ZEUS went to his first dressage competition at the weekend and behaved really, really well. I was so pleased with how he coped working in with all the other horses. He did a nice test and..."
A First Dressage Outing For Ze...
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An Emotional Bramham
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XC Schooling at Somerford Park
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An Emotional Bramham
Well Bramham was an eventful week, I took my little chestnut horse, Sultao De Valada (Sultan to his friends!) to compete and Snowy came along 
partly to keep Sultan company and mainly to keep him working as five days off would make him very naughty!
The action began on Thursday. In the afternoon, we had a briefing where the ground jury introduced themselves to us, explained who they were and where to find them if we needed them. Then we were free to walk the cross country course – my first of three course walks!
Later that afternoon, the trot up got underway. They were held in front of Bramham House with a lot of spectators. The trot up is always a bit of a fashion show for the riders too! I wore white jeans and a t-shirt with a smart black jacket over the top with some nice posh shoes that thankfully I was able to run in.
On Friday I was last to do my dressage test. We managed a respectable 59 penalties and were lying in 12th place in the under 25’s section.
Saturday dawned and being drawn last to go, I was able to walk the course again with my trainer and also go and watch some of the other competitors in action to see what the course was riding like.
There were quite a few difficult questions which were causing problems, and the water was a real toughie. It was good to get an idea beforehand so I knew where to aim! Course designer Ian Stark brought his many years of experience to Bramham and really beefed up the course bringing in some old fashioned rider frightener type fences.
In the end, I had two run outs on the cross country course and we finished with 40 jumping penalties and 32 time penalties, which left us in 24th place after the cross country.
On the Sunday, we had a few fences down in the show jumping and remained in 24th place, completing our first CCI***.
It was disappointing not to have gone clear on the cross country but it was excellent experience for both myself and Sultan – we will be back!
I will be sitting down this week to plan my next lot of competitions, and also hope to take out new horse, Data, to compete very soon.
I am also visiting my sponsor, EquestrianClearance.com at their head office to catch up with the gang and also edit some of the ‘how to’ clips we are planning to put on You Tube – they are small practical guides giving advice on flatwork, jumping and stable management.
I will also be spending some of my sponsorship money on rugs and a few other bits and pieces – there are so many great bargains to be had!
The weather seems to have gone a bit typical of the English Summer! My holiday to South Africa in May seems a long time ago now – as you can see from the picture whilst I was there, I was able to practice my stickability on a banana boat!
Bye for now!
Harriet
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Trials and Tribulations
Over the last week, I have been getting to know my new horse, Data better. Data is a nine-year-old chestnut gelding who is a lovely horse to ride and handle.
I have had him on the yard for two weeks now, and although he hasn’t done many competitions he is a very willing horse.
My plan is to concentrate on his dressage and show jumping this year and see how he progresses. He has qualified for the British Dressage Northern Regional Summer Finals at Laura Fry’s so we are off to a good start!
Last weekend I took Sultan to Brigstock. He did a lovely dressage test, and we had a fence down in the show jumping but then unfortunately had a nasty fall on the cross-country course.
We were both fine and fortunately my Point 2 Air Jacket deployed in fine style with Sultan then legging it the minute he got up and it took a while to catch him!
Hopefully we will have better luck at Bramham, we have had more training with Chris Bartle this week, practicing lots of ‘skinnies’ and this weekend will not compete as Bramham follows in a few days.
I am having a nightmare deciding what to wear for the trot up at Bramham, especially as we won’t know if it will be hot, cold or raining! I can’t run in heels – many of the other girls do – so it’s flat shoes and trousers I think – any tips or ideas are most welcome!
Also I have to make sure that I co-ordinate my colour scheme with Sultan, who is bright chestnut – it’s a big no-no to clash!
The hot weather has been taking its toll. I avoid riding in it so have faced lots of early mornings as a result. I have made sure that I keep myself and my horses hydrated by drinking lots of water.
I will be going over to Sowerby Bridge to my sponsor’s at EquestrianClearance.com on Friday – we are working on my website and also editing the video series for You Tube that we filmed last month. It’s a ‘How To’ with myself and some of my pupils and gives instructional tips and advice. Watch this space to find out when it goes on line!
Bye for now Harriet.
Read MoreBramham Bound!
Preparing for Bramham has taken much of my time over the last few weeks, as I have been busy competing as well as having training sessions with Christopher Bartle over in Harrogate at the Yorkshire Riding Centre.
I took Sultan and Snowy to Christopher’s yard to practice the Bramham dressage test, we had a great lesson and both horses went really well. We will have another training session again next week.
In the last few weeks, I have competed at Aston Le Walls and Withington Manor with Sultan and Snowy. At Withington Manor, I was placed third and fourth after the dressage.
I was delighted to go clear on both in cross-country, but didn’t push either of them too much so incurred time penalties on the cross-country, putting us just out of the placings.
Next week I will be at Brigstock to give Sultan a final run before Bramham.
Snowy will not run at Bramham but I will take him with the possibility of doing a show jumping class on the Saturday as well as a bit of posing – which is what he loves doing!
At Bramham, I am drawn last for dressage and cross-country on the Friday and Saturday – with a bit of luck I will be last to jump in the show jumping on Sunday – as this will mean I am in the lead!
In between all of my competitions and preparation, I have been busy teaching, have had a horse in to be sold, and some exiting news – I have a new horse in to compete!
Owned by Judy Bettinson, Data as he is known on the yard is a really lovely horse, I am hoping to get out competing with him when he is ready. Watch this space to see his progress!
Until next time – best wishes Harriet.
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XC Schooling at Somerford Park
YEEEEE HAAAAAAAAA!!! Finally after a long winter of jumping nothing but coloured fences we were able to get the advanced horses out xc schooling! I’m not sure who was more excited them or me!! Both horses felt absolutely fantastic and really enjoyed themselves. I think the pictures say it all really!
After having a good trot and a canter round to warm up I started to jump some smaller more
straightforward fences like logs, rails, tables, houses etc. After that I jumped some slightly bigger fences
with ditches in front and started to incorporate some steps and drops, as well as some skinnies and corners.
From there I moved on to the coffin type fences, at Somerford you are very spoilt as there are five different coffins to choose from. Some with skinny single barrels on each side of the ditch, some with steep slopes down into the ditch and some with more inviting logs on either side. I did each one once or twice so that I can go to my fisrt event knowing that I practised everything I possibly could.!
Lastly I moved on to the water. Because they hadn’t been through a water jumped for a few months I just let them walk through first to ‘get their feet wet’.
It would be unfair to ask them to jump straight into water, even though they are both experinced horses. Agian I gradually built up the difficulty, starting by jumping down a little step, 
working my way up to a small bounce into water. I always made sure that I jumped something on the way out though as I think it trains them to always ‘look’ for a fence coming out of the water.
Both Sultan and Snowy felt on top form and I was really pleased with them!
After warming down, they were walked back to the lorry where Charlotte was waiting to wash them down and get them ready to travel home.
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Training, 1st March 2010
Had a great training session with Richard Waygood on Monday. I hired the show jumping arena at Port Royal EEC and took three horses, my two advanced horses Shannon Dales Skatman (Snowy) and Sultao De Valada (Sultan). I also took a young horse, Data, belonging to Judy xxxxx. It was really useful being able to use a course of fences especially for Sultan as I was trying a new bit, so it was a great opportunity to test it out.
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Team GB take double bronze in Hungary!
The team won team bronze at the European CIC** Championships at Nagykanizsa in Hungary missing gold by less than two penalties. The team excelled in the dressage phases and were awarded three nines for their performance by president of the ground jury Peter Wagner.
The cross country course was a true championship track and only three riders completed inside the time. It proved easy for Harriet and snowy though as they came 
home clear, having taken all the direct routes.
“Snowy gave me an amazing feeling and through the final water he was just amazing!” said Harriet.
Harriet and Snowy polished off their team debut with an immaculate clear round in the showjumping, one 
of only five combinations to jump double clear.
“Snowy jumped his socks off in the show jumping, and to be coming home with a medal is a dream come true.”
Peter Buist, Chef de Mission to the British team said: “It was a fantastic result; the whole team out-performed themselves in every phase.”