A very successful weekend

Well we are on a role - we are flying along at the Olympics in London with a well earnt and won Silver in the eventing, I have no doubts that we didn't lose Gold but in fact won the Silver. And how about the Athletics and Super Saturday - 3 Golds for Jess Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah. I have so much respect for these people, the way they conducted themselves and the way the performed under huge pressure, it really was inspiring. Also congratulations must go to Wiggo for his time trial win, Andy Murray for our first tennis Gold in 104 years, Ben Ainslie for showing them how its done, the gymnasts, the cyclists dominating on the track and the rowers with their 9 medals. I think it is fair to say that Britain really are performing! Fingers crossed for both the dressage and show jumping over the next week. I will be at Greenwich cheering on our Dressage team on Tuesday, so fingers tightly crossed.

I was lucky enough to see both dressage days and the show jumping day of the Olympic Eventing and I have to say I have never got so nervous watching, ever! But didn't the Brits pull it put the bag. Seeing it has made me even more determined to get there as it was truly a fantastic experience and this has cemented the fact that really this is what I want to do. 

Anyway, enough Olympic fever for one report, back to my horses. This weekend we had 3 at Chilham Park Horse Trials. We hadn't been for a number of years and it was a really lovely event, friendly, decent educational tracks, plenty of space and helpful officials, what more could you want, sun maybe? Well we even got that too!!

I had Punch and Lily in the BE90 on Saturday and Coco in the BE100 on Sunday. 

Lily was the first to go on Saturday and I hadn't been able to school her on Friday night as she had been playing games with the others in the field. Luckily mum was quickly able to put it right ready to go on Saturday. She warmed up really well. She went into the test and was a little inconsistent but the work itself is much better, she is working off my leg. She got a 33.5 which I was really pleased with considering there were a couple of mistakes. On to the show jumping and it was rather on the small side, but she popped round happily and neatly for a clear. Onto the cross country and I was nervous as it was the first one I had done since Tweseldown and the first new venue I had been to since Larkhill!! I needn't have been worried as although she started off a little sticky she got going and jumped through all the direct routes with her ears pricked over a tough course which caused plenty of problems. So a huge step in the right direction. 

Punch was next up and had a pretty tough act to follow really but he was up for the challenge. I got a bit tense just before my test which caused him to get a bit tense but a few instructions from mum and I settled down. He did a foot perfect test apart from my two trot canter transitions which I am working on, and is more to do with me than him. The result was a slightly disappointing 32, however he went well so I can't be too upset. Onto the show jumping and he pinged round making it feel ridiculously small which was really nice, as he felt so confident. Then the fun bit and Punch flew round taking it all in his stride, and there is video of it all to follow. He finished on his dressage of 32 but this was only good enough for 7th whilst Lily finished 12th, so a really good outing.

Then back today for Cocos turn and our first event together and only our second competition together. I was most nervous before the dressage as he was a little bit tense and wasn't taking the contact forwards as much as I would like. Since we have had him on Simple System feed we have been able to take him off the calmer and he has been so chilled, so a huge thanks to them for all their help getting him settled and onto the most suitable diet, as it is really suiting him. I managed to do my second circle in the wrong place, the judge didn't notice and I got an 8 for it, oh well! The test was a little inconsistent at times but he tries really hard and is so elegant that the judges really like him. The result was a 29, so very pleased. Onto the show jumping and the course again was on the small side which wasn't a disaster for our first one, but we had the smallest fence on the course down as Coco felt insulted that he was really being asked to jump so small! Then cross country time, and apart from a few deep strides and being a little bit tappy he skipped round and finished barely blowing. So what a great start. Once we got to the score board we saw that I had finished one second inside the time, how well judged was that! The result was he had the equal best dressage and finished 3rd, he would have won if we finished on our dressage but not bad for our first go! 

Not to forget about Ozzie, he came along today for an outing to practice his dressage before pony club areas on Thursday. He went brilliantly so I am really hoping that we may be in with a chance of 

A fantastic weekend and a fantastic event, thank you to the organisers and everyone who made it run so smoothly. 

Thats all for now,

Georgie