Hello again!
I'm kicking off my New Years resolution off early and starting this blog back up again. 2014 has been a difficult year for Jasper and I and we have faced many setbacks (mostly my degree getting in the way!).
After well over a year off from the carriage driving scene Jasper and I were back on Sunday for our first competition in what felt like forever.
Despite not knowing my test very well and feeling like I was just driving about randomly we were 4th after the dressage. Jasper then ...
Continue reading ...

Today Jasper and I headed off to Lyvers Farm near Salisbury for a ODE run by the WHHC. After 3 seasons of pretty much exclusively doing Nationals taking a step back down to club level was rather weird and for me remembering everything in 1 day was very challenging (must be getting old!). I had another chance to practice the test I am doing this season and we had a great score of 50.04 with just one ball down in the cones. This was slightly frustrating as Jasper and I were cantering along nice...
Continue reading ...

Nice big parcel has arrived of Horse Quencher and the weather here in Wiltshire is scorching as we are gripped in the heatwave. Jasper now has plenty of his favorite drink to help him stay hydrated and in top condition. It will definitely be coming with us to Lyvers Farm ODE this weekend. Also new pictures from Sandringham in the Gallery page.

Continue reading ...

Home today from our first family holiday in 8 years. We've had a fantastic time in Majorca with plenty of sun, sea and sand. Now tanned beyond all recognition having enjoyed some well earned R&R. Glad to be home though and Jasper was certainly pleased to see us :) Shame we missed Catton but it was certainly worth it!

Continue reading ...

Jasper was a star today with a fantastic clear in the cones to win our class. With less than 5 penalties in hand when we went in our cones round was rather nerve wracking as the competitor in 2nd place is extremely good at cones, so any mistake I made could be costly. She then had 2 cones down, allowing me to relax and we had a fab round with just the tiniest amount of time penalties. I think I am going to have to spend some time practising the faster cones speed I have to make in Intermediat...
Continue reading ...

Today's dresaage test has had its fair share of drama. After coming down the centre line the judge beeped the horn and said I was doing the wrong test! This caused a fair bit of panic amongst the Intermediate Pony Class as we had all learnt the same test I had but as the first competitor in it was fairly stressful to be told you had learnt the wrong test. Eventually it turned out what had been printed in the shedule was not what the judge had been told to mark and I was allowed to restart. I ...
Continue reading ...

After 5 hours of driving we have finally arrived at Sandringham National. An hour of that was spent stuck in traffic on the M25 (no suprise there!). We are set up and its been raining since we arrived. Fingers crossed it brightens up for Dressage tomorrow!

Continue reading ...

Best marathon of my life today :D so proud of our little pony! He flew round the marathon to move up a place to 2nd with great times. I am particularly proud of our last obstacle which we had similar times to Advanced Pony Pair!
He was raring to go round the marathon and had a nice low heart rate of 57 at the halt. He drank his Horse Quencher and electrolytes and the sun shone. Great day, looking forward to cones tomorrow.

Continue reading ...

Today the British Young Drivers were out in force to run our trade stand and display in the South of England Carriage Fair. This is generally considered the 'start of season party' and is a great chance to catch up with everyone. We raised over £200 and although the display didn't quite go to plan it was still a good laugh. Thank you to all our volunteers and everyone who helped raise the money. Thank you to the BC committee who have given me one of our new gilets to wear, its gorgeous!

Continue reading ...

Last night was incredible! My Mum and I spent an excellent evening at the Wiltshire Life Awards Ceremony, enjoying the delicious food and entertainment. My category had been shortlisted to four people with extremely strong candidates so I thought I had no chance and decided to just relax and enjoy the free champagne. We were the penultimate award so had an agonizing wait for the result but eventually it was our turn, where I was announced the Young Achiever of the Year! I was very suprised to...
Continue reading ...

Finally my exams are over! As they have stretched over nearly three weeks so far the return to uni has not been much fun. To be honest quite sick of being locked up in my bedroom staring at notes so finally freedom! Refreshers starts next week and we have been reliving the fun of our Freshers week today when I found my camera with loads of pictures on it that I had forgotten about.
Can't say my exams have gone brilliantly but I have done my best and worked hard so there's not much more I can ...
Continue reading ...

Great drive with Jasper in the snow today, he was not very impressed! You can see a video of our drive here
The other picture is Jasper galloping up the field today as he was desperate to come in and out of the cold.
He is such a wuss! I have done some revision today as I have yet more exams next week which was a lot less fun but I do at least feel productive.


Continue reading ...

Woke up this morning to about 4 inches of snow! This was all incredibly exciting but... I had an exam in the afternoon so spent all morning cooped up indoors revising :(
But at 12pm we were told the uni was shut, exams were cancelled and we escaped outside to freedom and a massive snowball fight! Amazing fun!
The bad news is that obviously I still have to do the exam but they have postponed it to a Saturday that I am away competing on. Not sure what happens now but hopefully it can be sorted ou...
Continue reading ...

Jasper and I scored a hat trick today without third consecutive win in Novice Pony in the Thames Valley Region.
After an early start we arrived and did a nice dressage test to put us in 2nd place. I was particularly pleased with Jasper's attempt at lengthening today, as I thought he really tried. We then had an easy clear in what looked like a very challenging cones course but it actually drove fine. Jasper was then amazing in the obstacles and we had the fastest times in our class to win the...
Continue reading ...

It only seems like a few minutes ago we were last at Berkshire College of Agriculture but we are back again today to defend our win in Novice Pony with our usual team firmly back in place. After a dressage of 30 we were in joint 4th but then had the worlds luckiest clear in the cones to move us up to 2nd place. My Mum confessed as she thought Jasper was looking a bit 'lethargic' she had been oating him up all week. Yes I know, clearly Jasper thought this was brilliant and decided to do an alm...
Continue reading ...

YAY!!!! Jasper and I won our first indoors of the season! We also had the best score of the whole event and he was an absolute star all day (none of his usual nonsense about loading either). We were joint 3rd after dressage with 24 (leader on 23) and it was all pretty close fought. After a clear in the cones and just a few time penalties we moved up to second. Today we also had a switch around in Team O'Neill with my Mum being in Crete to see my Grandad with my other two sisters my Dad was ch...
Continue reading ...