"We've just come back from a weekend at Chatsworth where we had another win in the CIC 3* with Jasper. He won by a considerable margin - what a clever boy!

The week is as usual, hectic. I went back Tuesday to Suffolk to drop off the boys, Charlie, Beanie and Bob. They each have their own beautiful field complete with field shelter at my owners' Richard and Sue Cross, who own Bambi. They will have a life of luxury for four weeks until Charlie will be ready to come back and Bob and Beanie are rehomed. I then went to see my best friend who I haven't seen for weeks, had a great evening catching up, hopefully will do it again soon.

One of the reasons to come back was to fix a few things that needed welding on my lorry (Rita) which my father duly did (he makes metal office furniture) so is well equipt for this kind of procedure. This meant I had a few hours to catch up on emails and paperwork; I have still not finished them hours later, so please be patient as I am sometimes rather delayed in replies! Back to Kent and cantered Amber on my return, she's getting much fitter and trimmer, ready for the CIC 2* next weekend. Can't wait.

As I was on early at Chatsworth on Friday, I had decided to stay with my parents as it reduced the journey significantly. This meant Thursday was 'ride as many as possible' day. All went well so not a problem. We left on time too, as scheduled which was a good thing as I can get rather carried away riding sometimes. We had a lovely family dinner with my sister, children etc too and had a civilised start on Friday too.

I schooled Bambi and Ken before making the trip to Chatsworth and it was strange riding in my old arena. I can see why the horses and I were not focused at times, you can see the other horses, the yard, the fields, things in the garden, woods, etc. Too much distraction! Yes sometimes its good for them but I work in my indoor school or the field generally and as we have about 100 sheep in the field now there is plenty of distraction!

It took about three hours to get to Chatsworth, so I still time to school Ken again, and Harry and Jasper. There was an arena set up so I worked them quietly in that. They all felt very relaxed, especially Jasper, we work on no movements, just straightforward stretching and transitions. Works really well for him, he knows all the tricks, so no need to practice.

The ground was perfect, as were the courses. I was very excited about all the horses running, especially Kenny as I felt he was ready for the big challenge. I wanted to use it for a test to see how ready he was for Bramham. Bambi was in the novice and performed a very good test; she needs more counter canter work and rein back but is so relaxed in the arena, very promising. She jumped a double clear, very boldly too, finished eighth in a hot section so I was delighted. I'm sure she will be doing intermediates by the end of the year. I had Harry in the Intermediate Novice. He performed a nearly perfect test but scored a reasonable 32, had one down and jumped a brilliant XC round but I stupidly jumped the wrong 'duck' which was the Advanced one instead. Whoops, we would've been second I think, I don't mind too much except his record looks bad - an unfair reflection on him.

Kenny and Jasper both performed good tests; Kenny will do a seriously smart test, just a little strong still at times. This also comes through in his jumping, we had one down but a good round, XC he was brilliant. All the direct routes and he felt so confident. Chatsworth is a very hilly course so you need to have brakes which we are still working on. Can't wait until Bramham, I also hope it's big as he's feeling very good and I’m wondering where to take him in the autumn.

Jasper was a superstar. He is so calm and relaxed and back to his best, usual self. He jumped a perfect clear round SJ and XC. He was so calm before the start of the XC I just wandered through the box and cantered off. I was never pressing too hard for the time but we were only a few seconds over, I know where we lost time too so this is exciting as I’m not far off being inside the time! As I said he won by a considerable margin too, just showing there are some very good results still yet to come. I have learnt so much these last two years about producing horses, I feel we are back to our strong and brilliant partnership again."