Whirlwind

Since we completed THE ONE, life has been hectic as usual, until this week...silence! I'm currently undergoing a mandatory stand down after a little snooze on course at Bramham. Poor Jackpot pecked on landing at fence 3 and I popped out the side door 100 yards of stumbling later only to bump my head. Failure to answer even the simplest of questions in the following moments means a pesky 21 day break from competing. As I feel 100% I hope to have my sentence reduced after a neuro review on Monday...watch this space!! Most frustratingly of all I have therefore had to withdraw Willy Do from Luhumuhlen, the poor long suffering Greenlees family (Willy's ever patient owners) are due the wildest successes this autumn, here's hoping as we look towards a podium finish at Burghley!

In the build up to Bramham I had a fun and successful Rockingham in its inaugural year. 7th in the 2* aboard Wellshead Munnings and 7th in the Novice on Corazon our mighty exciting 6yr old, as well as a pleasing run from Mercury Bay. Houghton followed with the added excitement of being part of the nations cup team for NZ, as anchor man in 4th slot! Clever Willy Do did a beautiful test and magic double clear to finish 4th and best of the kiwi's. I was left ruing a few time faults that held us back from both an individual and team bronze, but such is life..grr! Tattersalls was a wonderful experience, and I ticked a long term goal of finishing on my dressage score at a CCI..unfortunately it wasn't the dressage score i'd dreamed of finishing on but Sprout decided home turf was very, very electric indeed! With a bit of time on my hands I was lucky enough to attend a dressage demo by Carl Hester today, and have tried to catch up with some long overdue paperwork. At present Willy Do and I are 1st reserves for the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen (plan B after our Luhmuhlen withdrawl) and will compete at Barbury, and Hartpury in preparation for Burghley. If wishes were horse shows Team Jackson will also be competing at Ballindenisk, and Le Lion three days this autumn but we all know the dangers of rustling entry forms too loudly! For now i have my own personal trot up to pass on Monday before I can get too excited.