Time for another update, and what a great couple of months it has been for our yard at Aikenfield.
In March we headed to the Northcote Winter Masters which was a really lovely show. Calista H was on top form picking up a third place in one of the big classes. I also took my own 6 year old Strebor Russel who jumped out of his skin to deliver some lovely double clears. His first big show with me so I was delighted. He is quite a green horse still and has really benefited from being on Equiform Stay Calm powder now that he needs to perform at some bigger, busier shows. Northcote marked the end of the indoor season for us and it was time for the horses to have a short break for a couple of weeks before we really kick off with the outdoor summer season. A great opportunity for me to do some extra teaching which always keeps me extremely busy!
In April I got kicked and thought I might have to miss Belton Horse Trials with Calista. Thankfully she is a mare who benefits from plenty of time in the field and a lot of hacking so I was able to stay out of the saddle in the run up to the show! Whatever we did must have worked because she jumped brilliantly in front of Belton House and a big crowd to win the £500 class. I soon forgot about my back pain! The following week it was time for the first Area Trial of the season at Bishop Burton. Calista made light work of the 150cm course and jumped clear but unfortunately we picked up a costly time fault! However I was still over the moon with the horse and perhaps at this early stage in the season it was a blessing not to have to do a jump off round…. At least I will tell myself that!
Over the winter months I was struggling to keep condition on Calista despite feeding her ad lib haylage and top quality feed. She was clearly lacking something! Luckily for me a quick email to Jenni at Equiform and she suggested we try the mare on Xlint Gel. Problem solved! This horse has never looked and felt so good since I’ve had her. The before and after pictures, along with her excellent results in the ring are testament to the quality of Equiform Nutritions supplements and the advice that is on hand.
Along with some exciting results with Calista and some good shows with the young horses I have recently welcomed another exciting new ride to my string of competition horses. Valquiria BK owned by Andrea Tomlinson and Heidi Ward is an 8 year old Spanish bred black mare who has mainly evented until recently. This horse’s talents definitely lie in show jumping and I can’t wait to get to going. We have done one show together where she jumped double clear. Watch this space.
Next on the calendar will be Sykehouse this month for a handful of the young horses and then Nottinghamshire County Show for some big jumping with Calista. I hope that I have as many nice results to report in my next update!
BEFORE
AFTER
