I am thrilled to announce that I have been chosen as one of the Horslyx Ambassadors for 2014. My horses will be delighted to hear that they have a years supply of licks coming there way because they absolutely love them. I'm really excited to be working along side a great team of riders from different disciplines. Thank you so much to Horslyx for choosing me and my small team of horses. Hopefully we will do you proud this season :-)
I had a good first dressage outing last night. I rode in 4 test's between 6.30pm and 9.30pm, rather tiring having started my day at 6am. I took Florence and Percy to Southview for the Nantwich Riding Club Dressage. First to go was Florence in Prelim 18, a lovely consistent test for 70.42%. Percy than did the same test, a little too interested in what was going on around him but his good bits were very very good for 70.63% beating his sister by a tiny little half mark. We took 1st and 2nd places. Next was Percy in Novice 28, this was his first ever Novice test and he showed great talent for 70.42%. The judges comment was lovely, she said "Showed some very nice work indeed. More marks there for you both when a little more positive." Florence did a lovely test but bad Bonnie was enjoying left canter so much that her legs fell of Florence's sides and we broke, costing us a few marks. We scored 68.13%. So Percy was 2nd and Florence 5th, in very hot competition. Delighted with them both. Finally got in at 11.30pm, lond day but worth it :-) Today I took Percy and Florence to Rodbaston College for the Bailey's Horse Feed sponsored BE Jump Training Qualifier. Percy went first in the 90, he was much more chilled warming up then the other night, although I could feel he was desperate to let off a bit of steam. We warmed up with Sylvia Farmer and were judged by Andrew Bennie. He was rather excitable in his first round and like a little star in the second round, despite having the last fence down. This was good enough for 1st place!!!! Very proud of him. Florence jumped in the 100 and was fab, so much fun to ride. She was really unlucky to have the last fence down in the first round but pinged round like a true professional in the second round. We'd warmed up with Andrew Bennie and were judged my Sylvia Farmer, unfortunately her fence down cost her a qualifying spot as she was 5th and only 4 qualified. Quite disappointing really because she jumped her little heart out. The BE Jump Training series is a fantastic competition, it's super to have a professional to walk the course with and to know what they expect of you. Then to be warmed up by them over a fence is very useful before going into the arena where the judge gives you feed back after each of your rounds. I would recommend it to anybody who wants some good practise over well built courses before the start of the season. The team that run the event are such a friendly, helpful bunch and it's a great way to meet and chat with fellow event riders. Also the sponsor's are very generous with their prizes, I came away with a lovely embroidered saddle cloth, £30 of BE training vouchers and £15 Baileys Feed Vouchers. It's a shame they don't still run the team competition because that was even more fun...maybe next year :-) I'm really chuffed with an article that is in the latest "Horse" magazine. There is a super two page spread with 3 fabulous pictures of Frankie. It is the Equilibrium Rising Star of 2014 feature. I was December's winner, which means I go through to the final which is judged in the summer and gives me the chance to win the title for 2014, which would be amazing!!! I have already won £100 worth of equipment but if I was to win the overall 2014 title I would get an extra £1,000 worth of Equilibrium products, which would be an incredible boost for my team. The first product on my list would have to be one of their massage pads, I've heard super things about them and it would be such a useful piece of kit for my yard, which I could use for pre-warmups and to relax the muscles the day after an event. Fingers crossed I can impress the judges in the summer :-) I decided it would be a good idea to take Percy and Florence for a little play on Wednesday night at Rodbaston College, as they haven't been out since September/October and with us having a British Eventing Jump Training competition on Sunday the practise would be good for them as well as me. Luckily the weather was dry and mild. They were both pretty well behaved. Percy jumped first in the Intermediate class and had an unlucky 4 faults in the jump off after spooking at a black filler, but I was very pleased otherwise and he finished 5th. The funniest was in the warm up where he bronced off up the arena after every fence, such a show off!!! Florence jumped in the open and apart from being a little nervey of the horses getting close to her in the warm up, she was fab, such a little jumping machine. She jumped the practise fences like they were 1.20m but saved some energy in the ring jumping a fab double clear for 3rd. She'd have liked to have gone faster but that wouldn't be very good practise for an eventer!!! All in all a good night out and I even managed to get Tom to video, so videos to follow :-) I am thrilled to be able to announce that I have been chosen as a finalist for two categories in this years Equestrian Social Media Awards. These are: 5. BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY AN AMATEUR HORSEPERSON 13. BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY A NEWCOMER I want to thank everybody who has helped me get this far by nominating me and would ask just one more big favour, that you spend a couple more minutes to follow the link below and vote for me. By pressing the button above you will be sent to the Equestrian Social Media Awards votiing page, where I would love for you to vote for me in both categories 5 and 13.
It is only a year ago that i built my website and setup my Twitter and Facebook pages for my eventing, so I'm delighted that with in a year I have reached the finals of these awards. Wouldn't it be amazing if I could go one step further and win an award!!!!! I received a very exciting email on Thursday off Peter Buist, who is one of the selectors for the European 2* Eventing Team. They have invited Frankie and I to go to one of their Training and Selection Days in April. This for me is a real honour as it is one of my aims to one day ride on the team and has been a dream for many years. I know that at this stage it is very early days but still we are on the right track. I think they have invited 48 people to the training days and I'm not sure exactly what they will narrow that figure down to, but I will be sure to put every effort into making sure that Frankie and I are ready to put on a great performance. Exciting times ahead :-)Really pleased that Mirrors for Training and I have had a little mention in February's Eventing Magazine about the support i've received off them, in the form of 5 fantastic arena mirrors. They are doing wonders for my training :-) |
Bonnie FishburnAmateur event rider Archives
August 2022
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