So; Portugal did not go quite to plan. Although the horses travelled well and performed great, a trip after a fence resulted in me breaking my collar bone on Dinky in the 6 year old class. Through no fault of her own, Dinky lost her footing on landing and went down on her head..... So i had to hand over the reins of all the horses to Trevor Breen (who was delighted to have an extra 3 to ride each day bringing the number of horses to be ridden each day to 11!)
Luckily Dinky was able to continue competing and gained her confidence back reasonably quickly which meant she had enough results to qualify for the 6 year old final. A clear round in the final with a fence down was good enough for her to be placed in the 1 metre 30/ 1 metre 35 class. I was very pleased with her and as i write this she is currently being inseminated at our vets to have a foal while I am out of action.
Ria my 5 year old (who i had reservations about) was a complete star in Portugal. Clearly Ria and the sunshine go well together. She jumped just 3 times each week which is perfect for a young horse. She never would have seen a ring so big, such scary jumps, speakers blaring music or the huge screen with her name on it when she was jumping. However you would think she was a pro and was regularly in the money as well as muscling up hugely over the 4 weeks. Again a clear round was good enough in the 5 year old final to be placed. It was great experience for her to be warming up in busy arenas and hopefully being stabled next to the older international horses she has picked up all sorts of tips from them!
Wendy proved to be a little tricky for Trevor at first, obviously missing her mum. What a typical girl! After a week of bonding they were flying- jumping clear rounds in the International classes. As i have mentioned before she is affected by stress when travelling and any sort of change and can some time result in her going off her feed, however she came back from Portugal extremely porky!
So although I had to miss a few weeks jumping, i was pleased to see how well behaved they were for a complete stranger riding them. When they returned from Portugal they had a holiday in the field with the other horses in Ireland.
I have various mares going in foal to a range of stallions which i am very excited about, as we love having foals at home. The young ones are all loose jumping well at home and the 2 year old stallions are off to be broken in 6 weeks which should hopefully put a few manners on them or they will have to have the 'snip'........
In the meantime I am continuing with physio and hope to be back in the saddle ASAP!
Hope your all enjoying the lighter evenings and warm weather
Caroline x
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Wednesday 4 May 2011
Thursday 17 February 2011
Preparing for Portugal
Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year! I certainly did! The horses all enjoyed their annual xmas feed full of carrots and apples ad even a likit :)
As it's a new year it means business! I am currently writing this from Ireland where my horses are based at the minute. We arrived here at the beginning of January which involved a long ferry over the Irish sea in very bad conditions. It was Ria and Dinky's first time on a boat but they took it all in their stride. I have based myself here purely because of the facilities here at my partner's stables are more suited to getting them super fit and keeping us all dry (yes a massive indoor school)! With the weather being so cold and frozen in England i needed a base to keep them in full fitness as we are heading off to sunny Portugal for 4 weeks jumping the middle of February. As well as the brilliant facilities i get to hack around the Irish countryside with the jumpers doing 3 mile circuits up and down hills.
I haven't done any shows out here but have been hiring various indoor and outdoor show centres for the day. This has been incredibly beneficial, as the young horses start off spooky, so can jump around smaller courses and then build up the height and technicality of the courses as their confidence grows. In fairness they have all been very well behaved. Wendy has been popping around 1m40 tracks sweetly, Dinky 1m25 and Ria has been improving (slowly) around 1m15 tracks. The biggest problem i am having with Ria is she has grown enormously and therefore is very weak in her back end. She tires very quickly jumping, and to help this i have been trotting and cantering her up big hills to help build her back end muscles.
Unfortunately for me, Chester has been sold to an Irish Young Rider this month. They got on very well and she aims him to jump young rider classes at Dublin International Horse Show- so good luck to them both!
I have 3 days left here in Ireland before heading off to Portugal and have a lot left to do..... clip, pack, clean, organise myself and the horses. In total we have 11 horses going to the show in Portugal. This involves travelling back to England, staying overnight, getting the ferry from Dover to calais- staying over night in France, driving to Spain and staying there and then eventually ending up in Portugal! Hopefully it will be hot hot hot!
On this note i better go back out and feed the horses their dinner otherwise i will be in the bad books!
Speak to you from Portugal.
xx
Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year! I certainly did! The horses all enjoyed their annual xmas feed full of carrots and apples ad even a likit :)
As it's a new year it means business! I am currently writing this from Ireland where my horses are based at the minute. We arrived here at the beginning of January which involved a long ferry over the Irish sea in very bad conditions. It was Ria and Dinky's first time on a boat but they took it all in their stride. I have based myself here purely because of the facilities here at my partner's stables are more suited to getting them super fit and keeping us all dry (yes a massive indoor school)! With the weather being so cold and frozen in England i needed a base to keep them in full fitness as we are heading off to sunny Portugal for 4 weeks jumping the middle of February. As well as the brilliant facilities i get to hack around the Irish countryside with the jumpers doing 3 mile circuits up and down hills.
I haven't done any shows out here but have been hiring various indoor and outdoor show centres for the day. This has been incredibly beneficial, as the young horses start off spooky, so can jump around smaller courses and then build up the height and technicality of the courses as their confidence grows. In fairness they have all been very well behaved. Wendy has been popping around 1m40 tracks sweetly, Dinky 1m25 and Ria has been improving (slowly) around 1m15 tracks. The biggest problem i am having with Ria is she has grown enormously and therefore is very weak in her back end. She tires very quickly jumping, and to help this i have been trotting and cantering her up big hills to help build her back end muscles.
Unfortunately for me, Chester has been sold to an Irish Young Rider this month. They got on very well and she aims him to jump young rider classes at Dublin International Horse Show- so good luck to them both!
I have 3 days left here in Ireland before heading off to Portugal and have a lot left to do..... clip, pack, clean, organise myself and the horses. In total we have 11 horses going to the show in Portugal. This involves travelling back to England, staying overnight, getting the ferry from Dover to calais- staying over night in France, driving to Spain and staying there and then eventually ending up in Portugal! Hopefully it will be hot hot hot!
On this note i better go back out and feed the horses their dinner otherwise i will be in the bad books!
Speak to you from Portugal.
xx
Friday 3 December 2010
A good month for the babies
Hi everyone!
I finally have the big ponies up and running at shows and I can definitely say they are pleased to be back in business!!
Wendy
Wendy (a new 7 year old who was a fussy eater when she joined the team) did two international shows in France. Slightly daunting as having only ridden her in the ring a handful of times and never jumped indoors let alone step her up a level or two...but surprise surprise she rose to the occasion and was a star! She jumped in a 3* CSI is St Low and a 2* in Caen. Both were incredible shows and had lower down consistent placings - not too shabby for a 7 year old.
Chester
I brought Chester (also a 7 year old) slowly back into work this autumn and it has paid off as he is fit, sound and feels better than ever! He did a few 1.25 classes to get back in the game and jumped clear in every class. I then took him to a couple of "Welcome to Yorkshire" (formally the British Open) Grade C 1m35 qualifiers and again jumped double clear - but not fast enough as I didn't want to push him too hard. Wendy and Chester qualified classes at each show and have not had a fence down in 6 shows...
The babies
Dinky (5 year old) finished this season with her foxhunter double clears so is enjoying time in the field (but coming in a night as she too much of a princess to live out!)
Ria (4 year old) has just come back in from her holiday and I have started her off on WE Condition at this early stage of coming back into work. I always try and start the young ones off again as if being broken after a long break. I have started to lunge her in side reins and draw reins loosely. She looks well but incredibly fresh, so if you all don't hear from me for a while, call for help! Hopefully if she settles down I will continue with her fitness work on the lunge and the horse walker and start hacking her out trotting and cantering up hills.
I will be doing local shows till New Year then will probably be off training for a month before heading off of a tour to Portugal or France for 4-6 weeks...
Until then, Merry Chritmas and Happy New Year!
Caroline x
I finally have the big ponies up and running at shows and I can definitely say they are pleased to be back in business!!
Wendy
Wendy (a new 7 year old who was a fussy eater when she joined the team) did two international shows in France. Slightly daunting as having only ridden her in the ring a handful of times and never jumped indoors let alone step her up a level or two...but surprise surprise she rose to the occasion and was a star! She jumped in a 3* CSI is St Low and a 2* in Caen. Both were incredible shows and had lower down consistent placings - not too shabby for a 7 year old.
Chester
I brought Chester (also a 7 year old) slowly back into work this autumn and it has paid off as he is fit, sound and feels better than ever! He did a few 1.25 classes to get back in the game and jumped clear in every class. I then took him to a couple of "Welcome to Yorkshire" (formally the British Open) Grade C 1m35 qualifiers and again jumped double clear - but not fast enough as I didn't want to push him too hard. Wendy and Chester qualified classes at each show and have not had a fence down in 6 shows...
The babies
Dinky (5 year old) finished this season with her foxhunter double clears so is enjoying time in the field (but coming in a night as she too much of a princess to live out!)
Ria (4 year old) has just come back in from her holiday and I have started her off on WE Condition at this early stage of coming back into work. I always try and start the young ones off again as if being broken after a long break. I have started to lunge her in side reins and draw reins loosely. She looks well but incredibly fresh, so if you all don't hear from me for a while, call for help! Hopefully if she settles down I will continue with her fitness work on the lunge and the horse walker and start hacking her out trotting and cantering up hills.
I will be doing local shows till New Year then will probably be off training for a month before heading off of a tour to Portugal or France for 4-6 weeks...
Until then, Merry Chritmas and Happy New Year!
Caroline x
Thursday 7 October 2010
A good month for Ria
This has been a very pleasant month to be honest!
Briska Sow (Ria -the 4 year old chestnut mare) was equal first at the British Young Horse Championships. In the final she had the very last 1m15 fence down in the final round, which bumped her out of the £3000 bonus prize for jumping clear in every round - I was gutted!
She lacked energy through the last few fences which i guess is normal for a 4 year old having to jump that many rounds around technical up to height fences. I was however very proud of her, she has come along way from when the WINERGY Equilibrium team first saw her, when she was skinny, gangly and severly lacking top line. So for her to finish her year winning four 4 year old classes this season, I suppose you can't be too disappointed :) As I type this she is in the field with the young mares on holiday (and very happy).
After the young horse championships I gave all the horses a break as its been a busy year! This hopefully will mean the be fresh and up for the winter season. This coincided well with my other half, Trevor Breen, competing in Spruce Meadows, Calgary, Canada which is a 5* FEI show.
9 hours later on a flight I arrived in Calgary to be utterly blown away by the show. The facilities for riders, grooms, owners and horses were amazing! There were functions on every night for us to attend as well as catering through out the day.... I was not complaining.The jumping was amazing - far bigger and more technical than over here. To top it off he was 2nd in the Meydan Nations Cup for Ireland and 9th in the $1,000,000 Grand Prix so came home with a fair bit of prize money. Addy (his horse) loved the big grass rings and in all the prize givings was bucking and leaping around!
I came home from Calgary to find out my best horse It's Gold (Chester to his friends) was allowed to canter and be brought back to full work, after studding him self at a county show in the summer. It is so nice for him to be back and i don't even mind him bucking and spinning as he is also very happy to be back ridden. I will aim for Aintree Premier Show to be his first show back, which is first week of November. Wish me luck!
I also visited the World Breeding Championships held at Zangersheide, in Lanaken, Belgium for a few days. This really opened my eyes to the standard of young horses at the top level. The 5 year olds were having to jump a strong 1m25 track and going flat out against the clock at 1m30... I actually thought this was a bit too much for 5 year olds as they are still developing and growing at this age. The 6 and 7 year old classes were highly competitive and if you blinked you missed them! Oh and did i mention the shopping was not too bad either?
Unfortunately it was a month of selling horses too which is never easy, but that's what makes my business work.They have all gone to lovely homes and are out competing already. So for the this upcoming month I will be doing a few shows in France and carrying on jumping the younger horses in the 1m10/ 1m20/ 1m25 classes until the first premier show in England.
Catch up soon!
Caroline x
Briska Sow (Ria -the 4 year old chestnut mare) was equal first at the British Young Horse Championships. In the final she had the very last 1m15 fence down in the final round, which bumped her out of the £3000 bonus prize for jumping clear in every round - I was gutted!
She lacked energy through the last few fences which i guess is normal for a 4 year old having to jump that many rounds around technical up to height fences. I was however very proud of her, she has come along way from when the WINERGY Equilibrium team first saw her, when she was skinny, gangly and severly lacking top line. So for her to finish her year winning four 4 year old classes this season, I suppose you can't be too disappointed :) As I type this she is in the field with the young mares on holiday (and very happy).
After the young horse championships I gave all the horses a break as its been a busy year! This hopefully will mean the be fresh and up for the winter season. This coincided well with my other half, Trevor Breen, competing in Spruce Meadows, Calgary, Canada which is a 5* FEI show.
9 hours later on a flight I arrived in Calgary to be utterly blown away by the show. The facilities for riders, grooms, owners and horses were amazing! There were functions on every night for us to attend as well as catering through out the day.... I was not complaining.The jumping was amazing - far bigger and more technical than over here. To top it off he was 2nd in the Meydan Nations Cup for Ireland and 9th in the $1,000,000 Grand Prix so came home with a fair bit of prize money. Addy (his horse) loved the big grass rings and in all the prize givings was bucking and leaping around!
I came home from Calgary to find out my best horse It's Gold (Chester to his friends) was allowed to canter and be brought back to full work, after studding him self at a county show in the summer. It is so nice for him to be back and i don't even mind him bucking and spinning as he is also very happy to be back ridden. I will aim for Aintree Premier Show to be his first show back, which is first week of November. Wish me luck!
I also visited the World Breeding Championships held at Zangersheide, in Lanaken, Belgium for a few days. This really opened my eyes to the standard of young horses at the top level. The 5 year olds were having to jump a strong 1m25 track and going flat out against the clock at 1m30... I actually thought this was a bit too much for 5 year olds as they are still developing and growing at this age. The 6 and 7 year old classes were highly competitive and if you blinked you missed them! Oh and did i mention the shopping was not too bad either?
Unfortunately it was a month of selling horses too which is never easy, but that's what makes my business work.They have all gone to lovely homes and are out competing already. So for the this upcoming month I will be doing a few shows in France and carrying on jumping the younger horses in the 1m10/ 1m20/ 1m25 classes until the first premier show in England.
Catch up soon!
Caroline x
Monday 9 August 2010
Caroline visits Royal International
It has been a busy past month with all the showjumpers. I took four horses to Royal International Horse Show for the week, which was a very successful show. I took Ria a 4 yr old 16.2 chestnut mare, Wendy (didn't name her!!!!!) a 7 yr old grey dutch mare, Chester a 7 yr old Irish chestnut gelding who is on the Equine Pathway 2012 Potential squad and little Dinky a 15.3 5 yr old Darco mare who unfortunately jumped too big in all her photos as my head was missing...... They all were very consistent and winning rosettes whilst moving up a level! The bigger the ring the more they had fun! Wendy who has only been with me one week jumped clear and was in the ribbons every day and therefore had various fans including show rider Robert Walker who was stables next to us (i also managed to pick up a few tips for my girls from his grooms on how they get the show horses that shiny!) It was a fantastic show with Great Britain winning the Super League Nations Cup and then my trainer Tim Stockdale winning the King George Gold Cup on Frankie a horse i rode whilst based there earlier this year.... i was very proud!!!
I am just back from the warm up show at Addington Manor for the Young Horse Championships where Ria won the 4 yr old class which fills me with confidence for the final in a few weeks! I hope I can come back with some of the big prize money on offer there!
Thankfully the horses are all fit, well and shiny. I will keep you updated on Wendys condition as she arrived a fussy eater and a little under condition, but going on how fantastic the rest of the yard looks i am sue she will catch up in no time.
Speak soon
Caroline xx
I am just back from the warm up show at Addington Manor for the Young Horse Championships where Ria won the 4 yr old class which fills me with confidence for the final in a few weeks! I hope I can come back with some of the big prize money on offer there!
Thankfully the horses are all fit, well and shiny. I will keep you updated on Wendys condition as she arrived a fussy eater and a little under condition, but going on how fantastic the rest of the yard looks i am sue she will catch up in no time.
Speak soon
Caroline xx
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