Dickon Reader Eventing | Young Event Rider - Dickon Reader Eventing

Off to a good start

4/18/2015

After a long winter, the season is finally under way and what a start it has been.
Joey is already on 3 placing from 3 events. It's been a quiet start to the season with only Joey eventing at the moment, Tops was sold just before Christmas and Harvey is now up for sale. I started the season at Swalcliffe, it had all moved around a bit from the last time I was there. I liked the new compressed cross country lay out and Joey must have to. He jumped an great double clear to finish on his dressage score of 30.3 and stay in 3rd place!
We then headed to a very wet Gatcombe, I was grateful to be running early on on the first day. After a good dressage of 31, we just rolled a pole and then had a confident round XC on a rather soggy course. We were up against some stiff competition and we still came 9th!
Most recently we went to Sapey with Joey on outstanding form. We finished 4th in a very competitive section, jumping a double clear on a great dressage of 30.8. Sadly this means we just missed out on regional final qualification. We'll also have to return to Sapey in the future to get the 1st place Joey is missing from his 2nd, 3rd and 4th placings there!
Alongside the great results, the rest of the yard has been ticking along with horses coming for breaking, schooling and selling. Tonto has now been sold to a loving new home and I've had a new arrival called Ferdi. He is a lovely 5YO, KWPN bought from Mark Bosanko and certainly one to be excited about!

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The season comes to an end

10/28/2014

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The season has come to the end for another year. Its been a very busy second half of the season since my last blog, before Chepstow.
Murphy and Tops both did very well in the 4YO class. Both behaved impeccably well and did good tests for their first outing. They then went showjumping and both had 1 down, no one in the section jumped clear. I could then relax a bit as the hard work had been done, the 4YO classes don't have a time limit on the XC so all I had to do was jump clear to stay on my score. Amazingly Murphy won and Tops came 3rd! This meant Murphy qualified for the 4YO championships at Osberton! Sadly he threw a splint which meant we couldn't go. Instead he has gone on holiday to continue growing and maturing.
I also had Joey at Chepstow and after and good dressage and showjumping he had a cheeky stop at a ditch XC so sadly didn't get placed (the only time this year!). Joey did then go on to redeem himself at Dauntsey Park finishing on his dressage score to come 5th. Then again at Homme House, this was his last BE100 and was 3rd after dressage but had 1 down showjumping so we came 6th. He then excitingly went to Sapey to do his first novice and I was hoping he could reproduce his form there from the start of the season. He didn't quite come second again but he did pull out an amazing double clear to finish 3rd!! Joey then just had one more event left to go at West Wilts where we managed to finish the season on one more high. Joey performed yet another outstanding test! Then had 1 down SJ and clear XC with 2.8 time penalties which was the difference between 1st and 3rd. Still 3rd in his first two Novice runs is amazing!
To conclude Joey's first season eventing, he has been placed in the top eight 9/10 times. I cant wait until next season to really see what he is made of, I'm so excited about this horse for the future.

Tops went on to do the 4YO class at Homme House were he would have been placed but I had 2 silly rails in the showjumping. The following week he went to Gatcombe BYEH and got one of the best jumping marks and went through to the top 10. The top 10 was held in the main arena where he got marked on his walk, trot, canter and gallop. It was a very big arena with a lot of atmosphere and he took in all in so well. He was even the first horse to get into the arena (others kept spooking!)
After a short holiday he has now come back into work to show jump over the winter and be put up for sale.

Both Harvey and Faro made the step up to BE100. Harvey continued to prove his ability in the dressage ring at the higher level getting 22! He has on so many occasions been within touching distance of jumping a clear round but not quite manged it this year. Sadly he had a few upsets XC at the end of the season so has now gone on holiday and I hope he will come out stronger next year.
Faro has also proved himself at the higher level with continued top dressage scores and has been feeling so confident around the XC. The highlight to the end of his season was finishing 3rd at Sapey after getting a dressage mark of 26.5!
After a very educational season for Faro he finished in September and has gone on a well earned holiday.

Now that I've finished all of my events and the season has come to an end last weekend, the yard, lorry and everything else has had a thorough autumn clean! With most of the horses on holiday I can try and relax a little bit. Unfortunately there will be no break in the sun or thrills on the ski slopes this year.
Overall it has been a fantastic year and this is a great time so say a huge thank you too all of my owners and supporters, I couldn't have done it with out you. I look forward to our Christmas party and then to next season!

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Summer is finally here!

6/24/2014

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May and June have been a very busy couple months. It's been hard to find time to sit down at the computer to write it all up but finally I've managed it! Firstly Mount Ballan I, with some mixed results from that weekend. Harvey once again did an excellent dressage of 20.5 but then had a few down in the showjumping. After going so well all the way round the cross country course we got the the second to last fence, an open ditch, which he unfortunately didn't see, causing him to put a foot right in it and catapult me out the front door! Luckily we were both ok and after a speedy stripping of the air jacket and regrouping I jumped back on board to finish.
It was then time for Faro to partake in his first event and what a good start to his career it was. He pulled out a 31 dressage and double clear with 1.6 xc time penalties that left us finishing in 5th place. I couldn't ask for much more. Finally that weekend, it was Joey's time to shine. He did a lovely test and jumped double clear to finish on his dressage of 30 in 4th place.

A few days later I made the long drive to Houghton Horse Trials, luckily traffic was good so the journey only took me 5 hours! Harry settled in well and wasn't fazed by any of it. The only time he got worked up was at the first trot up, he found it very exciting and displayed a lovely extended trot down the track. Dressage day came and harry was working great. He did a lovely test which I thought would have scored a bit better, but putting us in 15th after day 1 was a good place to start. Then, on Friday night the heavens opened and rained all night and all morning. The Young Rider were last to run on Saturday by which point the ground was very very wet. Galloping along all I could see string to string was just full of deep foot prints from previous riders just trying to find some firmer ground. Harry jumped so well, we went direct through everything but he didn't like the wet ground. We came home very slowly but safe. He recovered well and trotted up sound that evening with no issues. He was understandably not quite as sharp at the second trot up and trotted up sound! Once again the Young Riders were last to jump. We warmed up very well and only had 2 down. Being our first CCI2* I felt it went very well, a shame to have so much time XC but we finished safely, I learnt a lot and it was a great experience.

A week back in reality and off to Ascott Under Wychwood we go with 3. Joey, Harvey and Faro. With big prize money up for grabs there was everything to play for. They all dressaged first. Starting with Joey, after going down to the warm up to be told I had 11 in front when I thought I was an hour early. Turns out there was a mix up with the times and unless everyone galloped around the ring we would all be running late. The long warm up did pay off though with a 31 and that put us in the lead, until the last rider who beaten us by just 0.5! Joey then sadly had 1 down and a lovely clear XC. A great result but to finish 2nd by just 0.5 was just a little annoying! Harvey was early in his section, I thought he did a lovely test but only got 30.5 this time. A great jumping round with him but 1 down and clear XC so finished just outside the placings. Faro was last on and produced a lovely test scoring 29.5 even if he felt like he was wanting to jump the white boards as I came down the long side in canter! Unfortunately he got 12 faults showjumping, there was a lot going on around the ring including prize giving for the earlier sections. As we came around the corner everyone started clapping and for his second event this just put him of a little. He then redeemed himself to jump beautifully round the XC even getting "best jump of the day" according to the photographer!

The latest event was Trebrough Hill, it's the first time I have been there and what a beautiful setting to have an event. We redirected here after Harvey and Faro were balloted out of Chepstow. It was a long way there but was worth every mile. Both did amazing tests including another personal best for me and Harvey with a 16.5 (the best score of the day). Faro also did a personal best of 25.5 putting him in 3rd after dressage. They both jump so well but unfortunately both had the last fence down. This dropped Harvey to 2nd and Faro down to equal 4th. They both jumped clear cross country for Harvey to finish 2nd. Faro went inside the time but went quicker than others on the same score so as he was further away from the optimum time it dropped us to 6th. They both won lovely hampers of goodies!

We now look forward to Chepstow this weekend. Joey is doing the BE100 and Tops and Murphy are both doing their first event in the 4YO section. They have both been going very well over the last few weeks. They have been XC schooling and showjumping a few times. Both have taken it in their stride and I look forward to this weekend to see what they've got!

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1 Week to go!!!

5/14/2014

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This time next week we'll be at Houghton! Harry is doing the CCIYR** this is now the National under 21 Championship, it also plays a big part in the selection process for the Young Rider European Team. So after a very long drive, I'll get Harry all settled in his stable and then all I have on Wednesday is the briefing. The first trot up will be Thursday afternoon. Dressage starts on Friday for the 26 combinations before the exciting Cross Country on Saturday!! Then Finally Showjumping on Sunday to decide the winner, I wonder if it will be as dramatic as Badminton!

Before all of that I still have a busy week. Harry is does his last Showjumping preparations on Thursday before an easy few days before we leave. We then head to Mount Ballan on Sunday with 3 horses. Faro is doing his first event in the BE90, Harvey joins him in the BE90 hoping for another outstanding dressage test and finally Joey is doing his second BE100. Can he keep up his good form and make it four placings out of four events?!

The 4YO's are both showing great potential, they are both starting to jump and the flat work is coming on well. Soon they will start going out, first to some showjumping and then cross country, lets hope they enjoy it!

So looking forward to an exciting month, it will be very busy and hopefully very rewarding! Stay posted to find out how it all goes.

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Off We Go!

4/15/2014

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So finally the season is now in full swing. After a few annoying cancellations I got off to a good start.
Harry started at Aldon in our first young rider trial and after a good dressage we sat in 5th place, we had a few down showjumping so I had a slow confidence giving run to start off the season. We then went to Summerhouse to work on our showjumping and jumped some very good rounds that gave us both some more confidence. Next he went to Weston Park for our second trial. After walking through the XC course to get to the dressage he wanted to skip dressage and just go galloping. His test was rather tense so wasn't the best start to the weekend. As the class was spread out over the weekend we had all afternoon to walk the XC. It was a rather meaty course that I couldn't wait to ride around. The following morning we had 2 down showjumping, the ground was a bit slippy and holding with only a handful of clear rounds in the section. We then flew around the XC course but the bad dressage mark held us back. I now need to look forward to Withington Manor for our last trial before Houghton.

The other horses started at Sapey following the cancellation of the first day of Howick. Both Joey and Harvey did great dressage tests with Joey being 3rd after dressage on 28 and Harvey was second on 24.5. Joey then did a lovely double clear in his first ever event to finish second! Harvey didn't have quite as good a day and had a few down showjumping and a stop just before the water, with stands and everything going on in front of him it was just a lot to look at. They will next be out at Broadway this weekend.

Bara had his first outing this month, we went to unaffiliated dressage at Hunter Equestrian. We did 2 tests, 1 inside and as it was Bara's first time ever inside he found it all a bit strange and spooky. The second test was outside and he did a lovely test to get the highest percentage in his group! and 2nd highest percentage all day.

I have been offered the ride on a lovely 5YO gelding by Chaos. I'm sure it won't be long before he's out on the circuit.This month has also seen the arrival of 2 new 4YO that will both be produced and sold at the right time. It will be so nice to produce them from scratch and keep an eye on them as they work their way up the grades. Also to ride some horses that really fit my long legs!!
Back on the yard breaking youngsters goes on and I have a few for sale now for anyone looking for some lovely youngsters.