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'