"With time running out to complete my Inter I qualification, we took Wizard (Wurlizer) to Hickstead premier league on Friday 25th June to hopefully gain the extra couple of points I needed to qualify him for the regionals. It was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day, although that also meant that it was scorching hot so I wasn’t looking forward to putting my tailcoat on in the heat!

Erik (Theilgaard, my trainer) was there and he was able to help me warm up, which meant that I had no excuse! Wizard warmed up well, Erik made sure that I kept him in front of my leg as that is the main problem I have with him and, although we were winding him up, he didn’t go over the top, the Nupafeed did its job, as always, as he stayed calm and rideable but the energy was there when I needed it.

The test went quite well, we had a few little blips where Wizard’s over-enthusiasm got the better of him and he tried a bit too hard and trotted a bit too big, but he does like showing off! Overall, however, the test was good, his walk was more than satisfactory and his canter work was super. Erik was very pleased as, although we had a few little mistakes, there were lovely parts. We were very pleased with a score of 68.18% and third in a very large and very competitive class, and it was more than enough to gain my six points to qualify for the regionals. Job done!"