"With the winter championships out of the way, my attention turned to the outdoor shows and my first premier league, at Keysoe. We left at 6am on Friday morning with two horses and all the equipment for an overnight stay, which I am very pleased to say I had organised the night before!

My first test was a PSG on Wizard (Wurlizer). Despite having had a disappointing winter championships with him, my confidence was quite high as I knew how well he was going, and we had been guinea pigs at a judges seminar earlier in the week and had received very encouraging comments from two of the international judges. I had also been sent a large supply of nupafeed, so I knew that he wouldn’t be too excited and over the top about competing!

I was pleased with his test as his first outdoor test of the season, and thrilled with a score of 69.74%, especially as I felt there was still more to come. We finished third in a very strong class, and the two combinations that beat us both competed in the inter II the following day.

I then had Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) competing in the six year old classes. I was quite pleased with her first test as the test doesn’t suit her and the simple changes were presentable, even though she would much rather just do flying changes! I was disappointed with a low score but that’s dressage! We then did the international test which was by far the hardest test she had ever done and, with her being very in season the day before, I wasn’t sure what would happen in the half passes and flying changes. However, I needn’t have worried as she did everything beautifully and finished third with a score of 7.74, and qualifiying for the final.

On the Saturday, Wizard started with an Inter I. I was pleased with his way of going but the test was riddled with mistakes, I think due to the fact that I had only really been concentrating on the PSG work for the young riders. This kept our mark down but still not bad considering the mistakes. We then did the young rider team test, and I was first in. The test was mistake free but he felt a bit tired and, as a result, his walk got too slow which proved to be very expensive. We scored 68.03% and finished second, but the winner was only two marks in front, so I was a bit cross with myself, but very pleased with him. So, a good weekend for both horses!"