Well for the past few weeks I have been getting to know Dustry and teaching him the basic 'stop' and 'go' voice commands on the lunge and today I had a little sit on board! He behaved very well despite the high winds and the sound of guns at the adjacent shoot. He felt surprisingly big, and strong for a 3 1/2 yr old. I will ride him briefly again tomorrow then that will be him finished for the winter as he will be turned out 24/7 whilst Soap comes back in from his holiday for a full clip, and flatwork lesson. It's only been 15 days but I think Dustry's condition is improving and his feet are a million times better now my farrier has seen to him. See what you think, initial purchase picture on the left, and today after being ridden the 2 pics on the right. click images to enlarge

It seems like a very long time ago now that I entered a BE CDT day in March to kick off our season, after that day inspired and eager to have a productive year I wrote down my aims for 2009, you can see the original post here, and to recap my aims were...

MY AIMS FOR 2009
Dressage - to gain a score(s) in the low 30's
SJ - to get a clear(s) round (with or without time faults)
XC - to get a clear(s) round inside the time
Overall - to be placed at Intro and move up to PN by the end of the season if all is going well.

So....at our 2nd event we managed to gain a 31 dressage which almost made me fall off with shock in the SJing when they read out the score! Soap produced good tests all season and although we didn’t gain a score quite that low again he was consistently in the top 10-15 after the dressage all season, and produced some lovely attentive competitive tests. Well we have battled all year with our SJing and in desperation after a terrible time at Highclere I sent him to my SJ instructor on a 9 day boot camp which made a huge difference to him. We managed to achieve 2 clear rounds at unaffiliated SJing but the best result we have had eventing was 2 down at Milton Keynes 3 day, and I am still kicking myself for screwing up the last double as it was so nearly a clear round! XC as always he has been a total dream, bold, fast, confident, and just loving every minute of it (with the sole except of his last hunter trial at WWEC where he tied up due to  virus) he picked up just 1.2 time penalties at Tweseldown his first event of the season and was then fault free, and foot perfect for the rest of the year, we really do love our XC!
Towards the end of the season where we planned to make the transition from intro/BE90 to PreNovice/BE100 things didn’t quite go according to plan, we managed to do several BE100 tests and XC tracks with good scores and clear rounds, but the BE events we had planned to enter were cancelled so I rerouted him to do our first 3 day instead. I had planned to finish with Moreton BE100 but because he had had a virus and tied up the previous weekend I thought it best to call it a day, give him his end of season physio, and a little holiday before his winter season of dressage and SJing begins.

I am really pleased with how he has progressed this year, and hopefully with a winter of SJ practise we will be even more competitive next season. I had hoped to have done more with Jack only managing to take him to one low key dressage test (gaining 60% and 3rd place) but his feet/soundness problems have now been solved, and I am looking forward to cracking on with his re-schooling this winter, and making his eventing debut next year! So it’s onwards and upwards for GHE, I am looking forward to 2010, competing both my horses, promoting old and new sponsors, cracking Soap’s SJing and getting that elusive placing!

*drum roll*.....say hello to ‘Dustry’ my latest ‘project pony’.

As well as producing and competing my own event horses I also bring on the odd ‘project’ from time to time. I look out for horses with a nice nature, good conformation and the potential to go far. In the past I have re-schooled ex-racers into sensible sane riding club horses, rehabilitated, and re-schooled a neglected Irish sports horse, and most recently a few years ago broke in and brought on a new forest pony broodmare. I really enjoy producing these ‘project horses’ and get a huge kick out of bringing them on, seeing them learn, understand, and progress. I’m proud to say all of my past projects are very happy, and doing well in their new homes, and I will be doing a follow up post on them soon to show you how far they have come. click images to enlarge

‘Dustry’ is a 3yr old 16hh bay gelding ex-racer by Chevalier out of Church Mice. He raced on the flat but was too slow so his racing career ended this September, and I bought him to re-school, and sell on. When I first looked at him he was entire so he was gelded before I bought him, having never dealt with colts/recently gelded horses before I was cautious to pre-empt for any ‘colt-ish’ behaviour but he is a kind natured, affectionate little horse, and shows no signs of attitude or dominance. These pictures are him on the very first day he arrived. I always try to take as many photos as possible throughout re-schooling/producing to see how much they change in shape and condition. My excellent farrier came out on Saturday to start his feet on the road to recovery, and he is now much happier with short, neat, balanced feet so now I can begin some ground work with him in preparation for getting on board!
My plan for him is to establish a few of the basics over the next few weeks, and then turn him out to chill out, fill out and grow up over the winter months. He will be turned out 24/7 and then in the spring when he is 4yrs old I will bring him back in and start his education in earnest. So keep your eyes peeled for Dustry updates I will be adding photos and reports throughout his progress, and if you can’t wait for Dustry's ‘before and after shot’ then here’s one to keep you sweet. Soap when I bought him off the track in 2006 and at the end of this season September 2009, spot the difference?...

...just snooping about online and I found my testimonial with these pics I took of Jack after I received my SoloGroom kit and gave him a makeover. What a scruffy little urchin he was after his box rest!

After a great clear round last weekend at Larkhill I entered Soap for another hunter trial at West Wilts. He loves his XC and I thought the 1m class there would be good prep for our last event of the season BE100 at Moreton. He warmed up well, and got very excited squeaking and leaping into canter in the start box! He started ok but a little inconsistent rushing and then backing up which felt odd, then he stopped at fences 4 and 5. These fences were on the edge of a little copse, and I wrongly put the stops down to him being spooked by the light/shadow. We carried on round the course but he just didn’t feel right, and in hindsight I should have had the sense to pull him up and retire. I feel disappointed in myself for not realising sooner that something was wrong as he isn’t the type of horse who is naughty and just stops for no reason. I was concerned about what was wrong with him so put a magnotherapy rug on him overnight and called my physio. After discussing all the signs and his behaviour with my physio (who is a very experienced horse woman having represented GB, and with over 10 years experience with racehorses) we came to the conclusion that it sounded like he picked up a virus last weekend which then caused him to tie up. She gave him a full MOT and couldn’t find any damage or tightness as a result of this, and was actually really pleased with how strong and healthy he is looking. I don’t think it’s fair to ask him to event just a week after tying up even if it was only a mild case, so I have withdrawn from Moreton and that brings our season to an end.

It’s not an ideal end to what has been a fantastic season, but it means after a minor blip I still have one happy, healthy, sound horse who can now have a little holiday before I bring him back in to clip him out, and start a winter season of dressage and sjing. I plan to take him to Hoplands XC schooling for a bit of fun when he comes back into work, but for the next month he will be footloose and fancy free in his field, whilst I will be busy with my latest purchase...intrigued?...stay tuned to see the latest addition to Team GHE!...

A rather exciting DVD shaped jiffy bag arrived in the post the other day, and in it was my Total Recall video from MK3DE! On the DVD is our steeplechase where I give Karen Donkers a run for her money in the 'vocal encouragement' stakes. Listen out for my embarrasing outbursts! The XC which after the steeplechase looks positively sedate, and our almost clear SJing round complete with massive rider gaff at the last double!

From the video I can see that I totally overcompensated at fence 10 as a result of pushing him on more for fence 9. I shut down the canter and almost killed it completely but he really did do his best to make it through, and fiddle 2 strides in, what an honest little horse. Position wise I think I need to become better at releasing my hands over the fence (a more evident fault in the SJing) as I am riding a little defensively in an attempt to remain upright with my body and not move forwards which urges him faster and flatter into the fence, so there's something to work on over the winter. Apart from that I am pretty pleased with how we look, and overjoyed at what a little pro Soap is turning into. Here are a few stills from the video click to enlarge