I did my first ever actual cross country schooling on an actual British Eventing course! Not a sentence I thought I’d ever say but some of the most enjoyable 2hrs on a horse I’ve had in a while.

In a bid to give Estrid as much variation in experience as possible, I’ve been venturing out of my endurance comfort zone. One of the biggest achievements of this outing was that she didn’t shake at the venue at all, not even once.

She was quite sharp initially with a few high speed sideways getaways, jig jogging and head throwing but nothing too dramatic. Considering we were also sharing the course with what looked like a hundred pony clubbers I think she did very well to settle. I would be interested to find out the etiquette of cross country schooling, in endurance it’s the responsibility of the overtaker to pass safely not the person in front to get out of the way. Considering we had two youngsters out for their first time in our group, I was very surprised when on two occasions we were yelled at from behind to get out the way as someone cantered at speed past us. Fortunately, all our horses were quite relaxed about it but I found it strange that when we were showing our horses a feature that another person could come from behind between our horses and jump.

I had no expectations that we’d actually leave the floor, I wanted her to just walk around the jumps without being terrified of them, anything else was a bonus. Our strategy was to boop each jump with her nose so she could have a good sniff and then step over them and then trot over if possible. We were only aiming at the 50cm mini course to give the horses confidence.

They all did very well and I was super proud of Estrid, I really want to get some coaching so I feel like I know at least a little bit about what I’m meant to be doing. I can’t wait to keep building her confidence, the goal is to be able to canter and pop over the full 50cm mini course and if we keep having fun then maybe progress up the heights.

I made a mistake with the qualification pathway, doh! So having read the FEI rules which allow longer multi day rides to count towards qualification and then read the EGB rules on the website which state that you must do two 60-90km rides, at least one being a one day 80km+, I assumed that a two day ride of the required distance would count towards upgrading. However, thanks to you guys for pointing it out, I was wrong. The EGB handbook states that it must be two single day rides (Maybe I should contact them to update the website? Or it may just have been me being particularly dim)

The FEI qualifications, I also had a little wrong in my head, you don’t have to get 2-3 consecutive anymore, but largely they remain the same, 2 successful rides at each star level within 2 years. Estrid will be allowed to compete at FEI from the 23rd of March 2024 based on her first Novice ride (You have to wait a minimum of 12 months from their first Novice qualifier). So now I feel like doing a two day longer ride at the end of the season doesn’t really get me anywhere qualification wise. Maybe I’ll just do it for fun, for the experience and just because….something I’m not used to doing.

I still want to aim for a two day event where Estrid can practice staying over, so my training is still going to focus on preparing her for consecutive days but now I’m not entirely sure what distance to go for. Do I just do two PR’s, a GER and a PR or do I go for the 80km two day still! I think a 64km or 80km two day would be my preference as I feel like that’s progress and a nice goal rather than just venue experience but we’ll see.

Estrid has had her mid-season break after achieving our 2023 goal of completing her Novice qualifications and upgrading to open, so now I am wondering what to do next. She is not psychologically ready for vet gates, although she has improved tenfold on her anxiety and shakes at venues her heart rate still hovers around the 50’s and spikes into the 90’s as soon as she’s spotted anything. But physically she hasn’t found 40km an issue at all.

Everyone is different and there is no ‘best’ way to go about progressing through the levels in Endurance but my ethos is minimum competitive mileage. For me this means I only do the required 3x 40km. I don’t think Estrid needs lots of 50-64km rides to get used to venues so I don’t feel the need to do them, I also have experience as a rider of doing the longer distances, if I was starting from scratch I would definitely progress through each distance but I feel that I am comfortable with the jump from 40 to 80km. Though I do see the advantage of steadily increasing the distance by using incremental rides and I may even do a 64km next year (a distance I rarely consider). I still don’t want to put unnecessary competitive mileage on Estrid and also it’s an extra cost that doesn’t get me any qualifications.

Instead, I will be taking Estrid to lots of Pleasure rides for venue experience and I’ve booked cross-country course hire and groundwork clinics to add to that. However, Estrid does need two rides to progress to advanced, which we have an opportunity to do in September. (EDIT: I misunderstood the rules on the website, a two day 80km does not count towards advanced qualification). I love two day rides, they offer a different challenge and it’s a nice way of doing a longer distance. Well within Estrid’s capability fitness wise and with 11 weeks to prepare, plenty of time to tweak her training schedule to train for it.

The silver lining of not having any horses competing at FEI level is the ‘horse/life’ balance I have discovered. I spent a lot of my teenage years so focused on training that I didn’t do much socialising, I would never change that as I made amazing friends in the endurance world and had incredible experiences, but over the last 10 years (Yep it’s been 10years since I’ve been attempting to get another horse up to Championship level) I have found that I actually quite like having time and finances to take up other hobbies and have non-horsey experiences.

Our trip to Morzine this year was incredible. I loved mountain biking through the French and Swiss alps, I was terrified and out of my depth at times but it was still great fun. I loved the jump lines and the minute I got back I was emailing pro-riders to ask for coaching and looking up where I could do downhill races in the UK. It’s not really in my nature to do things without trying to be as good as I can be and I feel a new obsession coming on.

I was still excited to come back and see the horses though and I know that I am beyond lucky to live the life I lead. A little girl walked past me the other day as I was riding Estrid and she said ‘Wow, you have your own pony, she’s so pretty, you’re so lucky’ and I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

I do hope to get a horse to FEI level again but I think even if I do I will make sure that I keep some of the life balance alongside the aspirations and drive.

Avon Valley Endurance ride was one of the most cheerful, lovely atmospheres I think I’ve ever felt at a venue. Literally, every single volunteer was so helpful and smiley. The vets were accommodating and chatty and everything just had a really nice vibe. So great work from the Avon Valley team as I feel there’s always a bit of frantic paddling beneath the surface to pull these things off but above water all felt calm, smooth and welcoming.

At the start of the season I had planned to try and get the required 3 40km Novice rides to upgrade to Open done before June, in previous years this is when we’ve had super hard ground and I hoped that I could beat the weather and get our goals done early, but I also had an option every month up until September if for any/many reasons we didn’t complete/get to a ride. We were a little behind due to not getting to our first scheduled ride but we are now mission complete on upgrading Estrid to open.

She finished her 3rd 40km at 13.1kph in fairly muggy, hot weather, and although the ground was quite hard in places, there was enough grass coverage and loose dirt to make the going at Avon Valley pretty good. She’s been placed top 3 in the Performance Formula for every event too! So although her heart rates are high, her natural speed makes up for it.

I was very impressed with her. Throughout the year she has been excellent on course, super up for it and forward going but we’ve struggled to stay calm at the venue. At the end of her first ride we couldn’t wash her down because she just freaked out about it so we just waited before vetting but this time not only did she have a full wash down with a sponge, she also tolerated an endurance style cool down with buckets poured over her. Not only that but she had slosh bottles out on course too! A huge step in the right direction.

She also didn’t shake at the final vetting at all. She was still pretty wired, but she stood stock still for her heart rates and did a lovely trot up. Our first trot up of the season was across 2 lanes as she made a beeline for another horse but this time it was straight and quite enthusiastic….we definitely looked like we might run over the vet at one point.

Estrid even chilled out enough at the venue to stand still and have a little snooze, even with lots of horses and vehicles coming past. She wasn’t tired, she pulled me all the way back to the field once we got home and hooned around with Tissy so she was genuinely just chilling, which was lovely to see.

She’s been under saddle a year now with light but consistent work so she’s going to have some time off to let her brain process, mooch around being a horse and let everything rest before re-assessing what to do with the remainder of the season. Depending on the ground, weather, my finances, etc. I will either just continue to take her to social and pleasure rides, and as many new venues and experiences as possible or I will aim for a two-day 80km at the end of the year.

I don’t remember the last time both my horses achieved their goals for the season but it is a great feeling to have them ticked off, with so much time to spare too!

After the many pros and cons lists of tow vehicles, a van reigned supreme. Not only was the tow capacity fairly decent but also the mpg was comparable to a car, the storage space huge and the ability to customise endless and it would make a very versatile vehicle for all our other hobbies rather than be solely for the horses, I could fit as many mountain bikes and surf boards in it as I want.

So after finding a van, which was a fairly stressful process due to them flying out of dealers between me calling and being able to visit and then some logistical difficulties we finally had a Ford Transit custom 2014 plate. Dan literally fit a tow bar on our drive that evening and I was out towing the trailer the next day.

I have towed with various vehicles over the years, Mitsubishi shogun, Land Rover discovery, Nissan Patrol, etc. and I must say a van is so stable that the towing experience is the nicest I’ve ever had.

Once a tow bar was on we needed a few other upgrades, firstly decent tyres that would be able to cope with going into fields and distant crew points, some side bars to stop any rouge rocks or verges banging the underside and a roof rack for extra adventure storage capacity. Wind deflectors so I could leave the windows slightly open to let out the horsey sweat smell and waterproof seats for those soggy crew days!

Another advantage to buying a van was that if we did the foundations of converting it into a camper it should hold its worth fairly well. So we set out to clean it up, sound proof, insulate and carpet the inside, as well as running cabling for future electrics.

Then the fun part could start of designing the inside. It is still a work in progress but we built two sets of shelves, we’ve only installed one at the moment to see if we prefer having the open space or if we want the second shelving. Alongside a bench seat with storage and a slot for the mountain bikes to secure into. My favourite part is having hooks for my coats and never needing to worry about how many feed bags I can take in one go!

I get teary every time I try to write this, think about it, watch videos back or see photos of the day. Happy tears, tears of pure appreciation for the horse that Tissy is, grateful for the life experiences she has given me, tears of gratitude for the people in my life and what they do for me, just pure emotion leaks out my face!

What an event! It really does live up to the hype. There were hundreds of spectators cheering everyone on and the atmosphere and community were exceptional. Firstly let me say thank you to the organisers, sponsors, volunteers and everyone who makes this event happen.

So let’s start at the beginning shall we, Kate and I were taking this event as seriously as we would a championship 160km. We planned to ride as a team and then after the first vet gate re-assess to see if Kate would push on to win or if Tissy was still up for it and we’d carry on together. I planned not to dictate anything to Tissy, just let her set her pace and go with the flow, she was in full race mode and just wanted to fly so I let her do what she does best.

The pace car was a little slower than we are used to traveling so there were moments where I thought we might end up in the boot but we’d placed ourselves up front to avoid as much chance of being kicked or caught up in any drama amidst the big group of riders. Tissy did spook a little at the chip timers across the floor, but otherwise we had a great start, nice and controlled, out of the fray and easy on up the first hill.

Tissy and Nessie went so well together, sharing the leads and Kate and I kept eachother in the right headspace to make good decisions, letting people charge on past uphills, going faster on the downhills, slowing down when we were exposed to the sun and speeding up when we were under the cover of shade, all to preserve our horses energy and keep a nice even effort throughout the course. This is where our past endurance experience really helped us out, as we knew that it’s not all about going as fast as you can but about how you cover the terrain. We did the first 18km in 15.7kph, taking it easy down the hill into the vet gate.

The heat played a huge part in our day and I have never seen Tissy’s respiratory rate take so long to come down. I think we lay around 4/5th place coming into the vet gate. We presented in around 6 minutes and 18 seconds. Usually, I present to vet with a heart rate 5 beats higher than required as it normally drops but alas it was 63 so we were turned away and waited until it was 58bpm before we presented again and the same happened to Kate, and most the other riders I think. Whilst I tacked up Tissy was given sugar beet water, electrolytes and feed and we were back out together with Kate and Nessie now in the lead with the next rider 5 minutes behind us.

We were confident that we could maintain the same strategy and speed as our first half, and as it was already much hotter we decided that we wouldn’t push on for speed but keep consistent, we did the second half at 15.6kph (A consistency of speed I’m very proud of). We met so many lovely runners, I am in awe of their human capacity and grit to complete this course. It’s the second toughest course I’ve ever ridden in terms of technicality and elevation, and the runners still had a smile and a cheer as we came past.

Nessie & Tissy were cruising, Kate and I were loving it and it was an amazing feeling to have Tissy so effortlessly cover the course. About 4 miles out from the finish Nessie lost a shoe, for the second time, the first she’d had put back on in the vet gate. She wanted to stop to vet wrap the foot to get back to the finish and as she did she told me to go ahead, we knew we had another rider just 5 minutes behind us, but that’s just not good sportsmanship, if I had left Nessie would never have stood still for Kate to wrap his foot, she’d have struggled to hold on, maybe even struggled to get back on again and would leave a horse with a sore foot. We had covered most of this course together and I wasn’t leaving now. So we stopped, Kate wrapped Nessie’s hoof, got back on and we headed off onto the next hill together.

Kate then spent the next 4 miles saying sorry but I would not have had it any other way. The rider in 3rd caught us up about 1.5 miles from the finish but was making no attempt to pass so we carried on at the same pace. All throughout the race we communicated which side we were overtaking eachother on, which line we were taking for a corner, what speed was right for both of us, so as we approached the bend to the finish I yelled to Kate that I’d be on her inside, Nessie is the quicker horse in a racing finish and as Tissy has never done one I wasn’t convinced she’d care enough to go for it and not let another horse pass her, she’s normally indifferent to other horses, preferring to do her own thing, so as Kate stretched her arm out to hold my hand over the line I yelled ‘just go’ so that hopefully we wouldn’t let our first and second places slip away (I love the photos of this moment, Kate’s arm outstretched towards me even though the finish line is meters in front of her with another horse hot on our heels, that’s friendship and camaraderie right there). Nessie and Kate didn’t disappoint and actually neither did Tissy, racing ahead to take first and second horses with 3rd mere strides behind us.

There is no denying that the horses were hot, it took 10 minutes for Tissy’s heart rate to get under 50bpm and another 10mins before she was happily munching grass and mooching around, at which point we decided to go to vet. Always the most nerve-wracking moment when the race is behind you and the adrenalines been high. I was confident as Tissy’s heart rate was 42bpm before we went in and I knew she wasn’t lame but you just never know. Thankfully all top 3 horses passed the vetting and we kept our placings, which were incidentally also the placings we were in leaving the vet gate, it just goes to show the importance of crew and vet gate strategy for races like these. It’s where I think we lost it to the runners too as two had crossed the finish line before us, the winner being 10 minutes ahead putting us in 3rd and 4th overall. We just weren’t fast enough through the vet check to catch them up!

It was so lovely to meet Dan, the winning runner and overall winner of the day. His humility, genuine interest in our horses and all round friendliness was so heartwarming. What an incredible athlete! You should have seen the size of his quads! We had so many well-wishers come to see Tissy and take pictures that I felt swept up and barely able to take it all in. Riding it with Kate and Nessie made it all the more fun and I wouldn’t change a single element of our day. It is a memory I will treasure forever, Tissy even got an award for being the oldest horse to complete the course!

I have had to train Tissy very differently for this race than any other we have ever entered. For a start it’s a sprint not an endurance event, at just under 36km. Secondly, Tissy is 25, so she takes longer to recover from training sessions and fuelling her is more difficult. She doesn’t keep weight on easily anymore and it’s a balance between training, nutrition and keeping her healthy.

I have been training her to what I deemed top 10 standard according to the past stats I had collated, which was quite a wide spread of 12-15kph average speed across the course, add in that the clock is still ticking for the vet gate, which meant that I predicted that to be a podium finisher you’d have to ride at 15-18kph depending on conditions. The course is hilly and technical, but terrain I’d grown up with so I knew exactly what to expect and what strategy to use for this type of route. Couple all this with the fact I have a formula one pit team for crew and we know Tissy inside out after 21 years together, I felt that my preparation and decision making on the day would be sound.

But saying all this I was also going into the race knowing that I wasn’t going to ask anything of Tissy, if she wanted to trot the whole thing or walk the whole thing then I would let her, I may have trained her to be a contender but ultimately it would be up to her on the day. If she felt like going for it great, if she felt like having a pootle great. I could have come first or 60th and I would have felt the same, proud of everything Tissy has achieved and happy to take her home healthy and safe. I was going to compete but I wasn’t set on winning.

I knew that she would be fast by most people’s standards, she is just a natural athlete, but I didn’t know that her drive and love of the race was still as fierce as it was. But more on that in the next blog.

Training has consisted of 3x sessions a week. One longer, hillier, more technical ride of around 20km, one fast hilly 10km interval session and one lunge session in the pessoa building her topline and getting that bum underneath her. I must say a big thank you to Jocelyn and Squidge who we trained with over Cannock chase for our longer sessions, and who was a fount of Man V Horse knowledge for me to learn from. In total Tissy was training for 12 weeks, a total of 33 training sessions, we did a 32km pleasure ride at 12kph three weeks out then gave her the week before the race completely off other than hand walking and mooching around the field 24/7. The tapering, nutrition and recovery pre-race is so important and often overlooked.

Logistically I found the concept of Man V Horse difficult as it was such a different lay out and set up to what us Endurance riders are used to but also so similar. The trailer park was a mile from the vetting and tack up area, the vet gate was out on course with no access to water, the finish was a different venue to the start and car park and the crews would have to carry all the kit between all these places. The vet gate has no stop clock so the ride time is still ticking and you don’t have a hold time so it’s just straight back out on course when you’re ready. It kind of all plays into the fun of it all though, working out the best logistics and strategy.

I divided my crew kit into 3 sections, start, middle and finish so that they had a fresh set for every stage and didn’t need to worry about re-filling or conserving anything. We discussed our plan the night before and everyone had their own jobs. I like everyone to say out loud what they are doing and if it is complete (just like you would in an emergency situation if you are medically trained). So I would say saddle off and Dad would know I was ready for him to take it and repeat ‘saddle off’ back so that everyone knows he has heard, understood and carried out the action, while Mum is saying ‘boots off’ so we all know that it’s being done, etc. This may sound super anal, but it works and it makes for a super sleek and efficient crew. I also think it’s nicer for the horse if people are just doing their jobs around them rather than flapping and getting in each other’s way.

We were as prepared as we could be, ready to take on the challenge in whatever way Tissy felt happy to do. All we needed to do was get there and start.

I’ve been to Field Farm equestrian once before, last year. So I was super excited to see what Estrid thought of the beach (Tissy has been plenty of times before). This was Estrid’s first ever ‘stay away’ since I bought her and she was pretty nervous. Shaking like a leaf, dripping with sweat, eyes out on stalks and absolutely wired. She did settle over the next 3 days but stayed pretty on edge, what I Iove about Estrid is that no matter how stressed she is, she tries so hard to keep it all together and do what you ask of her.

We went straight to the beach with 4 other horses, including Tissy, for our first ride and it blew her brain. She was prancing, rocking, jogging, going sideways before we even started cantering. Being in a big open space with a group once they started going faster was just not safe for her, I didn’t want her going flat out fast and I wanted to be able to steer and pull up if needed so I asked the others to slow down and decided that we wouldn’t go out in the group again, for Estrid but also so that everyone else could go for a blast without being held back by the baby of the group.

The next day we went to the beach with just Tissy and it was an amazing magical morning. I loved being able to watch Tissy enjoy herself and Estrid was so brave with the water. It was really one of those moments you cherish forever.

Next up was Estrid’s first ever cross-country jumping. She went over everything I pointed her at, I only asked her to go over jumps that she could step over if required so she had a good first experience and we kept it nice and steady, she was great at steps and did start actually jumping some rather than using them as trotting poles. Most impressively she cantered into and out of the water jump, I couldn’t have been prouder. I’m quite excited to work a bit more on our jumping and I hope that next year I can have some proper coaching.

Before we left I had another beach ride with Izzy and Fluffy this time. We got some great controlled canters in and although Estrid was still quite hot-headed she was getting much more manageable and safe with every trip to the beach.

All in all an excellent learning experience for Estrid, a nice little trip for Tissy and both traveled well in the trailer back home.

Tissy LOVES an outing so I was more than happy to accompany Izzy and Fluffy on their first ever Pleasure ride. They’ve done lots of social rides but of course a Pleasure ride comes with the addition of a trot up and a maximum speed to think about.

The Foremark ride was lovely, thank you to the organisers, helpers and volunteers for a great day, made even lovelier with the sunshine. The route rode well and in such contrast to two weeks ago where everything was boggy, the ground was already hardening up.

Foremark is a mixture of woods, headland, quiet lanes, track and grass which makes for an interesting ride with lots of variation. Izzy and Fluffy did great and we had fun enjoying the countryside….as a seasoned endurance rider I probably should have tempered our speed a little across the whole course, but Tissy was having fun so we did have to walk the final 4km to keep us under the 12kph maximum speed.