Anna Davison's Accolino 2 (Acco) proved the yard star once again when he won the Novice JAS at the Hand on Saturday and then came 2nd and 3rd at East Soley dressage on Sunday. (It takes 7 minutes to get to East Soley by lorry, or is a 10 minute hack - I'm not that mean!!)


I finished at the yard at 9pm on Friday and was back there by 5am to leave with Pauldary's Bobby's Girl (Tiny), Cosmic Clover (Cosmo) and Lion King V (Leo) at 6:15am. We only left that early to get there in time for the coursewalk but while we were chatting away in the lorry we sailed straight past the junction and missed the course walk anyway...could have just got up half an hour later!

Still, Tiny jumped a lovely double clear in the BE90 and although it felt like her eyes were on stalks she never hesitated. Her 3 time faults were rider rustiness in terms of judgement of pace, which was frustrating but she still finished 5th as she had a good style mark. Leo was also a little green but his jumping did not disappoint and he finished 7th.

Leo then jumped well again to finish 8th in the BE100, Tiny perhaps got a little bit tired but had 2 fences down very late on in the XC section, but still had a good style mark. Elizabeth Pilkington's Cosmic Clover (Cosmo), a new ride to me, jumped a fantastic double clear inside the time on a style mark of 8 to come 3rd in the BE100. Acco jumped well but was HC.

Acco then went inside the time in the novice on a style mark of 6 to win the class, which was very exciting. Cosmo jumped well but made a few tired mistakes and finished 11th, incredibly frustrating to think if I'd just kept the speed up to the finish he would have qualified for the final as he was only 2 marks away! 

Still, a good day all round, all of them have qualified in for the final in at least one class, and have another chance to get their second qualifications at Merrist Wood and Hartpury in the next few weeks. 

Acco and Cosmo then went to East Soley on Sunday to do some dressage tests and finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th respectively, on scores of 65%+, Acco on 70%. Emma Dove's Tynybryn Nelson (Nelly) did very well to finish 2nd in the NPS section of the Prelim, and qualified for the NPS Championships in both Novice and Prelim at his first attempt!

http://www.britisheventing.com/news.asp?itemid=3700&itemTitle=Eventers+boosted+by+JAS+results+at+Hand+Equestrian&section=59&sectionTitle=Latest+Eventing+News+Headlines

Very sadly Hartpury was cancelled due to the snow which is a real pain as the only reason I could get four horses to the same competition was to borrow another space in a friend's lorry, so to now take 3 out of four horses to each competition is a real pain :( 

However, it did mean quite a relaxed and fun day in the snow! They loved being out and had a great time nosediving and rolling but were pretty pleased to come back in to their deep straw beds!!

I rode a couple of them, but more for fun than anything else, it's not exactly like they're going to be competing in the next few days... Really annoyed; will try and aim for some show jumping in the week, but got to decide which one to leave behind! 

Anyway, back to normal tomorrow I expect but it was fun while it lasted! :)

Wow! What a weekend. I finished at the yard at 9pm on Friday, making sure the babies both got their jumping lessons in and that Acco was clipped for Hartpury the following morning. I'm so lucky to be based at Boomerang and that Russ is so brilliant as the second jumping lesson finished well past 7pm.

Both Leo and Tiny jumped exceptionally well after their break and tested all Russ's new scary fillers, which all jumped well.

I then started at the yard at 6am on Saturday, lunged Tiny and then went to work for first lot at 7:30. I'm so pleased with Tiny's attitude since her holiday. She's still a bit crazy, but she only wants to have fun and she is much more focussed on the job now. She was amazing to walk from her stable to the indoor school in the pitch black guided by a head torch without a fuss, hopefully this attitude will continue into the dressage arena!

Anyway, after riding only one racehorse that morning, I raced back to the yard, grabbed Acco and off we went to Hartpury! He jumped just brilliantly to finish 2nd in the Discovery and 4th in the 1.05m, with two double clears. I've only had him back a few days having not ridden him for a few years but he was very switched on to the job and knew his stuff and took me round like an old pro. It was a lot of fun to not ride a baby for once!

When we got home, I rode Cosmo and lunged Leo, washed them all (legs and tails only!!), bandaged, cleaned tack and repacked the lorry for Sunday, again leaving at 9pm!

Back on the yard at 6am on Sunday morning and everyone had a little hand graze and walk as they were far too clean to turn out! I hacked Acco over to East Soley EC to do a dressage competition; he did a nice test, but there was no time to check results so will find out soon....

When we got home, turned Acco out, grabbed Cosmo, Leo and Tiny and off we went to Stonar for JAS schooling. They were all fantastic, Tiny and Leo at their first attempt at JAS fences, and although Cosmo has done some JAS, it was my first proper time jumping him and he was lovely. So, all well prepared for Hartpury at the weekend! It's going to be another busy one...

Tiny and Leo are now back at Boomerang and have started back in work, reasonably smoothly... Although I enjoyed a little bit of time off riding, it is heaven to be back riding 4-8 lovely horses every day again.

It's full on with racehorses in the morning, a few horses here and there at local yards that need riding and then my horses at Boomerang. We are really pleased with Squirrel's progress and hope he will be back in work by early February.

We have a new (or old..?) addition to the team for January - I have borrowed Accolino 2 who I used to own just for a bit of fun and it's really quite nice to ride something a bit more experienced and looking forward to a busy January!

We are heading to Hartpury, East Soley and Stonar this weekend and then Hartpury JAS next weekend, so will update with pictures soon...

Will also at some point do a 'Facilities' page, but our painting isn't going very well so the yard isn't ready for pictures yet!