AMAZING AACHEN...

Woweeee, the life of the jet set crew. I could quite get carried away with the ritz, glitz and glamour of the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen. To have dressage, show jumping and eventing on such a grand scale, all at one show was mind boggling. For a start Joe Giannamore who owns Jock Paget's stunning horse Bullet Proof was incredibly generous in transporting the team of riders to Germany in his private jet...UNREAL. Obviously we spent the entire trip discussing tactics and work only!

The horses went in two lorries..Jock took his own, Sprout for me and Knockmore Lad for Brazilian rider Renan Guerrio. Mark took his own Grass Valley, Flinstar for him to ride deputizing for injured Jonelle Richards and Nereo for Andrew. Exercising the horses on the Thursday I was blown away to be schooling alongside Ludger Beerbaum, Michael Whittaker and other members of the great and good of international showjumping. Important to concentrate on the job in hand, but a shame to miss the enormity of the occasion. Sprout felt quite at home, and sure enough all the kiwi team flew through the trot up that afternoon. Friday morning dressage for all 40 competitors in the dressage grandstand arena. Sprout was a little on edge but for his stage he performed some good work to score a respectable enough 57. I look forward to him having the strength to contain his loose athletic paces and power, at the moment he very often over revs resulting in tension spoiling the movements and lowering the marks. Make no mistake though in time he'll be very competitive on the flat. We spent Friday afternoon watching the most enormous Grand Prix in the show jumping ring. Mind blowingly ENORMOUS! Then reality check, it was our turn in the main stadium next! The vast arena was deceptive, the distances between fences very long so a normal show jumping speed for us wasn't quite enough to make the time. Sprout jumped his socks off and made us all incredibly proud with a clear round. 4 time faults spoiled the score card but something that is very easy to fix. The main thing was his impeccable behaviour under mega pressure in front of a big crowd...SO PROUD! How to make a good week great...another clear round. On Saturday morning, my darling scrawny little 10year old Irish pony stormed around the most technical of tracks to post another clear round. Again, a few time faults will be easy to erradicate with the benefit of hind sight, but overall i was blown away by his maturity. With Andrew placing 5th and Jock completing in style on Bullet Proof we ended as 4th placed team which was a nice end to an incredible week. The next stop is final team training in Surrey next week. Gutted though I am to be first reserve I am more determined than ever to work my socks off and prove that this seasons good results are no fluke, and get so good at the sport that I can never be left off a team again. In the mean time I'm here ready, willing and able to step in if needed.