Candy went to Solihull BE 90 today and brought me back a lovely rosette along with some pennies! (this went straight to mum for "fuel costs"!) We had such an early starting setting our alarms for 5! We got their in plenty of time so managed to run round the cross country before my dressage. The course was really nice nothing to tricky and had a great grass coverage. 

We got ready and headed over to dressage she warmed up really nice only having to give her a few taps to wake up! She went in and did a really nice consistent test only to go and pull a 29!! yes 29! Mum & I was quietly celebrating my personal best!!! Candy got lots of 8's and had really nice comments such "much to like, will progress well once flows a little more forward" Nice one Candy.  My legs were jelly when I came out because my legs never stopped kicking!! 

We were really pleased to here the showjumping was on their amazing huge outdoor arena. She did a nice round just knocked one, not like her to leave a front leg..! On to cross country.. the count down lady set me off so quickly I didn't even manage to get in the start box before she called go! Maybe this was why I got one second over the optimum! grrrr! Candy flew round and for once I didn't have to work as hard.. I think she is finally getting the idea of galloping and jumping!! She was really forward and didn't look twice at anything! After we had finished I checked out the result board where she was 6th out of 36 after the dressage. She finished on 33.4 and came 4th! Really pleased big pat for candy. Check out the course pictures and her round below. Now off to bed as up again at 5 tomorrow for Puzzle's round at Bradwall. 

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Today Candy & I went along to the High Peak team PC showjumping held at Bakewell Showground. I decided to enter her into the 90cm and 1m. It was red hot around 27 degrees and when we got there for our round they were running over and hour late! Eventually we got to do our round. It was a 1 phase so if you jumped 1-9 fences clear you went straight on 10-17 fences which was then timed. Candy jumped the first 1-9 clear but just knocked one pole in the jump off. My team was Charlotte Heath Smith, Katie Midgley,  Harlea Spencer and myself. We managed to pull 3rd place.

Onto the 1m class which my team was slightly changed to myself, Rebecca Mottershaw and Katie Midgley. Again Candy jumped a nice round but after the first I think she new the poles were plastic.. our team still managed to get 4th as there was lots of poles flying around! Well done team :D

Today Puzzle & I went to Willoughby Lodge Farm to train with non other than Yogi himself! I was very excited to meet him and see what he could do to help us both on our way to 1 star. The place itself was fantastic the arena had such a wide range of fences all plastic jump for joy ranging from arrowheads to houses to full set of jazzy showjumps, as well as their own water complex and bank in the middle of the menage. We started with a upright on a circle with placing poles to encourage them to spring up over the fence. At first I was trying to ride a stride to the placing pole.. this was where I was going wrong! I had to ride a stride to the fence and forget about the poles on the floor. With that thought in my head Puzzle jumped lovely even when he kept putting it up!

We then went onto doing 2 doubles on 5 short strides, again to encourage her to be more careful and jump collected rather than long and flat. She did this exercise really well not touching a pole, even when he put it up.

After this exercise we tied a few fences together which she jumped really well incorporating the cross country fences and water, bank complex. Yogi spotted I needed to keep my left leg more forward  and that I should try to not hold onto her too long.. always my problem over checking! Thanks Yogi :D

Yesterday we headed to Kelsall Hill in the glorious sunshine and this time we didn't have to leave until 11am! When we got there I had enough time to walk the cross country before dressage and was so excited to take Puzzle round. I got her ready for dressage which had changed fields and when I found out which arena I was in I was a bit guttered as it was next to the busy road with huge lorries and bikes flying past which I thought might distract Puzzle... I was wrong she did a lovely accurate test f you watch the video and  showed her mediums well. I thought the judges were a bit mean at the start giving her a couple of 5's but the rest of the test were 7's so she pulled a 37.6 (I also think if it feels nice expect the worst mark and if it feels rubbish it will be a good score.. well always seems to be that way for me I can never guess what I am going to get!) So she was around half way after dressage, we went into the show jump arena which was not nice in my opinion! It was very dry and extremely busy and when It was meant to be my time there were still 15 horses to go.. annoying! She was a bit jumpy as the sun was shining bright on the fences but she jumped round the course really nice just tapping the 2nd part of the first double and coming out with 4 faults. 

Now for my favourite bit!  It was a testing first novice cross country run as they had made great changes and added an extra loop to the track. There was a big drop into water which my friend Anna told me great advice just keep your head up and look at the next fence which was a boat a few strides out of the water. This time the drop rode amazing and smooth with no hesitation from Puzzle at all she was on top form flying round! There was also a skinny on a slight hill to a corner which I chose to ride as a dog leg to avoid a run out and the very narrow corner! I kept her collected down the hill and she jump it lovely. I took pictures of the course which am sure you will love to look at. The optimum time was quick at 4.13 and I new I had to push on but Puzzle was on such a roll I just got off her back and she glided round in 4.11 again 2 seconds to spare! She finished the day well with a score of 41.6 coming 14th out of 40 odd which I was pleased at for her first novice run. Next BE run for Puzzle is Bradwall, then Solihull with Candy.

Boy has gone to his new home with Phillipa who am sure will have lots of fun together already taking him out to their first Riding Club Clinic which was a great success. I wish them lots of luck and hope to see them about. Big thanks to Holly as well.. hope you like your surprise! :D

I wanted to take Puzzle to jump round a full up 1.10m BSJA course ready for her first novice run of the season. She warmed up really nice and I jumped off to walk the course! It had all my worst nightmares! A triple and a double plus a sharp turn right to a big spread I new I had to react quickly to make sure I landed on the right lead and then pick a good line to ride to. There seemed to be lots of fences but she jumped round amazing and it felt easy to her. I saw a good line to fence 3 but I think the width of the spread caught Puzzle out and she didn't quite judge it just knocking it. She came out with 4 faults and a foot perfect round which gave us both lots of confidence for Kelsall... eeee excited!! Got her round of video see what you think.. next time I reckon we will brave the 1.20m!!

Puzzle has had a few more lessons with Sarah Healy working on the jumping and dressage. After warming up Sarah had me on a 10m circle around a fence to then come across the angle to a upright which every time I came to it she then put up and up finishing at 1.25m! I couldn't believe how big she could jump from such a tight circle but it got her on the hocks enabling her to jump much bigger. When we lowered them to 1.15m she flew round so confidently not touching a thing! I learnt that day speed is not the way to get over a big fence! All you need is a collected medium canter and you can jump anything! Maybe that's where I was going wrong in the past??!

We took Candy to the Belvoir ODE held at Oasby, it was such a lovely day at 20 degrees! The ground was really baked which was the down side and didn't suit Candy great so we decided to take her studs out, this did help but we had already done the dressage! It wasn't one of her best tests, but in places it was nice and she managed to pull a 31.1. I was in two minds whether to run her the other phases but mother convinced me! She did a nice clear show jump round just got close to a few but I think that was due to the ground. We then went on to the cross country which suited Candy well as it was fairly flat. There was a few questions, fence 3 was a big step down and one stride to another big step up which was apparently in the Novice BE track. The water fence had a fairly big drop into it followed by a jump out, which BE90 tracks never have in you only ever have to trot in and jump out. Candy was a bit hesitant at it as you can see in the video but with a bit of encouragement from me she just dropped off it really nicely. She did a really nice round again just getting close to a few and it was nice not to have a optimum time with the ground being so hard I just cantered her round with no pressure. Candy finished on her score of 31.1 and came 2nd! Nice one Candy! 

Another early start...! Dressage was at 9.30 and it took us nearly 2 hours to get there due to sat nav telling us a stupid route so I didn't have much time to warm up. I started to think that was actually a good thing as after 10 minutes Candy started to die on me and the spurs came out! When I had finished the test I felt I could of done a lot better as bits where a bit wobbly! She broke into trot once in the canter circle, fell out her shoulder through one corner, and her halt was wonkey! But not too bad for a 4 year old after all! 

I then decided to go down to the show jumps a bit earlier than my time as I had under one hour to walk the whole cross country course and get back on! Luckily there wasn't many waiting and I was straight in. The show jump course was very full of fences as they had the BE80 course right next to the BE90 which made my fences look a lot bigger! Candy did a lovely clear round.. its nice to be able to relax in the show jump phase a little as she is a careful jumper. (touch wood!)

I jumped off quickly and took the doggies round the cross country course with me, I didn't have to run round this time so managed to get pictures of the BE90 course. I thought the course was really nice, nothing too scary or big.. although there was a wide range of fences such as a ditches, steps, water with a jump out followed by another fence one stride away, a fair few skinnies, combinations on angles, and a brush fence right on the top of a hill so there was a slight drop after. I was worried that Candy might not make the time as her previous 4 year old classes you can go round in your own time. When I got back from walking the course mum ran onto have a look at the dressage scores, she rang me up saying guess what you got.. I guessed 38 but she managed to pull a 33.5 which we both were dead chuffed about! 

She warmed up really nice and had lots of people saying how lovely and calm she looked.. (I think she just didn't realize we were going cross country!) The first few fences she wanted to jump out of a show jumping pace so she ended up putting a small stride in, after the 4th fence she opened up well and I tried to keep a forward canter to the rest of the fences. Candy came back with a clear round and was just inside the time by 2 seconds to spare! phew! She finished on her dressage score of 33.5 and came 6th winning me a lovely rosette as well as a Blue Chip voucher...(shame I don't use Blue Chip might have to see what they have!) Hopefully I will aim Candy at Solihull BE90 as her next BE run. Hope the cross country pictures are of use to you!