Event Report: Houghton International

Falling off a young horse to WINNING Houghton International CCI3*L, What a rollercoaster few weeks it's been!

There is no doubt when you have a fall no matter what level it is a knock to your confidence. Having had a few really nasty tumbles last year, falling off one of my younger horses a couple of weeks ago certainly shook me up a bit and made me very sore!

But we headed off to Norfolk and the Saracen Horse Fees Houghton International with the two Scuderia 1918 horses SCUDERIA 1918 VIVIEN and SCUDERIA 1918 FUTURE for the CCI3*L, it was to become a weekend that certainly made the very long journey worthwhile!

Both horses flew through the trot up on the first day, I can’t thank Sophie Leonard Country Clothing and Fairfax and Favor enough for my gorgeous trot up outfit.

Next up was the dressage, Vivien was early on in the section and produced a fantastic test to sit in the top 5, Future not be outdone by his stable mate danced his way very stylishly into 2nd place ahead of the cross country on the Saturday.

Both of these rides are new to me this season so we are still getting to know each other, but it’s great to score such great marks so early on.

So cross country day arrived, I will be honest I was a little nervous I hadn’t done a three day since falling last year and really wanted to help the horses get the rounds that they deserved. Having only done a handful of events on both of them we are still very much getting to know each other in this phase. Vivien did her usual awesome clear inside the time, I love riding this mare cross country she’s so much fun and has bags of scope and makes everything feel so easy. Then the pressure was back on with Future, he’s a big horse and much stronger than Vivien, but he was CLASS. He has come on so much in the last couple of months and made the whole track feel effortless. We had moved to lead the competition

Going in to the final day both horses felt great when I rode them in the morning, it's always a nerve racking time having to hang around waiting for the show jumping playing through the possibilities. The CCI3* were showjumping in the afternoon so it was a long wait.

Sadly Vivien rolled a very annoying pole which dropped her to 8th but actually jumped very well and was full of energy and I was still so pleased with her performance. This mare has a very exciting future ahead of her.

Going into the show jumping as Last Rider is always nerve racking, but I had forgotten quite how nerve racking. Its that feeling of being so close yet so far, I felt sick... Thankfully the big man picked his toes up and jumped a beautiful clear round to WIN!

Ah I was so excited for my whole team who over the past 12 months have really stuck by me through some pretty tough times. Family, Friends, my girls on the yard, Sponsors, Trainers, Owners and not to forget my incredible string of horses THANK YOU all so much, that WIN was for you ALL!