Bonheiden Results

The team had a fantastic trip to Bonheiden in Belgium as part of the final stage of the International Experience Programme. With plenty of excitement and anticipation we headed out to Belgium on Wednesday 21st September 2016.

I took Zarina to compete in the 2 star classes, Hillviewfarm Fergus to compete in the 1 star classes and Graddus T came along for the experience of a stay away show. We arrived safe and sound at the venue and all the horses travelled well considering it was their first lengthy journey and first time on the Euro Tunnel. The venue was superb and the facilities for the horses were faultless; lovely secure airy stables, great wash-down areas and beautiful arenas.

Competition kicked off on the Thursday 22nd with Zarina competing in the 1.30m 2 star class jumping a lovely clear round to finish in 13th place.

On Friday 23rd Zarina had 8f in the 1.30m 2 star class due to a slight lack of control; I think the long journey was a little too much excitement for her to handle! Fergus saved the day by jumping a lovely clear round in the 1star class to come 11th.

Saturday 24th brought yet more beautiful sunshine. Zarina had the day off to rest up for the grand prix on the Sunday so the day was spent enjoying the lovely weather and watching the jumping before Fergus jumped in the evening. Again he put in a superb performance jumping clear to come in 5th place earning us our first ever international rosette and prize giving ceremony. A very proud moment for me after producing this horse from 2 and a half years old.

The final day of the first show on the Sunday I jumped both horses. After a slight tack change to help with adding some brakes, Zarina had a really unfortunate 4f in the 1.35m grand prix. A very up to height and technical track she jumped absolutely fabulous. Fergus felt very tired and had 8f in the 1 star class.

Overall I had a super first show and the help and support I received from Corinne Bracken and Matt Lanni as part of the programme was second to none and through their advice and feedback I felt that I had made some great steps forward and was more confident tackling the bigger more technical tracks.

The Monday night was time for me to fly home in order to work for 3 days (the joys of having a full time job and horses!). A late flight home to Heathrow and a very kind partner to pick me up landed me safely back in the UK whilst super grooms aka mum and dad were left caring for the horses for 3 days in Belgium.

A 2.30am alarm was the start to my Friday 30th September in order to fly back to Belgium and be ready to compete for the afternoon. Zarina jumped first and had a very uncharacteristic 12f in the 1.30m 2 star class; she was most certainly unhappy with me having a little more control than she liked so it was back to the old bridle ready to attempt our first 1.40m on the Satrurday! Fergus started the show with yet another super clear round but his rider was a little slow giving us a single time fault in the 1star class but we still managed to come 8th.

Saturday morning was an early start ready for Zarina and me to tackle our first 1.40m together! I walk the track and it was big and technical; more related distances than I felt I could remember and an interesting line of a 2 stride double related on a dog leg to a one stride double. I took to the ring remember the advice given to me last week by Corrine and Matt and had a super round with just 8f and a couple of time faults. I could not have been happier with how she jumped! Fergus competed in the evening again and continued his consistency by jumping yet another double clear and coming 6th in the class.

Sunday was a sad day for me as it meant all the fun was coming to an end and I was nearing the time to go back home to normality. Zarina finished the show on a high and jumped a superb double clear in the 1.35m 2 star grand prix with a steady time to come 19th and Fergus managed his highest placing of the show finishing in 4th place with yet another double clear round.

Throughout the 2 weeks Eddie was schooled and jumped outside of the competition and behaved absolutely impeccably. For a young horse that had only been broken in for 12 weeks he most certainly took everything in his stride and I came away feeling like he had really made progress. I am looking forwards to concentrating on him throughout the winter months and getting him consistently competing.

The team travelled home on the Monday morning and the journey went well with no issues or hold ups. I absolutely loved my first experience of travelling abroad and the horses jumped fantastic overall, so they have earn't themselves a few days off in the field.