We might already be on the countdown for Xmas, but I am already counting down the days until the 2018 Eventing season starts again too!! Let's face it that is way more exciting!! 

I managed to finally find half an hour to complete our 2017 stats! So here goes... 

2017 Stats

• 8 Double Clears
• 6 Top 10 Placings
  
• 4 Top 3 Placings
  
• 6 sub 30 dressage scores
  
• 11 XC Clear rounds
  
• 10 Show Jumping Clear Rounds
  
• 7 No time Faults
  
• 15 Completed Events
  
• 66 Foundation Points
  
• 2 Regional Final Qualifications 
  
• 1 Win! 
  

So looking back at our season I am extremely proud of what Annie & I have achieved. Its by far the most noticeable that Annie has grown up and started to settle down. What a difference a year makes! 

And the buzz certainly hasn't stopped with our season ending. We have been up for some fantastic awards and now we are up for an amazing sponsorship opportunity with FMBs Therapy Systems to win the use of their Activo- Med Rug. I know this would be a huge benefit to Annie next season and really could be the icing on the cake to help us finally get to Badminton Grassroots Final. She has been so close, we just need those extra few marks and I feel this could really make the difference. 

She has always been easily distracted and tense in the dressage over the slightest thing, I have had to work extremely hard to fool her into a false sense of security to help her relax, which is really difficult when your nervous yourself! 

Annie has always been difficult to get on as she is cold backed. This makes it much harder for her to relax in the initial warm up, The Activo-Med rug would help warm up her muscles prior to me getting on and also help to warm her down properly which is so important. 

So how can I win this amazing piece of kit? I need to get as many likes and comments on my picture and video as possible, Now I am against some of the very best social media riders and inspirational stories you can imagine, I keep pinching myself to think I made it to the top 10.. just wow! I might not have the most stand out story behind us, but I represent the majority, I am a working rider, I work 5 and even 6 day weeks to pay for my best friend. So we can go Eventing and enjoy camps and training regularly together. Through the winter I barely get to ride, I look forward to the lighter nights so I can ride out with my girl and hack down for lessons, I am not in the saddle every day, I don't get to ride 5 horses a day. Its difficult to stay brave, its hard to feel confident when your not in the saddle as much as you should be, but I don't moan, I get on with it and enjoy every minute I spend with my horse like most others out there. We don't have unlimited budgets, we don't have facilities on site, but that doesn't matter, it doesn't put us off, it only makes the success more satisfying! That illusive win when you finally get it after 4 years of trying nobody can take that away and the feeling. No one. 


SO please please please help me win this for Annie, she really does deserve it and would seriously benefit from it, 


​
Link Below to like my picture 
https://www.facebook.com/FMBsTherapySystems/photos/pcb.1762140307144263/1762123833812577/?type=3&theater


Link below to like/comment on my video

https://www.facebook.com/BecciHarroldEventing/videos/1621331517925965/

It might be the end of the season, but its not the end of good news! I was delighted to find out I had made it through as a finalist for the Haynet Equestrian Blogger of the year. Now this award really does mean a great deal to me as I've only being blogging since February 2011!!! (look right and see the long list of months and blogs I've written since day 1 of the website)

I've learnt such a lot over the 7 years, not just spelling and grammar, but how to write more intriguing-I think you'd call it anyway. So why should you vote for me... well I'm up against some real top class bloggers so really do need a helping hand, and more importantly there is some fantastic prizes on offer. The main reason to vote for me is so I can wear the 2017 blogger of the year badge proudly for all the years worth of blogs that I never even knew I'd done so many of! Seriously though to receive recognition when you least expect it means such a lot and I am grateful to even be able to display the finalist badge on my website. 

The voting is open only for a couple more days- You can click on this link to register your vote, a simple click on a name (my name please!) and then pop your email in and waalaaaa done! 
Thank you very much

https://s.surveyplanet.com/SySrs0gpZ


Also for more information on the award, finalist and prizes please visit 
​http://hay-net.co.uk/finalists-in-the-equestrian-blogger-of-the-year-2017-announced/​

Ahhhhh and finally sat down on the sofa able to write my latest blog! Everything seems to have come all at once... I will start at the beginning! 

Its been a hectic couple of weeks, with lots of exciting things happening on the trade stand front I feel like my feet haven't touched the ground! 

Annie had a easy week after Frickley which didn't quite go to plan for us, we didn't dwell on it though as sometimes its one of those things. We managed to fit one ride in before Moreton Morrell with my trainer Sarah Healy, which went really well. I then had work commitments so didn't get to ride her again before the Saturday. I begged my mum to give her a quick school on the Friday to see how she was feeling, and I was so grateful she did as finally we scored the best dressage to lead on a 26.5 (I will let her take a little credit for that!!) It was the first time in a while I decided to look what dressage I got before show jumping, I did feel slightly wobbly afterwards wondering why I went to look!

Mum kept me calm and focused. Her best comment was 'right pretend your at the very bottom, you've got to jump a double clear to climb the leaderboard' It seemed to work!! Annie jumped out of her skin show jumping for a lovely clear round. Now the pressure was on! I had walked the XC trying not to think too much about my worst fence which was a corner to a triple brush, GULP! I managed to keep my nerve just about! We finished CLEAR wooohooo. But I looked at my watch and had gone too fast nooooo! I was thinking about 10 seconds too fast, but when I looked the scores I had finished in 5m 12, so I was like thats strange I thought the optimum time was 5m 35. Then mum said no look it was 5m 25 you Wally.... thank goodness I had just set my watch wrong.  

Then there it was in writing a NUMBER 1 next to my name eeeeeee, finally after 4 years of trying we finally got the win together. WOOP WOOP! We finished on our dressage of 26.5 to win by over 6 points. We now have a quiet few weeks before our last event at Norton Disney. 

Whilst I was up on cloud 9 somewhere, I then got a phone call to say I was a finalist for the Horse and Hound Pikeur Amateur Rider of the Year.. OH MY! Wow I was absolutely shocked! I have been invited to the ball in November where the winner will be announced. To win I need everyone to take 2 seconds out of there time to vote for me 

Can I just add there is no sign up forms just 1 simple click next to my next and then click the vote button! Thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to vote I really appreciate it. I class myself as a true amateur rider. I work to fuel my eventing hobby and I love every single thing about the sport. I have loved producing Annie up the levels, it feels so rewarding to be acknowledged for an award like this. I really hope we can take the title and continue to promote and encourage other amateur riders. 

​On first inspection, they looked beautiful very sleek and lovely soft leather to touch.
I couldn't wait to slip them on so here I am walking round the office at work with some strange looks lol!!

The were very close fitting on the calf and really hugged in the right places. I particularly like the elasticated part at the back which will soon allow the boots to give once been ridden in once or twice. The design is very current and I like the toe detail and elasticated laces. 

​On first inspection, they looked beautiful very sleek and lovely soft leather to touch.
I couldn't wait to slip them on so here I am walking round the office at work with some strange looks lol!!

The were very close fitting on the calf and really hugged in the right places. I particularly like the elasticated part at the back which will soon allow the boots to give once been ridden in once or twice. The design is very current and I like the toe detail and elasticated laces. 

The length was possibly a tad too long for me although I am only 5ft 5, I just felt when I bent my knee (pretending to be sat on a horse que more odd looks!!) it was just slightly taller than I am used to and did crumble and bend over slightly. I'm hoping that when I have ridden in them they will drop a bit as most boots do so they should then be OK height wise.

I have waited until I had worn the boots religiously for a month to give the most accurate review. I found on the third time of schooling and hacking in them they had dropped a lot so now fitted so much better on the height I previously mentioned. They still kept the secure fit on the calf and had plenty of room around the ankle. They were super easy to clean and looked brand new every time. I found them really grippy and they kept my lower leg in the correct position. The leather is great quality and I really love the look of them. Ive had lots of compliments on how smart and elegant they look. I definitely think they make my leg look longer in the saddle which is a huge bonus being small! 


​
These boots retail at £214.99

To find your local stockist and more about sizes available please visit 
www.dublinclothing.co.uk/products/tall-boots/new-dublin-galtymore-tall-field-boots

OK so I am still buzzing writing this blog! I have watched my dressage a couple of times and for once I am actually really happy with the outcome! If you have followed my journey for some time now you'll understand the difficulties I've had with dressage in the past and how miserable it can make you feel when you don't get the score you think your horse deserves ! Don't get me wrong I haven't been bottom of the pack all the time, but its been difficult to break the 30 barrier with my horses because its my worst phase and lets face it we can't be good at everything...!

So we were meant to be at Skipton last weekend for our first Regional Final, however with the weather they had on the run up to the event they decided to cancel... this was rather disappointing for everyone, however we quickly re-routed and entered Bold Heath for this weekend just gone. I didn't see my section until I picked up my number and I must admit my eyes scrolled down the list thinking wow there are some really good riders and dressage horses in this one! We even followed a Horsebox into the event saying 'Dressage Horses' on the back, Mum and I joked about it at the time! 

Again the weather wasn't kind to us... we started warming up in lovely sunshine, only for us to get caught in a quick downpour. Luckily the only thing that bothered Annie for a moment was the two little trees on the entrance to the arena. When I was trotting around the outside, Annie felt so free and happy, I went past Mum with a huge smile on my face whispering 'I love this horse' and its true! I've had her 4 years now and its just all clicked, she knows her job and is so happy doing what she loves. We both are! She flicked her toes for so many 8's, I was over the moon when I saw the test sheet it was a real boost. We just lost of couple of marks on the halts where she lost her balance and wasn't square. Some more practise needed at these now. I was so delighted to see we had scored a 25... yes a 25 eeee not often you see a score like that and I was bloody delighted.. go Annie, up there amongst them! I must admit I didn't see the score and wasn't planning on finding out until after I had completed cross country to ease the nerves. 

Show jumping again the warm up was lovely in sunshine, but by the time it was my turn we were jumping in another downpour and was wet through. Annie thankfully wasn't phased and it probably helped I couldn't see the fences so I couldn't mess up the striding! We jumped another clear YEY! Onwards to cross country, a quick change and down we went, Annie wasn't as strong as she can be in previous warm ups, it was actually very calm and quiet! As I was just about to enter the start box I heard our name followed by 'and a dressage score of twen...lalalala I quickly said myself not wanting to hear it at that very moment! I thought I better get my foot down at the start as the questions came in the middle of the course. She really enjoyed the galloping straights and took all the fences on. When we got to the questions she was so responsive and listened to me even still in the snaffle.. YES! We cruised home 8 seconds or so under the optimum time and had a HUGE smile on our faces.  

Mum came running over did you hear what dressage you got.... errrrm kind off I replied. What was it. Mum screamed a 25 a 25 eeeeee!! Yes my little Annie you deserve that! We heard over the tannoy we were up there challenging the current leader. Unfortunately just 1 point behind him as he scored a 24 dressage! A lady snook into 2nd with a 24.8 and there was us in 3rd position absolutely thrilled to say the least. A friend did comment 'what you got a 25 and didn't win!" haha seems to be the way with all these dressage divas! Or can I call myself one of those yet.. hmmm maybe not just yet! 

Annie's round featured above. Also Super X Country are on the look out for product testers, if you would like to register your interest pop your email in below to sign up. They will be picking one tester a month which will feature in their monthly newsletter and social media pages. 

...your having fun! I can't believe its been so long since my last blog. I feel like I haven't had a minute to even do an update so what have I been doing?! 

Well apart from work work and more work I've managed to get some eventing in and lots of fantastic training. So to quickly bring you up to date our next event after Shelford was Speetley. I really enjoy this event as its very local to us and we had a great run there coming 2nd last year. However the weather doesn't seem to be kind to them and it was no change this year! We did our dressage in torrential rain (no exaggeration!) Annie wasn't impressed and neither was I so we decided to withdraw and save her for another day after loosing a shoe at Shelford the week before as well. 

Luckily it was only 2 weeks until our next even Skipton. Annie scored a super 28.3 to leave us in a great position going into the jumping phases. I must say I got hit with some serious nerves and didn't even want to continue in case it went wrong! Luckily my mum pulled me together giving me so much confidence we jumped an amazing double clear and I came back smiling! It was a tough XC so I was so pleased that Annie flew round making it feel easy. It was also the first time I took things back to basic putting her in a snaffle and drop bridle combination which she really seemed to love. 

We then took her to Northallerton, their second event of the year. The dressage wasn't great if I'm honest I just didn't ride her very 'together', we were sniffing up the rear good & proper with a 35.8. (22nd to be exact!) We tootled off to enjoy the jumping and we had super rounds with a stunning double clear to move us up 16 bloody places to finish in 6th wooohooo. Less pressure= more fun !!!

We are now nearly up to speed! Which bring me to our recent event this weekend at another local event Frickley. 

We witnessed all 3 seasons in the space of dressage to XC. Dressage was in the boiling hot summer weather and Annie did a beautiful test -a real improvement I felt. I decided not to check out my score until the very end after letting the pressure get to me and I was starting to not enjoy the days Eventing as much. It definitely worked and I'd recommend it to anyone who gets really nervous.

Frickley crew were hot on it moving all the show jumps a few feet to the side of the previous class which made a big difference and I was so grateful as it was really cut up and deep in between. The first 3 competitors had it tough with a 3 eliminations one after the other. Didn't do much for the nerves or the observers ! Annie coped pretty well (I did trot around a few sharp corners as I felt her slipping) we came out with 4 faults which I was delighted with considering the conditions.

Cross county was a testing course and I was second to run just as the heavens opened. I let Annie set the pace and we had such a lovely confident round (despite not being able to see very well!)- we probs enjoyed ourselves a little too much taking our time in places to make sure we can home on 4 legs, as we picked up 10 time faults (unlike us), which after finding out we did a super 29.3 dressage even with a pole left us in 4th spot. We ended up 12th just outside placings with the added time faults, so no ribbon this time but a fab happy FUN days Eventing  huge thanks to all the volunteers at Frickley top job keeping the show on the road.

Next top Skipton regional final! 

What a fantastic bank holiday its been. I'm sat at my desk at work wishing I could play ponies all day everyday! Unfortunately that wouldn't pay the bills or we'd all be doing it! I took Annie first to Shelford on the Monday for the BE100. She was glad to be back out and felt fantastic scoring a 32.3 dressage to keep us in the top 10.

​Show jumping she was a  little wild but jumped another careful round to add to her record 5 out of 6 clear. Cross country was a little slippy in places due to the drizzling rain so we took it careful in places for a nice clear round. Unfortunately we came back without a shoe (lost at fence 10) which would of explained the sliding around into some fences! The time crept up on us and we picked up 1.2 penalties to add to our dressage which knocked us from 4th spot to 7th. Still a fab day and I was delighted with how much Annie enjoyed herself in her new shoes! 

We were straight back the next day for Goldie's first ever event. The sun was shining and Goldie's ears were pricked the whole day. We gave her lots of time to walk around the dressage warm up to get used to the atmosphere and she was great. She soon settled and warmed up really well. The test went better than I expected, even with a little unplanned exit out the arena she scored a fab 33.3 to put her in the top 6 with some lovely promising comments for the future. 

Show jumping was a challenge! I had someone come up to me afterwords to say well rode so it must of looked as hard work as it felt! She had done a lovely clear round on Sunday at the local riding club and although was a little green was still moving forwards so I was expecting a similar round. As soon as I went towards fence 1 she went so green on me and like a snake! Everything was super scary and meant she needed to jump twice the size to clear it! We also had some baby napping between fence 1-2 with a tight turn back. This they decided to give me 4 penalties for a disobedience which I can completely understand, however was a little unfair as I saw another 2 horses rear and nap before fences with no faults added! But hey ho I was delighted she jumped round clear despite the green moments! 

Cross country a didn't know what to expect, she warmed up really nice so I was feeling confident going out the start box. I took our time trotting into the first before picking up canter going into fence 2. Again we had a few nappy moments towards home but with encouragement we made it all the way round clear to fence 16, the water. I knew she would be green at this so went back to walk. She hovered on the edge before going in and then jumped the last 2 fences lovely after to finish. I must say I was a little disappointed to see they had given me 60 pens at the water, but mum didn't get any video footage so wasn't any point questioning after being down that road before!  I was over the moon with her first ODE experience and I cannot wait to get her back out again! 

Best place to be when its raining... inside at work! So glad we are having some rain for the forthcoming events. There has been a few changes since my last event. Goldie has taken center stage as she headed to her first dressage competition! In fact her first ever competition. She behaved so well and did two beautiful tests to pick up her first red ribbon! We were delighted with her and shes now booked into her first event in 2 weeks time. 

We had a seriously amazing time at Badminton thanks to Sam! She really spoiled us with a trip in their amazing private plane (now thats how to arrive in style!) and she booked the VIP on X Country day so we were next to the action which was definitely the best seat in the house! 

More exciting news- we are delighted to be part of the new Horsequest Advantage team. The website has just gone live and you can now sign up to see some amazing offers they have 
https://www.horsequestadvantage.co.uk/ 


Keep an eye out for lots more great offers I will be sharing and product reviews too to keep you in the loop. 

It wouldn't be Eventing if it didn't come with its thrills and spills now would it! What a day we had an Eland, it started on a real high trucking along discussing plans for the season and about what kind of lorry we would go for next with ours going to its new owner on Tuesday… (sad face) 

We nailed the warm up again after another fab lesson with Sarah Healy on Thursday. She did a lovely test probably the most accurate and relaxed test she's done for a long while. We were happy with the score of 28.3 even if there was a 21 in the section we were still left in the top 10 overall. 

Off we went show jumping, she warmed up great and jumped the first half of the course her usual happy self! The second to last fence we seemed to get totally wrong, not sure who was to blame, but we both saw different things and I ended up getting catapulted onto the pommel thinking glad I wasn't a boy at that moment in time!! I managed to scrambled back into the saddle, but then Annie thought it would be fun take off! God knows how but I just managed to wing my way back to the next fence.. this resulted in 2 poles down at the end of the course.. bummer! 

Of we popped to cross country trying not to dwell on the not so great round we just did! The course seemed to be more challenging than in previous years and there were some good old rider frighteners along the way. Thankfully mine/or Annie's eye was back in! And we jumped a super confident clear round just 3 seconds over the optimum with 1.2 time to add. Even with the 2 poles we just finished outside the top 10. Looking forward to Northallerton next weekend, a new event for us both. 

Wow it's been rather quiet on here! I haven't blogged since October and I can tell you its gone unbelievably quick. Lets get started shall we... so over the winter Goldie has been a focus for me and every training session I have done with her has been a complete joy. She is such a quick leaner and I absolutely love riding her. She's really comfy, obedient and has a great brain, I must say she reminds me such a lot of Candy. Lucky me!

Her transitions are now established.  She's a lot straighter to ride, and she loves to jump... yipeeee!! 
We dragged some cut down tree branches into the menage the other day and popped them under a fence. I was sitting tight expecting at least a little look or a balloon jump, but nope. She just popped over it sweet as pie! We have also done little skinnies and once she locks on she goes. I mean don't get me wrong we have had our fair share of moments! Like feet been planted, testing out the reserve gear and a few bucks thrown in for good measure!! The worst was her quick tendency to handbrake stop.. Luckily I had my Dublin grip breeches so no eating dirt yet! She is a real poppet to handle, much like a dog. I think we owe a lot of that to Helen & Laura Wild who did the most brilliant job a long with mother Harrold breaking her in. The plan for Goldie next is to take her on the farm ride at Somerford to experience some real life XC jumps.

Annie has had a very relaxing winter, mainly teaching Goldie how to hack out with the traffic and lorries around us. She has picked that up well and is perfect on the road. We managed to get some show jump training in before our first BE at Epworth. Annie was brilliant she jumped double clear in the blue chip champs qualifier and picked 4th place to qualify. We then did the discovery and she flew round again double clear for 5th place winning back our entry fees which was a nice change! The week after was the big day. We decided to get straight out at 100 level and I am glad we did. She jumped an ace double clear making it feel very easy. We finished just out the top 10 as the dressage was very closely scored. I was happy with my mark of 34.8 after a very exuberant warm up you could call it! Luckily she behaved fairly well in the test containing her excitement, just a few tense moments which keep us out of placings. I've decided to take her out for some pure dressage this Saturday to try and get her more relaxed with it before our next event Sunday competing at Osberton in the Horse Trials qualifier. 

We have a few weeks until our next BE event. I decided to give up the blue chip champs so I could get a run in at Breckenbrough. We are Eventers after all, but it would of been nice to go and it was unfortunate that they clashed. The aim this year is to pick up some more Badminton Regional Final qualifications and then to decide whether to hold back another year or go for Novice. Time will tell! I've also been keeping myself busy over the winter. Determined to shift the Xmas weight plus the weight of being comfortable for the last few years!  I joined the Prime Mover group in January which has been life changing. I signed up for the 21 day transformation and boy was it that! The trainers provided me with a strict 21 day nutrition plan and a 4x a week training session for 45mins. These included a range of HIIT (high intensive interval training) It worked fantastic for me. In the 21 days I lost 101bs, 11cm from my abdomen, 5cm from my waist, hips and arms and 1cm from my thigh. I felt so fantastic I decided to join for another month. I've now been a member for over 2 month going 3x week and still love every part of the training. It fits in with my work and horses, its short, sweet and very effective.I feel stronger and more confident on the horse. I've gone up x2 classes in weights so can now carry full water buckets with ease ;) Today I had my 4 weekly measure and did some number crunching! 1 stone lost in total, 11cm from abdomen, 6.5 waist, 3cm from thigh, 9.5 from wait and 3cm from arms. Woohooo!! 

This weekend has been fab, I took Annie for some dressage practice to try and nail this tension! It seemed to work, we gave her a much longer warm up and she scored a 77.77% to win! I was more excited that I got a 9 for my riding... its been a while!! Then we did another test and she scored over 75% it would of been similar to the first if she hadn't spotted the judges in the box! The judge popped her head out "I don't need to see your belly thank you" ooops naughty Annie!! 

The following day was the BRC Horse trial qualifier at Osberton. We had another great day scoring a 29.7 double clear to win our section! The EMDG team also won so we are all off to the champs for another year yippeee!! Next up Breckenbrough in a few weeks.