“As we had decided not to go to the winter regionals, it meant that I was able to go to my regional foundation squad training on Sunday 20 February. I decided to take our homebred rising six-year-old 17.3hh by Björsells Briar, Headmore Björndajoke (Björn), and no, I didn’t come up with the name!

A sizeable bath

Before I took him, I had to give him a bath which, ordinarily, would not be an issue but, due to his size it takes rather a long amount of time! Thankfully, I had my strawberry flavoured Clean Round shampoo, which is my personal favourite, to make it more enjoyable and, fortunately, I managed to get more water on Björn than on me!

Seasoned professional

He hadn’t been out to a party since May last year but he walked straight up the ramp of the lorry like a seasoned professional. I had my lesson with Jill Day, my trainer, first - once everyone had got over his size! He was, understandably, a little tense to start with but he settled and by the end of the lesson was going really well. Jill thought he was a lovely horse with a lot of power and movement but also said that he is too big for me! He is about the only horse I have ever sat on which makes me look small, which is a real shame as I think he is incredibly talented, possibly the best horse I have ridden!

Mechanical moments

After my lesson I had a session on the mechanical horse with Michelle. I think I may have finally learnt how to ride it... I could half halt it in trot and canter and could get my transitions within the paces as well, I now feel I could ride it round a dressage test without stopping dead in every corner as my half halt was too strong!

To finish the day Jill gave us a talk on what it takes to become a top class athlete such as what attributes you need. Her aim was to make us think about our future and what we want to do once we have finished competing, which is something that I hadn’t put a lot of thought into as all I have ever wanted to do is dressage! It certainly got me thinking and it made me even more determined to succeed.”