Hi honey! We're Home!

2 days, four stages, 14 hours driving, one ferry and 1000 kms later...

Phew! It's a long way. The boys behaved perfectly and arrived home in great condition, thanks in no small part to the helpfulness and hospitality of Gayle, Carolyn and Angie on the way and the great company of Victoria. We were all very glad to be home and have slotted back in to the routine of riding and everyday life. It's only two weeks today until the Grand National Show and we have plenty to do!

The family holiday was fantastic - we played tourist and visited family & friends and generally enjoyed beng together. We saw glowworms and caves and kiwi and sharks and waterfalls and climbed mountains and swam in the surf and rode hydroslides and water-skied and enjoyed the hot pools and ate good food (including New Zealands best ice-creams at Pokeno) and drank good wine and fished and saw the New Year in in the rain under a leaking awning at the Raglan campgrounds (the rain stopped long enough for some incredible fireworks) and it was brilliant!

Some pictures from our holiday:

The kids enjoying a cart ride with Steve & Crystal from Brooklands.

Harper & Clive on the beach at the Raglan estuary.

Bridal Veil Falls, Raglan.

A shark eyeing me up off Motiti in the Bay of Plenty. No swimming off the boat for us that day!

The best ice-cream in New Zealand - Pokeno of course!

And while all this was going on I managed to ride the boys and had lessons most days. The training was awesome. The difference when there are knowledgeable eyes on the ground day in and day out is incredible. I am so excited by the future for both of them and just hope I can keep the momentum going now we are home. Bill is down next weekend again for two days which will help. There weren't many photos taken and none of Da Vinci, but you might enjoy these of Gosh.

Warming up in working trot.Some piaffe steps.Working Canter.

And just to prove that the hard work is universal, here I am training the pirouettes - with no stirrups!

And because I know you'll all enjoy this - I managed to fall off Gosh for the first time ever! Just a silly spook that caught me unawares, the only thing hurt was my pride. If you're unaware just how talented Gosh is at this unrequired movement, you may want to check out this old video.

I will leave you with that, I still have a horse to ride and boxes to muck and with two kids at home to entertain that's an afternoon full!

AMDG photos

A couple of photos of Gosh doing his first ever GP Kur at the AMDG Champs. Thanks to the photographic skills of Judith!

And a very cute shot Judith took of us waiting for the prizegiving. On the left is Victoria Wall and her lovely 4yo Astek Gymnast and I'm on the right on Da Vinci. Victoria was Reserve Champion Level 1 while we were Reserve Champion Level 2. The bridesmaids!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Only two more sleeps and the kids are positively bursting with excitement. I am, too, but more because on Saturday we are going to the north island and I will be reunited with my boys. They have both been enjoying some R&R at Brooklands Park, supposedly taking time out in the paddock but I have a sneaking suspicion that Bill won't have been able to keep his hands off Gosh...

We rounded out the spring with a couple of good solid shows. At Ashburton Des performed well for good percentages and proved again to have a great competition temperament. He was placed in both tests and was winning the SI Accumulator series last time I checked. Gosh did some rather fabulous work but scored disappointingly after deciding there were gremlins in the end goal lines of the rugby feild we were competing on. The grounds for the Ashburton Champs are always a bit dodgy with the A&P show a couple of weeks before and a SJ in the interim and both boys were feeling it in the end. However a well run show and lovely people to deal with.

I do have one comment to make regarding the prize givings, though... Please, those that are calling the results out - do NOT say 'first and only competitor...' It does take something away from the riders performance and they have worked very hard to get there. At Ashburton it happened for both the Inter II and also for the Para rider. In both cases, if the announcer wants to give either of us competition, then they are more than welcome in that arena with us!

After Ashburton it was time to plan and pack before heading up to the North Island. My (much) older sister was very inconveniently having her 50th Birthday Party in Hamilton the same weekend as Canterbury Champs so I packed the boys in the truck and took them with me. Some of you who cross over to the dark side and event might know my sister - Sally Millar from the Eventing Board... we had an awesome weekend with extended family and friends. I don't want to go soppy but I do have the greatest family; funny, intelligent, fun and about as diverse as they come. This is Sally (on the right) and her partner, Wendy.

From there it was over to the magical Brooklands Park in Waingaro, run by Carolyn McCree and Steve Gould and the base of Bill Noble. We had a couple of good days training before heading up to Auckland Manukau Festival of Dressage at Clevedon.

Da Vinci was incredible. For a 5yo at his first away show, first two day show and third ever dressage start - not to mention the days of travel to get there - it is hard to imagine how he could have gone better. He won two classes (including the challenge test by 4%) was second in a test by 0.5% where he litterally fell over after slipping on the glass like ground conditions and fourth in the first test when his rider was in a bit of a dream world and he broke in one lengthening. His temperament was rock steady throughout. In the end he was just pipped for the Championship by Ashleigh William's divine Papanui Don Juan. Don Juan (or 'Jedi') is a stunning individual, in his second year of competition with a very successful prelim year under his belt last season. Interestingly he is also by De Niro and is, in my view, a horse to watch for the future. Anyway, we were delighted to end up 'bridesmaid' with our first wide dressage ribbon.

Unfortunately the 'artwork' from the weekend wasn't the best but I do have two that mum took of Da Vinci at the truck and again at the prizegiving.

From there is was on to the Grand Prix and I have to say it was a change in mindset that I failed to make well. Gosh and I did do some good work but a lack of consistency and cohesion was apparent. I rode a little like a 'pony clubber', attempting to 'hack through' the tests which is not possible at this level and our scores were very low as a result. In saying that it was not all bad - some movements were outstanding, his temperament was brilliant and we got some good feedback from some knowledgable people who all said we look like we belong in the GP ring. It was a case of being brought back to earth with a thud for me personally. What I take away from it is the knowledge that we CAN do this, that both Gosh and I have the talent and that my trainer and others have faith in us.

From here it is onward - the next show will be the Grand National Championship Show. Da Vinci will be a show hack for the weekend while Gosh will contest the Grand Prix and the Kur and before that I have two weeks solid training with Bill. Cannot wait!

I wish you all the best for the holidays - take the time to enjoy your family and your horses and I hope you get to enjoy a true 'Kiwi Christmas'.

We are the Champions!

OK, so this news is rather old, but things have been crazy around here lately!

Way back on the 24th of October I took Da Vinci out to the Rangiora A&P show - just for some mileage and to get him used to the atmosphere and whatnot. He was awesome, warming up with all the horses around and not fussed by all the distractions. That was enough for me, but as a bonus we won or were placed in all our classes and came away with the Champion Novice Saddle Hunter title! Not bad for us non-showies.

Since then we have been head down tail up with lots of training and a unique social event known to us Cantabrians as 'Cup & Show Week'. In that single week I hosted a clinic with my Melbourne based trainer, Manu McLean, had drinks for all my sponsors and supporters, went to the CatWalk Trust 'Up & Away' Ball - the best night out I've had in years with the bonus of being part of a group that raised $214 000 for Spinal Cord Research. On Friday I attended the show briefly to see some friends riding and see the amazing Bailey Family take out the Supreme Pony AND the Supreme Horse title - AGAIN... Saturday found us rail side at the Riccarton Racecourse with some close friends, enjoying all the best Canterbury has to offer - good food, wine, great weather and some superb entertainment. And on Sunday I had two lessons with Bill Noble. Needless to say I wasn't quite at my best and he was less than impressed.

You know I have been writing a lot about our successes and all the good times it is sometimes easy to forget the effort and sacrifices that are made for that. There are plenty of early starts, mundane tasks, physical effort and financial & social sacrifice. Nearly as many wonderful moments in the saddle are balanced out by disappointments or plateus in training. I am lucky to have the support of a great family and friends to help me along when things get tough and I find that just when I wonder if I can, I'll have that perfect 'moment' and it is all worthwhile.

Anyway I'm going to leave you with that - I've got a show at the weekend and plenty to do. You know, the rest of my family are away at school camp so I'm home alone. At the moment it is nearly 2pm and I haven't ridden yet! Someone needs to give me a kick in the pants...

Piaffe/Passage

I orginally recorded this for the person who is helping put together my musical freestyle but think it's good enough to share. Me & Gosh playing with our party tricks... Enjoy!

And so it goes...

Yesterday saw Gosh in his first ever official Inter II start and we're thrilled with the outcome. Too many mistakes in the changes let us down somewhat in the final score but still we came away with a very respectable 59.43% and the class win. OK, so there were only two of us in it, but always nice to come home with another red ribbon to add to the collection! The work we produced was good enough for consistent 6's & 7's throughout our p/p tour, half passes, extensions, pirouettes and zig-zags. Very happy with that as a springboard to greater things and I'm confident the changes will come right soon enough. Gosh proved he was happy with that level of work, finishing off the test with a lovely energetic passage centre line.

We will be based at home now for a couple of months solid work with his next definate outing the Auckland/Manukau Champs in Clevedon on the 13th & 14th of December. We may head to Ashburton in the interim if I feel our work at home warrants another outing.

Photos...

Here are some pictures from last weekend - thanks to photographer Annie Studhome for her brilliant work once again...

Warming up

And again...

Working trot in the test.

Good Boy!

Happy it's done.