"With the summer qualifying season well under way and us finally getting our act together in starting to get everything qualified, I took Dante (Headmore Downtopia) - a homebred six year old by Dimaggio - out for the first time since July! We had kept him at home training over the winter as he used to lack confidence and, as a result, could be naughty when he didn’t understand.

Both Mum and I were really pleased with how he has improved over the winter so we took him out to Merrist Wood for a couple of novice tests. He looked a little perplexed when I was plaiting him up in the morning, I think he thought I’d taken the wrong horse out of the stable, but he walked straight on the lorry and travelled beautifully.

He warmed up well and I was pleased with his first test, even though there were a few little wobbles in places! His way of going was quite good and he didn’t make any major mistakes, and he won with a score of 71.25%.

His second test was harder and included a rein back, something which Dante had struggled to understand the concept of for months! Once again there weren’t any major mistakes, although the rein back was rather sticky... but he did go backwards which was good enough for me at the moment! He also won this class with a score of 69.23%.

So, all in all, it was a very worthwhile outing and I was very pleased with both of his tests and his behaviour generally, especially considering he hadn’t been out for months and, I think, he’s only going to get better and better as he goes out more and grows in confidence."