The last pre-exam post..

Well, here it is... the last post before I start my exams tomorrow. Yes I should probably be revising, but I have revised all afternoon having gone show jumping this morning and I did a past paper and got nearly 80% so I am hoping I will be fine.. it is only a retake after all, and I am already on an A at AS, but slightly off an A at A2 so decided to retake.

Last weekend with Badminton cancelled and mum and dad going to stay in the cottage anyway, I was left at home with the horses for the weekend to revise.. I revised horse care, a well known part of my A2 Geography, PE and Biology courses!! I went for 2 lovely hacks on both horses and even took Ozzie up on the hill and over the motorway bridge, where we had a lovely ride.

I was lucky enough to get to ride my friend, Nathalie George's, lovely horse Law Enforcer (or Bobby as he is known at home.) She is at Uni in Loughborough so I had competed him a bit over the winter to keep him ticking over and qualified for the dressage championships at Felbridge. She had qualified him for the BE100 Badminton Grassroots Champs this year so it was such a disappointment she hasn't had the chance to go when they have worked so hard all winter. Well Bobby was a complete star from start to finish. He went beautifully in the Novice 28 Championship class and finished as the winner on 66.3% which I was delighted with, seeing as the last time I rode him was before christmas! A quick change of tack before rushing down to jump last in the last class of the day. He warmed up beautifully and we were meeting all the fences just right. In the arena he was just as good, and despite all my efforts to make him have the planks down, where he used his pony brain to solve the problem, (why I couldn't ride them the same as any other fence is beyond me) he jumped a beautiful and quick double clear to win the class... Clever boy - Extra pats and polos giving us 2 wins out of 2. Another change of tack back to the dressage to do our Elementry test. He was understandably tired by this point but still tried so hard, and a couple of minor mistakes through him becoming tired left us on 63% in 2nd place, just 1.5% off the winner. I couldn't have asked for more from him. He tried so hard for me all day and gave me a great feel. I feel very lucky to have been able to compete him.

After a fantastic lesson with Ernest Dillon at Littleton yesterday, where Lily was very good and only touched one fence throughout the whole lesson despite me seeing some interesting strides to say the least, we were filled with confidence and went to Felbridge this morning.

We just entered the discovery and wanted to cement the round of 2 weeks ago by jumping a smooth round to rebuild both of our confidence. I couldn't have asked for more. She was fantastic in the warm up, forwards but not flat and I think this was helped by Ernest's recommendation to try a drop as she does like to open her mouth. Also we have got her feeding just right through talking to Simple System and feeding her less due to the spring grass. She got in the ring and jumped absolutely foot perfectly, with just one spook where someone decided to lift a child onto their shoulders as I was coming alongside them into the fence, but I reacted quickly and she was focussed again within a stride. Just one pole in the jump off where I thought I would have a go at getting the time and let her get a little flat. However a huge improvement on last time and just what I wanted.
Here is the video;  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goRQRKNxwPk&feature=youtu.be 

The next time I write a blog I will have finished my exams and be on a gap year.. I am so excited!!
Counting down the days until the 22nd June.

Thats all for now

Georgie xx