Telephone: 01342 824117 Email: enquiries@levadesystems.co.uk
|
Telephone: 01342 824117 Email: enquiries@levadesystems.co.uk |
|
Sam Penn and Golden Cross Equestrian Centre
Stable jockey at Golden Cross at the moment and hopefully for the foreseeable future. Sam returned to Golden Cross after working for the late Paul Darragh and then Anne Burnette after producing her youngsters. Although relatively new to the eventing game, this only being her fourth full season she had previously show jumped grade B level.
Since being at Golden Cross, Sam has produced some real stars in the making, her quiet but firm attitude has come through her rides and the results have been forthcoming. Highlights include 2nd at the BEF young horse evaluation final, winning the British 5 year old Championship and 2 years later the Four year old Championships, placed at numerous International Events including Houghton Hall CCI and being place at the Championships at Gatcombe Park. Sam was also shortlisted for the European CCI*** Championships in 2009.Alongside side these fantastic results on younger horses Sam has taken four horses to Advanced level and qualified to ride at 4* level Sam is still looking for more rides with the emphasis being on quality not quantity as she feels that she cannot do them justice with to many rides. With a strong team of horses lined up for 2011 with rides hopefully at Burghley, Bramham ,Blenheim and Boekelo it looks like being a great year ahead.
Sam will keep you all updated with a regular diary .
With the backing of local companies such as Levade Systems, who produce fantastic products at affordable prices, it is sure to help Sam achieve her ultimate goal of wearing the Union Jack whilst representing her country at Championship level.
Sam Penn's Diary
4 July 2011
Sidney's first win
Eridge really could not have gone much better for us, being so close to home and with just two ponies going we had very civilised times, and therefore no early morning start, I even had time to ride Archie before we went! Sue Hollands' little horse Catch The Wynd (Lil' Fred) was having his first outing of the year in the BE90, his dressage was very reasonable with just one minor mistake for 34.5, he then jumped a good double clear, with much more confidence than he showed last season, adding 5.2 time faults to finish on 39.7. This would have been good enough for 3rd place except that we were HC.
Sid was having another attempt at gaining his qualification for the Lycetts 5yo Championship in the BE100 class, his dressage was again an improvement for him, but his mark of 33 did not quite compare to the leading mark of 22. However Eridge is renowned for having very influential jumping phases and today this suited Sid beautifully as he jumped really well, feeling super-super confident around the cross country and was the only 5yo to finish inside the optimum time, putting us 2nd overall in the 100open section but the winner of the 5yo, his first ever eventing win! So that's it now, all eligable ponies are qualified for the Championships at Osberton in the Autumn, Sid will now have a crack at a Novice at Brightling in a few weeks.
Next it's off to Barbury with Brooke who is having what should be an easy run in the RoR Championship, Candi in the BYEH class and Archie in the CIC2*.
27 June 2011
Hickstead and Rackham
Candide, Winner Lycetts 4yo, Rackham
We spent the early part of the week masquerading as showjumpers at the Hickstead Derby meeting, which I always rather enjoy, although this year was a little less exciting as we were minus the Amazing Muffin, so just had the babies to play with but it was nonetheless a good, educational and very worthwhile exercise. On the Wednesday Kiri jumped in the 1.10m open/newcomers class, and jumped very well, her one fence down in the jump-off was entirely rider error, but this was rectified on Thursday with a lovely double clear, annoyingly finishing one place outside the money. Sid started Wednesday also with 4 faults, having the very last fence in the jump-off of the 5yo warm-up class, but it was a good preparation for the 5yo qualifier on the Thursday, in which he had 2 down but put in an exceptionally good effort, and was a very good experience for him, especially for his first time jumping a 1.20m track. Candi was perhaps the one who learned the most from the experience, jumping in the 1m open class each day, Wednesday left her somewhat shellshocked, but she returned a different, much more grown up pony on Thursday. It was a rest day for all 3 on Friday, before resuming 'normal practice' eventing at Rackham on Saturday, where all three ponies performed superbly. Sid was first to go in the Lycetts 5yo qualifer, having been jumping all week, his dressage was not perhaps quite up to scratch, but it is still improving every time and I was very happy with 31. The showjumping was almost too small after his efforts at Hickstead, but he jumped clear and felt lovely across country, jumping very boldly over what was quite a technical track, to finish 3rd, one of only 2 in the section to finish on his dressage score, but unfortunately it was still not quite good enough to qualify.
Kiri was next up in the BE100+ section which she led from the front with a super dressage mark of 29.1, the week of showjumping certainly did her good, really getting her using herself and she also finished on her dressage mark to win the section. I have always loved producing the youngsters as I find it so rewarding and this was never more true than with Candi, in just a few short weeks she has grown immensely in confidence, the dressage was much better than at BCA and when more experienced will be really lovely. The experience at Hickstead was a real bonus and sahe jumped a super clear in the showjumping, followed by a really good round xc in which she really thought about the questions asked and grew further in confidence on the way round, to be one of only 2 in the section to jump double clear and winning by 1.5 marks, qualifying for the the Championships at Osberton in the autumn. Although there track seemed to cause a lot of trouble throughout the day, I feel that full credit should go to the organisers/designers and builders as it was lovely to ride an intro/pre-novice track that was not terriblly big but actually held some really technical questions.
Our last piece of news for the week is that 'Eric the Embryo' has been successfully removed from Muffin and transplanted into Dilemma, the surrogate mare, so fingers (and everything else) crossed that it all works, we now have to wait for the scan in 15 days........
1 June 2011
High times at Houghton Hall
Above Board
We have just returned form a lovely week at Houghton Hall in Norfolk where we had 707 and Above Board competing in the CCI** and Eagles' Ridge in the BYEH (4yo). The first one to compete on the Thursday was Eagles' Ridge (Fergus). The whole deal of being at a 'stay away party' since the Tuesday had thoroughly tired him out and we had to drag him out of bed in order to get him plaited and ready to go. The beautiful weather came to an abrupt end just as we trotted down the centre line, when the heavens opened and we were utterly drenched. The dressage went reasonably well, picking up a mark of 32/35. The jumping was very amusing as he spent more time looking at the stalls and the banners and the people and seemed very surprised everytime he suddenly noticed a fence in front of him. Two down was therefore a little disapointing if not surprising, but the judges still thought he showed potential and our mark was 30/40. His super confimation was given 14/15, adding up to a total mark of 76, putting us through to the top 10. The showing part of the class gave us a chance to go back into the main ring and have another look at all the distractions, but Fergy improved and relaxed with every circuit and was able to show a really super gallop, for which he was given 9/10. This saw us finish on a mark of 85, tied with 2 others but unfortunately as the one with the lowest jumping mark we were relegated to 4th place, but all in all we wesre super pleased with how he went, and the way he grew up from the experience, although perhaps not the mad dash of ten 4 yr olds back to the stables to escape the thunderstorm!!!
The decision to drop back a level with Brooke was definately a good move and he gave one of his best ever dressage tests for a mark of 53.6 to lie 22 after the dressge phase. A fantastic clear accross country finishing dead on the optimum time moved us well up the leaderboard into 7th place, although he did pick up a bit of a bump on his stifle so it was a rather tense night and sunday morning with lots of icing and using the wonderful Zamar cooling machines which were available on site. All was well though and he passed the trot up on Sunday morning, The showjumping phase has always been one of his strong points and he jumped a fantastic clear to finish in 4th place. He then went on to belie his 18 years and thoroughly disgrace himself when overtaking the winners on the lap of honor, but he enjoyed it!!!
Our other contender was Above Board, also in the CCI**, although for him it was his first outing at this level. The dressage phase showed some really really good parts but was unfortunately marred by tension in others, he is a very anxious horse who lacks experience of competing at big events with 'atmosphere', but we are slowly progressing in the right direction. Across country he felt super, with scope to burn and super accurate and honest, his one blip was not really his fault, just overjumping into a double of brush corners and not able to make the turn between, having had the fault there however I decided to test him at the combination of a table to 2 very acutely angled brush panels (where I had opted for the long route on Brooke) but Archie was super and never wavered. The one phase that is really improving is the showjumping and he jumped a lovely easy clear.
They say horses are great levelers and having been on such a high after Brookes' result at Houghton we were brought right back down low again to find that Muffin has sprained a hind limb suspensory ligament, knocking her straight out of Bramham this week and probably curtailing most of the rest of this season. The scans have been sent away to be assessed by a speciallist but at the moment poor Muffy is confined to her stable on box rest until we know more.
So now we have an unexpectedly quiet week, with Brooke and Archie having a well deserved break and Muffin sidelined, its a chance to concentrate a bit on the babies with the first of the Lycetts 4yo qualifiers at Berks College in a couple of weeks, followed by a week of masquerading as a showjumper at Hickstead. x
Brigstock
Hattie. 10th Brigstock CIC*
It was back up the M11 this week for a trip to Brigstock with Sid and the 3 Ginger Birds, Hattie, Kiri and Lulu. Sid was in the first of his Lycetts 5yo qualifiers and we thought went very well. His dressage, although not his best phase, improves a little each time, however the judge here didn't like it. But he jumped a really good double clear albeit with a couple of time faults xc (for going too fast. Ooops). Kiri didn't perform with her usual pazzazz in the dressage so we decided to withdraw her from the jumping phases. We spent the night stabled at the local Woodland Pytchley hunt kennels and were able to toddle back to the showground for a REALLY yummy hog roast and one or two (ish...) glasses of Pimms. Sunday was Hattie and Lulu's turn to party. Lulu finished on her dressage mark of 35 to take 3rd (again) in the BE100, but the highlight of the weekend was Hattie's fantastic performance in her 1st ever CIC*, adding just 1.2 time faults xc to her dressage mark of 55.9 to finish 10th.
18 May 2011
Busy busy busy
Image courtesy of Tim Wilkinson
My apologies for not having kept up to date with reports recently but it seems that we have been going out to events quicker than I can find time to write about them! So I have rather a lot of catching up to do. Following on from Burnham Market was a mid-week trip to Milton Keynes with Hattie for the BE100+, Sid, having his first go at BE100 level and Lulu (Lite My Fire) having her first run of the season, also in the BE100. All ponies were exceptionally good, all finishing on their respective dressage marks to bring home a 2nd (Sid) and two 3rd placings.
The end of the week saw another long motorway trek, this time to one of my very favorite events in the calender at Withington Manor. Unfortunately Archie was balloted from the Intermediate, so that just left Brooke and Muffin, both in the Advanced class. After our recent improvements in the dressage phase I was rather disappointed with Muffins efforts, although I have to keep reminding myself that things are vastly improved on last season. However she jumped the most fantastic double clear, adding just 2.4 time faults to pull the leaderboard into 10th place. Brooke on the other hand gave a very reasonable performance in the dressage and followed this with a good clear in the showjumping, however a very naughty duck out at the second last on the xc after what had been a super round put paid to his chances of a ribbon.
The following weekend was a little closer to home at Hambleden, this time with Hattie and Kiri (Novice) and Sid (BE100). Sid again was super, finishing on his dressage mark for 6th place. Hattie had her first sj fault of the year, but had a nice dressage test and is becoming a real pleasure to ride xc, I am looking forwards to her next outing in the CIC1* and Brigstock next week. Kiri led the dressage with a mark of 28 but added 8 in the showjumping and then was rather green xc picking up a further 20 but it was a good learning experience for her in only her second novice.
After missing a run at Withington, we had another midweek outing to take Archie to Aston le Walls. We have been working very hard on our dressage recently but that all went rather out the window when we found our dressage arena to be right next to the xc, my horse promptly morphed into a giraffe and that was that! Although on the up side his jumping is becoming increasingly consistent and we notched up another double clear and I am getting a much better feel for him xc, so I am looking forwards to his CCI2* at Houghton Hall.
Finally this weekend, no early morning trips down any motorways this week as we stayed at home for the Annual Golden Cross Derby Show. 2 very busy, but great fun days, split overnight by my close friend Anna's nen night, but that's another story..... The youngest members of the team, Candide, (Candi) and Eagles Ridge, (Fergus) had their first introduction to a big exciting atmosphere and to jumping on grass and both aquitted themselves admirably. Lulu picked up a 3rd place in a 1.05 open, Sid was placed in the newcomers and the small derby, and had his first go at a 1.15m class in which he jumped superbly. Archie was my ride in the CooperBurnett Eventers Challenge and was fantastic finishing highest of the eventers in 3rd place. So that's all now up to date, this weekend its off to Brigstock International, followed swiftly by Houghton Hall, and then it's the biggie....Bramham!
21 April 2011
Fun in the Sun at Burnham Market
Image courtesy of Lulu Kyriacou
It was a long, long way up to Burnham Market this past weekend, a journey which should have taken 4 1/2 hours took nearer 6 as I think we must have found every set of roadworks/accident/blockages thet it was possible to meet. Still we arrived eventually, fortunately we had decided to travel up on the Friday, ready for an 8am dressage test on Saturday morning with Archie in the Intermediate. A test that felt much improved on our previous attempts recieved a disappointing mark of 40.9, but this was followed up with a lovely double clear albeit with 10 time faults. Finishing up with us in 16th place which was a bit of a shame after a good performance but another outing for us to get to know each other and things definately seem to be headed in the right direction. Also out on Saturday was Hattie, with Kiri sidelined with her sore foot Hatie was substituted in. As usual her dressage was accurate if perhaps a little uninspiring so received a fair mark of 35, but again she jumped a super double clear around what is probably the toughest track she has yet met and we finished up in that most horrible of placings, 11th, so nearly placed!! The more I do with this mare the more I like her and am going to be most upset when she is sold which is looking increasingly likely if she continues to turn in performances like these.
We had high hopes of an early night on Saturday, but these were dashed when we arrived back at our stables for the night. Brooke came off the lorry in a most peculier state, shivering uncontrollably and un-intersted in food and yet with a normal temperature, going to the toilet ok and generally nothing to suggest what might actually be the problem. After walking him around for ages, piling several rugs on him, and removing them again shortly afterwards when he started to sweat, he finally seemed to settle down, ate his dinner and went to sleep, at which point we did the same. Fortunately Sunday did not require an early start, so I had time to ride him for a short time before deciding whether to proceed with the dressage, he seemed a little more flat than usual but nothing really wrong so we decided to go ahead and once in the ring he reverted to his usual slightly spacky self so I decided he was absolutely fine to do the jumping! 2 down sj was somewhat uncharacteristic and again I worried 'shall I, shan't I' go xc? After much thought I decided to run and was very glad that I did as he gave me a lovely clear, and, like Hattie finished in he dreaded 11th place. The highlight of the weekend however was Muffin in the CIC3*. As always the dressage was our weak point, although it is improving steadily and we have so far this year not actually waved at he judges....(fingers crossed it stays that way). 67.8 was not a score that looked like troubling the leaderboard but when followed up with a fantastic double clear adding just 11.6 time faults we came right up the board to finish 10th!! My first ever Advanced level placing. Muffy felt absolutely amazing xc, taking every direct route with never any hint of a problem anywhere and I'm told she looked really impressive, she certainly felt it.
So the long drive home didn't seem so bad and we even stopped for a celebratory KFC en route. The other piece of news this week is that I have finally admitted defeat with Rory and he is going for a trial with Francis Whittington. It somewhat irks that I have had to give in but he really is a man's ride and I am sure that he will go on to be a really good horse as he has ooodles of talent.
Its a quiet weekend now, some showjumping on Friday at home followed by some xc schooling on Saturday with Sid, Lulu, Fergus and our newest acquisition Candied. (See Sam's Horses), ready for Milton Keynes on Tuesday.
South of England
South of England was a bit of a disapointment on some fronts, with several silly, niggling injuries stopping play, but also had its high points, namely Ambastor Princess finishing 7th and double clear in our first Novice. After missing Munstead due to having cracked heels Sid still didn't feel quite 100% comfortable so we just did the dressage and gave the jumping phases a miss. Kir Royal had her first attempt at Novice, which started well with a 33.3 dressage, and just 4 faults sj. The xc also started well until meeting probably the largest drop of her career where she dithered and then very gingerly lowered herself off, this was followed by two very uncharacteristic run outs at a log and later at the corner. However on returning to the lorry we found that she had badly grazed the back of her leg, probably on the drop, so we will give her the benefit of the doubt on this occasion and come out to play next time at Hambleden. Archie also missed the party, after picking up an injury in the field, so the only other runner was Rory, who again was just too much across the country so there may soon be a re-think on the situation.
7 April 2011
A Busy Two Weeks
It feels like a very long two weeks since my last diary entry after Tweseldown, sooo much seems to have happened. Firstly after his somewhat disapointing performance in the OI, we had the vet out to give Smurf a check up and it seems that the dreaded 'atrial fibrillation' has again reared it's ugly head. It seems like such a dismal way for such an amazing horse to end his career, but it does indeed mean that the end of his competition days has come and it is time for the old man to take life easy. Its a pretty bitter blow as after Blenheim last year we had hoped that he would have one last season left, perhaps even a 4*, but it is not to be and I cannot even begin to say how priveliged I feel to have had the opportunity to gain experinece on such an amazing character. A huge, huge Thank You to his owner, Lou Furlong for allowing me to ride him.
The mood improved considerably after a trip to Munstead with the two 'Ginger Birds', who did their very best to improve the reputation of chestnut mares everywhere. Kiri started the day off in style with a 23.5 dressage mark in BE100 sec H. She followed this up with a lovely double clear to win the section by 5 marks, setting her up nicely for her Novice debut at SoE next week. One win in a day was lovely but Hattie was not to be outdone in the 100+ section M, with a dressage mark of 31.4 and nothing further added she also won the section, although this time with no difference in the score tosecond placed Will Furlong, (son of Smurf's owner Lou) who also finished on 31.4, but was a little further away from the optimum time.
Two days later saw us heading down the M27 to Somerly Park, this time with the MacDonald Brothers, (Archie and Rory), for the CIC2* and Novice classes. The weather set the mood for the day, rather appropriately starting to rain on our arrival and finishing just in time for us to leave. Archie started the day of with a dressage test that I would prefer to forget, however he did then jump clear in the showjumping, albeit with a couple of 'lucky' moments as the ground was getting a bit holding on some of the take off's. After a rather long wait in the xc warm up, during which Archie got himself really worked up in a most un-necessary way, he stormed around the course in super style, making the whole thing seem effortless. As it was only our second run together I didnt push too hard for the time, but he still came home with just 8.8 penalties added, to finish a very respectable 18th in his first 2* attempt.
Rory started things off on a very promising manner with a much improved dressage test, things atarted to go downhill in the showjumping though, a phase which has been improving in leaps and bounds recently, he again became very stong and as such had two fences down. The xc phase was the most disappointing however as from start to finish I had real trouble which control and added a massive 32 time faults.
Friday meant a long haul up the A1 for my first ever visit to Belton, an event about which all I had heard was that it was lovely, but enormous! Saturday began with Muffin's dressage in the Advanced section P. Both the Advanced sections had their arenas next to the main arena, surrounded by trade stands, not the most conjusive atmosphere for Madam to settle in. However after having worked in on site for an hour on the Friday, followed by another hour on Saturday morning and then nearly as long again immediately prior to our test, her performance was entirely acceptable. There was some tension creeping in at times but it was by far her best test at this level, the judge at C definitely liked her, awarding two 8's and a comment of "Fab horse with much potential" and a mark of 170. The judge at E however was not a fan and only gave us a mark of 141, a huge difference, with comments, "Tense, unsettled, not willing to listen. Disappointing". But from my point of view, it was a real improvement in form. 707 was competing in OI section M, and performed a very reasonable dressage for a mark of 34.6, although this left us well down the order in 14th after this phase. The showjumping posed no problems for Brooke, leaving all the poles up, although this phase certianly caused its fair share of problems. It was the xc phase which really shuffled the pack however, with just 3 horses coming home inside the time. The course could have been designed especially for him, big, bold and galloping and he just loved it, coming home easily inside the time to finish in 2nd place.
Sunday was Muffin's turn to do the fun bits. The showjumping again caused its fair share of trouble, with a very tight time limit and a very up to height track. Muffin had a very unlucky 4 faults, just getting a bit close to the penultimate fence, mostly down to me cutting off a corner in order to save time, The xc phase was causing plenty of trouble for many far more experience campaigners than us, as the prefered 'pre-Badminton' run for many people, Belton is renowned for being pretty tough. Our mistake came early on, at the Wishing Wells, two skinny fences on a curving line of 5 strides. It was entirely rider error, jumping the first part too quick to make the turn through the gap in the fence to get to the second part, necessitating a circle and therefore a technical 20 penalties, but I cannot hold Muffin to blame as she did not refuse or run out, she simply did not even see the fence. After this I decided we had nothing to lose and that we may as well see what we were made of and took all the straight routes with no further problems, and giving me the most fantastic feel, Muffy is so straigt and honest through any combination, locking onto and jumping whatever is put in front of her. She has now also gained in confidence when coming down to big wide fences and just takes them in her stride, giving a lot of confidence for the next run in the CIC3* at Burnham Market.
So thats all up to date for now, a spot of showjumping at Royal Leisure on Tuesday and training on Friday with Nick Turner, then we remain close to home next weekend for South of England, so until then.....x
17 March 2011
TWESELDOWN
Well the season is now well and truly underway and this weekend saw us making two trips to Tweseldown, always one of my favourite places. Things kicked off on Thursday with Smurf, Brooke and Muffin all in the OI. As always the start list for these sections read like a who's-who of the eventing world which always guarantees a pretty stiff competition. Murphy started the day nicely with one of his best dressage marks to date (32.3), this was followed up with a nice round showjumping, where after hitting the first two fences he promptly woke up and jumped superbly. The xc phase went well until the penultimate fence where he just failed to move up off my leg and was therefore slightly off it and thus ducked out to the side (it was a corner!) So a bit more work on the hill to get him a little bit fitter before next time out at Belton.
Brooke was the next to go and also gained his best ever mark at this level, delivering a really nice calm test for a mark of 34.1. This was followed by a lovely double clear, albeit a rather steady xc adding 18.4 time faults to finish a credible 14th. Muffin was the last to go and also gave a reasonable dressage although only recieved a mark of 40.5. Another double clear although again a somewhat steady one meant that she also finished in 14th place.
We returned on Saturday with Ambastor Princess (Hattie) for the BE100 class. Hattie was a catch ride for me at Firle last year and is now residing with us at Golden Cross as she is for sale due to her long term owner/rider having gone to university. Things started out nicely with a good dressage for which we thought her mark of 34.5 was a bit mean, hpwever she added nothing to this for the rest of the day, jumping a lovely clear showjumping and sppeding around the xc to finish well inside the optimum time. So our next outing will be the 100+ section at Munstead in two weeks, and all being well this will be followed by a Novice at SoE.
Its a quiet week now with affiliated showjumping at home next weekend followed by Munstead, with Hattie, Kiri and Sid who will be making his BE100 debut.
8 March 2011
ISLEHAM
It was a fantastic start to the season with three out of 4 ponies coming home with ribbons. Kir Royale started the ball rolling in the BE100 with a super dressage mark of 24, followed by a good clear showjumping. The xc warm up was rather exciting with lots of bucking and squeeking but she got on with the job once on course and gave me a really lovely ride, finishing clear and inside the time to earn 2nd place, a really promising start and one which bodes well for a move up to novice before too long. Next up was Pusiden in the BE90open. His dressage has improved so much over the winter but being back out in open fields was a little bit exciting but his mark of 33.5 was entirely respectable. He also followed with an easy double clear to finish in 6th place, again a really positive start showing he is more than ready for the step up to BE100 at Munstead in a few weeks.
Sunday was the turn of the 'MacDonald Brothers'. Charter Party (Rory) started the day in the Novice class. Again being asked to do dressage in a large field was a bit too much and I felt rather carted around the arena. The phase has improved vastly since last year and he was really calm and relaxed. The one fence down was very unlucky. The xc phase however was also a bit too much to cope with, this was a little disappointing as we have worked especially hard on this and Rory has been behaving exceptionally well on the hill, the gallops and xc schooling, but with the atmosphere of the event he was again very strong. However all is not doom and gloom as there were some positives, he did not make so much ground through the combinations and I did have considerably more control than last year so we will keep on! Big Brother Archie (Above Board) was the last to perform, in the Intermediate class. I felt that his dressage was quite good, right up until he threw a paddy in the final halt, however his mark of 40.5 and a dressage sheet full of 6's was rather a let down. Things didn't really improve much in the showjumping arena with 3 fences down and 2 time faults, although there were only 5 clears in the section. Archie saved the best for last however, giving me a fantastic ride across country, as it was our first time out together I didn't push on, but he has such a smooth long stride that just eats up the ground, he cruised home 5th fastest, bringing us well back up the order to finish 6th.
So all in all it was a pretty good way for the year to begin, I have learned a lot about the two new ponies Kiri and Archie and where we still need to do our homework. So next its the turn of the big boys (and girl) in the OI at Tweseldown on Thursday, followed by Ambastor Princess in the BE100 on Saturday.
15 February 2011
NEARLY READY...
It has been a busy month with various excursions out for sj, dressage, xc schooling and some canter work on the Downs, but now with just a couple of weeks to go before Isleham, we are about as ready as we can be. All ponies have been behaving very well, our most recent party was sj at home, Tigga won the Newcomers/Blue Chip Qualifier, Sid had his first attempt at Newcomers, a couple of baby errors resulted in 2 down but he really showed that he will be something a little bit special. Rory (Charter Party) is hopefully starting to turn a corner and calm down, as if he can then he will also be a forse to be reckoned with. New arrival Kir Royale (Kiri) is also going well having moved up to 1.10m classes which bodes well for attempting some Novices this year. Ambastor Princess has become a resident here at Golden Cross, following our successful outing at Firle last year, Hattie is here to be sold as her long time owner/rider Abbie Lloyd is now at university, however in the meantime we will do a couple of BE100's and then have a go at Novice. Another new arrival Above Board (Archie), older full brother to Rory has settled in well, we are getting used to each other, dressage is improving although he is used to rather longer legs than mine, but jumping is going well and he is a real gentleman about cross country practice. Muffin jumped well as always, finishing 2nd in the Foxhunter, Brooke and Smurf also went well for their first party of the sesaon with just a couple of silly faults between them.
We are back out xc schooling this week at Littleton Manor, this time its the turn of Brooke and Smurf and then next week I have 2 days off for a quick visit to the Emerald Isle for my new nephew-in-law's christening, and then it will be time to pack the lorry and go eventing, YIPPEE!!
1 November 2010
Hi All
Hope you are well. Have latest diary update for you. Season finished off pretty well at Aldon and last few sj shows so now all taking things easy for a bit before we start thinking about next year.
Sam x
To finish off the season we haded down to Somerset for what promised to be a pretty relaxing week at Aldon International with just one horse, Coevers Diamond Clover who was having his first attempt at a CCI*. After an incredibly cold first night, during which all the waters and taps froze as well as the door to our lorry things actually went rather well. I am begining to get acustomed to that dreaded feeling in the trot up when the ground jury send you to the holding box when I know there is nothing wrong with the horse, I am starting to think that the sadisic so-and-so's enjoy making me run repeatedly in my heels!! (I know I should probably wear 'sensible' shoes, but the last time I did the horse tripped me up so now I go with the heels....) Anyway, we got through the formalities in the end and by the time it came to the dressage I was feeling pretty confident. It has taken a very long time for Flynn to start working well in the dressage arens but (probably now that he is for sale) it is all starting to come together, so well in fact that I rode the test in a happy mouth snaffle. Flynn excelled himself and gave his best ever preformance to date, earning a mark of 48.8 to lie equal 15th.
With that bit out of the way we looked forwards to the fun bit, for all his youth and inexperience I always enjoy riding Flynn xc because he is so straightforward and easy and as yet he has never found any question too much. My only concern on this occassion was whether he would find the time a problem as the terrain was pretty tough with a long steep hill near the end. I need not have worried however, Flynn may not have the fastest gallop in the world but because he just keeps going to each fence without a great deal of 'setting up' he skipped round easily and galloped up the hill without any bother, finishing well inside the optimum time.
Fortunately after his exertions of the previous day Flynn trotted up well and giong into the final phase we had moved up to 12th place. Unfortunately we did not manage to finish on a clean sheet and 8 faults in the showjumping knocked us down to 20th place, although I believe he was still the highest placed 6yo.
Just to silence any criticism of his showjumping Flynn came out this weekend and won a 1.15 open class and was 2nd in the Foxhunter. It was also a chance for me to start getting to know the newest member of the squad, a 10yo chestnut mare named Kir Royale who has had some good form at BE100 level this year and will be hoping to move up to face some Novices in 2011. But for 2010 thats pretty much it, all the ponies will now have a bit of a holiday and the chance to go and get fat, hairy and dirty and generally take it easy for a while before we start to prepare for 2011....
13 September 2010
This week has seen a few new experiences for myself and some of the boys, last Wednesday here at Golden Cross we held 'An Evening with Team Sam Penn', a lecture/demo aiming to show how we start off our young event horses and what we look for as they progress up the ranks. It was also a chance for some of our supporters and sponsors to showcase themselves. I have to admit to being utterly terrified at the prospect of talking to a large crowd of people but at the same time I was also worried that no-one at all would turn up. In the end it all went really well and several people were kind enough to email me afterwards to tell me that they had enjoyed it, so thank you very much to you all for coming and also to Howard Newitt, Olivia Jones and Balanced Horse Feeds for their contributions to the evening and not forgetting Bill Cook our stuntman!!
This weekend we had a lovely sunny day out at Pulborough with Brockley Star, Tickeridge and Lite My Fire. Broccoli and Tigga were both having their fist attempt at Novice level and both acquitted themselves exceptionally well, Broccoli adding 2 time faults to his dressage mark of 31.4 to finish in 2nd place, Tigga got a bit rude in his showjumping round and unfortunately added 8 faults to a fabulous dressage mark of 24.3, he was clear and inside the time across country though and finished in 7th place. So a fantastic start at the higher level and a really good way for them both to finish the season. Lulu rounded the day off nicely in BE100 sec M with a very unlucky 4 faults in the showjumping to add to her dressage mark of 31, but she still finished in 3rd place. I was also really pleased with how much her jumping has come on since she had a short holiday mid-season, she feels so much stronger and is starting to feel like a 'proper' horse.
So that's pretty much it now for the season, a little bit of showjumping and a week at Aldon with Flynn which will seem like a bit of a holiday after what we have been used to and then all the boys and girls can go out to get fat, hairy and muddy for a while!
Read reviews/write reviews on Levade
