“Although I haven’t competed since Sparsholt with Bracken (Headmore Boadicia) a couple of weeks ago, I have still been kept fairly busy doing various other things.

A win for Roxy, a zapping for Gayle

Roxy (Headmore Roxanne) has been out a couple more times with Gayle. After her rather over the top first outing at Sparsholt the week before, we thought it would be best if we took her out again as soon as possible. So, we took her to Fair Oak Grange on Friday 26 August, for another prelim qualifier. Roxy was much more confident than at Sparsholt as she was starting to get the hang of going to parties a bit more. She looked super in the warm up and the test was much better, the transitions were super and it was very rhythmical. She scored just shy of 69%, which was good enough to win and half qualify her for the winters. Gayle then decided that she wanted to pick some blackberries before we left, but unfortunately for her the electric fence was on, so she got a couple of zaps!

We then took her to Crofton on the Tuesday for a prelim and her first novice. Crofton is a good venue for young horses to gain experience at as it is very spooky and most horses are a bit ‘looky’ first time they go. Roxy was no exception! She warmed up well but was spooky in both tests, which was a shame as the good bits were really good. This unfortunately kept her score down but it was good experience for her nonetheless.

A celebration for Charlotte

In between Roxy’s two outings, we had a very busy three days, Charlotte Dujardin came down to hold a clinic on the Saturday and Sunday, fresh from her and team GB’s success at the European Championships. As you can imagine her clinic was jam packed, also Amy (my best friend) and I had organised a surprise party for her on the Saturday night - everyone had clubbed together to buy her a present. I had been panicking all week about whether or not we would be able to keep it a secret and whether or not Char would like the party and her present.  Thankfully, it went better than Amy and I could imagine, Char had no idea, she loved her present and everyone had a fantastic time, job well done I think.

Wiz and I give back to the PC

Following this busy weekend, on Monday, it was my local pony club’s 80^th anniversary celebration and I had been asked to do a dressage demo. I took Wiz (Wurlizer) as I thought I would be able to show everyone all the movements a Grand Prix dressage horse would have to do. I was very nervous as I had to talk and ride at the same time, two things that I can do in abundance when I do them separately, but two things I had never really had to do seriously together. However, the demo went well, everyone enjoyed it and all the kids came up to stroke Wiz, which he absolutely loved. I also really enjoyed it and it was nice to be able to give back to the pony club as Wiz and I started together in the pony club all those years ago!”