“With the Internationals at Hartpury and Hickstead looming, we took both boys to Hickstead Premier League for a last run through and hopefully a confidence building outing. We arrived at Hickstead in the middle of an absolute downpour, so we were greeted with lots and lots of mud, but luckily we were parked right out the back of the lorry park where there was no mud!

Del (Headmore Delegate) was on first in the Inter I on Thursday and he warmed up well, especially considering we got a little bit damp! I was quite pleased with the test; he was just a bit nervous in the Hickstead International arena which led to a few wobbles here and there. We still scored 69.74% and finished a close second, so it wasn’t bad for his first test at Hickstead.

A day to ourselves

The only test I had on Friday was with Del in the Inter I again, but I wasn’t on until 7.56 in the evening, last in, so we had all day to ourselves. I rode both boys in the morning and then Mum and I walked over to the show jumping part to do a bit of shopping. It was lucky that Del had won some money! We also watched a good friend of ours, Sam Roberts, in the showing for some time as well. When we eventually started to get ready, we did manage to ‘wake up’ and switch on for the test. He felt much more confident than on the previous day, we just had a slight mistake in the 3’s but the overall test felt a different league to the day before. We scored 69.56% and won the class, meaning that Del is now completely qualified for the Nationals, so he won’t have to go to the regionals.

Wellies are the in look

We then had a lovely evening with friends and a rather large amount of wine was consumed (not by me I hasten to add!) before we had more rain on Friday night so everywhere that had dried up got all wet and sticky again. Wellies were definitely the ‘in’ look at Hickstead! Del was on first in the Inter I on Saturday, I had decided to run him in it as it was in a different arena. He warmed up phenomenally, he was really confident having been there for a few days. Unfortunately, as I went into the other arena he backed off me a bit as it was a different arena, which led to quite a few mistakes. We still scored just below 67% to finish ninth, so all in all it was a very good week for Del. Wiz (Wurlizer) was then on in the Grand Prix and my sole aim was to get him round the test confidently as we had been having a bit of a blip. He was really enjoying himself and was very excited to be out at a party again! I was pleased with the test as he was really taking me and he seemed happy and confident throughout. We had loads of mistakes, which kept the score down, but they were only through him being over enthusiastic and offering too much, so I wasn’t worried about them. A lot of people also said to me that they thought my score was a bit harsh, but I wasn’t bothered as I was pleased with how he had gone and thrilled that he had felt so willing throughout the whole test, job done!     

So, all in all, it was a very successful week at Hickstead and we can now look forward to Hartpury and Hickstead Internationals!”