"On Monday I took Jasper (Tankers Town) and Bruno (Ultimate Opposition) out on a hack first thing – it was actually warm and sunny for once. I then took Ken (Kenny), Romeo (Romeo Z), Amber (Red Amber), Tweedy (Silbato), Imp (Impulsive) and Beanie (Breeze IV) cross country schooling. The ground was almost on the firm side – just shows the regional variations.

I wonder if a calendar reschedule is needed as we seem to have had the same pattern over the last two years: very dry then very wet and East Anglia is generally drier now than the west and Midlands, yet all the events are that way now! Let’s hope the rain stops and the events aren't waterlogged. Beanie schooled well – he just needs a 'confidence school' every now and again. Amber was awesome and very brave, and Romeo needed to school as he's fitter than he’s ever been now and feeling very cheeky!

On Tuesday I had a long chat with my farrier, Martin Beadle, about how to help a horse with conformation faults; I think it's very important for a farrier and rider to be able to discuss things and the difference a good farrier makes is unbelievable. After our chat, I left for Keysoe for four lessons with Anna Ross Davies. She was brilliant; she worked me hard on my position and with the horses on their medium trots, how to present them, outlines for the tests and ways to make them more supple. I will definitely book more and I felt we all benefitted – Kenny (Kenny) was particularly good and he doesn't suit many trainers as he tends to get quite stressed easily, so the fact that he was incredibly relaxed was fantastic. We were back at 8pm; I was fairly exhausted, but really pleased as it had been a very productive day.

The following day I was up early to leave for Towerlands with six horses: Brian (Opposition Express), Imp (Impulsive), Tweedy (Silbato), Ken (Kenny), Amber (Red Amber) and Romeo (Romeo Z). Brian jumped in the British Novice and just had one down in the jump off, so I was very pleased. Tweedy was brilliant: two double clears – fourth in the Discovery and seventh in the Newcomers. He is jumping himself out of the lower classes at present and always come back with money! Imp had one down in the Newcomers jump off and clear in the 1m15 with a very stylish job. Romeo was fourth in the Newcomers and third in the 1m15 and didn't touch a pole! Amber – double clear in the Newcomers and Foxhunter (she's back to form!) and Ken just had one down in the Foxhunters. A very good day – they really are jumping well.

We left for Gatcombe at 7.30am on Friday with Ken headed for Advanced and Romeo the Novice. I always struggle with how to get there – I tried another route this time and made it in three hours and 45 minutes. Result - It can take me up to five hours! The weather was good – I could see it had been raining a lot recently but it was drying out fast.

I worked Romeo twice as he was very lively – he likes the grown up competitions. He performed a very good, respectable test for 32, as good as can be expected for now; he needs to be stronger and develop better self carriage for the higher marks (ditto for Kenny). Ken performed a good test in the Advanced, there were a few mistakes; his changes need work but we scored a very respectable 37, which was quite competitive. I walked the course with some Gold Medal club members; the day was glorious and so were the courses. Good for each respective level. I thought the courses would be good steps up for both Romeo and Kenny and the water was nice for Ken – decent but kind. Happy with the courses, I slept soundly that night.

On Saturday I was woken up quite early by the sound of lorries coming in and people already walking to the show jumping. They started at 7.30am to fit in the vast number of entries. I had quite civilised times for once! Kenny jumped a lovely round, the ground was a little sticky and the course full up to height; sadly he just touched one and it came down. The same was the case for Romeo who jumped a cracking round – very grown up as, once again, it was a large track. They were both reasonably competitive still. The Advanced XC was causing carnage – as always! A double of big corners on four strides was particularly testing and some short steps to a skinny also posed questions. I must admit when the three competitors who came back from the XC had all retired, I did wonder if it was a good course for Ken as this was only his third Advanced. I decided I'd see how he felt as we went around.

He was fantastic. I just hacked him around without pressure to give him a good, confidence building run. He jumped clear and in copybook style for most of it – he was also brilliant through the waters. I am so pleased as there has been a huge amount of hard work put into him and it's really paying off. I am excited about next year already! I had a couple of hours free before it was Romeo’s turn. I wasn't sure what to expect as it was bigger and longer than he'd jumped. Nevertheless he too was awesome. He never hesitated and flew around with only five time faults. In a class of 100 there were only eight inside the time, so this was very pleasing – I think his gallop will improve and he recovered reasonably quickly too. Kenny was 12th and Romeo a respectable 23rd out of 100 – it was all very tight with a few marks between 50 places! We enjoyed the sunshine in the bowl and watched the last few go; the setting is tremendous, so beautiful and we were very lucky with the weather too. I went to the party in the evening and had a good time, sadly there was no music but this was probably a good thing, as I would have stayed up far too late!

Sunday was a sort of day off as I was not competing. I watched a few tests in the CIC 3*/Open and enjoyed that as there’s not usually time to watch others. We left for home at 11am and only took three and a half hours on the way back – even better! I unpacked the lorry, caught up on paperwork and enjoyed a BBQ for dinner in glorious sunshine – yay!"

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