“Now that I am on a mission to get all of my young horses qualified, we took Bjorn (Headmore Bjorndajoke) and Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) to Wellington on Monday 7 to try and get some more points.

Bjorn was doing his first proper affiliated elementary test and, thankfully, it was a nice easy one in a long arena! He was beautifully behaved in the warm up and I was very pleased with how he was going as we entered the arena. He backed off me a little as he had never seen anything like it before but he trusted me when I said it was alright and didn’t lose his expression and forwardness. There were a couple of big baby mistakes in the test, one of them because he had to do a canter transition towards a load of squawking birds which, understandably, was very scary! However, he stayed with me throughout the test and we finished on a score of 68% to win, so I was very pleased with that especially as he had mistakes!

A little too expressive

Bracks then did a medium test and I knew that she only needed a few more points to complete her qualification so I was hoping that we might get it done. She was a bit hot in the warm up but she settled by the time we went down for the test. Her way of going was super and she was almost a bit too expressive in the trot (which the judge did comment on!) but that isn’t a bad thing as I will need it one day! There were a few little bits in the test that could be improved on but overall I was very pleased with her as it was much better than it had been at Quob the week before. We scored 71.47% and won, thus completing her qualification. She will now go out and start competing at advanced medium so watch this space.

Squad training

Then, on Sunday, I had my final regional foundation squad training of the two year cycle. I took Zué, the Lusitano stallion, as he is doing his first proper competition this weekend so I thought it would be good for him to have an outing first. He was very well behaved and went well in my lesson with Jill and she was impressed with how much he has improved over the winter, particularly his trot. I had a super lesson but unfortunately it will be my last with Jill as she is now stepping down as our trainer. I then had my review with Tasha and we were pleased with my progress and I am now really looking forward to the new season and will hopefully be back on the programme again. I then had a session on the simulator with Michelle and I am now really getting the hang of it. Michelle was really testing me and I had to mix up my half halts with complete transitions which was really testing me, especially as I had only just got the hang of half halts! However, I did manage it in the end, but it was really hard work! I am hoping to go back and have more lessons on the simulator in future even though we don’t have any more squad sessions.”