Hollie- What a month!!

Well what a month its been, its been so busy with so much going on. The month started off with the Area 13 Dengie Finals. It was held in Sussex and I took Delina, Ryan’s Hollie and Hilarius. I was really hoping to qualify with at least one of the horses, as I won the Championships last Year so I really wanted to have a go and try and get to the Champs again. It was such a quick competitive jump off and I’m delighted to say I did really well, picking up 3rd  on Ryan’s Hollie, 4th on Hilarius and 6th on Delina – as the top three qualify this year, it meant that Ryan’s Hollie qualified for the Championships at Addington later in the month.

The Blue Chips Championships at Harpury

My lovely new boots

Then next up we went to The Blue Chips Championships that were held at Harpury in Gloucestershire, I had 4 horses at Blue Chips’ as I also had the ride on Pene Grimsters Romeo Scott, a lovely 8yr old who had qualified for the Novice Championships. We had a good 1st day with Ryan’s Hollie 6th in 1.05 and double clear in a very fast 1.10, Romeo Scott double clear in warm up class and 1 down in British novice championship, Hilarius double clear in the 1.10 and Delina unlucky last fence in 1.10.

On day 2 the horses stepped up and we had a few placings in the 1.10, but the Star of the Show this time was Ryan’s Hollie, this little horse never fails to pick me up, Ryan’s Hollie took 2nd place in the Ariat Star Championship at Bluechip 2016, its was a super fast class. Against some of the top combinations currently competing so to come 2nd was just amazing. Im really grateful to Pene Grimster for letting me have the ride on such a talented little mare and I also need to thank my mum Rachel Pearce for being super groom and trucker I couldn’t of done it without her  ❤. I also won myself a pair of lovely Ariat boots for coming 2nd in the Ariat Star Championships.

I’ve been helping Sophie one of my liveries with her horse Derry and so pleased with his improvement. We have gone from poles to jumping in just a few weeks and he’s gaining confidence every day, as is Sophie his owner. Its so good to see the Hard work paying off.

Me riding Derry

My hat stuck together with tape

My lovely new Hat from Charles Owen

In other news, Hilarius has been a #badhorse and decided to eat my Hat. I was amazed when the team at Charles Owen emailed and said they would like to help me on my Showjumping career path and gave me a new hat to ride in – this one I’m definitely  keeping out of Hilarius’s way!

To finish the month we headed to The 2016 Pony Club Dengie Championships and I was keen to get on the podium again this year and Ryan’s Hollie didn’t disappoint – she Jumped 3 super rounds in a class which started with 50 competitors to gain 2nd place it’s a great achievement and my 2nd year of making the podium so I really proud of that and for my club The Garth Hunt Pony Club.

We also got our final exercise from Tim Page and it was to practice difficult doglegs and fences at an angle. It encourages the horse to keep the same pace throughout the line of fences, which improves rhythm. I’ve been practicing the exercise on both Delina and Ryan’s Hollie its helped them both in different ways. Delina tends to rush to the fence sometimes so this has helped her to slow down and not to anticipate the next fence. With Ryan’s Hollie she’s a super speed horse so this was a great exercise to practice jumping across fences at an angle which always helps us make up time in a jump off. It’s also helped Delina a lot with her angle’s as she’s a much larger horse and has very long legs so this was a good exercise to help her with her Jump off turns which she’s definitely getting better at.

Next week I’m off to the Masters in Wales so I‘ll let you know how I get on in next months blog!

Bye for now – Hollie J