Below is the video from Vale View Equestrian Arena Eventing. Candy came 4th in the Novice and 7th in the Intermediate. Puzzle was placed 5th in the open.

Candy jumped 2 super double clear rounds in the Discovery & 1m05 Open to win both classes! Puzzle jumped a lovely round in the Newcomers and got the fastest time in the jump off but just rolled a pole in the middle of the triple. She flew round her first 1m15 to be placed 2nd! Definitely liking this prize money! 

Wow! What a lovely surprise it was receiving an email from ESMA to say that I had been nominated and was in the final 10 for Category 6 Amateur Riders! 

This award would be amazing to win, it would prove what I initially set out to do. Which was to encourage other amateur riders that you can compete against the 'top dogs' and still succeed with no facilities or unlimited budget. 

I hope you have enjoyed following our journey up the levels, and will continue to do so as we climb to 2* hopefully in 2012. 


Massive thanks to everyone who took the time to nominate and vote for me. There is still time to submit a vote by clicking this link equestriansocialmediaawards.com/voting

There are many ways you can follow our progress in 2012:

• Hay-Net 
  
• Facebook
  
• Twitter 
  
• YouTube
  
• Equestrian Life Magazine
  
• www.becciharroldeventing.co.uk 
  

 

So now is the time of year where you start to see lots of companies offering fantastic sponsorship packages, but what exactly are they looking for?

Some of you may already be successful when it comes to applying or asking for sponsorship, others may have had no joy.Obviously I don't have a biggest line of sponsors like William Fox Pitt!!! But have managed to a crew a few over the past year, as well as be successful in competitions and securing a column in Equestrian Life Magazine. With Super X Country also currently running a sponsorship competition this year I have seen a huge range of proposals so feel I can offer those a little bit of advice and help when it comes to applying and what to include.

• Start with an introduction about yourself
• Introduce your horse/horses
• List your previous results and go into detail about your biggest achievement.
• List your current aims for 2012 and maybe include what you are ultimately striving for in the long run.
• Include how you can promote the company (more the better)
• What can you offer them in exchange for the sponsorship?
• Include pictures

Don't under estimate the power of a picture (remember it can tell a 1000 words!)

So how can you stand out from other applicants?Obviously having a website is definitely a bonus; however a website is no good without ranking highly on Google or getting hits regularly. Some companies may want to see your Google analytics to prove it is worth advertising on. So the more you can update it the higher it will rank and the more people will visit it, so try to keep it interesting! But don't think that’s what you need to get sponsorship as there are lots of other ways i.e. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, even offer them a monthly blog on their website. Next thing is to include what magazines you have been featured in. The more press you can get the more appealing you will become and it’s a way of them getting there money back if they can be mentioned or their logo picture shown in any magazine/newspaper.

Lastly if you are sending proposals to companies not advertising for sponsorship be selective. Make sure you have good knowledge on the company you are writing to, use their products and really believe in them! Writing to your local shops is really worth doing or go and see them in person.

And most importantly get at least one person to read through your application for grammar and spelling mistakes, nothing worse!

I hope you have found this helpful & Good Luck :)

Well I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas & New Year break, what I thought was going to be a quiet one in the horsey department turned out to be a full 4 days of horsey fun and competing. 

My friend Holly Gillott who runs www.fchorsesforsale.co.uk (worth a look if you are searching for that perfect horse) invited Puzzle & I down to hers to stay and help out with her youngsters at Arena UK as well as getting the chance to improve my SJing with Puzzle.  

We it certainly helped us both more than I can say! We can away over the 3 days with a 1st,1st, and 3rd in the Newcomers! I was so happy with how Puzzle had performed the long break from after competing at Osberton has done her the world of good. Plus the extra help from a show jumping pro such as Holly how could we not improve! I couldn't believe that we had managed to jump 3 double clear at 1.10m and pushing 1.15m in the jump off. Normally Puzzle can just catch a pole but all those fences and she didn't touch one! Well impressed!

Bring on the 2012 season I say! 

Candy however has been trying her hoof at hunting. We went out with the High Peak Hunt for the traditional Boxing day meet, it wasn't the best .. a lot of waiting around which is good on one hand for teaching candy manors but when it then comes to jump out of cold blood.. it proves more difficult and we ended up taking a tumble. Glad to report we are both ok! Phew! Think we will stick to blood hounding!

Puzzle went out with the Readyfields on New Years day which was held at Osberton. It was a very forward moving meet which lots of jumps. Puzzle was in her element and scared me to death going over some of those fences chasing the horse in front! I never knew she could gallop so fast.. I don't think we will be having any problems meeting the time cross country for a 2*! After dropping her bit to the last ring on the gag and tightening the nose band I had just enough breaks to control her! 

So what's next?
I am currently just writing up my next article for Equestrian Life Magazine. The recent January issue is now out with my Pony Club special and features lots of Barlow members so definitely worth a read. You can find them in most local tack shops. I am hoping to get out and do some more BSJA with both horses as well as start lessons up again with Sarah Healy. 

Hope you are all having fun with planning your 2012 season. There is a fantastic ODE at Osberton in February coming up so for those of you who are close enough would be a great one to start with.