Hurricane Heidi - Six Year Olds - Photo: 1st Class Images

NEXGEN is the brain child of Rachel Wakefield-Wynne, Matthew Wright and their team, a new initiative based on the European Futurity model to showcase young horses in the disciplines of Dressage, Eventing and Show Jumping in the UK. The dressage and event horses arrived at the final at Hickstead by way of qualifying competitions, and the show jumpers just needed to post two double clears at appropriate heights.

The eventers and dressage horses had their final on the Tuesday and the show jumpers on Wednesday, with supporting training classes. I was lucky that all three horses were qualified in their age groups. The fantastic prize money in the five and six year old classes, especially the £2,000 to the winner in the six year olds, drew a very high class field, especially for the show’s inaugural year. It was slightly strange arriving at Hickstead with relatively few horses there. Khalissy was first to jump and was very tense walking across to the showground by herself, and warming up in the Polo Arena either by herself or with one other horse, until it was our turn to go to the collecting ring for Ring 3. Khalissy’s course was not too big, but testing enough. She had two fences down - mainly because she was tense and not as easy as she can be in her ride, but her previous performance in the ring was the five year old final at the AEJC, which was very big, so it is going to take a little while for her to relax properly after that.

BE Khalissy - 5 year olds. Photo 1st Class Images

Heidi was next to jump in the six year old class. I thought her class was big enough and very technical. She actually jumped very well, she just had one fence down, I can’t claim that she was unlucky as she whacked it, but she certainly felt extremely happy and up for her job. Twelve horses went through to an incredibly fast jump-off - won by Nicole Pavitt with Laura Renwick second - so I don’t think we would have improved our position very much if we had got into the jump-off.

Lastly it was Askeaton’s turn to jump in the Seven Year Olds. When I walked the course I thought it was pretty big and technical. Also it was five o’clock by the time the class started and there were very black shadows on the very bright sand, which led to her having a very scary moment at the practice fence just before we went into the ring. She actually jumped a good round, just having the planks for no particular reason, and I didn’t give her enough leg to the last fence where she just rubbed the back bar.

I am finding training with Trevor Breen really helpful, and it is great that I am managing to have training sessions regularly which makes it easier to keep a check on progress and bad habits, which in turn leads to more consistency. Trevor has been working very hard on getting me to ride all the horses, but particularly Askeaton, differently. Rather than my normal technique where I like to have the horses very light and forward, and then let them take me to the fence, Trevor is getting me to work much harder, keep my hands off the whithers and generally keep the horses much more on the bridle the whole time. Like all changes this has led to a little bit confusion and a little loss of confidence from me - particularly with Askeaton who is jumping pretty big courses now, and who is the most likely to take notice of what I am up to on top. We are definitely getting there, but it is hard work - both physically and mentally - and we will nail it. I spend a lot of time practicing - although apparently this is not necessarily apparent. However, it is noticeable that Askeaton is now using her shoulder much better over the fence - so it is definitely worth it.

Having had several quite strong shows on the trot we now head for Pyecombe where they horses will all jump smaller classes, before hopefully heading to Vilamoura in Portugal for three weeks during October.

As always many thanks to Trevor for his help, and to April Kitchener for lots of hard work and endless good humour. Also many thanks to Saracen Horse Feeds, Just Equine, and MacWet Gloves. This season I have been working with Camilla Zanna of Premier Performance CZ, who make supplements. I have been so impressed with the efficacy of these supplements. Currently I use Calming Powder for Khalissy, and sometimes for Heidi if she is a bit wild, Joint-Flex to support both Askeaton and Heidi, Muscle Strength for Askeaton and Khalissy to aid recovery, Moody Mare for Heidi and Scratch Free Plus to control itching in both Heidi and Askeaton. We also find Stomach Maintenance absolutely excellent for keeping the horses’ digestive systems happy while they are travelling.