Alexia’s First Blog: Marvellous May!

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The ground has finally dried up, the sun has been shining and we have been able to do lots of competing and training!

My British Eventing season finally started at the end of April in the BE90 open at Horseheath. I’ve had Felix for 6 rainy months and it felt like we would never get started.  It was a day of firsts for us; first dressage test, first XC round and first showjumping on grass (possibly a little ambitious!). As it turned out, we were better prepared than I thought. Dressage was tense as he was very excited to be back out doing what he loves, but we scraped a 34. He was really strong in the showjumping, and we lost our rhythm, which cost us a pole, but he flew the XC (feeling a bit too confident and feisty!) for a lovely clear inside the time. I was over the moon but decided I need work on my showjumping rhythm and brakes.

Felix has got an amazing jump, but showjumping is something I find a little bit harder, so I would use the KBIS NSEA Bursary to get some more training in this area.

2 weeks later, after lots of dressage and showjumping practice at home, we ventured to Ickworth Park for the Suffolk Hunt Pony Club ODE. Felix warmed up so much better and was much more relaxed, although I may have slightly overcooked the warm up, as he was a little flat in the test. He still flicked his toes for a sweet dressage of 28 which put us in second. Throughout the day, we were both so much more chilled, which led to us having a beautiful double clear to WIN!

To top off a fabulous Bank holiday weekend, we represented my school at an NSEA Showjumping qualifier and Felix continued to be an angel, going clear in the 95cm, to get individual and team 4th. We qualified for the NSEA Plate Championships!

After a busy week at school, I received a really exciting email to say that I had made the Top 5, for the KBIS NSEA Training Bursary. I was thrilled, and began to dream about how many lessons I could have, to help me reach my goal of making the BE East region Under 18 team…!

The next day, I had high hopes for a double clear in the  BE90 open at Poplar Park . It was an interesting day with a few incidents, but Felix’s performance was faultless. He did his best test yet to score a pleasing 31, despite treading on himself with a stud beforehand, and mum having to administer some quick first aid! Our showjumping was going perfectly until jump six, where I had a sat nav error and had to make a circle – whoops! Felix jumped a super round though but we added 4 faults for the circle and 4 time to our score. In the XC warm up, Felix was being particularly strong and forward, only because I had forgotten to change his bit from showjumping to XC! After that fiasco, we flew clear inside the time, and were over the moon to come tenth! If it weren’t for my frustrating mistake on the showjumping, we would have come 3rd – a “sack the jockey” day!

June brings with it, end of year exams, but on the plus side, a horsey half-term and light, warm evenings to fit more training in. Good luck to everyone heading to the NSEA Eventer’s Challenge at Hickstead. Felix and I will be working on our showjumping with John Adams and will be having a dressage lesson with Alex Hardwick soon, which I am thoroughly looking forward to! We will also be jumping for our school at Keysoe and Felbridge, hoping to qualify for the NSEA National Championships- fingers crossed!

All the best, Lexi x

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