Home Sweet Home

We made it back in one piece!

The horses arrived home to Ballylawn Stud last Thursday night after a rather long trip away (three months... can't believe it...). As you can imagine, being let free into those huge open fields Friday morning caused quite the stir. They had five or six days to relax and then back to work.

As Merlin and I have been selected to compete on the Nations Cup team in Sopot, Poland (9-12 June) his "vacation" will have to suffice as short and sweet. We head off Saturday evening on the night ferry (John Scarff and Pamela O'Rourke in toe) - "We" being myself, Merlins Magic and temper tantrum personified: the infamous Heracross... Here's hoping the Highfort Stud boys bring their A-game - might do well to screw my own thinking cap on.... hmmm there's a thought. CSI3 Roeser (Lux) will be the next show on our way back to Waterford.

Clear CC and Miss Annabelle will have to sit this one out, they're only young after all and still processing their latest adventures I believe.

I had a great weekend over in Ireland. Lovely weather and the shows are always good fun - so nice to be home. There's a very country-specific humour and kindness in Ireland - nothing like it. I jumped Curly in the 1m30 - double clear and fourth so that was a good come back!

Just back in London for the day - off to Cork in the morning and showing in Ballyrafter wednesday I think. I'll let you know how we get on :-)

YOUTUBE LINKS SAN GIOVANNI

Watch them in action:

Annie (aka Fairplay 111) 6 year old. Sire: Chellano Z x Heartbreaker

Owner: Michael McCann

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Af9o8dpFkw
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHyf5j1C9VA
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToBR6SFoXyU

Clear CC: 7 year old. Sire: Clearway x Alcatraz

Owner: CC Holsteiner Breeding

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFJJ6j8eNVU

Merlins Magic: YOB 1997. Furisto x Coole Lulu

Owner: Highfort Stud

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybOmfoAb5Vc
• http://youtu.be/j3oHsuz5h6g

News Flash: Merlin and I have been officially put on the Nations Cup team for Sopot Poland (9-12 june). Very exciting!!

CSI3 San Giovanni Week 1 - 2

This was the state of the ring the day before we made our way to San Giovanni. Suffice to say, the 30degrees greeting us on arrival were a welcomed change. The Horses Riviera Resort, set in the heart of San Giovanni in Marignano, is nothing short of idyllic. Its the attention to detail and fine touches that make all the difference, and frankly the sheer cleanliness of the place is quite a novelty in this sport. Hmmm... I could get use to this...

Good results overall, but nothing spectacular over the two weeks. Two placings with Merlin in the 1m50 classes and 1 down the rest of the time and an out-of-character water touch in the Grand Prix (aarrgh!!). For a while there I was really building up a track record of randomn "touches", thought I'd never get rid of that ever so frustrating "4-fault syndrome". Sports psychology really comes into play here, its amazing how things happen just because you convince yourself that they will - as if subconsciously you are already pre-conditioned to make a mistake... In layman's terms you "psyche yourself out".

Week 1 CSI3 San Giovanni

FRIDAY

Fairplay: 6yo class - clear round

Clear CC: 7yo class - clear round

Merlins Magic: 1m50 FEI RR - placed 22nd out of 93 riders.

SATURDAY

Fairplay: 6yo class - clear round

Clear CC: 7yo class - clear round

Merlins Magic: 1m50 FEI RR - 1 down (4fts).

SUNDAY

Fairplay: 6yo class - clear round

Clear CC: 7yo class - clear round

Merlins Magic: Grand Prix - A foot on the tape of the water... and a time fault.

The girls seemed to be handling the heat well enough the first weekend but Merlin seemed to be slightly down in his temperament. He's such a sensitive horse that any bother is reflected in his coat and demeanor. Epson salts work a treat and we gave him a blood booster on the Tuesday night to perk him up a bit - to be honest though I think what he needed was to roam around a field somewhere or at least graze a bit, such a wonderful setting but no sign of grass anywhere! On a brighter note the FEI results for April were taken into account and I've moved up to 350th in the world ranking list and 12th in Sweden (counting solely the FEI RR international results), great!!

Week 2 CSI3 San Giovanni

FRIDAY

Fairplay: 6yo class - 4fts

Clear CC: 7yo class - 8fts

Merlins Magic: 1m50 FEI RR - 4fts.

SATURDAY

Fairplay: 6yo class - clear round

Clear CC: 7yo class - 4fts

Merlins Magic: 1m50 FEI RR - clear round placed 14th (jump off class) out of 89 riders.

SUNDAY

Fairplay: 6yo class -double clear round (immediate jump off)

Clear CC: 7yo class - 8fts

Merlins Magic: Grand Prix - Non-Partant.

Hectic second weekend. Claes and Carin from CC Holsteiner Breeding came down to see Clear CC (their 7year old mare that I've been riding for over a year now). And as luck would have it, we had our worst weekend ever (in terms of results). She is an extremely careful horse and clear 80% of the time (if not more) so I have been quite spoilt with her :-). Here goes with the excuses:

• They decided to run the 7year old class in the Grand prix arena so there was certainly a lot to look at.
• 30 degrees temperature was starting to take its toll, she didn't have her usual spring and felt quite lathargic in the ring.
• We've been on tour since end of Feb and perhaps she's just a bit bored now.

Personally I just put it down to hard luck and bad timing. When she's good, she's very good and it would be nice for the owners to be around to see it (not just on video). It was wonderful to have them there though as they're so supportive of the other horses as well!

Annie's (Fairplay) owners were there aswell - Michael and Barry McCann - It would have been the first time they had seen me compete her in person so absolutely thrilled that it went so well. I'd spent the last few weeks really focusing on getting her to make the same distances as the bigger horses (i.e. cover as much ground) and she's improved massively.

Merlin was in great form but the weather on GP day took a turn for the worst. The arena was holding up well for the first 20 riders but then as the hail came it just became a sloppy disaster.

I decided not to ride him ( I was 40th to go) not worth the risk and he's been consistently clear or 1 fence down in 1m50s since the end of Feb, so I really didn't feel like I had anything to prove.

John, Pam and Alyssa are on their way home to Ireland now with the horses. All going smoothly so far, they ought to arrive in dover this evening. Can wait for them to be let out in the Irish fields :-)

A week's break for all of us and then back to work we go. Speaking of which I'd better get back to planning our next trip abroad. So much to do... so little time... Over and out.

Update: youtube videos coming soon!