A late entry was put in for Breckenbrough (now one of our local events) as I thought I was working all weekend only for the boss to randomly give me a full Saturday off ! !
Luckily it was the same test as Draycott and decided to up the Optimax by 2 spoonfuls 2 days before to see if that was our ‘magic number’ We knew it would be case of trial and error until we find the right level of calm/ energy and it appears after our test we’re still trying to discover it…..
Not a great test far too fast- I’m finally getting after him/ asking him to do a bit more but not really working him/ still babying him but as you can see in the video he does have a quirky streak so I hope you can see why I’m like that (ticking bomb syndrome) but managed a 39

Our show jumping round wasn't great so I was rather happy with just the one pole on a rather hilly course.

So onto XC and after our Draycott issues with steps (freak out/ hesitation cost us a placing ) I was rather worried about fence 4 being 2 steps which for some reason appeared to be causing carnage from the commentary. Rest of course fine black flags for corner at 11 and trakena at 16 but knew if we got to those with out any issues we wouldn’t need them as he is a horse that gets better with confidence.
And all I can say is he was a different horse followed Jamies advice to SJ and get at him early and it worked

Must say a big thank you to the commentary team for mentioning my supporters numerous times during the XC (must say it helped that there was only 2 of us on course) but still really appreciated along with all the friendly helpers/ volunteers!

So a clear inside the time with no dramas left us on 43 and a happier mummy who just needs to sort the dosage out before our next test!

Firstly apologies for the lack of videos and pictures especially when referring to the part about our first event at Draycott but sadly the photographer has not published any pictures yet.

So our second attempt at Jump Training went much better than the first! In fact our first attempt was so bad that the organiser remembered us!

But in the BE80 we got a style mark of 30.5 with just a pole down in each round to finish a respectable 11th.

In the 90 Harley appeared to jump much better and respect the jumps and didn’t seem phased at all by the spooky fillers that were put in place. In his first round he just touched one pole but by the second round he felt a little tired and had the last two down but over all I was extremely proud of him.

Here’s a video from the first round of the BE90

So on Wednesday we went to Draycott in Derbyshire a 3 hour drive which o be fair is quite normal for us. The sun was out shining and made for a lovely day. We walked the course before Dressage, however, that didn’t go without drama when a young lady fell off in front of us. Luckily the horse stood still despite her Point Two air jacket going off and after she caught her breath she took her jacked off and managed to get back on. I however had to do a detour to the secretaries tent before finishing the course!

Well Harley was extremely excited to be at a party on grass and showed it straight away via doing a rodeo show when coming off the horse box ramp! So memo to self up the EquiFeast Optimax even more before our next event!

He was still quite excited in the warm up and through the test. To be honest I thought he was too tense and was rather disappointed but it must have looked better than it felt and we were awarded 36 to put us right in the mix!

The show jump warm up was manic to say the least so luckily I held off tacking up until they were asking for the last few to turn up. Again drama found us though when the girl before me fell off in the ring and her horse escaped the arena after jumping the judges car! Luckily though Harley got over the excitement and just touched one pole for 4 faults- believe me not bad for him!

So onto the cross country…. Following our lesson with Mr Atkinson I donned some spurs and remembered I had a whip! We set off very well with no issues until fence 5- two steps on a curve heading towards a pond. When I walked the course I knew this was going to be our ‘issue’ fence out of the whole course as it was quite early on and Harley has had a tendancy of scaring himself via jumping all the steps in one go before. Sadly I was right and he hesitated with a shuffle/ step back so we gained 20 penalties. The reset for the course though he made feel extremely easy which I was over the mood with and I can forgive a baby moment. I knew after that moment there was no point in putting our foot down so expected time faults.

Draycott were very late doing results we stayed as long as we could but knowing we had another 3 hours until home left. So imagine my shock when looking at the results that we gained 40 penalties XC- no idea where/ how I could have gained this. I’ve contacted BE who are looking into it but unfortunately the way BE is you have to question these results at the event so its probably not going to change despite it not affecting the results!

On the positive my horse is unaware of this issue and I know its not the case so thinking positive on the run up to Eden we have asked to be moved from the BE80 to the BE90 class!

We also had a lovely visit from Equibright yesterday and I'm very excited about things to come so watch this space!

And to brighten this blog a pretty picture of us with our www.thehorsewardrobe.co.uk sponsored saddle cloth after show jumping at Draycott and I'm wearing my www.horseyhoodies.co.uk jods too!

Please click on the picture to read my latest blog for Horse Junkies United (www.horsejunkiesunited.com) and take the time to view the websites of  Horse Junkies United Sponsors: Ecogold, Charles Owen, Smartpak and Five Star Tack.