MET I - Oliva Nova - Spain

It seems no time at all since we returned from Oliva, but the horses have had a well deserved four weeks in the field, and are now back in work and my thoughts are turning to the next big adventure.

As my lorry and I are both rather old I joined James Davidson at Fetlock & Co as a co-driver for this trip. The organisation in the run up to departure is gargantuan, but luckily it all ran like clock-work. Two other horses joined us for the journey, and Steff Gibbs and James did an amazing job of organising the very considerable amount of luggage and packing it all into the lorry.

We set off at a very civilised hour on the Wednesday, getting customs in the UK done quickly, a good ferry journey and about one hour at the vet check in Calais before arriving at our first stop, just south of Calais mid-afternoon. The stables were beautiful, and James had booked a lovely Gite for me, so a very civilised start to the trip.

We had a very good drive to just north of Macon the following day, with another beautiful overnight stay, including a B&B for me, before driving across the bottom of the Alps to Barcelona. This isn’t as dramatic as the drive over the Pyrenees, but is a much easier drive for both the horses and the drivers. Sadly when we arrived at our stop just south of Barcelona, it was not at all as it had been described to James, with broken windows and big bolts sticking out of the walls in the stables, so we took the decision to drive the extra distance to the show that night. Because this meant a long day on the lorry for the horses, and a long day for us, we went to the nearest service station, gave the horses a long rest, and a good feed of Saracen Recovery Mash to ensure their hydration. We also had some pizza and got lots of drinks ourselves to get the rest of the journey done. The show was enormously accommodating in getting our shavings and hay delivered to correct stables, and Charli Buck, owner of one of the other horses on the truck, very kindly got the stables all set up for us.

We got the horses settled, did their temperatures and kept a beady eye on them for a couple of hours to make sure they were drinking enough and eating up well. It did take an hour of so for Arietta to get over being very stiff from the lorry, but once they were all settled we climbed into bed for what was a fairly short night.

Both my horses tend to be silly after a long journey, so I lunged them both before taking them for a quiet explore round the showground. Oliva is a very compact site compared to the Sunshine Tour, much as I love the Sunshine Tour, Oliva is way easier to work at, with much less walking and only three rings, rather than 18. Also my apartment was 4 minutes walk from the stables which made doing the horses so easy. It was really hot - 31 degrees - for the first week we were there, but luckily I had stables on the edge of a tent and at the end of the line, so the horses had a little bit of a breeze all day. We didn’t jump until Friday, so I had plenty of time to get them acclimatised and working well before jumping. I managed a little ride on the beach on both of them on Thursday. James helped me jump Arietta on the Tuesday, and I collected lovely Crista Lockhead-Anderson on Tuesday evening who helped me jump Breakdance on Wednesday.

Week 1: First up on Friday was Breakdance in the 1.35 in the main ring. It was a big enough ask for him, but he finished with a couple of poles down and a low placing. Arietta jumped a great round in the 1.20 for a low placing. Breakdance jumped superbly on Saturday in his first 1.40 to finish 7th, and Arietta jumped the very competitive .30 speed to finish 9th. A very good day - which turned out to be a very early peak. Breakdance jumped his first 1.40 Grand Prix on Saturday - he did have a few poles, but it was by far the biggest question he has been asked so far. Arietta jumped a nice round in the 1.30 again for a couple of poles. Both felt good in spite of the heat. Week one done.

Week 2: Crista and I clipped the very woolly horses on Monday. There are strict FEI rules on clipping at shows, as you can’t clip their legs, but it’s very easy to blend in the tops of the legs, and make them more comfortable for the heat. We then a had a lovely ride on the beach on Tuesday. Breakdance was quite relaxed and brave, although he definitely wasn’t getting his feet wet, Arietta found it all very scary! Breakdance managed to spin me off in the collecting ring on Thursday and galloped around for rather a long time, which was far more exercise than I would have chosen to give him, resulting in slightly lacklustre jumping over the weekend. He still did some nice rounds, but more poles than I would chose. He is still very nervous in a busy collecting ring, and this makes it difficult to get him as relaxed as I would like before we go into the ring. Arietta was very fresh on Friday, jumped a good round on Saturday, and unfortunately I managed to fall off her on Sunday right at the end of an otherwise very good round.

Week 3: it was lovely to have Mark at the show for the last week. We had a lovely day in beautiful Valencia on Tuesday.

Bruce Menzies gave me a hand giving both the horses a jump on Wednesday. Arietta jumped really well and He helped me get a bit more canter on Breakdance.

Breakdance did nice rounds on Friday & Saturday, for a few more poles than I would like, but Arietta didn’t really feel like herself, even jumping 1.20, so I called it a day with her. She had developed a slight haematoma on her chest and she certainly wasn’t the only horse that didn’t jump very well towards the end of the second week. There were a few sore horses, and I wondered if she had found the slightly soft going rather hard work. She likes to really bang the ground in front of the fence, and is usually incredibly careful. I was feeling a little bit sore myself from falling off (when the ground didn’t seem soft at all - thank goodness for my Horse Pilot air vest), and she’s always been a really brave, willing horse so I certainly don’t want to jump her if she’s not feeling happy. The Grand Prix on Sunday was the most technical yet, we were able to warm up in an outside ring so Breakdance was nice & relaxed. He began the round well, but felt tired and I was feeling sore & a bit fed up, so we did have a few poles and a very unnecessary circle.

On the Sunday night I felt very disappointed with myself, feeling that I’d put a lot of effort and money into making a pretty bad job of the tour. But in retrospect Breakdance has had a tremendous year. He’s gone from jumping 1.10’s and 1.20’s at the Sunshine Tour to being placed in 1.30’s and 1.40’s, and I’ve had some fantastic days on him jumping in the main ring at Edenbridge and Hickstead. Arietta has also had a really good year, and has won a really decent amount of money this year. Having started so well at the Sunshine Tour, and had such a great time in the main ring at Hickstead I am upset that the season didn’t finish well with her, she is such a lovely, generous horse, but on reflection I think she is so careful that 1.20 is enough for her, and she is very consistent and competitive at that level. I think she would find it easier to live a slightly quieter life with someone who wants to be really competitive in amateur classes, but my biggest priority is that she has a lovely home. She has a very big chunk of my heart.

We had a really good journey home, once again James had found lovely places to stay, one being next to a beautiful Chateau in Southern France. We were home by lunchtime and the horses were able to spend the afternoon in the field - lovely for them after nearly four weeks of no grass.

Travelling with James at Fetlock and Co and having Crista Lockhead Anderson grooming for me were two of the real highlights of this tour. Being with lovely people makes such a huge difference. Crista never failed to smile and be upbeat, even when the horses went really disappointingly, and James was the perfect travel companion and is also super, super organised - which I love!

I have bought a lovely five year old, Lady Pacino, from Bruce Menzies, and I am busy getting to know her. She was bred by Carl Duggan, so it is nice to know that she has had the most lovely life since she was born, and this certainly shows in her lovely approach to life. I have had a few lessons with Gemma Stevens with her, and our relationship is building well. She’s fantastic to have at home, so easy and a lovely hack too.

Breakdance had his first jump at Gemma’s yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He was very bouncy and full of himself: he was still bucking when he went out in the field, and when he came back into his stable - feeling very pumped up.

I am now starting to make preparations for the Sunshine Tour in February, it seems to be coming round very quickly, and it seems as though there is a lot to do to make sure that we are ready, but the prospect of jumping some bigger classes on Breakdance in those lovely rings is very exciting. Lady Pacino (Posy) will come with me to gain invaluable experience.