From the Sunshine Tour to the Derby Show

The horses had a couple of very quiet weeks after coming home, just going out to the field for a few hours, and no riding at all for the first week, and then a week of hacking. It would have been lovely if there had been any spring weather at all, but it was still lovely for them to be in the field after five weeks of no field and virtually no grass.

The first week in March is a week of family birthdays for me, mine on 5th March, and my brother Andy and grandson Jack on 6th March. A big birthday for Andy, so Mark and I met him for a quick celebratory drink in London, before having dinner with some old friends from Northamptonshire. We then had a fantastic afternoon at the England Ireland Rugby International where Mark kindly took me and both my brothers, a very enjoyable family day out, excellent rugby and even better banter, especially when the bossy brother got us completely lost on the way back to the station. Luckily 30,000 steps round Richmond Park was nothing to me. The final celebration of the week was Jack’s Christening and belated birthday, so a very busy week all in all. Mark and I then were lucky enough to go to the Cheltenham Festival, staying with my great school friend Pippa Green, and having a morning visit to Jonjo O’Neill’s stables and amazing facilities at Jackdaws Castle before racing. The weather was absolutely horrible, but we still had a great day’s racing, and saw lots of friends.

It was great to have a schooling session with Alex Hempleman at Coombelands the following week: if you leave jumping too long after a Spring Tour you risk losing the advantage you’ve gained. I felt strangely rusty, but both horses jumped well, and then jumped very well the following day with Arietta continuing her good form with a placing in the Foxhunter. We did a couple of classes at Coombelands three day show the following week, and then after another good schooling session with Alex, where he made me jump a bit bigger, we went to Felbridge for their mid-April show where Breakdance had a good schooling round in the Foxhunter before stepping up to his first 1.30.

Arietta has continued to jump very consistently at 1.20, with regular placings, she is really happy at this level, and although she has plenty of scope for 1.30, she sometimes finds the bigger fences in the jump-off worrying. Meanwhile I have been concentrating on Breakdance stepping up to 1.30. It’s a little while since I jumped 1.30’s regularly and he’s never done it - but he is very brave and scopey and gets better with every round. I need to get a bit quicker, as I’ve become the Queen of the time fault!

With regular shows the horses get plenty of practice round courses, but I have been having regular lessons with Gemma Stevens, where we concentrate a bit more on grids, to help Breakdance learn to back himself off the fences a bit, and difficult lines and distances to try and make it all easier and smoother with Arietta. Mainly Arietta has been consistently competitive, but after a couple of uncharacteristic stops and some rather wild behaviour she is now on Regumate which seems to be helping her feel more settled and able to concentrate.

on 9th May we waved Sophie, Alex, Lila and Jack off to Kenya, for Alex’s three year posting there. A huge and exciting adventure for them, and we will really miss them, but have already arranged our first trip to see them in their new life, and to learn more about Kenya.

A few days later Emma had her fourth foal, Alchornes Opportunity, a beautiful colt by Breen Equestrian’s lovely young stallion Opportunity (Grandorado TN X Kashmir Van Schuttershof). Emma is now living at Pookbourne Stud with her lovely friend Zarnita. They both have colts by Opportunity who were born in the same week, they are so happy turned out together, and Greg le Gear is doing a brilliant job looking after them so much better than Mark and I can manage by ourselves at home. Her oldest son, Colin aka Alchornes New Venture by Colmar, has just gone to be broken, Tom aka Alchornes Pure Gold by Golden Hawk was bought by Michael Duffy and George aka Alchornes Gold Dust by Golden Hawk, is at Pookbourne Stud, happily growing up in the herd.

On 26th May we had the dreadful news that Georgie Campbell had died after a fall at Bicton Horse Trials. Georgie was a big part of the local community, both the community at large and the equestrian community. She was not only very beautiful, but also kind, generous and always welcoming with her wonderful smile and easy conversation. We had known her since she and Sophie were playing lacrosse at Kent Schools and in the Pony Club, and watched with admiration as she realised her dreams, both in her marriage to Jesse and in her eventing goals. Many tributes have been paid to Georgie, and perhaps two of the best in the immediate aftermath were from the Eventing Times on Instagram and from Jesse himself. Many events held a minutes silence for Georgie on June 1st, including Felbridge where I was competing. The equestrian community have rallied to help one another in this very sad time, and we were lucky that the Strangs and Campbells were kind enough to give us all a chance to say our goodbyes in a beautiful memorial service on 25th June. British Eventing Support Trust and other equestrian charities have provided help lines to help those who are struggling to process this, use them, it is good to talk. For me it brought back many memories of my step-sister Jemima, who also lost her life eventing in 2000, and what an absolutely harrowing time it is for family and friends. I was so grateful that we hadn’t had to deal with social media, and that we had had time to process a little of the shock, and time to tell our far flung siblings and other family members, before we had to face the whole world. There is no hurry to post on social media, however much you want to show your support - some of the best and most helpful tributes to Georgie were posted at least 24 hours after she died, when the authors had had time to think more clearly about what they wanted to write, and support is needed over many months, perhaps even more than in the first few hours which are full of practical considerations.

Having had a bit of a disaster when the alternator on the lorry died as we set off to Wellington, which meant that Arietta hadn’t had the mileage at 1.25 that I wanted, I decided to divert from Bolesworth to the South of England Show. I love the South of England, and now that so few shows are on grass, it’s a brilliant chance to get the horses some mileage on grass before Hickstead. Arietta had a bit of an unsettled show as she was madly in season and really couldn’t concentrate, but Breakdance jumped really well in the 1.20 and 1.30 the first two days, and luckily was qualified for the R&R Stevenson’s final in the main ring on Sunday. This is a brilliant class and a good chance to get the horses in a main ring atmosphere while the fences are still not too big. Breakdance had an early fence, and then settled and relaxed to jump very well. A measure of how much he has grown up since last year.

The following weekend we headed to Felbridge, in the pouring rain just to make sure both horses were feeling confident before heading to Hickstead for the Derby Show.

This year’s Derby Show was blessed with beautiful weather which meant that the big grass rings rode beautifully. The one downside to Hickstead was that I was in the first class at 8.00 every morning which means leaving here at 6.00 with the yard all done - quite an effort for the elderly! The first morning Breakdance jumped in the Grade C Qualifier in Ring 5, a very up to height and technical 1.30 in a ring with a lot of trees and a big hill, all of which is new to him. He started a little bit green, but ended up jumping very well, a feeling he consolidated really well the next evening in a 1.30 in Ring 2 where he felt fabulous. Unfortunately the Two Phase Format means that in both cases a pole in the first half meant that we only got to jump the first eight fences. Having jumped late on Thursday, we were back in the ring only 13 hours later on Friday. He actually went beautifully, but he was very tired and had a couple of fences. Arietta jumped lovely double clears on Wednesday and Thursday, and I thought we were quite fast - but nothing like fast enough to qualify for the main ring. She just tapped a fence in the jump-off on Friday, but all in all had a very good week, and felt super smooth and confident. I finally seem to have found the right bit for her, a combination bit with a bendy plastic mouthpiece, so that she mainly rides off the hackamore, with just a bit of support as she approaches the fence. She has a very delicate mouth, but is very strong and quite big for me, so I just ride her in a hackamore at home, and use her bit for jumping. So far we both seem to be very happy with this arrangement. We nearly had it right at the end of the Sunshine Tour, but the short-shank combination bit just gave her a little bit too much of the control, luckily when I was borrowing a hackamore from Shane Breen, he suggested trying the bit we have now with a slightly longer shank. I so enjoy jumping on grass in the big rings in Hickstead, I think it really gives the horses scope and confidence with plenty of forward canter between the fences, and I love the extra challenge of a few slopes and bumps in the ground. No problems with time faults on the grass!

Our next show is Kent County for another chance to jump on grass. I’ve never visited the show before, so hopefully it’s a nice day out for Holly and I as well. Many, many thanks to Holly White who comes with me to shows, and to Steff Gibbs who helps part-time with the horses at home, and also to Ed Lyall, the Casserlys and Caitlin McCaffery who keep the horses feeling their best. Emma Varley who keeps me fit and strong, and Gemma Stevens pushes me and keeps me confident in my riding, and last, but by no means least to Mark who is the lynchpin of the whole team. Confidence in the team behind you is absolutely essential, it makes me feel calm, organised and ready, and then I can just concentrate on trying to ride the horses properly.

As always many thanks to my lovely sponsors, Saracen Horse Feeds, MacWet Gloves, Just Equine, NDS Equine and Arc Equine, who keep the horses and me feeling great.