The whole process of entering an FEI ride can be a bit daunting so I thought I’d go through what I had to enter Estrid and I to our first FEI ride (even if we didn’t get to go this time).

First of all we’ve completed our Novice FEI qualifications which are two rides of 40-79km and two rides of 80-100km at under 16kph. The first ride must not be less than 1 year and 6 months before the first 1* and all four rides must be done within a 3 year period. You don’t have to be registered with the FEI to do these, they are normal EGB national rides.

Next up we had to register with the FEI. This can be done by going to the FEI services page on the EGB website and selecting FEI horse registration and FEI rider registration. You then pay £50 to register and upload all the relevant passport pages.

At this stage if you are competing on home soil you don’t need an FEI passport until you’re up to 3* level. Once you’ve paid for FEI registration EGB will send off your Novice qualifications for verification and you’ll get your FEI ID number which allows you access to the FEI horse app.

For entering FEI rides in the UK you just use the EGB events page and enter as you normally would. My entry fee for my 1* was £215, the reason for the increase in price from national to FEI is under FEI rules the ride organiser needs more officials to run the ride, such as FEI qualified vets, and foreign officials so you’re paying for the increased running costs of the event.

The other thing that is slightly different about entering an FEI ride is in the week before you have to record AM and PM temperatures for your horse, this is for bio-security and to ensure no one brings an unwell horse to an event. When you arrive at the venue a Vet will check the temperatures, scan the microchip of your horse and check the passport.

In terms of the actual ride and vetting it is run very much the same as national events and if you’ve completed your four national rides you’ll know the drill! It’s well worth downloading the FEI rule app and making sure you understand the rules before jumping into FEI, it seems a bit daunting at first but I make my own notes about the bits relevant to me and it helps me understand them.

Estrid was very lucky to win a ‘Spa day’ at Saywell Equestrian when she won the Performance formula at Haywood Oaks back in March. After her injury it seemed like the perfect time to use our prize.

The yard was super friendly and such a nice set up. We started off in the Equusir best box, followed by the magnetic field blanket and then the Salt therapy room. Each treatment was 20minutes and although Estrid was having one of her morse stressy days and didn’t really seem to appreciate it, it was still super interesting to see all the elements.

Here’s the report that the Equusir best box collated about Estrid:

Unfortunately 6 days after the high of Windsor, after looking so great despite the tough course, Estrid decided to deliver a low, and bolt through a post and rail fence and an electrical wire fence sustaining multiple injuries. Just 2 weeks out from our planned first FEI 1* event, so onto Plan B it is!

When I say there were so many opportunities for this ride to go wrong for us I really do mean a comedic series of events that felt like it just wasn’t meant to be…but we kept trusting in our preparation, the process and Estrid. She just kept pulling it out the bag and quite honestly I just can’t believe my luck.

First of all I’d like to thank our Physio, Priestwood Physiotherapy and our Farrier Ben Wyles, alongside Legacy Equine rehabilitation and Reactor Panel Saddles who helped us prepare for the event with expert care, advice and training. Estrid’s performance and resilience has been excellent so far this season and it certainly helps to have a superb team around us.

Hurdle number one at 4:30am on the morning of our ride: Road closures, followed by traffic jams. Were we even going to get to the venue in time? We got there 30mins before our vet time, not the casual mooch around the venue and relaxing start to the day I had planned. But we deployed Mum to the briefing, Dad to get the bibs and Tom the treatment vet checked us in super quick so Dan could take Estrid for a leg stretch and grass munch.

Hurdle number two: Estrid was hyped, we knew she would be and keeping her heart rate low was always going to be a challenge but we didn’t quite anticipate the leading group of 160km riders coming into the vet gate at the same time as our initial vetting. Despite the excitement Estrid passed with a HR of 58bpm. I was so proud and so excited to get the opportunity to tack up and ride around Windsor great park!

She was keen out on that first loop, she is naturally quite fast but she was really wanting to go for it, most the time it’s safer to let her travel than try to hold her back, she is more than capable of speeds above 16kph and she wasn’t puffing so I let her get on with it, knowing that our presentation times were never going to be great so would bring our average speed down and hopefully ensure we remained under 16kph for our FEI qualification.

Hurdle number three: Estrid tripped and went sprawling! She kept spooking at trees…and let me tell you there are quite a few trees in a PARK! She spooked, slipped on the dewy short grass, slid around like Bambi, managed to tuck a front leg underneath her and slide on her knee, while her back legs almost overtook the front…miraculously I stayed on and she recovered back onto her feet. I really thought that that might be it for us, but she had no tenderness and was completely sound, so we carried on, while my paranoid brain was constantly scanning for the smallest sign of discomfort.

We made it through the first 40km and into our first vet gate. This is where we made our biggest mistakes of the day, we got excited that she was allowing us to pour water on her, we overcooled her and then failed to acknowledge it, and didn’t put a rug on her while we waited in the que for vetting, I thought her shivering was excitement/anxiety, none of the other horses had rugs on, but she really was just cold. Her heart rate was 74 and even her little nose was quivering with cold. I felt like such an idiot. We didn’t have time to do anything else other than rug her up and re-present immediately and hope, as we timed into the vet at 19:59, just one second to spare. Partially not our fault due to the long vet que but, the long que should really have been a blessing, allowing her heart rate to drop more than we needed had she been looked after properly. Instead we turned it against ourselves. Luckily the second presentation was fine and we were all set to head out on loop 2.

I was so proud of her heading out of the venue with ears pricked ready to tackle another 20km. We had a mix of riding with others and being alone but she did the majority out in front and passed other horses with minimal drama. She is still hesitant to go past and she always drags her heels a little if she feels the horse isn’t coming too but she’s improved so much!

The second vet gate went without another major mess up by the humans, we immediately put a rug on her bum and after a few buckets of water just waited for he heart rate to drop. A not too shabby presentation of 5mins and we were through to the final loop. Estrid’s heart rate was always lower in the hold than in the vetting, you could see her tension go up and she left the other horses and was stood in the shade of the vetting tent, but there’s nothing we can do other than give her more experience in these situations and build our bond so that she can take comfort in her humans. She ate and drank like a pro and happily wandered around the vet gate trying to visit everyone else’s hay station but her own.

Hurdle number four: I need to thoroughly check my tack before getting on. I feel so bad about this mistake as it could have been so uncomfortable for Estrid. My saddles panels are velcroed in place. Mum changes the numnahs when I’m in the vetting, as she’d swapped over to the fresh ones for the final loop the panel had come loose and moved over towards the centre, I didn’t notice until I took the saddle off later, but Estrid essentially had done the last 20km with the panel in the wrong place. I am so grateful that this silly mistake didn’t cause her any pain, her back felt completely fine at the end and the next day, but I still feel so guilty for not noticing.

The last loop feeling is always incredible, Estrid cantered out the venue like she’d been doing this all her life. I even shed a tear of happiness and appreciation for her tough little spirit. So many combinations had been vetted out through the day and I was so aware of how hard the ground was and how baking the sun felt.

Hurdle number five: Barely 2 km from the venue Estrid and I had a disagreement about line choice, meaning we trotted straight into a boulder and tripped over the top of it…for that split second I felt all the emotions but she picked herself up and resumed on her merry way as if nothing happened, could I be so lucky to have gotten away with another trip?

Her recorded loop speeds were 13.7, 14.9 and 15.7kph, never once did I have to ask her to kick on, I spent most my time slowing her down. Our final speed across the finish line was 14.6kph, we had kept under the 16kph threshold to gain our FEI qualification, all we had to do now was pass the vet.

I barely put any water on her, wary of our earlier mishap, so we tipped a total of 4 buckets over her, put a rug on and just let her eat and drink and wander around. Her heart rate was steady and consistently in the 40’s so I was pretty confident heading into vet.

Hurdle number six: Royalty arrived so there was a pretty big crowd next to the vetting and it seemed that most the other horses were back out on course…leaving Estrid pony-friendless and surrounded by noisy, excited humans. Her eyes were out on stalks, she would not stand still and the shivering was back. I so desperately want her to feel confident in these environments and I would never shy away from a situation like this but my heart did sink a little as the vet tried to follow her around with a stethoscope. When he said 62bpm I was astonished, we had made it through by the skin of our teeth, just the trot up to go. Estrid’s trot ups are quite enthusiastic and, if I do say so myself, she looked great!

I think I was a little bit in shock and disbelief at the end of the day, we had done it and she still looked ready to go back out. She spent the next hour whinnying at all the horses leaving on their next loops before we headed home and she looked incredible the next day, not a sore muscle or hot spot to be found. I am so so proud of her, she’s turning out to be quite a tough cookie despite her anxious nature. We have learnt a lot about how to manage her and have had a kick up the butt to up our crew and vet gate game. I just can’t wait to see where she’ll take me next!

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.

Tissy is doing very well on her goal of scouting out new rides to try this year. This time we ventured to Creswell for the coloured cob ride, a unique course that the majority of the course is a two way, there and back section. In true Endurance family fashion the ride organiser for this ride at the very last minute wasn’t able to attend but the group pulled together and ran an absolutely seamless event, so thank you to all the organisers, volunteers, helpers and vets for their time so that Tissy and I could have a fun day out.

The route kicked off with an absolutely fabulous section through the Creswell crags, a really nice surprise to start our 16km pleasure ride off with. It just kept on giving with cool little ravines, wooded tracks, lakes and fields.

I’m getting a little bit tired of discussing Tissy’s need for speed and eternal enthusiasm with her but I wouldn’t have her any other way. I think we would be better off entering social rides rather than pleasure rides so that we didn’t have a max speed to stick to, as it takes Tissy a great deal of restraint and walking to stay under 12kph. However, a lot of our wish list rides are Pleasure rides so we will have to continue the negotiations if she want’s to check out more new pony parties.

I ventured out to a Sport Endurance social ride where they had a loop of 12miles but had said that if you set off early you could go around twice. This was perfect for us, I wasn’t going to be able to get to any more rides where Estrid could get used to a venue atmosphere with my work schedule so we treated this like a graded ride and planned to do 40km with a little crew/vet gate stop between our loops.

The venue, route, marking and general atmosphere was lovely! Lots of great grassy stretches, a couple of small hills, plenty of suburban-ish tracks through a lovely nature reserve.

Estrid flew around, it didn’t even feel like 40km. The sun was shining and we had a great time. She’s still funny about passing other horses, she doesn’t want to stay with them but she loses her nerve just before her nose overtakes and backs off , and she was an absolute fruit loop at the venue, pacing around and whinnying at anything that moved. But we still had a lovely time and to top it off we got an easter egg with our rosette!

The point where your yard owner says you can transition to the summer paddocks is the point where my heart lifts and horse ownership becomes much more enjoyable for me. It wouldn’t be my personal choice to keep horses stabled but as I’m on a livery there are obviously restrictions to personalising horse care, so when we switch to the summer routine and they can be out 24/7 my heart feels so much happier. I know I’m still extremely lucky to have as much winter turnout on a livery as I do, and I thank my lucky stars that I have so much freedom to care for my horses as I want to.

I actually quite like the routine of stabled horses, I like mucking out and tucking them up, they’re cleaner, it’s quicker, but I much prefer them to be moving, breathing in fresh air and it’s nice to spend time with them in the field while I poo pick.

The added bonus of not feeling like I have to wake up super early or rush back from work so they have maximum turnout time is much appreciated as well as the lower costs of them being cared for if we’re away. It’s definitely the start of summer fun in my head, when the grass starts growing and the nights are light!

Never a more appropriate time to say; ‘the day wasn’t as bad as it looks on paper’. Tissy and I had an absolute blast at the Pikehall endurance ride despite being eliminated for going too fast…or maybe because of going too fast.

Now I do not condone the blatant flaunting of rules set to protect our horses, there is a 12kph maximum speed limit on pleasure rides for a reason and it should be adhered to. As a fairly experienced endurance rider I should have known better but I didn’t wear a watch and I was looking at my equilab average speed rather than my ride time. My equilab says we we’re just under 12kph but the distance did come up a few km’s shorter on my phone so it turns out that we did 13.5kph and were eliminated.

Minor speed issues aside, we started the day by picking up Izzy and Fluffy to get the two grey old timers out to a pony party and Pikehall delivered. Glorious weather, great tracks over stunning scenery and two very exuberant ponies with two care free riders. Topped off with lovely compliments on Tissy’s condition from the vets and an excellent bacon butty to finish! What more could you want from a day out.

In all honesty Estrid is 80km fit already and she physically could have done an 80km at Haywood oaks. I would have had doubt in my mind about how she would have mentally coped with the ride atmosphere with it being her first outing of the season. As a rule I never do anything if there’s an ounce of doubt so I opted for a practice run at Haywood Oaks and a later 80km. This does mean that our opportunities to do an FEI 1* become a lot tighter but I’m in no rush, and thanks to some amazing people taking on ride organisation we have two opportunities, one in June and one in August.

I am still very much undecided about the road ahead in terms of FEI qualifications. If money and time were no object then I would love to compete at a Championship again, but I know the stress of putting all your eggs on one horse to be at it’s peak for one day a year all too well. I know the time, sacrifice, funds and dedication it takes. I’m not sure I want to do it even if I could afford to.

For now we’re aiming for one 1* and we’ll go from there. No expectations, no long term goals, just one step at a time. Our next training block is focusing more on distance and less on strength. So we started off with a nice 25km around Foremark reservoir. For the first 6 weeks, speed doesn’t matter in the slightest, it’s hours in the saddle and miles covered.

We’ll now have two ‘longer’ training sessions a week, we still have a few weeks left of our treadmill block and once that’s complete we’ll swap that for a faster 10-15km session once a week and keep one schooling/pole work session.