Soliegette is back in action!
As I mentioned in my previous blog, I took Solie to jump her first show jumping class in nearly a full year, last month. I jumped her in a couple of 1.10 and 1.20 classes and she went well, and a fortnight later, I jumped her in a 1.30 class, which she won, so I was over the moon. It feels so good to have her back in action and feeling happy and full of spring again! We then took her to a big premier show at Aintree Equestrian Centre at the end of October.
Solie gets her Ster!
I've had a really busy and positive month with all of the horses. I decided to take Solie to the KWPN mare gradings at Merecourt Stud in Blackpool. She has a KWPN passport, but in order to get mares approved for registration in the KWPN studbook you have to attend the gradings. Two ladies, Karin and Ine, came over from Holland to judge the mares at a number of venues throughout the country. They were really helpful and welcoming, and their English was absolutely excellent. The day started off with the evaluation of foals and after that, they graded the mares without foals. There was one three year old, a four year old and Solie.
The mares were presented on a hard surface, where they were measured. To gain studbook entry a mare has to stand at 158cm, and to gain the prestigeous "ster" status, awarded to mares of above average conformation, movement and jumping technique, they have to stand at 160cm. I was slightly worried that Solie wasn't going to be big enough but was surprised to find out that she actually measured 161cm. She was a bit afraid of the measuring stick so I think that helped her to grow a few inches! We were then asked to stand the mare square so they could assess her conformation, and asked to walk and trot up in hand. The other two mares were loose-jumped in the indoor arena so that their jumping technique and potential could be assessed. If mares have already competed and successfully jumped a certain number of clear rounds at 1.30m competitions and above, they are not required to loose-jump as they have already proved themselves to have ability and potential. Solie, having competed at 1.55 level nationally and internationally, more than met this requirement, so they asked if they could just see her loose in the indoor arena so that they could see her movement. We were then all asked to lead the mares around the indoor arena, and individually they told us what marks we had scored, and what weaknesses or strengths our mares had.
They seemed fairly impressed with Solie, and had little to criticize. As I predicted they said that she is slightly upright in her front legs, and they also said that she could build up more muscle across her back, but due to her not being in work for the last 10 months, she has dropped some muscular condition. They were impressed with her head and neck and her general conformation and movement, so she received studbook entry and also "ster" mare status!
It was a really informative and interesting day, and both Ine and Karin were really helpful. If I do breed from Solie in the future, they will help me find a stallion that would match her. For example I would choose a stallion with very good front leg conformation as this would help improve the conformation of the foal. Merecourt Stud was the perfect venue for the gradings, as it was a quiet location, with a nice long concrete area for the trot up, and a lovely indoor school. Because it was so peaceful there, all the mares and foals seemed so calm and relaxed, which is very different from other venues where there is a lot going on, which makes the mares and foals tense and nervous. Overall I was so pleased that Solie did well at the gradings as I really do think she is a special mare, and she definitely deserves her "ster" status. She is definitely my little star!
Lily and Rosa improve at Arena UK Jumping Festival
Last week I took Lily (Denthe DW) and Rosa (Altima) to Arena UK for a week of show jumping. Sadly I had not got either of the horses out as much as I would’ve so I decided to use it more as a training show than a competitive one. Although I only came home with one placing, both horses jumped really well, and have improved vastly in the space of 7 days. Rosa had just 1 down in her second ever Foxhunter (1.20m) competition and both jumped well in the Newcomers.
Lily started off the week a bit spooky and green but by the end of the week she was jumping with confidence and enthusiasm. Rosa is becoming much more rideable. She is a very sensitive and sharp mare, and she's been a difficult horse to get to know. Last year she was so naughty in the warm-up at Arena UK that I didn't jump her in the ring. At the time I thought that there was something wrong with her back, but now I think the problem was more in her head! We've really got to know each other in the last year, and she is improving all the time, showing plenty of potential. I will probably still event her next season and I am still considering selling her, but I am interested to see how much more potential she has as a pure show jumper. Now that I have really got to grips with her, she actually has a lot more scope than I originally thought.
Whilst I would have loved to have had Solie at Arena UK to jump the big classes, it was actually quite nice to be able to relax and watch. There was an excellent field of riders there including Tim Stockdale, Geoff Billington, Nick Skelton, and the whole Whitaker family were there in force! I was really pleased to see Louise Whitaker and Dazzle qualify for horse of the year show. The other qualifier was George Whitaker who rode excellent rounds all week. For someone who is still only young, he is extremely professional and talented. I was also pleased to see Jo McGlory and Camelio win the third leg of the HOYS qualifier. Her reaction after her horse jumped double clear was lovely, taking both hands off the reins to pat him. It’s nice to see that someone clearly loves their horse and is delighted with their achievement, especially when many seem afraid to show emotion or reaction. There's nothing a crowd loves more than a rider who gives their horse the credit and shows respect and thanks to the horse after jumping a good round.
The show has some excellent classes all week, and on the final night of the show, there was a £12,000 prize to the winner of the Grand Prix! This was the biggest prize money class that I have seen in national show jumping in Britain, and it was no wonder that all the top riders had turned up to try their chances at winning it! The course was built by Di Boddy and was absolutely perfect for the calibre of riders in the class. Being both big and technical, the course proved extremely difficult, resulting in a few retiring. There were 9 clears in the first round out of an original 65 starters so Di really had built an excellent course for the class, resulting in just the right number of clears to make for an exciting jump-off. The winner was Laura Kraut, a very talented American rider who is based here in the UK. Second place went to Billy Twomey, riding the very impressive stallion Romanov and 3rd place went to the highest placed British rider, Baileys sponsored rider Graham Lovegrove on his lovely grey horse Tin Tin!
Since Arena UK, I have taken both Lily and Rosa to Richmond to jump the Newcomers (1.10m). Rosa had an unfortunate fence down but jumped well, and Lily jumped an excellent double clear and won. I think both rounds reflected on how much the horses have improved during their week at Arena UK. Next week I plan to take Soliegette, who is now fit and well, to Richmond to jump her in a small class. It will seem strange being in the ring with her after almost a year off competing and I think we will both be a little over-excited! I just hope that she will jump well and feel fine so that I can slowly bring her back to top level jumping.
Finally some good news!
Well the year so far has been tough for me. Primarily because I've missed being out and about at top level due to Solie being out of action. Sadly the shockwave therapy was not successful, and when we went back to the vets, we were advised to have her operated on. Solie underwent an operation on her hind suspensory, and yet more box-rest, before going back down to Newmarket for a scan of the leg. After the disappointment of the shockwave therapy not working, I had prepared myself for the worst, and had even made a short-list of stallions that we could put her! However, Solie is not going to be a broodmare just yet. The vet was extremely pleased with how the leg looks after the operation, and is happy for me to slowly bring her back into work! I was so happy to hear this. Solie has been so patient with everything she has gone through. She had not been turned out for 8 months, and had only been walked out in hand daily, yet she has behaved like an absolute saint. I think this almost made me feel worse but I am so happy to see her back out in the field with her friends now! Fingers crossed that by the end of this year I will be able to do some small competitions on here, and just steadily bring her back up to top level for next spring.
Whilst Solie has been off work, I have been busy riding my more novice horses. We plan on selling Rosa (a TB/Warmblood cross) as an event horse, so I decided to be brave and go cross country schooling. I absolutely loved it, and so did she. She was amazingly bold and answered every question, and so the spur of the moment decision was made to enter her in the British Eventing Horse Trials competition at Burgham in Northumberland. This was a new horse trials venue for this year, and it was a super event. I was thrilled when she went clear cross country despite incurring time penalties due to her inexperience. I did get a few funny looks from fellow showjumpers who were wondering what on earth I was doing dressed in my cross country gear!
Yet more good news was received last week when both the broodmares Azon B and Vicky had their 62 day scan to confirm that they are in foal! The sire of Azon's foal, Argento is producing some extremely consistant results this season, which is extremely pleasing to see so I am very excited for next year!
Last week we took the yearling, Fiorella, to the BEF Futurity Evaluation at Richmond Equestrian Centre. This is a series designed to recognize potential future competition horse across the disciplines of Showjumping, Dressage, Eventing and Endurance. Unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances, we hadn't been able to take Ella down to Richmond for a few visits beforehand as planned, so it was all a bit much for her to take in when we arrived.
My yard and it's surroundings have been her world for one year so I think it was a bit of a shock to be taken on the horsebox to arrive at a strange place with strange horses everywhere. Luckily my local Bailey's rep, Samantha Wright, who helps me with feed and nutritional advice for all of my horses, came with us and provided me with the moral support I needed! I was happy to know that Ella's body condition is absolutely perfect, and this must reflect on the excellent feeding advice that I've had for her since she was born. The vet was pleased that she had no conformation faults that he could see as causing a problem later in life which bodes well for the future.
Ella had never been in an indoor school before, and this proved a bit much for her, resulting in her becoming very tense and upset, and unfortunately she kicked me in the Evaluation! However, I was pleased that the judges seemed to take into account that some yearlings are bound to be tense and excitable, so she received a first premium grading. She was very tense, and wanted to be back with the other horses and sadly this resulted in her not showing off her paces to the best of her ability so we received a slightly lower mark than we might have done had she been more relaxed. However, I was pleased to have taken her to her first competition, and she even won her first ever rosette! I think it's a super idea to have evaluations of horses as young as foals and yearlings, and I am sure the series will definitely help to promote British breeding, as well as identifying potential future superstars.
I am planning on taking Denthe DW (Lily) and Altorro (Alfie) to a competition at Arena UK next month. I took Lily last year and she went extremely well, so I hope for a similar result this year. Words cannot express how happy I am to have Solie back in work. I hope that the rest has done her good and that she will be back to top level next year!