My plan for Bolesworth was to treat it like a two week show and do the two day training show on Saturday and Sunday and then have two days off before the National Young Horse Championships started on Wednesday.

I got up early on Friday to get all the horses ridden and get away by 10.00 on what should have been a 5 hour journey to Bolesworth. Unfortunately it’s never a good thing when you get stuck on the M25, and we then were stuck for 2 hours on the M6. Luckily we got parked and found our stables quickly. Obviously Khalissy and Heidi were pretty fed up with the long journey as they managed to have a full on battle in the lorry park when Khalissy decided to have a little go at Heidi - hopefully she has learnt her lesson as she started the week with two very distinct Heidi hoofprints on her backside.. Luckily two lovely lads came and helped April and I catch them and put them away, and even more luckily the didn’t appear to have done one another any serious damage. At this point I was thinking the portents for a successful show were looking pretty dim. We had lovely stabling in big tents, and it was lovely to be stabled next to Tim Davies and his team, and to meet Haddon Frost who was stabled next to us.

On Saturday all three horses jumped in the Castle Arena, the second ring at Bolesworth, Heidi in the 1.20 and the other two in their age classes. They all jumped nicely for one fence apiece, but seemed settled and ready for the job ahead. On Sunday we had a real red letter day: all three horses jumped in their age classes in the International Arena, and Khalissy got off to an excellent start winning the five year olds; Heidi then followed up with a win in the six year olds; and by the time we got to the end of the day and Askeaton was last to go in the seven year olds I really didn’t think we could possibly get so lucky again, but she jumped a really confident, easy round and we managed to pull off some tidy turns and with her wonderful canter she easily took one less stride in two distances to win by a good margin. Obviously nobody, including me, is going flat out at a training show, but it was a good opportunity to jump economical rounds and it was great to get a confidence boost early in the show. I felt sufficiently confident to step Heidi’s entry up to the six year olds rather than keeping her in the 1.20 competition for the week.

On Monday April and I took the opportunity to go for a lovely hack round the Cheshire countryside, we took Askeaton and Khalissy first and then I ventured out on Heidi. I thought I’d vary the route a bit and ended up in the middle of Tattenhall which is a very large village with a proper High Street, so she became a bit of a tourist attraction while I was asking for directions. Luckily she is absolutely brilliant in traffic and not at all spooky, it might not have been quite such a happy interlude with one of the others.

On Tuesday all the competitors for a very busy Young Horse Championships, with a big National Show alongside arrived. Our rather exclusive, relaxed and spacious Bolesworth experience was over and the frisson that accompanies an important show began.

All the horses jumped in the International Arena again, but this time the pressure to jump clear rounds and qualify for the finals was on and the fences were much bigger. Khalissy felt a little bit tense and jumping her first 1.20 round a fairly technical course was also a big ask for her resulting in quite a few poles, but producing horses is about educating them the best you can, supporting them, patting them for being brave and trying their best, making sure they don’t feel demoralised and hoping tomorrow brings an easier day. Heidi was up next in the six year old qualifier and jumping her first 1.30, which I felt was a bit step up for her. The six year old qualifier was, I thought, a little more straightforward than the five year old, and Heidi put in a fabulous clear round. Unfortunately a little sat-nav moment meant we were a bit slow, but still a fabulous and proud result for her.

Askeaton then jumped a really lovely clear round, with the sat nav working properly, to finish well in the top half of the seven year old qualifier. She felt super confident jumping 1.35 off the great surface in this lovely arena.

On Thursday only Khalissy jumped in the second five year old qualifier. She felt really relaxed and jumped a super clear round to finish just in the money. Sadly our first day score kept us out of the final, but I always think that if you don’t qualify you probably don’t need to. Khalissy is right at the beginning of her career and she has made some big steps up recently and I am more than happy with her.

I have never met anyone who has as much bad luck with the weather as Nina Barbour, and this year was no exception, for the week of the Young Horse Show it pretty much poured with rain non-stop. Summer was definitely over in Cheshire, by Saturday night I was taking a hot water bottle to bed. Luckily our stables remained lovely and dry and we able to get things dry in the lorry.

On Friday both Heidi and Askeaton jumped again. Heidi jumped really well, in very wet weather, just having the last part of the combination when she made up a bit too much distance, but the course was a little bit bigger and more technical and she rose to the challenge really well.

Askeaton then jumped in the seven year old second qualifier. She jumped another great round, just having two verticals in the jump-off, one was my fault and the second was a very late falling pole. To my delight she qualified for the seven year old final on Sunday. To qualify as one of the top 50 seven year olds at the National Championships is a big achievement for a seven year old that has really done very little since September last year.

On Saturday Khalissy jumped the Five Year Old Consolation Final. It was a small and twisty course and she didn’t really listen as I turned to the double in the jump-off which we made a pretty good job of demolishing.

As the weather got wetter we did struggle to keep the non-jumping horses exercised. There was a lovely grass field beyond the horse-box parking, but it got very muddy and so we hacked them most days. On Sunday Heidi jumped a great round in the Six Year Old Consolation Final to finish one place out of the money. She had one fence down all week and has made really spectacular progress this year. She is an exceptional little horse and hopefully she will make somebody a once in a lifetime horse.

I then had Askeaton to jump in the Seven Year Old Final. When I walked the course I thought the size was well within our abilities, but that the course was very technical. Nicole Pavitt very kindly walked the course with me, but there were a few questions that worried me. It also started to pour with rain again. Askeaton jumped the first five fences beautifully, and then had fence five, a very tall vertical and going into the combination five strides later. I then made a truly terrible job of the dog leg distance from a big oxer to the double at fence eight, so that poor Askeaton had no chance to jump it clear. Rather than face up to a big double again I just retired and she jumped the first fence beautifully. We are definitely getting to where we want to be, but she is still a little bit green in her ride, and I am neither a professional rider not very well in practice at the moment. The only way to conquer these classes to continue to train, improve my riding and her rideability and with her scope and boldness we will get there.

We packed up quickly while the horses had their lunch and had a very good journey home. Mark had prepared some Saracen’s Recovery Mash, which is full of electrolytes and other goodies, and the horses just love it.

The past week seems to have flown by, getting everything sorted out from Bolesworth, which slightly more challenging as the Bolesworth weather followed us home. We had a training session with Trevor Breen on Friday. Making sure the horses were feeling confident over some little exercises, and working on me to help me improve the rideability of all three horses.

There are few shows where you need MacWet gloves more than Bolesworth, these gloves literally never slip on the reins and never get waterlogged either. This season I have been really lucky to have support from Premier Performance CZ. These supplements are excellent and we are finding them really helpful. We have recently started using Muscle Strength to help Askeaton recover more quickly, and to help Khalissy strengthen up. We also use Joint Flex, Stomach Maintenance, Moody Mare, Calming Powder and Scratch Free Plus.

As always big thanks to Saracen Horse Feeds who are my biggest supporters. I think all our horses always look absolutely fabulous, really shiny and really well.

Many, many thanks to April for having the horses looking wonderful and to Mark for looking after Emma and Luna at home.

I am now already for Hickstead, which starts tomorrow. Once again all three horses are entered for their age classes, so we will hope for good rounds tomorrow to set us up for the week.

Bolesworth - National Young Horse Championships