“We have had the most exceptional week of rain that I can remember having for a very long time. I left on Tuesday lunchtime for Osberton after working all the horses that were to be left behind. On the lorry we had Bertie doing the six-year-old championship, Amber doing the 2*, Harry doing the seven-year-old championship and Chataigne Filice (Red) doing the 1*.

Unregulated warm ups

I was looking forward to this week as I have some lovely young horses and I thought they could be quite competitive. When we arrived the weather was dry and quite cold, this was soon about to change! Wednesday lunchtime the heavens opened and we had torrential rain for about five hours and I'm not quite sure why but competitors were allowed to work their horses in the final dressage warm up area during the rain. The result was there were very few places to work and the worst being the final warm up area just before your test. I appreciate they were lacking space but with so many entries I think next year they may need to think about regulating warm up areas.

Error of course

Luckily Thursday was a glorious day, the sun shone and the weather was quite warm and it all started to dry out - including my clothes from the previous day! Amber was the first to do her dressage; she started her test beautifully but I made an uncharacteristic error and forgot my halt and rein back - the first time I have forgotten my test at a three day - this broke the rhythm of the test slightly, and we ended up scoring 52.8, but I knew it should've been more of a 46/47 which would of put me more in contention. Bertie performed his six-year-old test in the afternoon; he is a little green still at this level and this was his first test in sitting trot and in a long arena. He couldn't have tried harder, he has such a good attitude; he scored some really good marks, just losing marks for his lack of strength and self carriage in some of the movements. He scored a very respectable 51.2.

Weather warning for Red

There was another weather warning for Friday, it was dull until eleven and then horrendous wind and rain. Red was on at 9 o’clock in the morning so conditions still weren't too bad. He warmed up really well and tried hard in his test he just needs to relax more and a winter of dressage to train and perfect things. He scored 57.7 but I was pleased with him as I know he is one for the future. Harry had the worst of the conditions, by now the dressage arena was very muddy and deep. The flags around the outside were flapping and making a lot of noise, but this didn't seem to faze him too much. He was slightly tense in the test but generally did a very nice test with a couple of small mistakes. I was pleased with him, he scored a 49.9 and I thought for a young horse he coped incredibly well with the conditions, I was aiming for a 45 but this really wasn't possible in view of the weather.

Rain, rain, rain

It rained and it rained! I thought that it might be cancelled but it seemed to carry on. I think anywhere else would have been cancelled but Osberton has sandy soil. Saturday did dry out a bit. The courses were fairly saturated and on Friday night’s walk, I decided I would like to run but I would make my final decision when I could see how it was riding in the morning. Both courses I thought were straight forward and good first timers but reasonably long. The only fence that looked like it might cause some trouble was a coffin but this was probably the most difficult fence on the course.

The sun was shining Saturday, the ground was still very wet, but I ran Red who was brilliant but a little strong. The fences were quite small for him so he didn't back off. I will try a different bit next time! He must be a very fast horse as I didn't feel I ever had to push him and I was very careful through the woods as they were bottomless and he only came back with 2.4 time faults. I show jumped Bertie but warmed up in what only can be described as a ploughed field so I tried not to jump too many fences and save him for the ring. He jumped a brilliant clear and moved up quite a few places.

Disappointing ground management

I went out to inspect the 2* course and was very disappointed that they hadn't moved the string over, where possible, to fresh ground. It was very heavy ground for at least three to four minutes of the course and I decided it was too bigger risk to run my potential champions. I believe I made the right decision; the horses were coming back tired even though they had taken a minute off the course. I was bitterly disappointed though because not only did it cost a lot to get there, I also needed Amber's 2* qualification. My mind was soon taken off Osberton though as we watched the WEG XC in Ruth Edge's lorry. It looked very big and long but it has to be said the British horses and riders were in a class of their own. I can't help hoping that one of my up and coming horses will develop into a team horse.

Waterpoofs for trot up

We woke up on Sunday morning to some more torrential rain! We had heard on the forecast it was going to be bad but I couldn't believe how bad it was. I have never had to wear full waterproofs to trot up in until now! I walked the 1* show jumping and thought the ground had held up quite well but I was proved wrong; it was absolutely revolting and I had to hunt Red round. He jumped an amazing clear round which unbelievably pulled me up 42 places to 22nd. I really felt for the amateur riders trying to get their qualifications. For many, the week resulted in not getting their qualification with too many fences down. I had already made the decision I wasn't running Bertie but luckily we riders voted that we should cancel the event and get a full refund, which was some consolation. We waited for a tow to get out the lorry park which was absolutely destroyed. I must admit we were happy to see the back of Osberton and make our way to collect two four-year-olds owned by Joanna Wiggins that I am having for a month to access. Let's hope for everybody's sake the rain ceases soon! And a massive congratulations to team GB for their great success again.”