"Several busy weeks with lots of work at home. Training the young horses is keeping me even more busy.

Dressage fun?

I do have got quite a few horses in to produce and sell at the moment so have a look at my website for details. http://www.gemmatattersall.com. It's keeping me busy!

 I also had some dressage lessons with my trainer Andrew Gould. He comes over to me quite often and almost makes dressage fun! I do find the dressage difficult so it is really important for me to have regular training and it certainly benefits the horses too.

Gem is back in action

On Saturday we made the long trip up to Little Downham in Cambridgeshire. It was a long way to go just for an Intermediate run but it was Kings Gem and the trek was worth it as it was a great course and the ground was perfect. This was her first event since our tumble at Badminton and it was fantastic to have her back. She was surprisingly settled in her dressage test and scored a respectable 30.9 followed by a lovely double clear. She felt mega cross country, just a bit cross because I made her go slowly.

Then there was no day off, as it was off to Germany to look at horses where we found some nice ones so hopefully one or two of them might be joining us soon

The highs and lows of horses

As is the case with horses, the following week had its ups and downs. Starting with the good, Chico Bella had an embryo which has been successfully flushed and planted into a recipient mare that has been scanned in foal. She will have another scan in about three weeks so fingers crossed that the result is still positive.

On a not so good note, I have had some bad news about my lovely Intermediate horse Tropique. He has an injury to the back of his knee which means he will probably be off for the rest of the season. It is a massive blow to me, my team and to his lovely owners as he has been coming on so well this season and has become really established at Intermediate level. This is however the unfortunate sort of thing that happens with horses so we need to stay positive and hope he will be back in action to compete early next year.

Rain, rain, rain

At the weekend we headed off to Great Tew. This is an event near Oxford that we had not been to before as it usually clashes with Bramham. We set off with Billy on Air (Pip) and Dinky Inky (Inky) in the Novice and my mum's horse Wolfgang Penelope (Lacey) in the Novice Regional Final to try and earn herself a place in the Novice Championships at Gatcombe.

Rain was forecast and they were not wrong! It did not stop from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. I really felt for the organisers as they had made a huge effort; there was a nice main arena with all of the shops and stands around it which should have made for a great atmosphere but unfortunately was a washout.

The two novice horses were great, producing good dressage tests despite the driving rain, with Pip in particular impressing the judges to score 24.5! Followed up by lovely double clears they both went on to win their sections.

TV Stardom

On Thursday we had a visit from the Horse & Country TV team, which was great fun. We did some filming for some bits for the H&C website (so look out for that) and did a tour of the yard and some other bits and pieces for camera. It was a good day, the rain managed to hold off for most of it and I think all involved were pleased. It is amazing how doing something different from what you are used to can be so tiring. I am normally fairly active but doing the filming and using my brain a lot was exhausting!

Going further a field and Gem finally eats a polo

On Saturday we headed off up to Derbyshire for an event at Catton Park. We weren't competing until the Sunday but it is a very long way so we went up the day before and stabled.

We had Kings Gem (Gem) and Chico Bella (Bella) on board both entered in the Intermediate. After a night stabling with a lovely local couple who could not have been more helpful we headed off bright and early down the road to the event.

This was Gem's second OI run since Badminton and she felt better than ever. She was very good in her dressage and followed this with an outstanding double clear. Her show jumping round was foot perfect and xc was fairly exemplary too. She was quite headstrong across country but this is normal and we managed a nice steady round despite her being quite keen to be inside the time.

Bella was doing only her second outing at Intermediate level so I was thrilled with her dressage score of 27. She was great in the show jumping but was just a bit green through one downhill combination and rolled a pole. The xc was a big track with a lot of questions especially for a young horse so I was absolutely chuffed to bits to come home clear. She was mega and is a really exciting prospect for the future. It was a really good day and I was pleased with both of my girls.

I am very lucky to have such lovely horses, and - stop the press - we have discovered Gem loves sugar free polos! She obviously hated the others as she was watching her weight!”