"Another week and another competition, this time with two horses, Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) and our homebred six year old Headmore Delegate (Delboy), who is by Dimaggio out of a mare by Akut.

With my mum still laid up and my sister at uni, it being a Friday, it was left up to one of our other employees, Andrew, to take me. Also, as Amy had a week off, Andrew turned the horses out for me too. I’m very lucky to have two fantastic grooms, Amy having won groom of the show at HIckstead CDI and Andrew having won groom of the show at Badminton, and they looked fantastic - my mum wouldn’t have complained!

Unfortunately, Andrew didn’t have any idea where he was going, so it was left up to me to direct him literally out of our gate, something that caused me to have a complete mental block and I would have sent him completely the wrong way…oops! Luckily, I realised my mistake and, just to make sure, I sent my mum a text. We did manage to arrive without any wrong turnings, so I was quite proud of myself… even though I’ve been to Berkshire Riding Centre so many times I should be able to navigate with my eyes shut!

We arrived with not much time before I had to get on, so we tacked Bracks up very quickly and I jumped on. She warmed up fairly well and I entered the arena wanting the same feel I had had at Crofton the week before. I didn’t manage that; it was better as she felt much more confident and much happier fitting in all the movements in the short arena, something she used to really struggle with. I was very pleased with a mark of 73.46% and first place, completing her novice qualification in just two outings. We then had the novice music, which I was worried about as it was her first music class and we were using Delboy’s old music, which we had only run through once at home. I needn't have worried as, barring one spook, the test went smoothly and she scored 73.61% for another win, meaning that Bracks is now fully qualified for the winter regionals.

It was then the turn of Delboy in the elementary music, and I was also worried about this as we hadn’t run through it since the Winter Championships. Luckily, Delboy is such a pro that he will just go and get on with it. I was very pleased with his test as he is still fairly new to the double bridle but he felt much more confident in it and he also qualified with a score of 77.08%.

So three tests, and three qualifications, job done!"