KBIS British Equestrian Insurance Scholar Daniel Moseley has had another busy month competing.

Here we catch up with him in his latest diary. Based at Blyth the talented young rider has had a hectic few weeks on the show circuit and with his growing team of horses.

April 2007

At this time of year, I am out competing most weekends and trying to get all my horses out at least twice a month. I competed at the Wales & West U18 European Trials with Port Royal and Shadow Breaker, and they both jumped really well.

Following on from this competition, we will be competing in the CSIJY at Auvers, France, in just three weeks time. We will be travelling by ferry, so it should take around 12-hours to get to Auvers. But it is very exciting to compete abroad!

Also this month, I competed at Weston Lawns with Utopia Red and Shadow Breaker again. They both jumped extremely well and Utopia Red received a second place in the Foxhunter class, and Shadow Breaker also achieved a second place in the 1.30m class. At the beginning of May, I am competing in the first of the KBIS British Equestrian Insurance 6-year-old championship qualifiers at the Vicarage Farm Show. I will be taking Utopia Red and U2 The First to the show.

As I am competing most weekends, I try to vary the horses training regime a little so that they don’t lack concentration when competing at the weekends. I try not to jump too often as then boredom can easily set in, so I mainly school each horse for around half-an-hour to an hour each day. I also hack the horses out a couple of times each week so they don’t spook easily when taken out of their home environment.

At the moment, as we do compete a lot in the spring and summer months, I jump the horses over a couple of fences a couple of days before a show to make sure they are on form. I am jumping the horses over a large water tray at the moment as this type of jump starts to appear in competitions over the summer. This way they will get used to jumping over it and used to the width of the tray, and will hopefully prevent any spooking at the tray on the day of the event.

I am also looking forward to a couple of shows next month; Lambley House in Nottingham, and the Newark and Nottingham County Show which is just before I go to France.

Look forward to writing next month after my exciting and busy month ahead

best wishes Daniel.