2010 National Champs

Right. Once again I am left to apologise for the wait for posts. I’m not quite sure what happens to my time, all I know is that it disappears into some great void never to be seen again. So now I’m forced to plumb the recesses of my memory and write about our National Champs that happened way back on the 5th – 7th of March in Taupo.

I often say to my students that a successful competition is less about the scores and more about achieving the goals you have set for yourself and for me, National Champs was an excellent example of exactly this. On paper the results from Nationals aren’t that impressive however I still came away from the show with a smile on my face.

For Da Vinci, the show was about just one thing - giving him a happy experience in that atmosphere - and he didn't put a foot wrong all weekend. From the outside we’d had an interesting season with him but every show and every class were chosen for a reason. We have the end goal in mind for this horse – to produce an internationally competitive Grand Prix ride. I’ve withdrawn him from classes when the conditions aren’t great and I’ve laughed and taken the pressure off instead of riding for a score when he has shown he’s not happy in the ring. I knew coming into the YDH class that he was unlikely to do well. Despite being of obvious presence and with incredible movement I have chosen to allow him to develop naturally and maintain his natural expression rather than force a frame or demand absolute submission at his age and stage. My trainer Bill Noble often talks about the stability required to score well at the lower grades and the difficulty that this produces when a trainer has to rattle the cage for the upper level movements and energy and I wholeheartedly concur with this theory. Therefore it was no surprise to me when Da Vinci was placed well down the field in both sections. Da Vinci was still in that ‘teenage’ challenging stage to ride plus his incredibly active hind leg in the canter was not at that point matched by his balance – as a result he was finding it difficult getting his forehand out of the way and was sometimes four beating the canter. In saying that we weren’t surprised, it is still not pleasant having the horse you rate so highly slammed, but I am heartened by the fact that Ahlerich didn’t have a great reception in his young horse classes and he nevertheless went on to be a fair competitor in the international arena! As it is, and with no disrespect to the very nice horses in that class (I’ve been trying to pinch the ride on Glamour Star all season!) Da Vinci is still my pick for future international competitor. I guess time will tell if I’m right!!

Definitely the most exciting part of the show for me was my rides on Gosh. The Inter II was a bit of a 'meh' test - he went well enough but not completely consistently through and made some mistakes. However the next day was a revelation when I rode my best Grand Prix to date. Gosh stayed connected and through, over the back and into an elastic contact for the entire test. We still made far too made mistakes in the movements to really score well but overall I was very happy both with how he went and how I rode the test. Of course it was a great help both days to have Bill there to warm me up – a luxury I don’t often have. Despite our mistakes we easily qualified to ride the main class the next day.

About to go in and ride our Grand Prix - connected, engaged and in self carriage.

The piaffe that impresses!

For the final day we rode our musical. At our last competition the music was played so softly I could hardly hear it (and started late – the music appears to be our nemesis!!) so I asked the team at Nationals to play it loud and LOUD it was! Unfortunately the mark to start came as we were right by one of the speakers and as it began Gosh got such a fright he leapt forward and ran into the bridle. It took the first half of the test to get him to stop him from running away and even then he was tense for the remainder. This taught me a great deal about how to ride him when tense and also gave me a tonne of confidence when I saw the scores. We did end up 9th of the 9 CDI*** qualifiers but the scores were very close and if we could be nearly in the placings with such a difficult ride then in my mind we were making progress in the competition arena.

Show winners were Jody Hartstone on Whisper who rode a very exciting freestyle and Vanessa Way on the ever improving Arvan were runner up.

From here it was home to put Da Vinci in the paddock for a couple of weeks rest and to focus on Horse of the Year with Gosh. And what a show that would prove to be!

Waitemata!!

Just unpacking from our best competition to date and thought I'd take a moment to share...

Gosh started the weekend in a low key way finishing in the middle of the pack in the Inter II. The weekend was dominated by the appearance of Jody Hartstones new stallion Whisper who qualified for the last Olympics for the Australians and who she has purchased with the intent of qualifying for WEG this year. Also it was Prestige VDL's first start at Grand Prix. He is a lovely stallion imported 2 years ago by Lisa Blackbourn and trained in Europe by Edward Gal who is the Dutch rider currently dominating the International Dressage circles. These two boys finished 1st and 3rd on the Friday with Whisper 3% in the lead of the bunch but then only 2% covering 2nd - 7th where we sat.

On Saturday we rode the Grand Prix. This was a change from the previous shows where the GP is on the last day but the format for both Nationals and HOY. The increase in energy paid off big time for me with my best score to date - finally cracking the 60% in the GP proper and finishing 1% behind Whisper the wonder horse in 2nd place! Easily our best performance to date and a fantastic feeling lying between two purposebred and internationally trained and competed stallions on my crossbred and self schooled pony. Big smiles all round and the bubbles were in the chiller!

Unfortunately it rained on Sunday and as I hadn't been told that the competition at Woodhill was run on grass, I hadn't packed my studs. Gosh slipped a little in warm up so we rode a safe and somewhat tentative freestyle. We still ended in a creditable 5th place, beated by the two stallions and then Charlott Bayliss & Karen Anderson who have both been competing GP for 4 years apiece.


Of course I still want more and I know we are capable of a great deal but it is nice to celebrate our successes! Looking forward very much to Nationals and HOY - only 2 weeks till we head to Taupo!!

North Island Champs

Well the fantastic news is that we managed a PB on each of the boys at the North Island Champs. Gosh in particular started the weekend with a hiss and a roar with his best performance to date in the Inter II. We scored 61.3% and were 3rd in a very strong field, beating all the combinations we had been pitted against in our previous outings this season. Des had a rather more traumatic start to the weekend in the horrendous weather that Hawera put on. The freezing conditions at gale force winds doing nothing to assist us put in a good performance. In fact at one stage we had to stop in the middle of the test as the arena was blown towards us. He held it together remarkably well for a young horse and came out with a decent score and a middle of the field finish amongst some very strong company. This was, after all, his second Level 5 test ever! The second day and the weather had only gotten worse – while the family at home in Cambridge were sweltering with temps in the high 20’s and humidity in the 80’s, we were freezing with highs in the low teens and those gale force southerlies only strengthening. I made no friends all weekend by pointing out that I was from the South Island and was therefore prepared for the frigid weather with my puffa jacket. I think I had made 42 references to it on last count…
Des was up early in the day with his Musical Freestyle held indoors and I have to say he got up and boogied to the James Bond theme with a huge 66% and some fantastic feedback. By far and away his best test to date.
Gosh of course had a lot to live up to with his performance the first day. Unfortunately our warm up was in the worst weather of the day and with one hand trying to stop my top hat from blowing away things were always going to be tricky. We went in and did OK – my music certainly needs tweaking which doesn’t help however some good work still including a piaffe pirouette to finish that had people talking. We finished 7th however not as bad as that sounds – only 1% covered 3rd to 8th and two judges had me 4th… if we can do this when we’re not on our game…
With the continuing awful weather and average footing outdoors I decided to scratch Des from his afternoon class and save his confidence.
Sunday started early for Des and although he proved himself a competitor by picking up in the arena he was tired and it showed with a rather erratic test and lots of mistakes – we had freestyle flying changes, even one times that he won’t need for probably another 3 seasons yet! A rotten score was tempered by the visiting Australian judge commenting ‘A lovely bright horse with potential, 3 expressive paces and a good quality canter.’ Gosh again didn’t bring his best despite an OK warm up this time – keeping him up for a 3 day show is proving to be tricky and something we still need to work on.
So despite in some ways having our best showing ever I came away slightly disappointed. It would have been great to carry on with the momentum we started with however it was not to be. At least now I know we CAN do it in public and Gosh came away with some fantastic comments from both the local and international judges present. ‘An expressive horse with good future potential.’ ‘Nice to see a forward horse.’ ‘Talented horse.’

The next stop for us will be Waitemata Champs at Woodhill Sands in February. I have decided to leave Des at home for this weekend and just concentrate on Gosh. I also feel that there is not much to be achieved by competing Des in the grade competitions. While the level 5 work is all well established his lack of strength inherent in a young horse will make a consistent showing at those levels too hard for a while. Being the wonderful competitor he is, there is no need to drop him back down for the mileage – instead we will push on at home with training and bring him out again next season when he is good and ready. We will be taking him to Nationals but this time just for the Young Dressage Horse class – one test and a chance simply to show off.

Showfields!

We went for a quick jaunt up to Showfields Jan 9th - primarily to give Des a Level 5 start before North Islands and also a good chance to have another run through of the GP for Gosh. Unfortunately the GP was not recognised as the List 1 judge was sick. No matter it's all mileage. Both boys were excellent - Des scoring 65% and an easy win while Gosh did an ever improving test. Had them both videoed so you can judge for yourselves!!

Des - the course error was the judges - not his!

Gosh

Christmas!!

I hope you all had fabulous holidays. It wasn't much of a break around here - the only day I had off work was Christmas Day itself where I hosted my entire extended family at home, of course the horses are all in full work and the kids are on holiday... but we managed to have a great day of sunshine, family and food - and of course presents!!

Harper on the non-OSH approved waterslide

Every little girl's dream
Such a boy!

Reserve Reserve two weekends in a row!!

I'm posting a slightly overdue update before I turn my mind to my family and Christmas for a week or two - although it won't be long with North Island Champs the second week of 2010! Seems all I have been doing for the past few is ride and work and take care of mum who had a hip replacement in Tauragna two weeks ago.

As you are probably aware I have had two shows - Waikato Champs and Auckland Manukau Champs. Waikato was to be Des' debut at Level 5, unfortunately he came up a little uneven a couple of days before so I decided to scratch him. Nothing serious, he is now fully recovered and back in full work but he was long overdue for a bit of a break anyway. It does mean that we will be attending Showfields on the 9th of January now just so he won't have his Level 5 debut at the North Island Champs!

I still attended these two shows with Gosh - his first outings since HOY in March. And what a season opener! At Waikato we were still finding our feet but managed to place 3rd in the Inter II and 4th in the Grand Prix in good company. The musical didn't go so well for us - the faster grass surface catching us unawares. However we still managed to come third overall in the GP section behind seasoned campaigners Charlott Bayliss on All Black II who are in their fourth Grand Prix season and Sally Isaac on Vincent St James who is a past National title holder ad HOY winner. And Auckland Manukau was even better. We were second in the Inter II, a very close 4th in the musical (just 0.1% separated 2nd to 4th) and 4th on a very tired pony (somewhat overcooked by his rider) in the Grand Prix. All with our best percentages to date and more than enough to qualify for Nationals, HOY and the Challenge Finals in one hit. Again we were pipped for the reserve by the same combinations - but this time even closer on countback - Sally's fractionally better performance in the GP just nudging them ahead. The fact we were 4th instead of 3rd in the musical on countback as well made it all the more frustrating! I managed to get a nice plug in for the sponsors in my introduction for the musical freestyle as well and it was a crowd favourite performed to Christmas carols. Below are a few pics taken by Geegees photography at Waikato Champs.

Overall I'm very happy with our performances. We really need to up the game for the seasons big shows but the basics have been well laid. With the mileage I intend to gain between now and then and of course some more training I'm really looking forward to a big finale for the season. I may have to re-evaluate the plan with Des and campaign him towards the young horse classes rather than the grade finals but both options are still open to us at this point. Will keep you posted.



One final thing I have to say before I sign off is to thank Sheena & Dermot & Pippa & Alan for being the most wonderful hosts. You guys are treasures, truly.


Have a fabulous Christmas with friends & family and I'll see you in 2010!!

Bruno's back!

Those of you who have been followers of this blog for a while may remember Bruno, my young yellow pony. Actually he is more of an orange colour but as I met him as a yellow ball of fluff, he will always be that to me. Bruno is a 4yo by Gryffindor who was broken in at Christmas time and then spent a spell on the West Coast with Toni Bryant being educated. As he had spent quite some time since then in the paddock and I'm no young horse rider I sent him to Mark Brooks to bring back in. He was there for four weeks and has been home here a week. Everyone has done a super job on him - he is obviously very green with balance issues, no bend and a rather uncoordinated canter strike off, but he is immensely rideable and adjustable and incredible confident to hack out. These photos were taken of his second ride at home last weekend. The aim is to bring him on quietly and maybe find a small show at the end of the season to debut him at.

Waikato's World!

Well, I've had my showie outing for the season and what fun it was! I always say that I go because it's a good day out for the young horses and great exposure for them in a 'no pressure' situation. All of that is true but if I were completely honest I'd also say I just love it - getting all dolled up, hanging out with so many people that also adore their horses and going out and showing off, with no repercussions if it doesn't quite go as planned. And I have to say that the Waikato A & P Association put on a show that will probably have me back next year for more. Fantastic weather, great setting, friendly atmosphere. Brilliant. The fabulous Lizzie Charleston and her gorgeous mum, Jocelyn, did a super job of keeping the horsey side of things running like clockwork, and managed to look stunning while doing it! What blew me away was the fact that this show was the weekend directly before the Melbourne Cup and that Elizabeth was also responsible for the Cambridge 'sister city' celebrations that Tuesday. Unbelievable - she has stamina to envy!

Anyway as far as the showing went Des was a super star. He was placed in his two conformation classes (the egg sized splints are always going to be an issue in these classes) and won his paced and mannered easily. I completely overlooked the fact there was a championship P&M class so didn't hang around for that... I also won my rider class but had a complete away with the fairies moment when I rode out for the championship class and rose on the wrong diagonal. Of course I thought this was hilarious - after all there's not much rising trot in upper level dressage - but my showie friends were mortified.

Ah well, a good day out and I'll be back next year - especially if they arrange the same weather pattern!!

BOP Champs - 24th & 25th October

BOP Champs was a really enjoyable and interesting show for me. For one thing it was great to get the chance to watch all the GP combinations go round. Usually when I'm competing at that level I just get glimpses of my competitors warming up or at best a test or two if I have an early draw. Vanessa Way and Arvan looked the class act of the show and in my mind thoroughly deserved the win. Even though it is just their first season they are looking quite established in the work and when Arvan brings his piaffe to game day they will be the combination to beat. It's always good to see a fellow Zilco & NRM sponsored rider doing well, too! The other find of the show for me was the delightful pairing of Nicky Pope and Fabarchie. Cute as a button the pair of them and with a bit of mileage under their belts I'm sure they will add that touch more power to make them truly serious. Plus its wonderful to see someone so happy to be there!

My own show went well. Des was mostly very good, just once getting a touch behind my leg and flipping me the bird when I attempted to correct a flying change that should have been a simple one. He was especially good the first day with a lovely amount of energy. He did have a wobble or two and at times was a little innaccurate, but I still have to say I was disappointed with the marks of low 60's. The second day he rode in a little flat and was against my hand and on the forehand the whole test. He did however stay in a consistent frame and rhythm and we were reasonably accurate in the movements and we were rewarded with a whopping 70%. I found this interesting and confirmation of something that Bill often states - that we are training a future GP horse, not one to win the lower grades. I want a horse that is electric and responsive and it is my opinion that in order to produce the consistency required to win at Medium I'd have to sacrifice some of that - or spend years at the grade which I think is counterproductive as well. Either way we're not hanging around long enough to find out - our next dressage start will be Waikato Champs where we will be having a crack at Level 5.

Here are a couple of pics, not my favourites but I do want to point out the positive disassociation in the first photo. Not strictly correct but at least you can see he is moving in an uphill frame and a whole lot better than the massive negative disassociation that is shown all too often. I'm sure this would be judged 'too open in the frame' as well... ;o)

The Steffen Report

Well. What an experience. Just in case you missed my previous (not so) subtle messages I had the chance to ride with Steffen Peters last weekend. This was not a clinic, but a forum and I was one of 12 riders on a variety of horses from throughout New Zealand asked to come along and present our horses to Steffen for use in the forum. We drove down from our new base in Cambridge to Fielding, a drive of about 5 hours. We were all allowed to take a ‘groom’ who got access to all sessions F.O.C. As I’m not quite that flash and don’t generally have help I invited a friend of mine, Carolyn McCree, to fill that gap – an opportunity she jumped at... although I’m not so sure she’ll repeat it! We arrived to find that we had unscheduled access to the indoor arena – right then. So I threw a saddle and bridle on and went for a cruise. Des behaved impeccably in the unfamiliar environment and I was struck by the group of very, very nice horses that Dressage NZ had managed to gather. I only spent 20 minutes on him with a stretch at trot and canter which was commented on by another rider. It never fails to amaze me what people expect of their horses – we’d just travelled halfway down the country, and I’m not going to teach him anything new at that point!!

Anyhow, the next day was the big day – we all got to ride for Steffen and Trond Asmyr – the FEI Director of Dressage. These sessions were poorly organised with some having 4 horses in and others only one or two. It meant for clutter for us and unfortunately it lead to an identity mix up later on that had me riding in the incorrect session for the forum itself. Not quite sure how my not quite six year old baby Medium level horse got confused with Vanessa’s 11 year old Grand Prix horse but there you go. Steffen was very complimentary about Des, saying he definitely had the movement of a top level horse and about the way we had been working. He did say that he would have liked him to be more in self carriage and that it was obvious that his balance was a little immature at times. He talked about the some of the work he intended to do with me the next day including lots of transitions and also said he would be riding him. He asked if I had a hunter/jumper background – which I do – I only took up dressage 6 years ago. Apparently I need to keep control of my ‘wings’! But he did say I was an effective rider...
So the next day the forum itself began. Steffen was introduced by rider in on my friend’s dear wee GP horse to ‘Stand up’ and a standing ovation. Pretty cool. There were some interviews and then a session on fitness which we mostly missed as we were to be on first up. The first ridden session was on conditioning and training and it was very quickly obvious that we were in the wrong session when we were asked to demonstrate canter pirouettes and piaffe/passage. Now Des may be progressing quickly through the grades but come on! Steffen thought very quickly on his feet and used us for a little haunches in at the canter and some medium/collected trot transitions instead. I have to say that I was very proud of my pony. He coped so very well with the crowd (about 400 people on a temporary stand) and the giant TV screen which did produce a few hairy moments as it was constantly changing. The afternoon session that I should have been in was on the young horse and it was interesting seeing him work with those horses and see them change, albeit frustrating from the stand! His message seemed to be about raising expectations and sharpening response to the never ending transitions. He was very big on contact and about the rider choosing their contact and not allowing the horse to force the rider to accept more.

On Sunday things progressed to schooling the specific movements. This seemed to be aimed more at the higher level rider with half pass, flying changes, pirouettes and piaffe/passage being the order of the day. Steffen did have some very useful tips for the exercises; I particularly liked starting the half pass as a turn across the diagonal to keep the shoulders in front, schooling the single change from a counter canter on a large circle to prevent swinging, a secondary aid to add energy to the changes, and schooling the piaffe as a passage on the spot for the horse that becomes grounded and shuffles. Trond had some great insight from a judge’s perspective, I appreciated watching the pirouettes schooled as a controlled haunches in on a small circle but being ridden in a test situation from a shoulder in. They were both obviously enamoured with a couple of the horses, in particular Louisa Hill’s Bates Antonello has both of their votes for our 2010 WEG team.

By this stage I was quite frustrated. Of course I had loved the opportunity to be there and present my horse but I had definitely gotten the short straw of not much input from Steffen due to being in the wrong session. However all was not lost. Our Sport Manager had noticed the disparity and when one of the other riders arranged for a quick session to work on her pi/pa I was asked to tag along. So after everything was over on Sunday and with most people heading home we brought Des back in for our very own private session with the master. Just a short session but so worth it! Steffen chose to ride Des and with his long legs and male strength (not to mention his impeccable feel, years of experience and talent for the job) he had him looking like an Advanced horse. I then hopped back on my horse who consequently felt like a Ferrari and had a wee tiki tour around on him with Steffen murmuring his wisdom from the sidelines. Nothing earth shattering, nothing that reinvented the wheel for me, merely an increased expectation. I’m to stop thinking of Des as a baby horse and more as a baby Advanced horse. Steffen is big on ‘perfect practise make perfect’ and increasing the general manoeuvrability and ‘handliness’ (a term he borrowed from Trond early on in the weekend). Oh, and I really need to watch my wings!!

Monday’s session was closed to the general public, just squad members, their coaches and the riders from the weekend invited. Basically this day involved various riders riding tests – the higher levels for both Steffen and Trond and then the lower levels for Trond alone as Steffen held a video critique for the Grand Prix squad members that hadn’t been invited to ride. I rode through 4.6 which is the Medium level ‘Challenge’ test. This was a huge ask for us – Des had only had one Medium level start the weekend before and the work was far more advanced and once again he did us proud. I didn’t warm up particularly well – you know how it is when you get new tools – it can be very easy to thrash them to the exclusivity of everything that has worked for you up until that point but essentially it was a clear round nicely done. I got some good constructive feedback from Trond. I talked with him a couple of times over the weekend and found him to be an insightful and intelligent person, as well a downright nice guy. I think the FEI have done very well to appoint him as our current Director of Dressage. We are in good hands.

We packed up pretty much straight after this and headed home – it had been a long weekend, we had five hours to drive and I started work the very next morning in my new job! It would have been good to hear Steffen talking about organising a campaign but a safe trip won out.
The photos are all from Saturday’s session and my friend and commercial photographer Annie Studholme took them. There are apparently some photos of Steffen on Des taken by another friend and journalist Lisa Potter (you may have seen her by-line on some Eurodressage articles) but she has been completely slack in getting them to me! I also have video of Steffen up – will post that to youtube over the weekend and post here when I do.

Training Photos from LVF

The first month after our move I spent a lot of time training at Little Valley Farm - the most amazing facility in Ohaupo. These photos were taken by a friend of mine, Kate Peddie, who operates as Geegee Photography. Thought you might like to see them!

Gosh in passage.

Gosh

Gosh, happy to be out of the sandpit! And yes, we did jump.

Gosh - Medium trot.

Gosh, working trot - a bit tense.

Gosh - canter by the mirror.

Des in almost the exact same spot!
Des, working trot.

Des - concentrating!

Des in the light.

Gosh - going home.

I know you're all waiting for the Forum report and it is coming, I promise! It has been a crazy couple of weeks since we returned - I started work the very next day (fulltime - eeek!) and have had the in laws to stay. Will hopefully get it up in the next day or two, complete with pics. Till then...

First Show of the Season

The Waikato put on an absolutely stunning day on Sunday - clear blue skies and no wind at all with temperatures in the high teens. We had a draw that I'm sure will never be repeated - first test at 2pm - which was of great benefit as we had had a few people over for a welcome to the district barbeque the night before... Plus it was father's day and I need to at least show some appreciation of all the work David does behind the scenes!

Anyway Des was spectacular. For his first show since the Nationals almost exactly 6 months ago and a big step up in grade to Medium I couldn't have asked for anything more. He scored 63.646% in the first test and won and then a whopping 71.111% in the second test and was just beaten into second place by a hair. Of course he needs to develop his sitting and carrying power (his 6th birthday isn't until January!) and he made some baby mistakes such as confusing the half pass aid for a canter transition so to score the marks he did at this early stage is very exciting.

So a fantastic start to the season and a good confidence boost before we head down to the forum on Thursday. I have just seen that as well as most of the New Zealand dressage scene being there and the FEI officials there will be contingents from Singapore and Australia. What an amazing opportunity and I promise to share all the inside gossip when I get back!

Ciao for now.

All settled in

All packed up and leaving West Melton.The boys dressed and ready for the last leg from Taupo to Cambridge.

Well, the trip was long but uneventful with 3 nights spent en route. The boys coped well with the trip - they travelled exceptionally well, once Des figured out each day he could actually turn around in the truck! He has this thing where he’ll load OK but then can’t figure out how to bend enough to make the turn – he’s as stiff as a board. Stupid really cos he has the ability to turn himself into a pretzel to scratch the inside of a hock...

After being here for two weeks I have to say I am more & more excited by the change. The property here is superb, with a fantastic soil type to run horses and a brilliant arena which is already being extended for me to fit a full size dressage arena. The end result will be very large - ideal for the young horses and plenty of room to jump if the mood took me. The tidy up of the boxes is also underway; in the meantime the boys are enjoying being in the paddocks full time. We are surrounded by top class thoroughbred studs and other equine operations. The sirens going off regularly were confusing until someone told me they were the 'bells' for St Peters college which is directly over the river from here - just a short flying fox trip for the kids when they get older!! (?)

I'm playing solo mum for three weeks as David has headed back to Christchurch to finish off his work however I've still managed to keep the horses working. I had the first lesson with Bill last weekend. Both the boys were stars and we’re looking forward to the season. Des has his first start at Kihikihi on the 6th. We’re doing Level 4 which is a bit of a step up but one he is capable of. Also the Level 3 tests are nasty!! Gosh won’t compete much for a while - he needs to stay at home for a bit to get more consistent. We have our debut season under our belt, now’s the time to get serious. We’re definitely aiming for a good showing for the Championship shows next year!

Apart from all this I also have Bruno in the paddock who spends his time hanging over the gate waiting to be brought in. He doesn’t have long to wait – I start work on the 15th and have to do two weeks fulltime to start (!!) but straight after that the aim is to get on and go with him.

The very exciting news is that I have been selected as a demonstration rider with Da Vinci for the upcoming International (FEI) Dressage Forum being held September 12th & 13th in Fielding. I'm so looking forward to the opportunity to ride for the visiting trainer Steffen Peters, who is the current World Cup Dressage title holder as well as the winner of every single big tour class at Aachen this year. Can't wait to hear what he has to say!

Fenlands is on the move!

In two short weeks we will be crossing the ditch - 3 horses, 2 cats, a dog, 2 kids and a husband in tow - on our way to becoming North Islanders. We have made the call that in order for me to be serious about chasing the Dressage Dream I need be located closer to my trainer and also in amongst it a bit more with the competition. A huge undertaking and a logistical nightmare but hopefully we will soon be ensconced in our little piece of paradise just out of Cambridge and our marriage will also still be intact! Wish us safe travels...

The Big Thank You!

My Yellow Pony

Bruno is my yellow pony. A 3yo by Gryffindor out of a TB mare called Happy Talk. He was broken in over Christmas by Alan at Kauri who once again did a fabulous job, and for the last two months he has been living on the coast in Hokitika just generally being a horse. He is being ridden by Toni Bryant who starts horses and also provides a 'finishing' school for young horses where she exposes them to just about everything. Ideally situated right on the beach, she also does a lot of forest work with them, alone and in groups. Toni has a background in just about every discipline but lately has concentrated on Endurance with placings at National level. She sent me these awesome photos of Bruno, looking more like someones stock horse than my future GP dressage star! Bruno is due to come home at the end of the month. He'll have a bit of time off again and I'll bring him back into work proper, probably in October. In the meantime I can't help but think he has had the perfect start!

The season that was.

Well it's that time of year when I sit back and take a good hard look at the season that was. And as I look back I realise just how good it was. I think it is very easy to always be striving for more that sometimes the achievements we make are overlooked.

Da Vinci truly had a fantastic debut season. In 7 shows (5 dressage and 2 'showing') he was unplaced in just one class. He won both his tests at his debut show, and won Champion Novice Saddle Hunter at his first A&P. He travelled to both Auckland and Gore and even had the audacity to beat most of the North Islanders on their own turf by winning the reserve Champion Level 2 at the Auckland/Manukau Champs. He was second to the eventual overall winner in the 5yo YDH class at Nationals and third overall in the Level 2 Championship at that same show. In just 4 starts in the South Island he convincingly won the Level 2 Accumulator. He competed well and proved to be able to cope with atmosphere and distractions.

Gosh also had a brilliant season. His first year at Grand Prix he really is an exciting horse to ride and watch. What he lacked in consistency he made up for in quality. The highlights for his season were winning the Reserve Championship at the South Islands and finishing the season on a high with a 6th placing at the Horse of the Year Show, just 3% off the best in the country.

The reason for the review though is always to look forward. Now is the time to be goal setting and planning for the coming season. They each had some time off after Nationals & HOY and are both now back in full work (when the weather allows!) We won't compete over the winter, instead we'll focus on the training and take advantage of the fact that we don't have to make it look pretty for the judges for a bit... we'll keep you posted.

Transport

Not sure what to call this - When the other one bucks? Truth be known I was on the other side of the (rather vast) grounds at HOY, in my civvies, when I was told I won a ribbon for my Inter II. I stole the nearest bike, hightailed it back to my truck to throw the top hat and tails on and then (longtailed?) it back for prizegiving... I did get some rather odd looks, especially as I cycling and texting. Not sure of the safety rules on that one!

Kelt Capital Horse of the Year 2009

We’re home! Safely after two days travel. The trip home was uneventful – the Cook Strait had been off limits to livestock for 24 hours before we sailed but in the end the crossing was a non-event with minimal seas. However it is still a very, very long way. HUGE thanks to those that put me up along the way, especially Maryanne and her family who went out of their way to be helpful and hospitable.

The show itself lived up to its reputation as an extravaganza of all things equestrian and was a fitting climax to an eventful season. I enjoyed being amongst the other disciplines and watching the best of the best compete, and also the opportunity to get to know some of the other sponsored ‘team’ riders. It was great to rehash the day with them – we may be in different disciplines but we all know the work and commitment involved in getting to the level we have done.

It was great to catch up with friends new & old and I have to say the social side of a horse show is more than catered for at KCHOY! Must be all those showjumpers.... ;o)

On the competition front I had a good show. The first day we started off with a hiss and a roar with our best test to date. We still made a few mistakes but quality of the work we did do was good enough to have us on 59.79% and less than 3% off the winners. The second day was the big one for me – the Grand Prix. We started exceptionally well in the test, especially the piaffe/passage and transitions between – the parts of the test we had had problems with at Nationals. I even allowed myself a ‘whoa! this is going good!’ moment… And then I made an error of course – went the wrong way. Not such a big deal but by the time a few other things had happened around that outside of my control, I had lost my composure and never really got it back. At our stage of training, if everything goes our way Gosh & I can foot it with the best, but we don’t have the experience to fall back on just yet when it doesn’t – unfortunately there is no way of hurrying mileage. The final day found Gosh very tired and tense. He was badly spooked by a wildly flapping flag just before going in and then had a plastic bag fly at him right at our entry halt. However we continued quietly and although his tension was apparent we again showed some very good work – good enough for the ‘O’ (Olympic level) judge from Germany to give us 61%!

Overall I am very happy with the trip north. The feedback has been incredible with many people saying what an exciting combination we are.

So what now? Well the winter will find us training on solidly. Des has had a few weeks off and after three rides feels pretty ready to get back into it. We’ll be pushing on with him – aiming for a few Medium (Level 4) starts next season. With Gosh we will be hard at work to consolidate the movements – working to get him happy and confident in all the work. Just how quickly it all comes together will dictate our competition programme for next season. At the very least it will be a concerted effort to have him securely prepared for this time next year when we will be looking to be in amongst it at Nationals/HOY 2010!

These incredible photos were taken by Kate of Geegeees Photography on the Friday (Inter II day). Just a newbie to the photography scene, her timing and composition are fabulous.

A Game of Two Halves...

The Nationals are over and what a weekend it was.

Des was once again a rock star, having a very full weekend competing in the Young Dressage Horse classes and also the Level 2 Accumulator Final and Championship classes. He was second in the 5yo YDH class to the eventual Champion of Champions winner, second in the Accumulator Final, which was enough for him to take out the overall title for the South Island season and third in the two Championship classes to come third overall. He was beautifully behaved all weekend and gained many new admirers. I fully rate this horse and know he has earned a couple of weeks in the paddock. Actually he'll hate being left out - it'll only be a matter of days before he starts pacing although Bruno over the fence will hopefully keep him company.

Gosh, on the other hand, had a disaster of a weekend in the ring. A minor change I had made to his tack at the South Island Champs lead to a complete meltdown in the week leading up to Nationals. I changed the bit position back on the second day but his lack of confidence was apparent and lead to virtually non-existent piaffe all weekend. This was very disappointing as the piaffe is his strength – the one he did do scored very highly, but in these tests with the scoring weighted to 30% being piaffe/passage and the transitions between, this was extremely costly. Of course I am kicking myself, especially as he had been training so well (in a different bridle) in the lead up to Nationals. All I can do now is continue to do all I can to restore his confidence between now and HOY and cross my fingers we get a performance I know we are capable of. I am extremely heartened by a great schooling session today – I hope we are over the hump!

If you are at HOY, have a great show. If you see me, come and say hi - although not right before a class or you may not get such a gracious reception!! I'll be hanging around the food stands - hopefully the whitebait man is back...
Chat soon!