Skipton, Haras du Pin and Hendersyde Park

Back again.  Sorry I haven't blogged for a while, but its been a busy time.  Horses are all well and I've had some mixed results of late, but this always happens when you are pushing through the levels and trying to improve the horses.  On the whole though, this years objectives have been reached, Donnermere has been selected for Weston Park teams, Kelly's Lad has improved and shows signs of being my top horse of the future.  Anyway, the events have gone as follows:-

SKIPTON (2)

Kelly's Lad (Louis) was entered in the 5yo class at Skipton.  We were sure it wasn't going to cause him much problems as he had already completed Skipton (1) around the same height course and had found it fine.  He performed a nice test to score 33.5, although we think it should have been higher.  He did a lovely clear showjumping and flew round the cross country clear with 2.8 time faults.  He finished 9th in his section to unfortunately did not manage to qualify for the Young Horse Championships at Osberton which is a shame as he must be one of the nicest 5 year olds around.  But at least the 6 year old Championships next year are based on BE results and not on just one competition.

HENDERSYDE PARK

Louis was up at Hendersyde competing in the Scottish Championships at BE100 level.  He had qualified for this with a win at Floors Castle.  This was a day I would rather forget!  He performed a good dressage test for the 3rd best score in the section of 30.5.  He was doing cross country next as it was being run with the showjumping to take place at the end, which meant he was a little fresh going into cross country and was not really listening to me.  It was all going fine until the coffin where he jumped in and said 'no thanks' at the ditch and meant it.  He therefore got eliminated and that was that.  He will now go schooling over lots of ditches as he must need a reminder that they are not that scarey!

HARAS DU PIN (FRANCE)

How exciting it was to be competing in France.  We travelled with Jodie McGreggor and her mum over to France as she was also competing. 

Beanie travelled well and arrived feeling reasonably fresh from the long journey.  He had a full day before his dressage which was unfortunately very early on the first day of the dressage for the 1*, which had a huge amount of entries of well over 100.  He had done the arena walk the evening before his test so he had at least been in the arena, as it was on a surface and quite spooky with lots of flags and banners and wooden huts for the Judges to sit in.  Anyway, he warmed up fairly well and started the test well.  He got a little tense however when a tractor was driving about behind the hedge emptying the bins, but on the whole kept his composure.  We were a little disappointed with his score of 63.3 but most of the early horses were all in the 60's mark wise so we were ok about it.  However, the scoring did get alot better as the day progressed and we did feel that if he had been drawn later in the day would have got a much better mark.

The following day he showjumped well.  He did one of the only handful of clears of the day and pulled himself well up the board.  We were really pleased with him as it was quite a spooky course.

He cross countried well, although we was a little tentative at the first few fences as he had not been out since his bad round at Chomondeley Castle but he gained in confidence around the course and finished really enjoying himself.  It was anounced that he had 4 time faults and that was what our timing was as well, but when it went down on the board he was given 19 time faults, which we knew wasn't correct, so we challenged it but they wouldn't change it and they don't take a time at each fence, as they do in the UK, so there was no way of checking it.  Anyway that put him back down the board.  Although I did get invited to the mounted prize giving and was given a bottle of Champagne for being the youngest competitor at the competition, so that was nice!!  He arrived back in the UK please to be home and having lost a bit of weight so we decided not to compete him again until Allerton Park in a months time.

All in all, my first trip abroad was great experience and I must say a big thankyou to Heidi (Jodie McGreggor's mum) for taking us, Sue Carson for providing us with lovely saddle clothes and clothing, Jane Peters, Caroline Moore for helping me with my warm ups and all the support of the other British Juniors.

Until next time... Phoebe Powell and the eventing team.

July Event Update!

The weather has been good and some rain means the ground has softened off a little.

Burgham Horse Trials
Our next event was Burgham, a new event in Northumberland.  We walked the course on arrival and thought it was a well designed course, making good use of the hills and water features.  We new the showjumping would be a test for a 5 year old as it was next to the busy BSJA rings so there was lots of distractions.

Kelly's Lad was having a run in the BE100 section and we were hoping he was back to his usual self after Buckminster Park.  He performed a very nice dressage test, one of his best, although the judge only awarded him 39.0, which sounds a low score, but was 5th in the section.  He coped very well with the atmosphere in the showjumping with a lovely clear round.  The cross-country was a decent course and was a big enough challenge for him with two waters to negotiate.  He did a confident clear and finished within the time to complete on his dressage score and finish in 4th place overall.  I think he will be easily ready to upgrade to Novice in the near future.  His next outing will be the 5yo class at Skipton.

Cholmonderley Castle Horse Trials


Next outing for Donnermere (Beanie) was the OIu21 class at Cholmonderley Castle.  This was Beanie's first attempt at Intermediate cross country and it was at an event we were unfamiliar with, so we had no idea what the course would be like.

When we walked the course we thought it was big!  But not having walked many Intermediate courses, we were not sure how big it was for the level.  We made a decision to take the alternative at the open ditch at fence 11 (this was like the Cotesmore Leap at Burghley, and not much smaller!) and probably at the water as it was causing mayhem, even with experienced horses and riders at this level.

Anyway, first the dressage.  He performed a quite nice test, making a couple of small errors, but on the whole not bad, I was especially pleased with his leg yield as he has improved a lot in this movement.  He scored 35.0.  Most of the board was around the same mark, so the dressage wasn't going to be the deciding factor in the placings.

He showjumped a nice round, just having 4 faults, which was my fault, as I buried him at an upright.

The cross country started well, until he had a run out an A,B,C combination at fence 4, which was a bullfinch with a tight 5 stride turn to a very narrow tall triple brush, to a steeple chase fence.  He has never had a run out before and he got a bit upset with himself.  He jumped it fine second time, but he felt not quite on the job for the next few fences.  At fence 9, he jumped a hanging log on the brow of a hill and ran down the hill to a large brush corner on the turn, which looked like a maze of flags from Beanie's point of view!  He had a run out at this also, then after he jumped it, I decided retire him and call it a day.

Reflecting on it, the course was just too big for his first Intermediate, and lots of riders, who were much more experienced were struggling to get round without a penalty.  The U21 Trainers said it was a big course and not unlike a 2*.   I was pleased with his first two phases though, and as long as we choose the right course next time out at this level I am sure he will be fine.

Beanie will now go cross country schooling, and then its off to France for his 1* mid August.  I will let you know how he gets on.

Phoebe Powell and the Eventing Team

Aske and Buckminster Park - Update!

First weekend of July and we were competing at Aske Hall Horse Trials with Donnermere.  He was competing in the ONu18(q), which was the last qualifier for the Northern Region.  Donnermere (Beanie) has already completed two of this regions qualifiers, with double clears in both, so didn't really need to compete in this one, but as we had entered him as a back up qualifier, just in case, we went along for a run.

It was a very hot day and all the flys were out, and despite being covered liberally in fly spray, managed to get a horse fly attached to him in the dressage phase!  This spoilt the halt and walk movements as he was throwing his head around and biting at himself trying to remove the offending fly!  Anyway, not to worry, he got a respectable 38.0, which was a bit average for him but reasonable in the section.

The showjumping was a nice course and he performed a fairly nice round with an unlucky 4 faults at a parallel.

He flew round the cross country finding it easy and finishing well within the time limit.  He finished 5th in the section and it was a good performance overall.  He feels ready for his upgrade at the end of the month to Intermediate at Cholmonderley Castle and we look forward to see how well he copes.

In the meantime, he has been invited to compete at Haras du Pin in France in August by British Eventing as they feel that some promising combinations could benefit from International experience so we are very excited about that and are looking forward to it enormously.  This will be at 1* level.

BUCKMINSTER PARK

The following weekend we took Louis (Kellys Lad) to compete in a 5yo class at Buckminster Park.  We have never competed at this event before and were very impressed at the good organisation, cross country courses and excellent ground conditions.

Louis felt a bit quiet and flat in his test and didn't show off his work as well as he ususally does and this resulted in a mark of 37.0 which was his worse mark of the year so far and was very average in the class.  His showjumping was not much better with an unusual run out at fence 2 when he clocked what he thought was a very spooky filler!  He finished the course though, after getting a telling off, with another fence down so got 8 faults.  This was an unusually bad round for him as he is a very careful and clean showjumper and had jumped clear the week before in the BYEH class at Richmond to get a jumping score of 36/40 which was the highest in the 5yo section and that had been a much bigger bolder course.  Anyway, he's only 5 and still learning.

He redeemed himself on the cross country course though with a lovely clear and within the time.  He feels much more confident with this phase now.  Anyway, needless to say, he didn't get placed and finished 21st.

Louis - Buckminster Park

Anyway, Louis is competing at Burgham in the BE100 next and Beanie is competing in the OIu21 at Cholmonderley Castle at the end of the month.

Phoebe Powell and the Eventing Team

June Event Update!

Another month of the eventing season has past and it seems like i've only just got started!  I've had a great year so far and I feel really lucky to have the horses performing as highly as they are.  I hope you are all enjoying your horses too.  We have been busy this month at Brand Hall and Skipton...

Brand Hall Horse Trials:
We took Donnermere down to Shropshire for our first international event (FEI), the CIC*.  It was a very different atmosphere to what he was used to in the dressage.  There was only two arenas next to each other with two judges per arena and with shops around the outside and spookier boards and flowers, but thankfully it was a quiet atmosphere as there was only dressage going on.  I was very excited to wear my new top-hat and tail-coat and was hoping for a good photo!!!  He performed a lovely test besides his silly rider going wrong once, and scored 59.4 which I was fairly pleased with looking at the stiff competition.  Unfortunately, going wrong costs a minus 2 off each Judge, so a fairly expensive mistake, I won't be doing that again!  He found himself in the bottom third of the board going in to day 2, so not such an amazing start!
We stayed at some friends yard in Shropshire overnight and set off bright and early next morning for showjumping and cross country.  The showjumping was probably his worst round of his eventing career, not in the score as he only got 1 down, but he hated the hard ground and felt insecure on the take off as it felt quite slippy so was a little cautious, we have decided to double stud him behind from now on.
His cross country was amazing as always, he flew round finding it really easy and taking all the straight routes.  He finished well within the time and pulled himself well up the board to finish 21st.  Not a bad first attempt at this level.

Skipton (1) Horse Trials
Two weeks later it was off with Kellys Lad to Skipton.  There has been some major course changes this year and the course made more use of the natural features and included some nice hedges to jump.

Louis performed a very good dressage score of 33.0 leaving him high on the leader board in his section.  He showjumped clear and flew round the cross country with 3.6 time faults which was good enough for 2nd place in the section.

The following day Donnermere went to Skipton for the ONu18(q).  It was his second qualifier of the Northern region and he needed a good clear in front of the Regional Co-ordinators.  He did a lovely dressage to secure a good score of 35.5, the best in the section tied with 2 others.  He showjumped clear, and a nice round, double studded up behind, but unfortunately incurred 1 time fault.  His cross country was faultless with a foot perfect round but got 6.8 time faults, which I was surprised at because he felt like he was flying and it was one of his best cross country rounds this year.  Anyway it was good enough for 4th place and a double clear was what was needed.

The day was rounded off to a bad finish however as when we arrived home Leo, a young 5 year old of ours, unfortunately was badly injured in the field and when the vet arrived it was confirmed he had broken his leg which meant we had no choice but to have him put down.  This was just the worst thing imaginable as we had high hopes for this young horse and had grown to really love him.  It was a really upsetting experience for the whole family and something I would never want to experience again.

Anyway, with a lighter note, Donnermere is off the Aske next and Louis will be out at Buckminster Park in the 5YO class.  If you see us out eventing please come and say hello!

Phoebe Powell and the Eventing Team.

May Event Update!

Hi everyone,
I hope you're all having a successful eventing season with your horses! We have been busy the last 3 weeks at Richmond (1) horse trials and Floors Castle!

Richmond Horse Trials:
Saturday moning we set off to Richmond horse trials with Donnermere (Beanie).  He was in the ONU18 (Q) for Weston Park, the first qualifier in our region.  He had a very early dressage time so thankfully it wasn't too far away!  We were hoping that he would perform better than at Bradwall horse trials in the dressage.  He performed a much more secure test but still with some tension and a long way off how he performs at home but he scored a respectable 38.5.  Beanie jumped a lovely clear in the show jumping and is beginning to find this level far too easy.  The ground was on the hard side on the cross country so I gave him more of a 'cruise' round posting a lovely clear with 5.6 time faults.  Unfortunately the time faults knocked me down a few places and he finished 13th.  I hope he did enough to show his ability.

Sunday morning came and it was Kellys Lad's (Louis) turn! He was in the BE100u18 class and it was his first horse trial at BE100 level.  He did a lovely relaxed dressage test, considering the ground was slippy because of the rain, and scored a good 34.0.  He is becoming very good in this phase and should score some high marks in the near future!  He show jumped very boldly with a lovely clear round and taking a stride out of the last 5-stride distance!  Now for the bad bit... He set off boldly on the cross country taking confidently to the first 4 fences, but as he turned to fence 5 he saw a very scary igloo and donkey (fence decorations) about four strides away from the fence he slammed his brakes on and whipped round with me and I promptly fell off him setting off my air jacket for the first time!!  He ran off up the course and was caught by Lyn Cottingham (our Regional Junior Co-Ordinator) who I am supposed to try and impress!!  Oh well these things happen with green 5year olds.  Anyway I got back on him and he wouldn't go anywhere near the fence and I was eliminated for trying..... never mind there's always another day.

Louis was taken back to Richmond the following day on the schooling day and I had a lovely ride on him around the cross country and he jumped fence 5 fine once he had time to have a look at it!

Floors Castle Horse Trials:
This was the day we were waiting for- when it all comes together on Louis!  We set off very early Saturday morning to Kelso in Scotland to compete at the picturesque Floors Castle. 

First was the dressage with Louis... it didn't set off to the best start when he spooked across the other competitors arena before he started his test when the judge got out of her car.  Thankfully when he started his test, he did the best test he's done this year scoring a fab 29.0 (second best in the section)!   He showjumped fantastically well for a clear round.  We were a bit worried about how he would do the cross country after his bad round at Richmond.  The course was much bigger and bolder, but we thought that may play to his strengths as he is a very bold, big jumping horse.  We needn't have worried though as he did a fantastic round, not missing a beat at any of the fences and absolutely loving it!  He finished on his dressage score, which turned out was good enough for him to take 1st place!!!

Next morning we took Beanie from the stabling back to Floors for his first Intermediate Novice class.  He did his best dressage test for a while, and he had to do an Intermediate test which is a little more difficult, so we were delighted with him and he scored 36.4, which was a good mark in the section.  The showjumping was at Intermediate height and he coped well and just had an unlucky 4 faults at the treble.  He ate up the cross country and found it easy finishing with no time faults.  He finished 11th in the section which was good for his first attempt at this class.  He is now ready to try an Intermediate class.

Next for Beanie will be the CIC* at Brand Hall Horse Trials and then Skipton for the ONu18(Q).  Louis will go to Skipton next for the BE100 and then probably Buckminster Park for the (5yo class).

Will post next after Brand Hall.

Phoebe Powell and the Eventing Team.

KELLYS LAD BE100u18- RICHMOND

Northallerton and Bradwall Horse Trials

Hi everyone,
I've had a very busy weekend at Northallerton and Bradwall Horse Trials.

Northallerton Horse Trials

Saturday was a lovely day and I had Kelly's Lad (Louis) in the BE90 at Northallerton.  It hasn't rained for ages and I was a bit concerned about the ground conditions, but I needn't have worried as the organisers had done a really good job of the ground and it was the best they could have made it in the circumstances!

Louis did a really good test and he is showing lovely work in this phase scoring a pleasing 33.0.

The showjumping was quite small for the level that he has been doing at BSJA, but he jumped a good rythmical clear round and I was really happy with his performance.

The cross country was a lovely course with a mixture of woods and fields and it was a very encouraging course with plenty of variety and an inviting water jump.  After his round at Eden Valley Louis was obviously feeling very overconfident in this phase and I had a little problem with the brakes on the far field, having to circle to give myself more time to set up for the double combination and get him to listen to me!!  I am going to have to have a rethink on his bitting before Richmond!!

He finished clear with 2.8 time faults and his final total was 35.8 putting him in 7th place.  I was very happy with his performance overall.



Kellys Lad- Northallerton Horse Trials 2011

Bradwall Horse Trials

After an early mornings start we headed the 3 1/2 hour drive to Bradwall in Cheshire for Donnermere to compete in the ONU18. 

After walking the course I thought that it was quite a technical course and more to think about than some novices!  I decided I would take all the straight routes as it would be good practice for him upgrading later in the season.  But first the dressage ...

After a good warm up I headed out across the field to the dressage arena and started going round the edge.  Cue a very hairy and (in Beanie's opinion) scarey dog who obviously likes to eat small horses in his spare time, appeared and walked around the field with his oblivious owner!  Beanie performed probably the worst test of his career (and of all time) as he couldn't take his eyes off the dog and wouldn't listen to me at all.  I managed to complete the test with much embarassment and post test amusement (I didn't find it funny at the time).

I tentatively looked at the scoreboards before jumping and to my amazement I had scored 42.5 (which was one of the scores towards the bottom on the board but certainly not last!!)  I now felt more optimistic about the jumping phases.

The showjumping was quite up to height and quite airy jumps but he did a fantastic clear round and got a round of applause.  It was one of our best showjumping rounds.

He flew around the cross country giving me a great ride, taking every straight route on course and finishing well within the time. He pulled himself up the board to finish on his dressage score and 11th in the section.

Richmond is next for Beanie for the ONU18 (Q)

Phoebe Powell and the Eventing Team

Eventing Update

Its been some time since I posted and since then the horses have been out to another three events with some mixed results.

Lincoln:
Beanie's (Donnermere) second event of the season was the Novice at Lincoln.  He performed what I thought was a reasonably good test, better than his test at Oasby, and so did everyone watching.  I thought he would get quite a good score but the Judge thought otherwise and gave me a poor mark of 41.0.  Luckily as the scoreboards were so far away I was not aware of this until the end of the day as I am sure it would have disheartened me!  In the showjumping he was looking everywhere but at the actual fences so had an unfortunate 4 faults at the first fence.  He gave me a fantastic ride on the cross country, it was quite a technical course and the coffin was causing quite a lot of penalties, but he was amazing jumping all the straight routes and finishing with no time faults.  He was out of the placings of course due to his poor dressage score.

Belton International:
Next it was off to Belton for the ONU18 (Q) with Beanie and we were hoping for a better dressage score. He performed a good test and scored 35.0 which was fairly good in the section.  He showjumped quite late on in the day and had an unlucky 4 faults at a black and white parallel which seemed to be causing lots of refusals for some reason.  The cross country course was quite big and beautifully presented with perfect going!  I was really looking forward to riding it on him as it was a bold course which I knew would suit him well.  He was foot perfect around the whole course getting the time and even earning a round of applause from the 3* riders who were having a course walk together at the coffin!  He was placed 4th which I was really pleased with earning him another 3 BE points.  I will definately be back at Belton next year!

Donnermere Novice Belton:

Eden Valley:
The next event was the BE90 at Eden Valley in Cumbria with Louis (Kellys Lad).  After Oasby where he found it a bit of an eye opener and was somewhat surprised by the whole occasion we were hoping he would have learned from the experience and found it a little less daunting.  He performed a very relaxed fluid dressage test on VERY wet muddy ground and coped well with the conditions scoring a very good 33.5.  The showjumping was on an arena which I was glad about as the ground conditions would have made this a difficult phase on grass especially as he is not even 5 yet!  He had an unlucky 4 faults at the planks off a corner but jumped a lovely round.  He was very confident on the cross country and jumped very boldly finding the course easy and finishing with no faults or time faults.  He came 4th in his section, his first proper BE placing!  I am so pleased that he performed so well and acted so much more mature.  His next event will be the BE90 at Northallerton and if all goes well he will upgrade to BE100 at Richmond in May.

Hope you are all enjoying your horses and having a good season
Phoebe Powell and the Eventing Team