Wonderful Winter

Well, we seem to be surviving the British version of 'global warming', but I can't say that it makes life very easy. Lydia and I currently have 10 horses in work, but thankfully only 5 of which are living in. We made a 'team policy' to try and leave as many horses hairy and living out in the fields as possible until Boxing Day, so that we can start their fitness work but maintain a semblance of normality to our lives by having the occasional day off!

I am excited to report that we have a new member of staff starting in the new year...watch this space for an update! With potentially about 15 horses living in by then we are certainly looking forward to the extra support.

Our winter has been much cheered by the thrilling news that Luke has been named on a New Zealand squad for 2012, which is something of a dream come true. It has helped add focus and enthusiasm to these slightly tedious months of short days and essential but somewhat dull roadwork and gradual fittening of the gang for next year.

I hope you all have a very happy and enjoyable festive season and I look forward to attmepting to keep you all more regularly updated in 2011 as the build up to the Olympics continues. In the mean time an enormous thank you to all those who have played a part in Team Jackson's wonderful 2010. It has been a very exciting and progressive year. It is in no small part thanks to the help of so many supportive friends, owners, and 'Team members' who I am lucky enough to say are too numerous to mention, but I think you know who you are!! I can't wait to build on our successes of this season and becoming a serious force to be reckoned with on the circuit next year....

French Finale?!?!

Well what a month team Jackson has had, apologies for the delayed update. After Luke ran so well at Blenheim we decided to postpone his winter holiday and aim him for the 4 star at Pau in the South of France, and to aim Jack for the 2 star as he had such an interrupted season.

In preparation we ran both horses in the OI at Oasby, where they both did reasonable tests, had one down each show jumping and nice steady clears XC. The main objective being to give them a happy successful outing and return in one piece in time to make the 2 day trip to Pau.

I travelled with my sister who was the worlds best super groom all week for me in France, and two members of the Irish team, Lousie Lyons and Captain Brian Curran Cournane, his groom Anto and Laura Shears Groom Caroline, so the lorry was fairly full! We left Tetsworth at 4am on Sunday morning, and arrived in Pau on Monday afternoon after a short break at Poitiers to rest both horses and drivers.

After a couple of days light work for the horses to recover from the journey Luke had his trot up on Wednesday, and Jack his dressage on Thursday. Jack performed his best test to date and scored a very respectable 51 which left him in 14th place. He coped very well with the atmosphere and made very few errors in a nice flowing test. Sadly his owner Gill Watson was busy with British Eventing duties and missed his international debut in the dressage but arrived in time for Luke's dressage on friday. Luke's test was certainly a personal best for him. He scored 58 which was higher than i'd hoped for but again was very relaxed and tried really hard in his first 4*.

XC day dawned so misty that neither Jack nor I could see an awful lot for the first 5 fences of our round! He ran really well though for certainly his biggest challenge so far to jump a clear round with 11 time faults, very respectable given how twisty the track was. I have to admit walking the 4* track for the first time filled me with awe! Pierre Michelet is a genius course designer producing not only a huge bold attacking course but also extremely twisty and technical. Luke gave 100% the whole way around jumping quite beautifully. He was extremely unlucky to have his score card marred by 20 penalties having jumped so high over the middle drop element of a combination that he landed on his nose and wasn't able to see the final part. Apart from that he was brave and straight and for the most part fairly obedient. Completing our first 4* XC felt like a real milestone. Something I have always dreamt of doing and finally had the chance to go for it.

Both boys trotted up well on Sunday morning and looked as immaculate and fresh as they had on day one which is a massive credit to my wonderful back up team both out in Pau: Gill Watson, my parents, and my sister, and the gang back at the yard. Huge thanks to all.

Jack didn't show jump particularly well with 16 penalties, but i think he and i will have both learnt a lot from our trip. Luke on the other hand was jumping the round of his life, giving the sizeable fences some serious air time. Then disaster struck on the turn between the treble and the last line when he saw himself in the big screen, whipped round and i fell off. Mortified doesn't even come close. Of all the things to happen, that was not part of the game plan at all. Some very supportive comments from fellow competitors and their trainers made me feel somewhat reassured that Luke was so quick that I didn't have a chance to stay on but to be honest I'm sure there was something I could have done to avoid such a catastrophy! It is a total NIGHTMARE to end on such a bad note. I am hoping it is all part of a master plan to make me a better rider, stronger competitor and nicer person!!

On the plus side both horses travelled home well and I am pleased they are happy and sound enough to enjoy their holidays and aim for greater things in 2011. I too am now going to recharge by not riding a horse for a day or two and spending a few days away between now and Christmas.

Thank you everyone for your support this season through some great highs and some very pesky lows. As we all know that is the nature of our sport and I can't wait to come out and make 2011 a season to remember for all the right reasons.

Brilliant Blenheim Boys:

I think I can categorically say that this weekend has been my best ever 'weekend at the office'. Luke, Willy and Sprout did us all proud at Blenheim Palace *** event.

Luke did his best test ever to score 52. He dealt well with the main arena, and to crack the elusive 50 barrier just needs to work more 'uphill'. Sprout and Willy both tried very hard and did all their 'new moves' to the best of their current level, and we were all very disappointed with their marks of 61 and 60 respectively. Mrs Tucker is usually a very accurate judge, although normally marks the lowest of the three, and she was nearly 10 marks ahead of the others! I decided that although they weren't going to be competetive as I would have liked this weekend, from an education point of view they had done some good work at a new level in considerable atmosphere and they were none the wiser about the judging!

The cross country walked fairly big and an imposing track, but I felt slightly less technical than Bramham had been in the spring. The going was as perfect as you could get. The optimum time was longer than Burghley at 10 min 56 sec, for the CCI which was a challenge in itself, particularly with the hilly terrain and the long water crossings.

Luke was a star. He gave me a wonderful ride XC, and we really felt a complete partnership. He answered my every wish with a magic clear round and 11 time faults. Retrospectively I could have run a little quicker, but I didn't know him well enough to know where his tank reaches empty, the answer is ... it doesn't! He finished full of running and we both were grinning.

Sprout and Willy had their CIC show jumping on Saturday evening. Sprout was second to jump and pinged around clear, delighted to have so many supporters there to watch...he thought the entire grandstand was full for him. Willy was unlucky to jump nearly 45mins later than his alloted time, coupled with a 25 min hack to the arena and an hour wait for Sprout to jump. By the time our turn came around I think Willy was a bit 'over it', and I don't blame him! Once we started he tried his socks off and only a little difference of opinion on approaching the planks resulted in 4 faults. He certainly tried hard for me, and in future I can be a little 'cooler' about my warm up.

The CIC cross country was on Sunday morning, after Luke sailed down the trot up to pass the dreaded inspection. Willy ran first, and after our little splash at Hartpury I was keen to complete a nice clear. He pulled out all the stops and gave me a fantastic spin. He made a copy book job the whole way round, and was very kind to me when I over-rode the second water and made life harder than it needed to be. A big thumbs up for Willy, who came back having learnt an awful lot and seeminly really enjoying himself.

Sprout ran second and with the benefit of my experience on Willy made the track feel effortless. He apparently lost a hind shoe at fence one, but didn't miss a beat from start to finish and I felt overwhelmingly proud of him.

Lastly Luke's CCI show jumping. He felt calm and relaxed but not overly tired and jumped probably as well as I've ever felt him. He gave a great demo of 3rd day show jumping, and I was really sad for him that he had an unlucky 4 faults at the last double. He certainly couldn't have tried harder or jumped better. Very annoyingly any other year, this would qualify us for Badminton, but for 2011 they have changed the qualifications and we missed out by 2 places...dammit.

Still, I now have two ponies qualified for CCI3* and one for CCI4* so I really couldn't be happier. The three boys did personal best performances in all three phases this weekend, and I feel extremely lucky...thank you to my amazing support team for making my dreams come true!

exciting times

The team have been busy since our last blog. Posy and Millie went to Solihull last weekend, and aquited themselves well. Millie was slightly frustrating in the first two phases but flew around the cross country giving Mary a lovely ride and all was forgiven. Posy did a lovely test and a very impressive double clear around her first novice. A great achievement for her.

A busy weekend at Highclere with Posy and Rowan both finishing on their dressage scores for 2nd and 7th respectively in the BE100. They have had SUPER seasons and really deserved their ribbons.

Sunday saw poor Jack left at home, after getting cast the night before the show. Willy and Parker both did super tests for 30 and 32, annoyingly both had 12 faults show jumping. Parker tried his socks off and I wasn't too disappointed with his efforts and Willy just felt a little casual coming back to intermediate level after his 3* debut. They both redeemed themselves with lovely clears XC.

Monday saw Luke, Sprout and Fish contest the advanced. Lukey did a personal best dressage to score 33, Sprout made a good effort in his first advanced to score 35 and Fish got a bit excited but didn't 'loose the plot' to score 39. I had an attack of 'the slows' in the show jumping! Luke and Sprout jumped super rounds with one down each, but managed a handful of time faults on both which was disappointing. Fish jumped a magic round, and was clear apart from....I fell off!!!! So annoying I can't tell you how cross I was. He just didn't seem to quite see a white upright and put back down. I jumped back on to finish his 'clear'!!

All three boys gave me magic cross country rides XC, Fish marred his copy book with a little hesitation at the step down, but I couldn't fault any of them, and particularly excited to have completed Sprout's first advanced, and really cemented my partnership with Luke.

We now have Willy, Luke and Sprout Blenheim bound. I feel so lucky and excited to have four horses with proven advanced ability, and a very promising bunch as their 'understudies'. Look out world, team Jackson is on the up!

Busy Week

Well it seems to be going from mad to madder at the moment. Last week we took Animator and Willy Do to Hartpury on Wednesday, ready for the CIC3*. I left Mary with those two and headed home to pick up River Mill, Castle River and Wellshead Munnings for the Intermediate at Aston on Thursday.

I wasn't alone in setting these slight logistical challenges, the only difference being William Fox Pitt and Mark Todd have two lorries!! Anyway, all three intermediate boys did pleasing tests and clear XC, but only River Mill show jumped well enough for a ribbon, finishing 8th.

I then dropped those three home before turning the lorry round and heading down to Hartpury in time to ride Willy and Luke on Thursday evening. Luke did a disappointing test on Friday, he had to perform in the indoor arena and to be honest felt a little claustrophobic, that coupled with a pilot error meant we ended on 58, well down the order. Willy on the other hand did by far his best test ever to score a more than pleasing 49. They both show jumped well around a not huge, but fairly technical track. Luke jumped clear with 2 time and Willy was unlucky to have 4 faults.

The cross country was causing plenty of trouble, in particular a tricky double of right hand corners at the bottom of a steep hill ontop of a mound on a sharp left hand bend, all of which amount to Luke's 'nemesis' really! That said he gave me a fabulous ride and jumped clear with just 7 time faults. Excitingly he just squeaked into the ribbons in 20th!! Willy set off as if he really meant business, popping the first few fences with the innocence of youth. Sadly this slightly got the better of him at a rather ugly double of uprights into water. He slightly bellied the second element which pitched me out of the saddle, and then knuckled a bit on landing too. Annoyingly I fell into the stinking puddle and thankfully Willy stayed upright and didn't seem at all bothered. I was mortified as I felt it was a really cheap fall, and I ought to have sat tighter! Especially annoying lying 11th!

Still, all five horses finished the week sound and happy, which is more than can be said for poor Lydia, left at home alone to tend to the gang for the weekend, she suffered a heavy fall whilst cantering in the top field and was concussed and pretty shaken. Thankfully The Jarvis family (our landlords), Lyn (our local trainer) and Rowan (working pupil) & Tracey (owner extraordinaire) all mucked in to help in the crisis and all residents were well cared for in all our absences!!

So we're now a 'man down' while Lyd's recovers at home, and have 18 horses to work...hectic but satisfying. This weekend Warford Lady and Pinochle compete at Solihull and the following weekend I have 11 rides at Highclere so watch this space for the final rundown on the seasons antics from Team Jackson.

Upgrading at Aston...

We have just completed a very big weekend for Team Jackson. We had 3 in the advanced and 3 in the novice. Willy and Fish did their first advanced and Rowan and Chesney their first novices. Luke and Jack were the 'old timers' to complete the team.

I was very pleased with all 6 tests. With the exception of Luke (for whom it was his first outing since Bramham so he felt pretty frisky), everyone else was chilled and happy and put their best foot forward between the white boards. Luke did some nice work puncutated by hops, skips and jumps not required!

The show jumping phase caused drama a plenty at Aston, particularly for those running early in the day. It was a twisty, technical track built with very, very skinny rails, and that coupled with early course watering made for a tough course. On the whole my boys all jumped well, with Rowan, Jack and Willy pulling off lovely clears, and Luke an unlucky rail in the middle of the treble. Fish and Chesney were perhaps unlucky to run early in the day on the skiddy going, and both came home with jumping scores to forget.

There were squillions of advanced entries who nearly all ran cross country which is a testament to the Taylor's of Washbrook farm and their team of tireless workers. The watering, spiking and wood chip made for the best going in the country at this time of year. I had 6 clears from 6 runs which is a really very exciting achievement for the team. All 6 boys tried their hardest and I was over the moon that they each stepped up to the next grade so convincingly and I really feel lucky to be developing such strength in depth with an enviable team of ponies...look out world!!!

Its always the icing on the cake to come home with a ribbon, and Jack oblidged with a win in the ON, Luke 15th, Willy 19th from 76 starters in the 8/9yr old Advanced, and Rowan 11th in the Novice. Also well done to one of our working pupils, Rowan Hendry who won the novice on Sunday, good work!

Upton

Upton house was a very happy and successful event for our Team. Mary and Lydia, working pupils extraordinaire, both jumped double clears in the BE100. I am really pleased for them as they've both made great progress with sensitive mares, and to produce results like these is a great effort, and well deserved. The pressure was on me the following day to keep my end up in the Novice on Tyllabeg, and thankfully he obliged also jumping a double clear, to finish in 6th place... phew!!
 
We have a busy weekend ahead with Luke, Willy and Fish in the advanced at Aston le Walls and Rowan, Chesney and Jack in the novice. Looking forward to letting you all know how we get on...

Purston & Barbury

Phew, so the British Heat Wave continues.

A scorching weekend at Purston Manor was huge fun. Both Mary and Lydia had their mares in the BE100 and did brilliantly to finish within 0.5 of a penalty of each other, the highlights being both of their lovely XC clear rounds. I had Master Rowan and Warford Lady in the BE100, and felt the pressure of following my pupils after their great rounds, and thankfully held my own with Warford Lady doing a fab double clear and good test for 4th. It was a battle of the Aston-le-Walls team in that section as I was beaten by my old boss Nigel Taylor and one of my fellow stable jockeys Emma Humphrey! Rowan went really well with just a little hesitation at a very tricky water fence, only a momentary pause so I was more than happy. Excitingly Warford Lady has now been BE registered so will hopefully be seen out on the circuit a few more times this year...and stop press....she won a dressage show yesterday/11th July, with her delighted owner Tracey Henry on board. CONGRATULATIONS!




We have just returned from a very fun and busy weekend at Barbury Castle, and it has to be said both Barbury and Purston provided us perfect ground given the lack of rain, so a huge 'thank you' to all those concerned. I took Willy Do and Castle River in the ON, River Mill in the Retraining of Racehorse final, and Kilcoltrim Ambassador in the 2*. I had a lovely weekend with all the boys trying hard in most phases! Willy finished 11th on a super test 29.5, 4 faults (my fault) and jumped a lovely smooth clear XC so he is ready for his advanced debut at Aston. Castle River did a fab 29 dressage and finished on it to take 5th. River Mill did a dreadful test in the main arena for 48! (2nd last), but made up for it with a super double clear to lie 10th in the RoR champs, and the top 10 were invited back on Sunday to show jump in the main ring. He jumped really well, but I made a mistake into the 3rd so didn't quite finish on our clean score but happy with his jumping efforts especially in the electric atmosphere. Kilcoltrim Ambassador did a lovely smooth test with a few green mistakes for a very respectable 52.5 in the 2*, and then jumped a great double clear with 8 time faults to finish 26th. The time faults were a result of me taking one long route at some spooky mushrooms which many horses seem to misread, and irritatingly it cost me 16 places! Such is the competitiveness of this top of the range show that is on EVERYONE's to do list.

So we head to Aston le Walls next for three boys to make their advanced debuts, and two to novice debuts, and Luke the only seasoned campaigner aiming to reinstate his advanced one day qualifications. So fingers crossed and 'watch this space'

Mid-term

So we're currently in a mid-term 'pause' in the event calendar. Partly due to the hard ground, and partly as the 'big boys' are just back into work after their three day runs. I enjoyed a couple of days off in Ireland, combining a dealing trip for a client, with a party or two with some Irish mates! Mary then enjoyed her 'half term' holiday in the brecon beacons, and the ponies enjoyed some extra time in the field!
 
We are now back in action and plenty busy enough with 15 horses in work. Last week we took a few show jumping to Addington and Weston Lawns. Fish jumped his first Grade C with just 4 faults in the second round I was more than happy with him, Sprout & Willy jumped good double clears in the 1.15m open, Luke was unlucky to take a rail in the second round of the open. Rowan is making great progress popping happily around 1.05 tracks and is really looking forward to his novice debut at Aston next month. In fact Aston is going to be a weekend of debutantes: Fish, Willy & Sprout all move up to Advanced, Chesney and Rowan make their first novice start.
 
Before Aston we have a few at Purston and then Barbury, so time to focus and press on with the summer/ autumn campaign. No more relaxing until October!

Off to Houghton

Jet Setters:
It's always been a dream of mine to race around the country side with my lorry full of horses competing week in week out, and the last fortnight I achieved just that!
 
Firstly Houghton Hall in Norfolk. I had Castle River (Parker) and Wellshead Munnings (Jack) in the 1*, Willy Do (Willy) in the 2* and Animator (Luke) in the 3* Combined Training and as Guineau Pig for the CIC 3* dressage. Sadly Jack bumped a splint bone on his back leg on the Sunday before we left which meant we weren't able to take him, so we set sail with 3 horses on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Parker has had a mixed spring, only running twice due to various hiccups, so I was very happy overall with his run at Houghton. He did a respectable test with a couple of mistakes to score 49.6 This phase is where his lack of runs showed the most as he is normally super reliable in the dressage but annoyingly a little tension crept in to spoil the picture. However, at FEI level, to break the 50 barrier is a good achievement so I wasn't too disappointed. He jumped an excellent clear in the time XC and for him to complete with only 4 faults in the showjumping on Sunday was a great milestone, as the coloured poles aren't normally his favourite. To highlight just how competitive British Eventing is, that creditable performance left him finishing in 18th place!
 
Willy and I have been gradually getting to know each other as the season has progressed, and at Houghton it all clicked for us. He did a super test to score 48, again cracking the 50 barrier, zipped around the cross country with ease under the 9 minute optimum despite taking one longer route and jumped an immaculate clear on Sunday to finish the week in 6th place. I couldn't have been more thrilled for his owners, The Greenlees family, who are incredibly supportive and really deserved this lovely success as much as the horse! I couldn't have asked for more in any of the three phases at this stage of our partnership, and now can't wait for him to upgrade to Advanced this autumn.
 
Luke was mostly at Houghton to do dressage, dressage and more dressage with Bramham fast approaching. He was quite excited in the combined training test and made a couple of mistakes to score 54. Unfortunately the show jumping was not really up to height in the CT and Luke made an uncharacteristic couple of mistakes for 8 faults. Our second crack at the test for the Guninea Pig felt miles better than the CT, with the only major mistake coming from pilot error ciricling in the wrong place! To highlight the subjectiveness of dressage judging this 'far better test' scored 54.3!
 
So home from Houghton to turn the lorry around, gallop Luke, exercise some of the ponies left behind and set sail for Yorkshire this time. It is a fair while since I rode in a CCI 3* and Luke has never completed a three day at this level. Having passed the trot up and walked the course I was almost relieved to hear that even some of the top names in eventing thought Ian Stark had built a pretty testing track. Up to height, with very little let up the whole way round on energy sapping terrain testing endurance, accuracy, scope and bravery.
 
First hurdle though was the dressage and seemingly my Houghton experience stood me in good stead as Luke was so relaxed in the main arena and performed his best test to date, marred only by me riding 2 out of three halts appallingly! He scored 54.1 which lay 16th. Still plenty of room for improvement but a great start to our week. The cross country day was incredibly humid, so we were happy to be running early. The course caused problems for many from the outset and only 31 out of 66 competitors completed! I was very disappointed to have 2 run outs, one at a skinny hedgehog ontop of a step and another at the first element of a double of corners. However, with my sensible head on I can see that we had a fabulous ride for the second half of the course. We both learnt a huge amount about each other and about good brave accurate cross country riding and benefited enormously from the experience. Importantly he finished sound and happy and jumped an immaculate clear SJ on Sunday.
 
So, the ups and downs of our sport! Overall I am over the moon with how the horses ran, they are all making great progress and learning a lot, as am I!! I am really excited about the autumn campaign ahead to put the benefit of those experiences to good use. We hope to have runners at Barbury, Hartpury, Blenheim, and Osberton so watch this space...Team Jackson are on a mission!

Brigstock

The heat wave had arrived! I had a really, really enjoyable friday with Rowan and Posy both competing in their first Pre Novices. I was delighted with them both doing very respectable tests for 34 and 32, followed by lovely double clears and 7th and 8th rosettes. If only all my ponies were as consistent as these two!!
 
On Saturday I only had Sprout's dressage, and my new warm up tactics for him worked a treat, and he performed a lovely calm flowing test for a fab score of 46.5 and into 3rd place out of 58 starters. He cross countried beautifully on Sunday morning, clear in the time, with only one hiccup at a tricky treble of skinny's, he eyed the first two as I had when walking the course and was similarly surprised to find a third element! He cleverly sorted his feet out and I stayed on board, we put it behind us and sped home within the time. We then had the tricky bit of show jumping on the same day, after cross country. He jumped immaculately over the first 8 fences, but unfortunately slightly ran out of steam and tapped two rails in the last four fences to come home on an annoying 8 faults which dropped us from 3rd to 6th. I have studied the video and realise that our usual reliable free and easy style doesn't quite suit when show jumping is last so a couple of adjustments next time and we won't make the same mistake. I was utterly thrilled with him though and hope to cement his good dressage at his last 2* at Barbury before upgrading at Aston in July.
 
I also had Deli, Monty and Parker in the OI/I. They all three did fab tests for 26.5, 33.5 and 32 respectively. Deli jumped a super clear SJ and Parker had one down and Monty and I had a minor communication error for 3 down. None of these boys ran XC as Parker is off to Houghton this week, Monty and I aren't quite on net yet and Deli's owners decided that the ground might be a little firm for him. So a useful outing for all three although sad to miss out on the thrill of the chase!!

Chatsworth

It is 2 years since I ran 3* so a good mixture of nerves and excitement having walked Ian Stark's beautiful course. Luke did a really pleasing test, with three bips...two wobbly halts and a wee canter in his half pass. Overall I was delighted that he was so settled and rideable, and pleased that with a few tweaks I'll be able to improve on his very respectable score of 54. Unfortunately the show jumping ran quite late, and he isn't a big fan of warming up anyway, so he got quite buzzy, but once in the ring, jumped his socks off. I just let him bowl on a little down the related from 7 to 8 which he tipped out the front rail for a pesky 4 faults! The cross country was fairly beefy but a course I couldn't wait to jump, and he felt the same! He was fairly strong the first half of the course which meant I wasted a fair bit of time setting up, but he felt back to his brilliant best jumping boldly and listening to me for the second half. A great result to finish 15th and tick the 3* box! Next stop Bramham for him.

Aston le Walls

The summer has arrived, and with it the firm ground. As usual Nigel & Ann Taylor's hard work meant we had a super course to run round. I had a fun of Intermediates on Thursday with Fish, Monty and Willy all performing reasonable tests, nothing world beating but certainly progressive! Fish and Willy both jumped super rounds for an unlucky rail each, Monty and I took out the first two fences whilst re-establishing our lines of communication and he finished the rest of the course well, and all three boys did super dooper clear rounds cross country. Fish is way more settled and Willy far more on my wavelength now, and Monty was incredibly brave and straightforward to ride in this phase. I took Luke to do the dressage and show jumping in preparation for Chatsworth which was very worthhile, he scored an excellent 30 and jumped a fab clear SJ...can't wait for the 3* at the weekend now!