Aston Ribbons

Well, Team Jackson are currently on a mission! The call up for the Olympics didn't happen so we're working doubly hard at home to produce some dazzling results at Hartpury, Burghley and Blenheim!! The final team training in Surrey was a fabulous opportunity to train alongside the best riders in the world, at the top of their game with 2 international mega star trainers. Luis Alvarez for jumping and Stephen Clarke for dressage. The four days 'camp' flew past and I must admit I'd have happily stayed for four weeks!

Bryony Holloway and Paul Wedge's amazing home was all to easy to become accustomed to. We worked the horses in the outstanding facilities, watched our team mates training, analysed video's and we were then fortunate enough to enjoy the tennis courts, the swimming pool, and the gym. I'm convinced I was born to be a squillionaire, this lifestyle suited me well!!

From dream world to reality, we took 5 horses to Aston where the brave Taylor family put on a super event despite the many months of rain. Our gang really put their hands up this weekend and had some great results with Luke and Willy 4th and 5th in the Advanced, Jack 2nd in the OI and Chance 2nd in the Novice. I was delighted too with Master Rowan despite a pesky 20 penalties XC he coped well with his debut at Intermediate level. So I am willing all the kiwi's to their very very best performances at Greenwich, in particular so we can enjoy a huge celebratory party! From there Team Jackson has a slightly bonkers week with Aston on Wednesday Hartpury Thursday, Aston Friday morning and Hartpury Friday pm and Saturday. Phew. Look out logistics manager the wheels will be in over drive! In the mean time we're willing Captain Frantastic a speedy recovery from her fractured hand and longing for her return, and a huge well done to Bec and Becky for coping so admirably in her absence.

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.

Busy Babury

Well a good enough weekend at Nunney followed with 7th in the BE100 for Sammy, 7th in the novice for Rowan, 14th 2* Jack, 7th in the intermediate with Alf, and 15th in the novice for Chance. I had a slight case of damn 4 fault-itis but was very happy with the ponies, and can thoroughly recommend the long drive to this lovely new event. Having thought Bramham was busy with three, we decided to double it and take 6 to Barbury. I couldn't possibly have dreamed that we'd complete the logistical challenge of exercising 6 horses a minimum of twice a day each, and competing them all without so much as a moments hesitation. WELL DONE FRAN and her gang! So grateful to Bec, Becky, Aisling and all the owners for their support.

Firstly Master Rowan completed his last novice competition in style with a decent test, one down show jumping and a super clear XC. He has taken a long time to recover from a nasty trip in the water last year and finally feels to have put that firmly behind him. Next we had Willy Do in the 4* combined training. Unfortunately for him the wind was gale force and he took a strong dislike to the thunderous flapping of flags and didn't do his best test for 56. He is now aiming for Burghley and will compete at Aston le Walls and Hartpury in preparation. I ran Whats it all About (Alf) for Adrian and Maggie Smith and Wellshead Munnings (Jack) for Gill Watson in the 2*. Unfortunately Alf wasn't feeling in great shape and decided that after an amazing test of 46 that showjumping wasn't for him today. Jack did a fabulous test, had a frustrating 4 faults and jumped a superb clear XC to place 8th out of 102! Really, really thrilling result for Gill and some reward for all the incredible hard work she puts in to the whole team.

The final selection trial for the Kiwi's, the Irish and the American's was held in the 3* at Barbury this weekend. Luke lived up to my most ambitious of expectations by coming 9th out of 110! He is getting very consistently good scores on the flat and this was no exception on 46. We then went on to jump a great round in the show jumping, another frustrating 4 faults and a storming xc run for just 5 time to finish in 9th. I feel he has done all in his power to impress the selectors and I'm trying hard to remain philosophical now and think what will be will be! He has had 4 top 10 placings for 5 runs this year, all bar one at 3* level. Who knows?!!? With the incredible honour of being asked to compete in the Nation's Cup at Aachen, I did dressage (a little wild), show jumping (immaculate) and just 10 fences of the XC on Sprout at Barbury, in preparation for his departure to Germany on Wednesday. Never have I found it harder to pull the reins and ask a horse to stop, he felt pretty special indeed around those fences! So Aachen next and we'll have to wait and see what happens after that.....

Brill Bramham

Wow, what a week. Three horses at a three star event posed quite a challenge. Thanks to my amazing team we made it...and in style. Fran and Bec deserve a special mention for the immaculate turn out of the beautiful boys, and Mum and Dad for helping me massively with logistics both human and equine! So we arrived on Tuesday in time to lead them around, graze and put them to bed. We hacked all three every morning at about 6am to give them a leg stretch and chill a little. Willy Do passed his wednesday jog with flying colours, followed by dressage lessons for all three with the wonderful Andrew Fletcher. As 14th to go on Thursday Willy shot into the lead on a fab score of 45. Such a thrill and he was only overtaken by William Fox Pitt on both horses to complete the dressage phase in 3rd YAHOO! Not to be out done, Luke's test later Thursday afternoon put him into the lead in the CIC on 41. I was over the moon to score personal bests when it counts! Gill Watson was on hand to help me warm up and I certainly have her and Andrew to thank for these scores! Sprouty had the worst of the going late on Friday afternoon, but he tried hard, and but for a couple of errors is close to cracking into the 40's. Saturday morning was a great thrill, Willy bounded around the most testing 3* track with relative ease, he took on all the direct routes and bar one slight blip exiting the water he didn't miss a beat. 9 time felt like a decent speed for him, and as he gets stronger he'll certainly get faster. What a buzz. The trouble with having 3 horses is that you don't have long to enjoy 'the moment'. No sooner had we finished Willy's XC then it was time for Luke and Sprout to show jump. This was the only time the ground really held me up. I was really gutted to finish Saturday well down the order with 4 down for Luke and 2 down for Sprout. I was in exalted company mind you, many of the big names on their top horses were having rails. I decided to attempt maturity and put it down in the great book of life under the chapter of experience, i didn't ride awful rounds and whilst there are a couple of things i'll do differently next time, I am trying not to lose too much sleep over it! Sunday was a different story...HOOOOOOORAY. I had two magic rides XC on Luke and Sprout for 6 and 3 time respectively. Whilst i set out to give them a good spin against the clock, i was also aware that we were down the order somewhat and to belt round might be counter productive in the long run. They felt the consummate professionals and that this 3* level was very much within their everyday job. For the CCI show jumping, the ground was much improved thankfully and Willy jumped the round of his life. Apart from going slightly cross eyed into the treble where he caught 2 elements, he flew round and finished proceedings in 8th place. Way beyond our wildest dreams. To cap off a happy week all three traveled home well and pulled up sound on Monday morning...so a litte pause before we have 6 at Nunney, 1 at Salperton and then its Barbury and hopefully Aachen...time to get excited!

Ribbons at last ....

Hooray, I'm delighted to report that we've had a very successful last three events. Little Downham was a very early start with 1.30am alarm clock but it was well worth it with Jack coming 4th in the OI on a 28 double clear with a few time, Cher placing 9th in her first ever Intermediate against hot competition in an OI section on a 32 double clear with a few time. Our other resident Kiwi Kate Wood came 7th in the same section but disappointment for Amy who found Fernhill Rockstar a little fresh after 2 months with no parties, and disappointment for one of my lovely ponies What's it all About when he slipped and had a run out at a skinny. No sooner had we returned from Little Downham then I set off for Tweseldown where Rowan scored a well deserved result coming 2nd in a hugely competitive ON section despite him only having 5 points to his name! He did a lovely test and jumped a super double clear to score this personal best result before he has a well earned break to round off his spring season.

A first time visit to Pontispool was a very successful one for me, much needed after a pesky week. My week of frustrations included poor Alf stepping on his shoe and missing too much work to come to compete, and Cher sustaining a nasty little cut that again meant she was sound but needed to miss a couple of vital bits of work to compete on Friday. However my remaining 3 didn't let me down...Jack won the Intermediate and Ardent Sammy won his first ever BE event on an amazing 19.5 double clear. Sprouty did a magic test to lie 3rd in the OI and I didn't intend to jump him but he is ready for the big week at Bramham now. So we are missing Tattersalls but heading off all guns blazing to Bramham with Willy Do in the CCI and Animator and Ambassador in the CIC...here's hoping we can keep up our tally of ribbons....

The great book of life under the chapter of experience....

Phew what a frustrating time its been. Just a little update for you all.... So in a nutshell Kentucky was a massively valuable learning experience sadly without the happy ending I was dreaming of. Sprouty and I did the test of our lives only to marr the mark with a very expensive mistake 3/4 of the way through taking us down from 70% to low 60%. He lost balance in the counter canter which meant I lost the canter mark and wasn't able to get him back in time to do a change so with two whole marks ruined I was out of the hunt. Overall i was very pleased with his effort and in particular his ability to cope with the atmosphere. I took a lot of confidence from that despite wishing for lack of a green error.

On the cross country he was a brave little tiger and attacked the 4* fences with such gusto that it slightly ran us into trouble. He gave it his all which in this instance was a little too much! We had a fab first third over some massive island fences and three really tricky combinations, and then had a frustrating run out at a skinny brush out of a coffin. That behind us we went on to jump the next third of the course easily before he jumped so boldly over a and b elements of the water that we stumbled up a step and were unable to stay together. GUTTED is an understatement but it'll go down in the great book of life as a lesson in patience, the importance of sticking to an outside line, the need for stronger brakes and the odd hard pull down the reins. It has made me more determined than ever to put in the hard yards that make those top riders so good at their job...experience really counted on a course like this and I'm jolly well going to get there!! After returning in a rather gloomy mood, eager to prove myself I've had to wait two whole week whilst events have been rained off to FINALLY go to a show yesterday with Luke and Willy who ran really well around a magic event put on at Aston le Walls by the amazing Ann & Nigel Taylor on perfect going...who would have thought. Thankfully Luke performed very well on home ground to come 5th and Willy slightly spoilt his winning dressage score of 26 with a couple of pesky rails but gave me a wonderful ride XC. Sprout has returned from his jet setting full of beans and having had a week of hacking and light work in the school, he thoroughly enjoyed his first gallop today...in fact he was bonkers!

We very much hope that Jack, Alf and Cher get to run at Little Downham this weekend, possibly Rowan at Tweseldown on Monday (this might raise Dr Hoffmann's eyebrows) and the same gang joined by Ginger Pud at Pontispool the following weekend before Willy heads off to strut his stuff in Ireland at Tattersalls, and Sprouty and Luke go to Bramham...after about a trillion phone calls today I think we have this as plan A again, there was thinking that Bramham might ballot and so Luke and Sprout might have had to head to the Emerald Isle and Willy might yet prefer Yorkshire...its all still up in the air but for now at least ...watch this space!! The post Bramham program is along the lines of Catton, Salperton, Barbury, Aachen, Upton, Brightling, Aston and GREENWICH?!?!?! and that is just for June and July...phew too much excitement. Back to the books for now, anything to escape the hail! I do very much hope you are all well and not suffering with the hail, rain, sleet, snow and sub zero May

Wonderful Weston

I haven't competed at Weston since I did the Pony Club Champs there QUITE some years back. I wonder why I haven't been back, the ground was as perfect as I think we'll see all year, the cross country courses were inviting and educational, and aside from wishing they had more fillers and heavier poles in the show jumping I found it hard not to sing its praises. What made the weekend even better was the chance to stay with great friends, The Kemps only 20 minutes from the event...THANK YOU!

On Saturday Bec took Alderman, I took Alf (Whats it All About), Cher (Gurtera Cher) and Master Rowan for the novice. Bec had a disappointing day in the sticky show jumping ground and decided to withdraw Alderman.

I had a super day at my first event riding for Adrian and Maggie Smith. Their homebred Alf scored 28 and jumped a double clear. It was a lovely way to start on a new horse but is setting the bar fairly high for the rest of the year!

Rowan very much had a day of 'if only'. He did a super test bar one little mistake that scored 31.5. He jumped an impressive clear in the show jumping, and had a frustrating 20 penalties cross country at a tricky sunken road early on the course. He is growing up all the time and when it all clicks he'll be hard to beat!

Cher never ceases to seriously impress me and it was lovely to have her owners The Wishart's there to watch her run. She did a much improved test for a disappointing 35. I think she is so powerful it will take me a while to shift her balance into a more advanced frame. She then jumped beautifully show jumping with an unfortunate 4 faults coming out of the treble, followed by a seriously impressive clear XC. She is well ready to upgrade to 1* at Chatsworth and on to Intermediate after that. I really rate her and think she is an ideal Le Lion candidate at the end of the year. Sadly she is for sale so if any followers are interested in buying a 4* horse, either for me to keep riding (preferable) or for their own jockey to ride (2nd choice!!) do contact us.

Alf would have finished 2nd had we not been H/C, and Cher finished 11th. Willy Do returned the following day to take 7th in the OI. He did a super test for 29, had 2 frustrating poles show jumping but thankfully it was a smooth and professional round from both Willy and I to make up for my Belton head rush in this phase. He was then unbelievably classy cross country. Willy has found several new gears lately and flew around the course.

Overall a very pleasing weekend for my ponies, and a very pesky weekend for Bec who's luck is surely due a turn for the better.

Today we put Fran and Sprouty on their planes for the United States! Hugely exciting times ahead. Fingers crossed for a safe, happy and successful fortnight. Thank you to all my supporters both those coming to Kentucky and in particular those staying behind to man the fort.