So after a fairly quiet January bringing Ollie back up to fitness, February has arrived and so has our competition season!
At the beginning of February we headed back to Moreton EC for some unaffiliated showjumping, i find their showjumping really handy as they do unaffiliated competitions up to 1.20m which is great if you want to jump some bigger courses but don’t want to buy tickets to go BS! I went with the intention of doing the 1m and 1.05m classes, however when we arrived we found that they had been delayed by 1.5 hours due to an accident and as the weather was awful (wind and ice rain!) I decided to enter the 90cm and 1m so we could get home quicker! A lot of people seemed to go home without jumping which did help for the classes to fininsh quicker! Ollie popped round double clear in both classes, coming 5th in the 90cm. I didn’t wait for the results for the 1m as i was completely frozen by that point, and needed to get home.
The following week we spent an amazing couple of days down in Devon. For Christmas me and dad had paid for tickets for me and mum to go to River Cottage HQ for dinner with Mary and Emily King with Mary and Emily ending the evening with a talk. We were joined by my close friend Faine and her mum too! The dinner at River Cottage was fabulous… the food just kept on coming, I think we must have had about 5 courses before our main! It is not often that I can’t eat another thing (i am known as the office Labrador!), but this was one of those occasions! The dinner was followed by a yard visit to Mary and Emily’s yard the following morning. I have been a fan of Mary since I was tiny and I used to watch her videos nearly every day until they drove mum mad! Emily and Mary were so friendly and welcoming and offered some great tips to get the most out of your training at home. It was really inspiring that they have both had to work so hard to get where they are today and haven’t had anything handed to them. Their yard is friendly and functional with everything clean and tidy but no fancy unnecessary gadgets or eye rolling swankiness! It was lovely to see the horses seem so happy in their relaxed environment nestled in the Devon Countryside. It seemed a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of a big event!
On the drive down to Devon I received an email from Genius Equestrian to inform me that I had been chosen as one of their brand ambassadors for the following season! This is so exciting for me, and I now start the event season with the support of both Genius Equestrianand Muddy Footprints Country Clothing. I really appreciate their support and I hope we can do them proud!
Last weekend as part of the New Forest Riding Club, we headed to Crofton Manor for the Area SJ Qualifiers. We were in the 100cm – 1.05m team. Ollie flew round clear in the first round, however he got a little keen in the second round and I fluffed up one of my lines which meant we had 2 unlucky poles. I was not completely in discrace though as the team still managed to finish in FIRST place! This means we have qualified for the RC Intermediate Championships which will be held at Bury Farm on 27th April. At least it will give me some last minute sj practice before Badminton!
Between competitions I am trying to do some canter work every 4 days with Ollie. He isn’t a natural galloper and struggles with his stamina at times as although he is a forward going lively sort, once he has got tired he doesn’t want to know! So I am trying my hardest to get him as fit as possible to hopefully make his life easier when it comes to the longer course at Badminton. He is currently doing some long trots uphill and approx 5 minutes of cantering on the forest, however in the next few weeks we will introduce some stricter interval training to really help to get him as fit as a flea! I have been a little more lapse with my own fitness, and my new years resolution to get fitter, hasn’t really got going yet… I’m sure XC schooling this weekend at Larkhill will awaken me to the fact that I need to get my butt in gear!!
Charlotte and Ollie xx
