The summer qualifying season is drawing to a close slightly quicker than normal - due to the Olympics it is finishing two weeks early - so we took a couple of novice horses to Crofton to try and get some more points for their regional qualification. Future (Future’s Agessi) with Malene managed to get plenty more points towards their qualification with two good scores including a win, while Doris (Headmore Daydreamer) with Gayle were only on their first novice outing but still managed a first and a second place with two good scores, getting them well on their way to gaining their qualification.

We also had a couple more trips out trying to get the Novice qualifications. The first was a trip to Fair Oak Grange. It proved to be a rather frustrating day as the judges were very low scoring, but Doris still managed another win and a few more points towards her qualification. The other was at Quob in the glorious sunshine while we were all enjoying the hot weather. This was also a first outing for one of our liveries who hadn’t competed for 15 years! She and her horse Cyril (Ulsterman) did a fantastic job on their first outing and should be well away now they have got their first show out of the way.

Malene and Future also had a good show, winning the first class and finishing third in the second class with two good scores, thus completing her first ever qualification for the regionals. Gayle and Doris also had a fantastic show with a wonderful Novice test to win with nearly 72%, meaning that she now only needs one more point to complete their qualification for the regionals. We are very nearly there with the young horses!

Unfortunately, I am not that organised getting my advanced horses qualified as I had to miss Somerford Park premier league, having already missed the other premier leagues of the season. I don’t seem to be having much luck  with the premier leagues so there will be quite a lot of pressure on in June, but fingers crossed it all goes well.

It has also been quite full on at the yard as we have been trying to get organised with the four mares that are being used for embryo transfer this year. We were hoping to try and synchronise all of the mares and bring them all into season at the same time, but unfortunately they didn’t quite play ball and the only horse who was spot on with the timing was Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) who has been put to Florencio, so fingers crossed there is an embryo when she is flushed out later this week. Doris was also inseminated this week by De Niro and let’s hope that she also has an embryo when she is flushed next week. That just leaves two mares left to cover, Donna (Headmore Donato) who is owned by Nicky Twiddy, and Gayle’s show jumper Dolly, fingers crossed that we manage to catch them next time.

I had a day away from dressage as well... at the polo! I went with a friend of mine, Kerri, who is a polo groom, to watch a charity match with the best of British under 25 in which Nick, who Kerri works for, was playing. The weather was gorgeous and Kerri and I spent the morning bathing the ponies for the match. It was a very exciting game watching some of the best young British players and I really enjoyed a day off the yard doing something a bit different.