My main goal this year was to complete Estrid’s novice FEI qualifications and attempt our first CER, if we got to an actual 1* that would be a bonus. All we needed was another 80km at under 16kph. Looking at the schedule it seemed like I’d have plenty of opportunities but when I compared it against my work schedule that narrowed the field quite considerably.
I’m in no rush with Estrid and we have taken the process very slowly with her, taking 3 years to get to this point but I truly believe she’s physically ready for some racing this year. Mentally we have a long way to go but at this point the only way for her to gain experience, learn and improve is to do it!
So what better way to gain FEI experience than attending a major FEI event, hey! I was so excited to see a national 80km GER on the Windsor schedule, it’s one of the best opportunities in the UK for our horses to experience a ‘Championship like’ atmosphere and it’s always an incredible event to attend.
We had 8 weeks from our first event of the year to the Windsor ride to train and prepare. There are so many things that have to align for it to happen for us but of one thing I’m sure, she’s certainly fit enough to tackle her next 80km.
Beth Endurance 