Now I’d really appreciate if you’d take the time to watch the videos and share some advice on what I should do as I’m not sure at the moment.

Basically we tootled off to Bishop Burton for the Jump Training today. Now We’ve taken H there 3 times before and every time we have been eliminated due to accumulating stops. Basically he appears to stop at a fence 1st time and jump it second time. So we were hoping 4th time lucky.

Sadly though 4th time didn’t appear to be lucky and the same fate happened in the 80:

Due to this being jump Training they allowed us to do the second round, and although slightly hesitant he jumped round like this:

The course changed for the 90 so I was again slightly hesitant but he appeared to jump round more positively bar a bit of pole bashing!

There’s a few more videos on my you tube account from today too

Now my dilema is should I keep entering events at Bishop Burton in their indoor? He defiantly seems to go 10 steps back from what he’s been doing at other venues/ courses. Don’t get me wrong he can and does stop but not like he did in the 80’s 1st round it just seems every time we go to jump in the new indoor at Bishop he goes like jelly/ back to being a total novice. But at the same time we sort of reached a Bishop Burton milestone by finally getting round a course in there indoor today.

The only thing we can think of is that this arena is probably 100% lighter than any other indoor he’s ever been in . He warmed up extremely well (didn’t freak out like normal- cow shed and all!) - Sue the BE trainer couldn’t believe we got eliminated and herself and Gary were in fact very complementary about him

Yes he is weak/ under developed still- If anyone has any miracle cures/ suggestions please let me know as he has improved but he just seems to take forever to develop just the tiniest amount of muscle/ topline but he’s been jumping bigger and scarier course than total with less freak outs/ pole bashing.

I know if I can get the canter working and his rear engine more engaged that will help a lot but should I just avoid Bishop Burton for now and reattempt it next year? Our only issue with this is that Bishop appears to be British Eventings preference for Local events now and alternatives are 3hours + so I do need to use but at the same time its not particularly local enough to travel to and from just to be eliminated

So just wondering what you would do? I’m scared if I push him we’ll go 200steps back - he’s really more mareish than my mares in his sensitivity but at the same time he is my baby I’ve been told to stop babying him before as he’s more than capable.

Arrrgghhhhh - sending myself my own kick up the ar$e as just read that and sound really whingey but really its more of serious bout of self doubt so any help from any one would be really appreciated!

The Horse wardrobe has two amazing Madison Schockemohle coats which are listed on their eBay store this week!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/thehorsewardrobeuk/m.html?hash=item41629098ac&item=280826517676&pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Equestrian_Clothing_MJ&_trksid=p4340.l2562
With a starting bid of just 99 pence your guaranteed an absolute bargin as these jackets were originally £139!!!
They need to go to make room for new stock so get bidding!!!
Speaking of new stock some of the new Spring/ Summer 2012 Schockemohle range has already landed at www.thehorsewardrobe.co.uk More stock will be uploaded soon including some lovely jackets and T-shirts but currently I'm rather loving the Jump Guard Set pictured below in Tobacco although the Stone is equally as nice!
And the best news is that they are only £39 for a complete set!

Horsey Hoodies have some great new designs uploaded on to their website which you can now purchase.
One of my personal favourites at the moment is the PONY Heart Hoodie as pictured below and remember you have the option of choosing different coloured hoodies too! There's plenty of other great designs online too so check out www.horseyhoodies.co.uk and pick your fave this week!

Well its official! We must be mad to sleep in the horse box when its like the above outside! But it was all worth while to gain such great training thanks to EHOA. We had two days worth of training with Kenneth Clawson and JP Sheffield, thanks to the EHOA award winners camp. Kenneth as always was a great host and I came away with plenty of exercises to work on at home (lots to help us gain a lower head carriage) which I’m sure will benefit us throughout the season. It was the first time I’ve ever met JP but I can clearly see why he’s well recommended and we will continue to work Harley that 10% extra as discussed so hopefully he will start to strengthen as currently he's very weak, although much stronger than he was this time last year!

Here’s a few videos from our training (there’s still another 20 to view so be prepared for more including our Lauren Shannon Lesson - so look out for that report!) By no means are we perfect! We had our "issues" - basically pony having a paddy and going very green! But hopefully we will get there with more sweat, tears and tantrums.....it just might take us a few years!

It was lovely to meet fellow EHOA 2011 training award winners especially Tor and the fab Tommy (www.torheardeventing.co.uk). It was also lovely to meet Shearwater Scholar Clare Stringer (www.teambsfeventing.co.uk).

I’d also like to thank Shearwater Insurance for providing a lovely body warmer and rug in conjunction with our EHOA training prize, they will proudly be worn in the future!

We managed to secure a late entry for Prelim 14 at a unaffiliated riding club event, and were given a time of 5.01pm. We left our yard after checking with the organiser at 3.15pm….. started our journey in lovely conditions only to get half way and hit this only 1minute from the A1:

However, things seemed to improve the closer we got to the venue to the point where there was virtually no evidence of snow. Not only there was no evidence of snow but there was also no evidence of any other competitors, an organiser or even any dressage boards!

They’d given up for some reason and never told us so we managed a quick U turn and returned home. Only to find 5 minutes away from home resembling a Siberian snow storm! It was that bad Harley was very reluctant to walk off the ramp! Once in his stable he didn’t even want to look outside despite him still looking pretty in plaits and wearing his lovely KM Elite Head collar in Purple!

If you love his head collar you should take advantage of www.thehorsewardrobe.co.uk ‘s current offer of free UK postage on all items, so you could even buy yourself a nice new coat like this: http://www.thehorsewardrobe.co.uk/schockemohle-sports-madison-unisex-jacket---now-reduced-10895-p.asp to keep you warm whilst the temperatures are low (nothing worse than being cold at an Equestrian Centre or Yard!)

So fingers crossed we don’t get hit too bad over night and the temperatures start to rise as from Wednesday we will be spending two nights in the lorry due to attending the EHOA Award Winners Camp!