demos from Bernard Le Courtois, Mark Todd, Oliver Townend and Michael Eilberg, plus 65 top stallions from the UK and Europe. 

I am not scared to admit that my knowledge on breeding is not up to scratch so I was a little apprehensive about the day. On arrival though my fears were soon put to rest after an interview with Jan Rogers, or as I like to call her the ‘Oracle’.  Jan and Kat organise the event and I was soon up to speed on who was who and which stallions to watch out for.

After running into the lovely showjumper Louise Pavitt, rider for the Brendon Stud, and shoving her in front of camera for a quick interview, I then grabbed the hilarious Shirley Light, owner of the stud. My next interview was my most nerve wracking of the day – a chat with the brilliant Bernard Le Courtois. Now Bernard's English is okay but my French is terrible, I come from the Del Boy school of French, so I did fear that the interview may be a disaster.

Bernard, however, was lovely and Jaguar Mail soon stole the show by dancing around in front of camera and reminding us he was once an Olympian.

Other stallions that stood out were the great Grafenstolz, ridden by Alex Hau Tian, and the legendary Parco (who has been recently imported by Ken Rehill). It was a joy to be in front of such amazing animals, and on British soil.

Townend and Toddy 

It wasn’t just the stallions on display; lots of top riders were there including Mark Todd, Oliver Townend, Paul Tapner and Clayton Fredericks. While interviewing Toddy, Mr Townend thought it would be funny to ride between us and camera girl Katie. Poor Katie thought she was about to be crushed - and she ensured I was put in the firing line from then on while she remained out of harm's way.

Laura Collett - the next Olympic hopeful?

It was then on to Laura Collett’s yard two days later for our Olympic Watch feature. After what seemed like hours of wrong turns and sat nav blunders, I arrived at Laura’s yard relieved to find that, most of the equestrian press, had the same whistlestop tour of the Wiltshire back roads.

Laura’s yard - with its huge indoor - is impressive to say the least, but what seems more incredible is the record of this unassuming 22-year-old. Laura’s office/tea room is covered wall to wall with medals and pictures of her successes. Laura is a delight to interview and seems to have a level head on her shoulders. Will Laura make the team for 2012? As of yet it is undecided, but if not this year I am certain there will be several Olympics for her in the future.

Putting my feet up

No travelling for me for a few weeks as its hospital on Thursday for a knee operation, to repair the damage inflicted upon it by unruly four-year-old. Hope everyone is enjoying the new site, and make sure you follow us on Twitter to keep up with our latest outings."

Jenny

"It is not every week you get to meet two Olympic athletes, but then it's not every year that you have the Olympics in your own country. And it is certainly not every year that we actually might win some medals!

With Olympic fever at the forefront of everyone’s minds at the moment, I have the task of travelling round the country to attend yard days organised by the British Equestrain Federation (BEF) to meet our Olympic hopefuls. A tough job, but someone has to do it!

Last week eventing, this week dressage

Last week we went to see William Fox-Pitt at his Dorset yard, and this week I went to see dressage rider and European team Gold medallist Emile Faurie.

We battled through sideways rain and ridiculous traffic jams to get to Oxfordshire, Victoria (Rudall’s Round-Up producer) and I were relieved to see Emile still riding his top horse with Elmegardens Marquis (Max).

After watching Emile do a demo on Max, it was photoshoot time and my goodness doesn’t this horse like to be in the limelight! There is a clear bond between Max and Emile, and it was touching to see how much Emile clearly thinks of this once very hot-headed horse.

I couldn’t resist posting this little vid of Emile with one of his young horses - who clearly likes being the centre of attention!

Next week it is onto Laura Collett’s yard, so if you have a question for her head over the Rudall’s Round-Up webpage and post it in the Four Star Question Box." 

Jenny

Hello everybody. Right! We are well into the new year now so I hope you all have been keeping to your new year's resolutions. Or maybe you're like me - "You don't make them, so then you can't break them!"

A good start

Thankfully I have had a great start to the new year. I've had four winners in the first three week of January, and for the second time in two years, I was lucky enough to win the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton for Nick Williams. This year's win came on board Swincombe Flame, who as you may remember from my last blog, is the horse I won on at Wincanton on Boxing Day. She is a very good mare who is going the right way and definitely a one to keep an eye on for the rest of the season.

Whip ban

In winning the Lanzarote I unfortunately picked up a seven day ban and lost my share of the prize money for my use of the whip. It was a very close finish to the race and when we past the line it took the judge a couple of minutes to call the result, so when he said: "Your winner is number 19" I was so thrilled. I felt I had given Swincombe Flame a very good ride to win by a nose - after she lost her back legs on landing over the last, she dug really deep and battled the whole way to the line for me. At the time I hadn't realised I'd gone over our allocated use of the whip (eight times) and it wasn't until l went into the stewards room for the enquire that I could see I had gone over by two and that one had landed short. It really put a damper on what 20 minutes earlier felt like a great day.

As jockeys we all love horses and I don't know a jockey that would ever purposefully harm a horse. We are all trying very hard to stick to these new rules but the punishments for minor infringements are very harsh. It is virtually impossible to count how many time you have used your whip in a race, especially when you get competitive in a finish and I think having the use of the whip halved was a very unrealistic target. I really do hope things can get sorted out soon as I feel people are losing faith in our wonderful sport, after all it is The Sport Of Kings.

Looking to March

Hopefully in my next blog I'll be talking about horses I'm looking forward to seeing and maybe riding at Cheltenham in March. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me, on here or on Twitter, I'm @WTKJockey."

William