“At last, we have had some rain which is starting to make a difference to the ground. The grass is beginning to grow and the sting is out of the ground (a bit) but definitely heading in the right direction. I am very spoilt now with my indoor schools and on Tuesday I was incredibly grateful for cover as it poured for half the day! I must admit I do hate riding in the rain now, whereas the previous years I coped fine with wet days. I think I’m beginning to get a little bit precious!

I rode the horses here that had been left behind from Gatcombe. I school them on the Monday, partly because I’m usually quite tired on a Monday and partly because they are always a little fresh after I’ve been away as I use these days for days off, lunging, etc. The really hard work is generally when I’m here. I jumped them Tuesday in the brilliant dry indoor school. I rode the young horses, Bomber, who is improving each time, as Phoenix and Nelson are too. Brian jumped well (he is just ticking over having a slight holiday until he's sold - I’m amazed he's not gone yet), Imp was unbelievably good, I’m so impressed how much he enjoys it rather than feeling slightly stressed about it. I'm still taking it slowly though as I believe this year is about building his foundations rather than pushing him. We jumped Katie’s horse, Tiggy too as they both are on work experience. He is rather nice and I was suitably impressed.

Is Phoenix ready for an event?

I was leaving for Hartpury at 2.30pm so we went to Lodge Farm quickly with four to practise some XC as the rain had taken a little of the sting out the ground. Nelson was good, still green but getting less so. There were horses everywhere galloping around and he was perfectly behaved! Bomber was also good, he is nearly ready for an event and Tiggy also came to practise water and drops as he can be a little exuberant into/off them. There are lots of good drops to practise down here so this was perfect. I schooled Phoenix for the first time, he was quite spooky to start but quickly settled and I was delighted with him by the end. Hopefully we shall enter him somewhere soon.

Amazing facilities at Hartpury

So we left for Hartpury at around 3pm, by the time I had schooled Kenny and Amber. I hadn't been there for years, I think 10 years! I had the two, Ken and Amber in the CIC 3*. I decided I wasn't running Jasper until Highclere so as Amber was qualified, I substituted her in his place. We arrived slightly early so we could work the horses with plenty of time before the dressage as it was going to be a rather hot competition with it being a few countries final selection trial!

The only areas to school were in the indoor schools which are a good size but absolutely full of people practising before their tests. There were approximately 100 and something in the 1*, 40 in the 2*, and 150 in the two 3* sections so the schools were rather busy! This didn't help me settle the horses but they did get used to it. It wasn't as though you could go in there early and work on your own, as the dressage started at 8am each morning so they were never empty!

The facilities however are amazing. The big indoor school is something else. Luckily we had 'familiarisation' so they can get slightly used to it. Amber was in the top section, which was for a car so all the best combinations were in this. Anna Ross Davies arrived to help me warm up again which was brilliant. I really believe it can be the difference between a good test and a very good test. Just simple tweaks and corrections make a massive difference. She performed a good test as she is so green at that level and her changes are not established yet but achieved a 59. I was happy with this as the marks would also have been harder to earn - so many good tests had gone before. Kenny was outside in the other section and performed a very calm test. He has improved so much the last few weeks. His changes weren't brilliant as they were on a half 20 metre circle from counter canter and he likes to change so I kept it a little underpowered, but generally it was good. He scored 51, which is a personal best for him so far! I was disappointed to see tests not as good as his and score better marks than him, but this is often the case unfortunately.

A triple course walk

The show jumping didn't start until 2.30pm the next day so I had plenty of time to walk the XC course again for the 3 *. I had so much time I walked it three times, which is unheard of for a CIC! The first few made it look quite straight forward which disappointed me as the fences were on the smaller side. The time was reasonably tight (I did manage to get the odd time fault however) and I think generally there were too many clears. It does make it more of a competition when the show jumping causes significant trouble! Amber had the first down for some bizarre reason, it was quite small and I think she wasn't concentrating, then jumped superbly. Kenny jumped a great round until the treble and had three down, which was disappointing so I'll keep working on this phase.

Amber: a star in the making

The XC again didn't start until later. We were so lucky to have had serious rain on Friday night. It made it soft Saturday, but perfect Sunday and actually if it had been a day later the ground would've been hard again. On walking the course, I could see there were a few fences likely to cause problems, mainly the two corners up a rise and slightly offset on a long three strides and then a few other combinations like the water - which was a straight forward double into it but was very dark and shadowy. I thought the course was a good first time 3*, hence I ran Amber. She was superb, she was foot perfect everywhere except the corners where I should've had more power up the rise as she jumped so big over the first that I landed too steeply and got there on three and a half and she didn't run out - she just couldn't make it. I was still delighted as this was the biggest test so far and she breezed it. Kenny went very well, he jumped well into the water that had caused a few nasty falls and the corners too; he finished well but sadly out of the money and much needed FEI points. It was a successful trip though; a good run for Kenny XC and much better test and Amber is proving to be all I’d hoped. I think she will be a serious horse for next year.”