Into the swing of it

Well, it's been a very promising start to 2015. Apart from the highly unusual rainfall (we're up over 300mm for January alone and it's not even the end of the month yet!), and the lovely hot days with luscious tropical storms in the evenings, Dragonwood has been kicking off. I took some long service leave and already managed to finish the arena fence (just painting to go now) and get Annie going pretty darn nicely.

Our first clinic for the year with Manu Mclean starts in a few days and I'm excited to see what Manu thinks of our progress. Annie's coming quite a long way in the last month or so after a couple of weeks off over Christmas and regular work of 5 to 6 days a week. Here we are at a little cross country training last week:

She was really super for her first time out on a XC course with me. Not much spookiness and a very willing attitude. I'm very excited about our first comp in just over a week at the fabulous Wallaby Hill!

Annie's feet are really quite impressive at this stage, considering it's only been three months since we pulled her shoes off. Here are her two fronts at the most recent trim a few days ago:

They look small and you can clearly see, even in these photos, the ridge of hoof halfway down the wall. This signifies the drastic change pulling her shoes off and changing her diet. The hoof capsule has definitely 'released' or expanded but the hoof angle has become a little steeper as the laminae connection is strengthened and tightened. Her movement has changed noticeably and she now lands heel-first in front rather than on her toes.

She's now on a fairly modest diet of Micrbeet (unmolassed sugarbeet pulp), Lucerne chaff, Hygain Ice, MSM and Equilibrium. It seems to be working for her and she's maintaining weight without getting hot. As the work goes up I will increase the Ice and Micrbeet and give two feeds a day once winter kicks in, I think. She does seem to need a bit of feed as she's only just got good rib coverage and the other horses are in quite good condition. Then again, none of those lazy buggers are working for a living!

She's coping very well with different terrain, though remains sensitive post-trim for a week or so. My new wonder-Trimmer, Shelly (also a Bowe graduate), has been taking Annie's toes back a little further each trim to encourage the correct break-over and help the hooves get the correct shape back. Her toes are still a little Manolo Blanik, but we're getting there!

I'm really happy with our progress, though the training is challenging! Annie is very used to her giraffe way of going and it's been slow-going encouraging her to come down and round. She's quite into long and low, though, so I'm using that as much as I can to help her engage her core and develop some topline. She can cope with about 10 minutes total of 'real' work where she's engaged and round, and intersperse that time with a bit of tension and giraffing. I think as she gets stronger she'll cope with more consistency.

She's really rather gorgeous, though, and I've absolutely fallen for this lovely girl.

Lucinda Green hits Canberra in two weeks and I'm very excited! The clinic is full and I'm winding up to get everything ready, hoping I can give the participants value for money. There will be a blog each day for those tragics into that sort of thing! With pics!

Heidi the reluctant broody is now finally in foal to the amazing Contenda. That will be a lovely foal, fingers crossed. And, after much soul-searching and indecision, Rose has been retired at the ripe old age of 5. After watching her putting her ears back as she walked down a hill, I realised that her elbow joints really are quite sore and there is really no point pounding her around a dressage arena when she's only going to get worse. She's the most lovely horse and I couldn't do that to her.

Rose went off to Highland Blue Diamond to get in foal and, if luck holds, we should get a positive pregnancy scan in a couple of weeks! Eek!

So, in the meantime, bring on Wallaby Hill where I have the most insane Saturday of driving two hours, plaiting up, dressage, showjumping, then 4.5 hours of EvA95 dressage judging, then walking the XC course and collapsing onto my little bed! Here's hoping Annie is a good girl and stands nicely in her yard for the day!

I'll keep you posted. A big year looms large!

2015 is kicking off!

Well, already 2015 is looking a 100% better than 2014. After a lovely Christmas and New Year period, with no riding for a couple of weeks and lots of family, friends, drinking and eating, I'm back at work (blah) and riding Annie (yey!). I've really fallen in love with the big moose and look forward to my rides with her.

She's looking pretty nice now:

We had a great lesson with Ben Netterfield yesterday (just got his Level 3 Showjump Coach accreditation - woot!). Just need lots of practice but she's doing very well. I have to go back and read my first posts about her to remind myself of how green and stiff she felt only a couple of short months ago.

I went through my plan for the year with Ben and was pleasantly surprised when he actually thought it sounded more than feasible - positively conservative!! The idea is to do EvA80 at Wallaby Hill and then at Canberra, and if all goes well, up to EvA95 at the next 3 or 4 events to take us through to mid-year.

There's a bit of a break from June to about August, so I'm considering giving her a big break then since she really only had a couple of weeks off over Christmas. Then, I told Ben I was contemplating a EvA105 by the end of the year, all going well. He thought I could do one before then. Cool!

I think Berrima is the best event to upgrade so the November event might be the one to do our first EvA105. I really think we can achieve that goal. Just lots more work and fun ahead. The next 8 weeks is pretty hectic, with lessons, clinics and Wallaby Hill on the horizon.

Annie's hooves have been adjusting remarkably well to barefoot. Below are two hooves pre- and post-trimming to give you an idea of the changes and quality of her hoof:

Near fore pre-trim

Near fore post-trim

Front feet post-trim

Rear feet post-trim

 You can see the ridge about 1.5cm from the coronet band that shows the massive change in hoof brought about by taking the shoes off and changing her diet. I'm still amazed by how good they're doing. Best transition yet! I think a big part was the time of year. A hot dry summer with lots of work plays a very positive role in the hoof's ability to grow strong wall with cohesive laminae.

Given the dry lead-up to Christmas and the fact we have too many horses, we made the decision to put the whole herd in a sacrifice paddock with large bale of hay. We also invested in a large slow-fee bale net to cover it in. It worked remarkably well and stretched the time it took for 8 horses to eat a bale from 3 days to more than 5, with vastly less wastage.

Uno (left) and Rose (right) with the rest enjoying the first bale and figuring out how to munch through the net.

The net in action.

All that's left when we used the net. Less than half a small bale's worth. Amazing difference.

A new bale ready to go with net in place.

But dry this summer has not entirely been! We've had an enormous amount of rain over the past 6 weeks - 175mm just for December, and already over 100mm for this month and we're not even halfway through yet! Dragonwood looks pretty gorgeous though, and I got some great snaps:

Our flooded dam at sunset

A couple of rare guests at sunset - always welcome on our place

Yet another gathering storm

 We also welcomed a dozen little chicks last week. One hatchling from a very large and stupid broody Australorp that survived only by being put under the fabulous Broody (below), a Silky of amazing mothering skills. I brought home the dozen day-old chicks from a breeder and just put them under Broody, who adopted them ferociously. Very funny watching her trying to stuff them under her wings!

It's been a great start to the year. Next installment coming right up!

The Last Manu Mclean Clinic for 2014

Well, Manu did not disappoint in her last clinic for the year. Well, only a little and it wasn't really her fault!

I decided to take both the girls, Rose and Annie, if I could get the four lessons as I had reached a plateau with Rose and Annie is obviously very much a challenge! I had opted for all shared lessons as my budget was already stretched to breaking with two horses and Heidi's failed attempts at pregnancy (more on that later!), and that's always a bit of a risk if you don't have another person you know to share with. It's hard for clinic organisers to match people, especially when they don't really know the horses involved.

Anyway, first lesson was with Annie and we shared with a lovely lady named Deb. The new thing to try with Manu was carrying the hands very low, literally with a hand either side of the neck, in front of the wither. The tips of the thumbs just touch over the neck and the flat of the knuckles (ie the fingers between the first and second joints) rests against the neck. This creates very stable and strong hands that really don't move - kind of side reins, if you will.

The idea is to provide the horse with stability and certainty. When she is in the right fram with the right flexion and self-carriage, the reins are soft. When she resists or overbends or flexs, the hands provide resistance that is not easily moved. This helped Annie, given her very hard right side of her mouth. It was completely exhausting as she just pulled and pulled against my right hand!

Manu had us start manipulating the nuchal ligament:

This ligament, as you can see, is quite an integral part of the horse's neck anatomy and must play a very important role in the way a horse goes in a frame. By using the knuckles to push and massage the nuchal ligament, we can encourage the horse to flex and come rounder without having to pull or use the bit. It was a very interesting experiment, as I started pushing my knuckles really quite hard into the base of Annie's neck (about an inch or two vertically below the topline) and watched in amazement as she flexed her head towards the side I was pressing, followed by a lowering of the head, at which point I released the pressure. She became very quick and responsive at halt to that stimulation.

At walk it was a little harder as she assumes her 'camel' pose almost straight away - clearly an effect of the training she had received before. Manu had me push Annie out using my knee, hip and pushing the inside fist into her neck to simultaneously flex her in and push her out. After quite a while of this (my arm was aching) she finally dropped her head and flexed. Relief! She cottoned on to this pretty quickly after a few repetitions and we started to get some nice, forward round walk.

Annie is tricky, though, as she really is still quite unsure of the purpose of the bit and needed to be constantly halted and stepped back if she pulled hard, or halted if it was a medium resistance, or simply turned if she was a little heavy. This worked very well and actually started to train her to keep her head in a constant frame instead of throwing it up when given the aid to move forward or up a gait. Between that and flexing her with my lowered hands and nuchal trick, I was dripping in sweat by the end of the lesson!

Rose was easier, but had other issues, obviously. Not staying in a consisten rhythm was one and this was overcome with essentially the same exercises. Lots of slowing, halting, turning using indirect turns and the nuchal ligament flexion got her moving fairly consistently. She, too was a bit hard on the right rein, but nowhere near as heavy as Annie! I felt more confident in my turns and setting her up for changes in direction and gait, but she was still a little tense.

After the first day, I was rooted! I can't imagine how these crazy professional event riders ride 7 horses at a single comp.

Second day was really the highlight. Annie and I lucked out through the misfortuned of my intended lesson-mate and got a private. It was a real corner-turning lesson, with lots of good progress made. I finally got many strides of soft, round horse, rather than two or three before her head would go up or her back would go stiff. The three levels of resistance training was really the breakthrough and Annie responded very well to being halted if I gave her the trot aid from a halt and she put her head up. Within two or three repetitions she was simply trotting off, round and light. If she leant on my hands, she was walked or halted. Then trotted again. If she pulled or threw her head up, she was halted and backed a couple of steps. Often flexed to the rein she was pulling with. She got so relaxed her ears started flopping back and forth! It was really great.

We even tried a canter. It was pretty heinous! Manu had be really focus on getting a crisp, obedient transition, not letting her run and run into the canter. Letting her run meant letting her build up speed and the resultant canter was very fast, out of control and tense. I need to get her responding to canter from an aid, lightly and obediently. More homework!

Rose was fabulous on the second day. Another share but better than the last one. Buliding on the previous day's work, I was able to get Rose really supple and bending properly, even leg yielding at the trot which I'd never done before with her. Getting her straight and keeping her straight was very much helped by the hands on the neck routine, thought my lats and biceps were killing me!

Manu taught me to encourage lengthening by opening my fingers and pushing forward with my pelvis on each rise, tapping with my legs to increase the stride length. All of sudden, Rose was powering down the long side in a lovely lengthened trot. It felt awesome. She even pulled off one very light and balanced transition back to working trot! Yey!

Canter was actually not too bad. I have been having a lot of trouble with Rose simply charging off and being very hard to slow or stop. Manu had me come on a 20m circle and use my indirect turn to make the circle smaller, forcing her to balance and slow. It worked, and she started rounding and slowing, getting lighter. No straight lines for Rose for a little while, until we can establish and maintain that canter.

What a great end to the year for the girls and I. I am so excited about Annie's progress and prospects. I feel a great connection with her and can't wait to get into some jumping! Rose, though for sale and therefore a bit more distant from me emotionally now, is still dear to my heart and tries so hard. Manu's lessons are such good learning opportunities and Rose helps me get the most out of them!

After our little break, it'll be back into it in mid-Jan for Annie, preparing for our first comp at Wallaby Hill Intro on 7-8 Feb, then Lucinda's clinic on 11-12 Feb and Canberra HT two weeks later. No rest for the wicked!

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's been far too long, again. So much has been happening I just haven't found time to thump out a post. My bad!

The last few weeks have been super busy and just a bit crazy. We had a quarter of our annual rainfall in less than a week, with dams overflowing and very soggy ponies. It was nuts, but you wouldn't even know it had happened now. We're back to rock hard ground, though at least the grass is green!

We took the decision to buy in some large round bales of meadow hay and I bought a big Gutzbusta haynet to go over it. The results were quite amazing. From wasting what seemed like about a fifth of a bale every time to them pissing and pooing and trampling on the hay, the remainder of a bale once eaten is less than half a small bale's worth. One of the best buys I've made in ages!

Work has been slow but steady on my arena over the last couple of months. The deluge of rain has slowed things considerably but at least now we've got the majority of the posts in place, holes filled in and ready to start attaching the rails.

Phoebe dog hard at work supervising

My super effort digging the holes out after the Dingo dug them, cutting the posts and putting them in

The idea is to keep the grass and really cultivate it like lawn, eventually putting some sand down just to provide some grip and support. The latest studies indicate that, for barefoot horses, grass with a thin sand application is the best surface to work on. Lucky it's cheap too!

Annie is coming along in leaps and bounds (not literally, thank god) and is really starting to do some good work. She's slowly getting some topline and working more consistently in a correct frame, and her transitions are improving all the time. Here she is a few weeks ago, she's even nicer looking now:

Annie's feet are just amazing. I'm absolutely impressed with how well she's transitioned from shoes to barefoot. Here is her nearside fore before the last trim:

And after:

Still a bit pointy at the toe but that will take a couple more trims to get the right shape. Interestingly, there was some bruising in that toe area which is apparently caused by having too long a toe.

And Rose is getting better and better too. She is quite different to ride in that she's so much chunkier with a shorter stride, but she's more supple and consistent than Annie. This is her (and me with my bloody eventer's elbows!):

Had a great clinic with Manu Mclean that ended a couple of days ago - that'll have to be a separate post methinks. Too long to put in one post!

So, the girls are on holiday for a few weeks and we're off to Western Australia for a week over Christmas. So excited! When we get back it'll be time for young Timmy to be started so there'll be some pics to come of that.

More pics in the next post. My laptop is dying, I think, and I'm having trouble transferring pics from my phone to it. Bastarding technology!

Have a happy and safe holiday and watch out for my post about the latest Manu clinic!

Blue-arsed fly

What a crazy time of year this is! A horse event every weekend for about three months straight, lots of farm jobs including no less than 4 broody chicken to be looked after, and the downhill stretch to Christmas and holidays! I have no earthly idea how we will survive the rest of the year, but the old adage 'take it one day at a time' seems to help.

Annie is coming along in leaps and bounds (luckily not literally) and is settling into the Dragonwood lifestyle beautifully. She's a very laid-back girl with a friendly attitude and not as much assertiveness as her foster-sister, Rose. The extra hundred kilos Rose has on her might play some part in that!

I've only started riding Annie the past few days as she is now at a weight where I felt it was ok to give her a bit of work. She's on very good pasture at the moment and is down to daily, rather than twice-daily feeds. I've put her on Hygain Tru Gain which is really helping her gain weight but with no fizz. The sunflower seeds are putting a bit of shine in her summer coat which has started to come through very fast. I suppose as she gets healthier her old dead winter coat will be released and that seems to be happening already.

Her feet are holding up very well and she's already comfortable on most surfaces, including our gravel driveway. She's amazing.

My rides have focused mostly on re-training her stop button. As with many horses, Annie had been essentially taught that bit pressure can mean 'head down' as well as 'stop'. So, when I closed my fingers she just dropped her head and pushed through it. I had to be very conscious only to release pressure when she slowed her legs rather than changed the position of her head. She was very, very hollow anyway and very unhappy in the contact.

Once we established what the bit cue was for (ie only for slowing the legs), I started using some indirect turns to straighten her. Pushing the outside rein into the neck after pushing the outside knee into her side, I waited for two steps to see if she would move away, then opened my inside rein quite obviously when she didn't. She was soon moving away from the rein pressure, keeping her neck straight and softening her outline until she was quite round and forward and straight. Awesome!

After two rides, just doing that at the walk and trot, including lots of slow walk and slow trot to help give her time to think and move her legs, I was really pleased with her progress. This morning, we skipped most of the stargazing tension and moved straight into relaxed forward walk. Go Annie. :)

The Manu trick of halting her and giving her a loose rein has really paid dividends I think. She struggled with the concept of not moving her legs for the first two days, thinking that releasing bit pressure meant go forward. But this morning she moved very little and was completely still after the first two goes at it. She is quite active with stretching her neck, shaking her head, chewing and yawning and blowing. After she's finished, she must stand as I re-take rein contact and wait to be asked to move. She's getting a lot better with that too.

Canter.....was messy but improved. She's a big girl with a big stride, so it will take a lot of balance and strength that she simply does not have yet. The pig-rooting into canter was quite funny but she'll quit that in a while, I'm sure.

Half the farm is quite green and lush at the moment and the other half is good but the grasses are obviously of a different species. We're going to pilot a small area of native grass mix in the next few weeks and hopefully develop that grass across the rest of the property. Low in sugars and high in starch, it's perfect for barefoot horses and those prone to laminitis. Just what we need!

Young Timmy is off at Hillydale being started and is going great guns. You can read about him on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hillydale-Equine-Training-and-Sales/704025642964665?fref=ts Some lovely pics too.

Heidi, our broodmare, is about to be AI'd with Contenda semen and I'm very excited about the potential for this little baby. Should be a truly athletic horse and fingers crossed all goes to plan.

Jedi is getting some good piloting from young Maddy Reisner. They had a good showing at the NSW Eventing Champs last weekend. He really excelled in the showjumping rather than either of the other two phases, so we're going to take him out showjumping for a bit and see if someone might buy him as a showjumper. I really want to move him on to his next home as I've essentially stopped riding him now and I've already emotionally separated, if you know what I mean.

So, a lesson on Annie for me and on Jedi for Maddy at Ben Netterfield's this weekend, then it's a bit of judging, bit of showjumping, bit of dressage and then Berrima Horse Trials in just over a month. Good times!

Meet Annie

Well, it's been a pretty big week for this little duck and the horses at Dragonwood Farm. We've recovered from Canberra Horse Trials and Jedi is now getting ridden by an up and coming junior at Lynton and is working really well with her. They had a fang around the Canberra course yesterday and she was pretty happy with how that went. Jedi may well have landed on his feet! Let's hope he catches someone's eye at Lynton now he's being ridden in a manner more to his liking....

Timmy the Connemara/TB went off to Hillydale Ponies for foundation training (aka breaking in). Cath at Hillydale uses the Equitation Science approach and the Mclean method of training, so Timmy will be in great hands and should be a super little young dude when he comes home in a few weeks. We got lost on the way there and ended up four-wheel driving through the bush out the back of Bungonia and he just stood like a rock in the float. Even when he got out he parked beautifully (made me look great!) and just calmly went into the paddock to eat in his new environment. Really got high hopes for him going to an ambitious young rider or small adult to bring on.

Which brings us to Annie. Annie was a bit of an 'accidental' purchase. I had gone up to look at her as a bit of a curiousity trial with no intention of buying her. She was well over-priced as a rising 5 year old green ISH mare and the photos didn't inspire confidence. She was even worse in person, significantly underweight with a cut mouth and a big saddle sore. She'd just come back from 4 weeks with a well-known professional event rider so I was pretty taken aback at her condition. Clearly, she was not being fed or looked after well at all.

She rode very green, with a hard mouth and no real understanding of roundness or softness. She was forward with a super big trot and lovely canter. I only worked her for 10 mins as the arena we were on was very deep, it was hot and she was just not conditioned to cope with much. She was getting tired.

Still, I walked away really liking her attitude and her work ethic, not to mention her movement. One day, I thought, she'll be a star in the right hands. But given her asking price, those hands were not going to be mine until her price came down!

My mate Jo, the legend that she is to come traipsing up to Bowral with me, and I chatted about her on the way home. We both agreed that was probably the worst presentation of a horse in the price bracket we'd ever seen and we also both agreed Annie was the sweetest horse with quite a bit of talent. We only hoped she'd go to a good home.

That afternoon, I texted the owner to tell her I really liked Annie but couldn't offer her the kind of money she was looking for. After a bit of pushing from the owner to make an offer, I ended up offering half the asking price, which I still thought was probably a bit generous. To my open-mouthed surprise she accepted straight away. Shit, I thought, now what do I do?? Luckily, I have the best husband in the world and he said, just do it, but you can't have your arena until Jedi and Timmy are sold. Deal, says I.

Vet check was a bit of a nailbiter for me - I really didn't think she'd pass in that condition. But the vet was quite happy with her, at least soundness-wise. No issues at flexion, but anaemic, malnourished, with a sore wither and dull coat. Poor Annie.

So, after dropping Timmy off at Hillydale, the intrepid Jo and I headed up to Bowral to pick up Annie. She actually looked worse than the week before. She loaded great (hoeing into her hay with gusto) and we headed home. We never heard a peep out of her.

This is Annie the day after she arrived at Dragonwood Farm:

As you can see, no topline, prominent ribs and hips, dull bleached coat. But she's already looking a little better on 2 modest feeds a day of Micrbeet, lucerne chaff, Hygain Ice and Equilibrium with sunflower seeds. Not to mention spring grass!

Kirsten the wonder trimmer came out yesterday to pull her shoes and we were pleasantly surprised by the health of her hooves and frogs. This could be an easy transition - no thrush or seedy toe found and a big frog to help cushion those sensitive tootsies.

For some reason my pics won't rotate....but that's her off fore.

Off hind. The squared off shoes were used so the farrier could 'dump' the toe to help stop her forging.

Freshly pulled and rasped near hind. The white hoof makes it easy to see what Kirsten did.

Freshly pulled and rasped off fore. A bit pointy at the toe but otherwise suprisingly good.

 

So, Annie has good feet and should transition well to barefoot. I'll keep you posted on her progress. So far she's been a bit sensitive on the gravel road (completely understandably) but otherwise fine on the grass and dirt. She'll keep landing toe-first for a while but will gradually start moving properly as her feet get less sensitive and her body gets used to the different feel.

Canberra Horse Trials 2014

What a big weekend! The sun was out in force and the spring weather was just glorious for the event. We had a long weekend too, so I got to pack even more stuff in!

Here's the rundown....

Judging 20 or so Intro juniors from 8am on the Saturday was a pretty sweet gig. The class was actually of a really high standard, considering half the kids looked about 8! Having a good mate pencil with you certainly makes the day go quicker and I received some lovely feedback later in the day about the positive comments I give to riders. The opposite would be keenly felt by me as the rider later in the day and I was once again really conscious of giving riders constructive and positive feedback, rather than just telling them what they did wrong by way of a cutting one word comment.

Which take me to Jedi's dressage....

Let me first say it was a definite improvement on the last few outings. The warm up was better, though still really tense, especially in the canter. I used the two tools Manu had given me at the clinic - the indirect turn to step the front leg out, and the halt on a loose rein - to good effect and I really think both tools made a dramatic difference. I also concentrated on keeping my seat light and forward which also helped.

He was just a complete prick in the canter. The transitions were actually not bad, but then he would be off pig-rooting with his head so high he was practically hitting me in the face! Grunting, to boot. It was NOT fun or pretty and, while he eventually settled in the warm up, he did exactly the same thing through the WHOLE of the canter movements.

The entry was crooked but he was forward and round. The trot work was actually not bad, I thought. Yes, a little tense, but he was working in a nice frame, forward and supple. He even pulled off some nice lengthening across the diagonal, so I was really pleased with over half the test.

Now, you might expect, as I did, that our marks would reflect this improvement and apparent good work. Not so much. Once again, we scored 50%. An average mark of 5. When I got the test back I was not happy that the good work was not rewarded while the really awful work was not penalised. Why not use the whole scoring scale available?? I would have been giving me 7s for the trot work and 4s for the canter work. Instead, I got 5s and the odd 6 for the trot (with a 7 for the halt), and 5s for the canter. Bizarre. Not to mention disappointing.

Anyway, last again...ho hum.

The showjumping course was a very odd design and very difficult given the level of the class. The jumps were not big, at least they didn't seem to be almost a metre, but the first half of the course was like a snake - jump 1, turn right 180 degrees to jump 2, turn left 180 degrees to 3a and b, turn right 180 degrees to jump 4, turn left up the hill to jump 5....it went on like that. Jedi clobbered the first and got quite upset and dropped 3 more for a cricket score of 16. I was really disappointed for him as I wanted him to have a confidence-building round. The last two jumps were quite good, though, so I'm hoping that's what's stuck with him.

So, after dressage and showjumping we were still last. But still in the game!

The cross country course was great - the National Capital Horse Trials Association had built new fences and mixed it up a bit to create a lovely flowing course with some good questions. I uploaded the course onto the Cross Country App if you have it.

The Sunday dawned pretty hot with a hot wind blowing. It easily made 28 degrees and felt like the first licks of summer. Welcome to eventing, Australian-style!

In short, Jedi was a gun and I was a fat blob. He galloped around that track, jumping everything in sight, including the water, the ditch, the drop - the lot. And I got really tired about halfway around and could do nothing to help him. I don't know what was happening - I have been a bit sick this week so maybe that was the cause, but I was so bad I actually thought I might have to pull up. First time ever. But Jedi looked after me and carried me round. What a champion. We got a few time pens but I don't care. He was great. :)

So, yes, we finished last, but this was a big improvement on Harden and his behaviour in the warm up for both showjumping and cross country was vastly improved.

It was a really great weekend and a wonderfully professional event. The organisers run a friendly, fun event with lots to see and do even when you're not competing. And I'm always well looked-after by the Committee when I'm judging and riding. It makes it a pleasure to give your time and energy.

Bring on Lynton!!