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Hi everyone, well, what a month May has been! With 2 top five placings - our first BE win and another visit from the vet.
To start off we took Sid to Keysoe for the BE100 on 8th/9th. After a long 3 ½ hour journey there, lots of snacks and 80’s music we arrived Saturday evening. Sid settled in so well at the stables, clearly got lots of sleep due to the number of poo-stains he had Sunday morning! We walked the course in the morning, and my first initial reaction…LOTS OF LEG!!! It was a big bold course with lots of technical questions, but thankfully Sid excels with combinations. I can’t lie, I was a bit of a nervous wreck in the morning and didn’t feel well at all. Feeling very dizzy and lacking in energy I managed to down a coffee, and 4 bottles of Lucozade throughout the day.
Anyway, we started dressage Sunday afternoon, and he was warming up really nicely, and felt very energetic. He went in to the arena, had a good spook at the judges box, then went down the centre line and produced a lovely test for 28.8! I was so pleased with this as it feels like I’m managing to really understand how to ride him properly and get him to step out a bit more. However, we then had Show Jumping.
For some reason I seemed to have forgotten how to ride in the SJ at Keysoe and simply wasn’t riding him how I knew to at all! Luckily, Sid is amazing and very forgiving for only one pole down. Onto cross country, what can I say, he was absolutely amazing and simply flew round, making everything feel so easy and flowing, round a course causing quite a few issues, finishing clear inside the time! Finishing on a score of 32.8 and to top it all off we came in 4TH!
Next up, Oscar. As much as I love this horse, he really is the most accident-prone horse I have ever met in my life. Even after having physio every 6 weeks after his fracture, we have discovered some slight pain in his Sacroiliac Joint, probably due to his inability to behave himself in the field! So, we gave him a week or so off, and then he came in with a sliced open leg and heel (even with huge overreach boots! How it’s possible I will never know!). This resulted in box rest for two days, antibiotics and Danilon to prevent any infection. He is now back out in the field and back to his usual ways of jumping into whatever field he wishes to be in. He is receiving some intense physio to see if we can loosen up those muscles over his bum and back, and in the meantime just doing some quiet walking work to ensure we don’t make the pain worse. Besides all this, he is very happy getting some lovely spring grass and massages! .
Then, on the 23rd we went to Tweseldown for the BE100ou18 with Sidney. And it did not turn out to be the day we expected at all! Once again, I was very nervous and had a panic the night before because I couldn’t find my Ariat socks. (I always compete in these socks and have got a bit superstitious, hoping I’m not the only one!) Anyway, panic over…I found my socks!! We walked the course the night before, and it was a lovely big bold course but with lots of testing questions that definitely needed some attacking riding! Absolutely beautiful test, in the rain. He felt so light and supple, feeling really relaxed but still energetic to get a 23.3!!! Best test of the whole day! This meant we were leading our section.
We then had the Show Jumping, it was a much-improved round from Keysoe, I felt a bit more confident going in after having a lesson with my trainer, Justin Clubley, the Wednesday before (kindly funded by HorseQuest!). Anyway, it was a much more flowing round just to have one really unlucky pole, where I didn’t quite shorten him enough in a related distance going down-hill to an upright.
I must admit I was very annoyed with myself because I knew our dressage score put us in contention, but I had to put it behind me and focus on the cross country because I knew it was causing quite a few issues. Sid being the saint he is flew round the course, posting another clear inside the time! And to my complete surprise…we WON! I still can’t believe it because it’s been a dream of mine to win a BE let alone the u18 section, and against some very fancy horses, Sid was just amazing. (Check out the socials for videos!)
Unfortunately, we made the decision to withdraw him from Borde Hill BE100 this weekend as he has a very slight upper respiratory tract infection, and after such a great start to the season we feel its just not worth running him. Also, we would rather save him for the u18 training at the beginning of June and Rackham u18 on the 19th.
Thank you for reading, I hope you’ve all been able to get out competing and training and not got too wet in England’s crazy weather!
Danni x
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