Lots of outings and a wedding!

Wow, I can’t believe we are in September already and there are only about 6 weeks left of the event season!

August was a very busy month for me, mainly because on the 19th August I got married and became Mrs Skelton! We had a fabulous day, with our wedding reception being held at the yard so of course Herbie wasn’t far away and there was a strong equestrian theme to the day!

With the wedding taking up such a lot of my spare time, it took a lot of organisation to keep on top of training and competing. As Skipton BE was sadly cancelled due to the weather, Herbie took a short mid season break from events to concentrate on training at home and I decided to push back my regional final entry to Weston Park in October. This meant he had 6 weeks between his early July event at Stafford, and his latest one at the end of August at Llanymynech in the BE100. Herbie is known for his exuberance and enthusiasm at events, so I was slightly concerned about him having such a long break between competitions! He held it together well in the dressage, producing a neat test to lie in the top 25% of my section. I’ve been working really hard at home on improving the connection and contact and it seems to be paying off.

However, he couldn’t contain his excitement for the SJ and had 2 poles down due to being rather spooky. Although this was obviously disappointing, I do have to remember he is only 5 and still finds ‘parties’ very exciting so he can be forgiven!

On to the XC, which walked quite big and bold, so I was expecting him to perhaps feel a little green after the showjumping. I needn’t have worried though, he cruised round without a single issue and made the course feel tiny! Rides like that remind me why I do this and why I love him so much!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I produce and compete young event and dressage horses as part of my job managing the Stud. One of the lovely horses I have the pleasure of riding is La Toya, a 16hh 5 year old Oldenburg mare. She was originally purchased to event but is proving to have a real talent for dressage. During August she completed her first 3 affiliated BD tests and has won one and been second twice – pretty good going! She also went to a combined training show and came 4th in a big class so I am very pleased with her progress! She is entered for her first Novice tests this week and will go out to some jumping shows later in the month.

We also found the time to take a trip to Burghley Horse Trials for the weekend which is my favourite event of the year and I am determined to ride there one day! I find it very inspiring and motivating watching the elite riders compete and so much can be learnt just from watching them.

September is already looking jam packed, with Herbie entered for Dalston Green and Bishop Burton and Toya entered for BD classes, with lots of lessons and training in between!

Herbie enjoying his Trickle Net in the lorry

La Toya with one of the many rosettes she won last month!

Herbie at Llanymynech making the fences look tiny!

Introductions……

Welcome to my first blog for Trickle Net! For the first one I thought it would be nice to tell you a little bit about myself and what I do.
So, my name is Carrie and I am the manager of White Hill Stud in Lancashire. I was really excited to learn that I had been chosen as the new sponsored event rider for Trickle Net as we use the nets regularly at the stud and it is a product I really believe in!
As part of my job at White Hill Stud, I produce young dressage and event horses so over the coming months you can expect a lot of training and competition results as the current team progress up the levels.
My own horse is a 16.2hh, 5 year old KWPN called Hespo, but known as Herbie at home. I bought Herbie as a rising 3 year old colt, unbroken and pretty feral and I have produced him myself for eventing. He has been an absolute pleasure to do, has the best personality and is very talented, so I am really excited to see how far I can take him up the BE levels! As a 4 year old he did a few of the Burghley Young Event Horse classes with the first one, and only his second ever show, being at Bramham International Horse Trials – no pressure!! He was an absolute superstar and was equal 10th out of 40 very classy horses – cue a very proud owner! He also completed 3 BE 4 year old classes, where he showed his true talent in the cross country as this was and still is his strongest phase. I don’t think I’ve ever sat on a horse that finds it so easy!
This season, after being placed at Breckenbrough BE90 very early on it became apparent that he was more than ready to step up to BE100 so he has been competing at this level ever since, even being placed 5th at Llanymynech Horse Trials which is pretty impressive for a 5 year old! He has an exceptional xc record, with the only jumping faults being at his very first event last season where I turned a circle, therefore crossing my tracks and incurring 20 penalties – other than that his record is 100%!
Our latest event was Stafford BE100 where unfortunately Herbie had a pretty good view of the SJ and XC so decided to get the dressage over as quickly as possible whilst trying to watch his fellow competitors do ‘the fun bit’– very naughty boy as this resulted in our worst ever mark! Then of course he went on to jump beautifully, cruising round the BE100 track like it was nothing which of course put a smile back on my face and left me in no doubt which phase I need to do more work on!
So the last few weeks have been about focusing on improving my dressage mark with the help of my fabulous trainer Silvia. I really enjoy working to improve this phase but the same can not be said for Herbie! His face is a picture of pure disgust when he sees her arrive at the yard and he spends the majority of the lessons pretending there are monsters in the corners of the arena. Luckily he does seem to take in what I learn though as there are definitely improvements being made!
Next events are Skipton BE100 and Llanymynech BE100 regional final – fingers crossed the dressage arenas are as far away from the jumping as possible!
Thanks for reading and I look forward to writing the next blog and telling you more about some of the other horses I am lucky enough to ride!

Herbie at Bramham BYEH as a 4 year old

Looking very bold at his first BE100 at Dalston Green