The return from paradise has been made somewhat harder by the deep freeze!! Thank you for really making reality that bit more challenging

. We sadly had very reduced numbers for our owners party kindly hosted for Team Jackson by Gill Watson. None the less a fun time was had by those that were brave enough to come. We are incredibly lucky to have Austin and Katherin O'Connors school in the nearest village so we are bussing our ponies down, only struggling slightly trying to fit the 13 current residents into our 5 horse lorry! Being at least able to keep the team ticking over is helping to prevent cabin fever from setting in. It isn't long now until the big thaw will rescue us and we'll be saying...d'you remember that awful couple of days in January....Here's hoping anyway!

NEW SITE NEW YEAR...HAPPY 2013 I'm lucky enough to be writing this from the Southern Hemisphere! Tomorrow is Tim Price and Jonelle Richards wedding in the Marlborough Sounds NZ. We have enjoyed a perfect trip so far with blazing sunshine, mountain biking, sunbathing, beach sports day, sunbathing, catching up with great freinds, sunbathing and even a spot of running with the season now not that far away!

The winning team on kiwi sports day including Olympian Sam Albert. Here's to another week of fun in the blistering NZ heat. Thank you so much to the awesome team at home for keeping the show on the road especially with two mega exciting new additions Carl & Rio...watch this space for more on the beautiful babies new into Team Jackson! Happy 2013 everyone and all the best of everything to Tim and Jonelle for tomorrow.

New Site, New Year ... HUGE AMBITIONS!

So the polar blasts keep on coming with alarming regularity! The joys of an English winter with livestock! The horses are now all in work, only 2 left to clip. They each enjoyed a month in the field, and then some low key hacking to prevent them getting too unfit whilst allowing their brains full R & R!

Luke was the only one not to thrive on holiday, and was thererfore draughted in as part of Team Townend for Express Eventing at Excel arena in London. What a treat. It was huge fun to ride dressage to music, indoor cross country and a decent round of show jumps against the worlds best riders. Even more of a thrill Luke finished 6th! A real buzz and a series I very much look forward to being part of in the future.

I have been lucky enough to enjoy a week away in Italy, my first non horsey holiday for 4 years. Sheer bliss! I was also then very fortunate indeed to spend my Burghley bursary on a weeks show jump training with Luis Alvarez Cevera in Madrid. It was an incredible opportunity to ride 6 horses a day with nothing to work on but myself, my riding and the way the horses were going as a result. Luis' family were so hospitable and I look forward to many clear rounds to demonstrate the benefits!

The winter months are ticking by with various indoor dressage and jumping shows, before I disappear AGAIN for a fortnight in NZ to celbrate Tim Price and Jonelle Richard's wedding. It will be wonderful to spend some sunny time, with these amazing friends, before returning to 2013 with all guns blazing. I was very excited to be 14th in the BE rankings this year and am aiming for top 8 next season! Happy festivities everyone.

Frustrating Times I feel that my season has been one of 'nearly good' results not 'really good' ones. Blenheim was one of those weeks. Sprouty put in a much improved dressage performance for a respectable 54. He was a total machine XC and was absolutely flying around, well up on his minute markers only to have a pesky run out at the second of a very influential double of corners coming out of the water jump. So close was he to jumping it that I really thought we'd gone the correct side of the flag and off we wizzed up the hill to continue, before being flagged down by the judge and sent back for that very expensive second attempt. He cruised home for just 6 time faults despite this time consuming blip. Frustratingly he'd landed on a nasty exposed stoney patch two from home and a bruised foot meant we decided not to show jump him on the last day. I'm sure he'd have been fine, but best not to risk him particularly lying so far down the leader board. He has now joined Luke and Willy on a very well deserved autumn rest in the field and will be back in late november to begin some serious dressage as a winter project. Sprout has had a sort of teenage phase of late with the odd blip both XC and dressage. I will be using 2013 to really consolidate him in all three phases at 3* level before beginning our 2014 world games campagin in earnest. He is an incredibly talented horse and I will take my time to iron out this seasons frustrations, which are realistically the result of my ambition to get to the Games meaning Sprouty's career was a little bit fast tracked, so I will make sure I dot the i's and cross the t's in order to lay all the foundations for a medal in two years time. Gatcombe the following weekend was another case of NEARLY. Gill Watson's lovely Wellshead Munnings did the best test of his career to score 36.9 and hold the lead from his early draw on Friday morning. He then went on to jump an immaculate double clear just one second over the optimum time leaving him on a final score of 37.3 Would you believe that one second left me 0.1 penalties adrift of the mega competitive Kitty King on Persimon and I had missed out on a Spa break for two days at the unbelievably indulgent Whatley Manor!!! How FRUSTRATING! I have since had a trip to Ireland horse shopping and found a really nice one who will hopefully join the team subject to the vetting this week. The girls and I have been out XC and SJ on a few of our resident younger or more wayward ponies. Tomorrow I'm off to Little Downham with Gail Lothian's Latest Chance and then Tuesday before dawn we'll set sail for the last event of 2012 with Wellshead Munnings, Fernhill Rockstar and GT Cruise for Ligniere. No rest for the wicked but it'll be strange with no events to report on for a month or two. I'm aiming to round off the season with a win...fingers crossed.

Beyond Belief...

Wow I have just returned from my first British 4* and am proud to say both my beautiful boys completed.

Willy Do did an excellent test with a few little green mistakes, jumped the round of his life XC for clear with 20 time faults and even more impressively just one down in the show jumping. He has surpassed our wildest dreams finishing in 19th place and a bursary for best first timer. I could not be more thrilled for the Greenlees family his wonderful owners and for our future....eek look out World Games!!

My darling Luke did his best test ever for 41.7 into 7th, he then lived up to his Animo genes by putting in a bit of a naughty stop at the ditch at fence 7 after which he ate up the massive track, and jumped a super round on the last day with an expensive loss of concentration at the second last. I am learning such a huge amount from him, and sentimentally feel he really put me back in the game when i first returned from NZ. I'm sure he has a big win in him when he decides to join in the party on all three days!!!

I can't thank my amazing gang enough, I am lucky enough to be surrounded by the most supportive gang of friends and family and I am convinced I couldn't do it without them. My fabulous owners The Greenlees, The Taylors and Kathy B...THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY, to Gill, Andrew Fletcher and Luis your guidance is exemplary, to Mo and D your unwavering support is beyond brilliant. I have the best team of girls backing me up Captain Frantastic, Bec/ Bev, and Bec/ Len...you are all totally ace, and my wee sister and bro are mega stars.

THANK YOU...can't wait for Blenheim now which alarmingly is already 'this week'!!

Photo's to follow!

So congratulations to the logistics manager....we survived, and in fact succeeded!! On the Wednesday Animator was his usual fabulous self to come 4th in the Advanced at Aston as his final run before Burghley, and Rowan made a very competent job of his second Intermediate for a pleasing clear XC. We returned from Aston at 5pm, were unpacked and repacked and back on the road for Hartpury by 6.15pm! By 11pm we had worked the horses at Hartpury unpacked and settled the ponies into bed, ready for a 5am alarm and arena familiarization at 6am!! Sprout Thursday morning test was a great improvement and I look forward to him continuing in this vein for the next few weeks before another winter of dressage training to cement his strength in this phase. On Friday I 'nipped' back to Aston to ride Latest Chance in the novice where he finished on his dressage score for 3rd place and he is now qualified to run at Intermediate. Returning to Hartpury to work Willy once before putting him away and working in for his test was an exercise worth doing when he scored a fabulous 40.6 to lie equal third!! My best score ever! We even made a couple of little errors so hopefully I can pin those down to crack into the 30's at Burghley!! Sprout and Willy's show jumping rounds were a huge high for me. They both did super clear rounds and I couldn't have been more proud of their efforts. Pictures to follow! Sprout was first to run cross country and he really gave me a fantastic spin, all bar pilot error at the second water leaving us with a very frustrating 20 penalties. That experience i put to good use on Willy Do who stormed around with just 3.6 time faults to finish 4th in a very hot section indeed. Willy seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment which is hugely exciting for his future, I was so proud of his efforts at Hartpury and hope we can repeat the process next week! So wagons roll, home we headed followed by a rare few days off the yard with one night in Scotland and two in Ireland, on a horse shopping trip. Sadly I didn't find the horse of my dreams but it was an excellent trip and I cant wait to find a world beating 5yr old in the next few months. So from Ireland I came home to head to Tweseldown for Charlotte to do an immaculate job on Jimmy, his first event for 4 years, which they took by storm with a 31 double clear. We then galloped on Friday, went to dressage training in Nottingham on Saturday, jumping in Wootton Bassett on Sunday and took 4 to Wellington to compete on Monday! The Wellington boys had an unremarkable day as far as rosettes went but all did reasonable test, I had a case of 4 fault-itis each having just one rail, and then 3 happy clears XC for Rowan, Jack and Chance who was a debutante at this Intermediate level. I didn't jump Sprout in the Advanced despite a much better test he is being saved for Blenheim. Another hectic week but all made the more exciting by the arrival of a great, great kiwi mate Nick Brooks. Welcome home Nick! So Tuesday has dawned...and all being well we should be loaded and off to Burghley sometime this morning. Watch this space for the biggest event of the year for Team Jacko. Good Luck Willy, Good Luck Luke

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.