Eridge Horse Trials Report

Harriet Upton's photostream on Flickr.

Well we managed to get there without too many navigational problems, I slept, Mum drove and read the map and that seemed to work better than some of our previous road trips!

We walked the novice course which was challenging for Mum and her dodgy leg. I have not seen her struggle round many courses this year, but that last hill definitely put her leg to the test! Funny she never offered to come and walk the 100 course with me later on!

We had a few texts from Michael and Lisa to say they were stuck in traffic poor things it took them hours to get to us and they missed the dressage and the sj of the Novice, hence Mum's pictures on the blog. The professional ones taken by Michael and some of them are just stunning are on my website. www.harrietupton.com.

So my 1st Novice on Mulliagn and it was so much fun!

Dressage well it wasn't to our usual standard, just need to work on our medium trots! Lots to like but lots to work on!

Mulligan was great in the show jumping he popped round but he was quite spooky and backed off a few things, so my riding became effective and not very pretty. The rail came when we jumped too big into the last combanation and then I didn't shorten him enough, he took the pole out with his front leg, but this is where I am learning how he works.

Oh my goodness the cross country we flew round, sticky in places where we had controlling issues but mainly everything was smooth. He was a machine and he loved it and so did I!!!

BE100 on Yara

I walked the course with David and Michael, they seemed to keep up with me, but I did warn them before we went that I walked quickly. We were so quick in fact that we gave Mum, Lisa and Will a shock when we arrived back, they thought they were late to tack up!

Yara's dressage was amazingggg. I went back to basics and stop asking for so much and did lot of relaxation in the warm up, so she didn't tense over her back. This worked well, she went into test so soft and supple. The next step is to add the impulsion back in but keeping it relaxed.

She warmed up in the sj so beautifully!!!! We went into the arena and then she stopped at the first fence, ooooppps!! She then went and did a really good round. Thinking back to to the first fence where she stopped she just ran through the last stride and lost the jump in the canter.

And the cross country well whoooo!! Finally a clear and it was a fabulous clear! It was not an easy course, so I was chuffed to bits for her!

Had such a lovely day (and evening, we didn't leave till 8pm) with Mum, David and Will and Michael and Lisa, it just doesn't feel the same if they are not there.

See all the photos and videos on my website: www.harrietupton.com