“Kenny will be at a 4* soon though as he got his qualification at Blenheim. This is what I have been after for the last year with him. It seems crazy to think he is ready for a 4* but if he didn’t get the result he needed at Blenheim he would have to do another 2* as that had nearly run out! Luckily, the extra miles don’t need to go on his legs now. I was disappointed leaving Blenheim realising that I still can’t get into Badminton as he didn’t finish in the top 25 per cent, but shouldn’t be as it was the qualification we were after and this was achieved. I am hoping to take him to Pau 4* this year, he has only ever done five three day events and has been run carefully, so he shouldn’t be over run. Very exciting, I now have two 4* horses!

Kenny gets used to the crowd

Kenny is getting used to the big atmospheres too now; he was so much more settled. He worked really well before his dressage and I thought we would do a brilliant test, which he is well capable of. Interestingly he became over-round in the arena, something I’ve never had before with him and although the test was nice they naturally marked me down for each movement so we ended up on a 59. Still better than previous tests, so he’s improving. The XC course was lovely. I’ve not been to Blenheim for seven years, since Jasper went in 2003 so I was very excited to be there and ride around the course again. I was surprised how long the course was - just under 11 minutes, which was apparently longer than Burghley!

The hills are still hard work at Blenheim, not as much Bramham but similar in how tiring the course can be. Kenny has so much Thoroughbred in him and I needed it. The course wasn’t massively technical but there were plenty of places to run out or have an annoying 20 penalties, but I knew speed would be very influential. We set off at a good pace, my aim to go as fast as possible but without faults! He has an amazing gallop and it is effortless for him and he made the course feel very straightforward. There were no ‘moments’ anywhere; he is also incredibly scopey, so he’s pure pleasure to ride around the course. We had five time faults, which I felt I got at the end of the course as I so wanted a clear and took one slightly longer route. We moved up from 58th to 27th! I always felt his XC will be his strong point, hence why I really feel he will be a brilliant Burghley horse.

Plenty to work on for Pau

He show jumped well, although the track was not suited to him; there were constant turns back on ourselves like a jump off. When we entered the arena, the crowd were also clapping loudly, and, as he hasn’t show jumped at the big events often, he became quite strong and fought to some of the fences at the end of the course to have two down and some time faults which dropped us to 33rd. I was slightly disappointed but I know this is our weak phase and we have the winter to work on it with plenty of time before Pau.
 

As I’d been away for the last two weeks I had some catching up to do! I also had to take some horses for routine checks at Rossdales and combined this with a visit to Rachel Uptons’ XC course, my old local schooling course. This place is really improving and is a great place for young horses with plenty of types of fences. I schooled the horses competing this week; all were good and I felt it was a very valuable experience for them.

Preparation for Osberton

With our ground being so good at home I can also keep cantering them here rather than taking them to the gallops, which saves me hours. The horses preparing for Osberton are cantered every four days and Jasper is starting to as well in preparation for Pau. I have also been jumping them outdoors and dressaging as we have an arena in the park. I am so fortunate to have all these facilities; coming from a yard with few I am constantly very grateful and haven’t got used to them yet!

We were off to Purston Manor with Red, Imp and Bertie on Thursday. They had given me reasonably early times so we left at 5am to make sure we missed the traffic and had time to walk the courses.  I really like Purston as the ground is always good and the courses are fair and educational. Imp as always performed a brilliant test for a 28, Red and Bert are working progress. Red needs to stretch and take the rein forward and Bertie is a little tense in the arena; he’s not quite up to counter canter and medium trot one after the other yet, although he can do both very well separately! Imp jumped clear in the show jumping but had an annoying stop XC; he was very competent otherwise though, so I was still reasonably pleased. Red jumped a beautiful double clear, he is a lovely horse and I am very lucky to have him – he’s one for the future. Bertie is just brilliant. He was a little keen in the show jumping and had a fence down going downhill, but the XC was faultless. He hasn’t run for a while and I wondered if he maybe spooky, most definitely not! He flew around; he reminds me so much of young Jasper which is very exciting. These two finished just out of the placings, and it was a good day.

Bomber (nearly) wins first event

I had another good day at Munstead on Sunday with Bomber and Brian. When you take a horse to its first event it’s always interesting to see how they get on. Becky has done a wonderful job with Bomber in producing him, as he wasn’t always able to take my ‘pressure’ which he now is. Even so, I only ride him three times a week to keep him relaxed. Every horse is different and needs producing in different ways. He performed a very grown up test for 29.5 in the Open Intro section. He then jumped a good clear round SJ and too XC. He was not sure about leaving the others, but once we got to fence seven he was off. He is a lovely horse, a good jumper and quick too. We finished second, just by 0.2 so he nearly won his first event! The superstar has one more at Pulborough and then a holiday.

Brian too performed a good test for a 30, he will be seriously smart on the flat soon. He warmed up very well for the SJ, but was very cheeky in the arena and ran out at the second jump which felt like slow motion! He had never done that so I was more than a little surprised! I think he is feeling very well and decided to have a little fun! He jumped clear otherwise but we got several time faults. I took him at a pace that suited him XC as I knew we wouldn’t be placed (I was convinced we’d win today originally!) and he was lovely, just two time faults and felt very brave. I was still pleased; if you’ve ever seen Brian you will understand why I couldn’t be anything but - he is adorable!  A good week generally though, a few things to work on but the horses feel in good form.”