Wednesday, 11 March 2015 20:03
Getting Ready for the 2015 Season
So we begin....Spring is in the air and it looks like a dry spring is ahead. After starting the season early the last two years and having cancellations due to the wet weather I felt it was probably better to start my lovely young horses a little later this year so Swalcliffe is our front runner and all the horses are raring to go. This has been one of our best winters so far with my super team at home who have worked hard and efficiently to get the horses fit whilst having a lot of fun along the way. The winter can be really tough with dark nights and weather to contend with so it is always welcome to see the sunshine at the end of it and yesterday was so lovely the horses had their rugs off and were enjoying the sun as much as we were. This…
Friday, 30 January 2015 00:00
Back From Oz And Ready for The 2015 Season
So as I am writing this I am in the air 36,000 ft above ground on my way back from a fabulous two weeks in Australia visiting my sister in Melbourne and attending my good friend James Gaspers wedding down on the Mornington Penninsula, South of Melbourne. The two weeks have flown by but we have had some amazing experiences and Australia is a country that I have really come to love. The weather has been pretty kind to us and we have both managed to catch a bit of the sun without frying too much. I have to say I am not looking forwards to getting off plane in Birmingham and feeling the drop in temperature, let's hope it is at least dry! To break up the winter with a trip to the sun is a real help but I couldn't do it without my amazing team at home…
Thursday, 27 November 2014 00:00
At the End of Another Season
So the end of another season for Team Pickles and holiday time for the girls after a pretty full on summer. I managed to finish 4th in the Foundation Points league for the second year running on my lovely young horses who have all finished the season having learnt so much and are now back in work after enjoying their holibobs!Kelly Smith my little Trojan horse has enjoyed a nice few weeks away and MaryB who has been with me for two seasons now is on holiday as we speak. Seeing her pictures of the Warwickshire Hunt Ball on Saturday night I think it is fair to say she is enjoying herself!I quite enjoy it when the girls take their holidays as it gives me chance to get back into yard life and make any changes to the routine and just spend some time on the ground with my lovely…
Saturday, 01 November 2014 00:00
2014 Eventing Stats
2014 BE Statistics for Colina Pickles Eventing• 4th in the BE foundation points rankings • 9 Wins • 20 Different horses ridden competitively • 307 Foundation Points won• 26 BE Points Won• 32 Dressage Tests marked 70% and over• 3 Dressage Tests marked 80% and over• 37 Top Five results • 59 Top Ten results • 34 Events attended • 113 Classes started • 49 Double clears • 88 Clear Cross country rounds • 333 BE Points in Total earned in 2014
Friday, 03 October 2014 00:00
A Whole Lotta Summer
Once again my ambitious statement that ended my last blog was not achieved so sorry folks for the gap in blogging! As you can imagine a lot has been happening at Team Pickles but the thing that has given me the most satisfaction this summer is that........wait for it folks….. yep we have not had a member of staff leave for over 3 months now! Whoop whoop, so I am celebrating by giving my super lovely team some extra holiday for working their socks of this summer and for making my life a lot less stressful. Mary Burnfield, Kelly Smith, Hannah Okines, Alex Haynes, Claira Miesegaes and Sara Walker a huge thank you to you all – you are invaluable!So on to the horses where we have a lot to catch up on. Direct Tullyoran Cruise belonging to Equestrian Direct has amongst other things had a name change - well…
Monday, 14 July 2014 00:00
Back on Form
Firstly I am very proud to say that I have a fabulous new sponsor in the form of Equestrian Direct. If you have any surface needs then you please look no further. The last couple of months have not been our most rewarding on the results boards, however sometimes the results don’t reflect what is actually going on and it was really nice this week to see all the horses coming together and maturing with the added bonus of it all being on the same day at the same event which was our lovely local event Upton House. With fab going, super organisation and for once upper level prize money it really was a lovely couple of days and very rewarding for my super owners to see their lovely horses going so well. There have been a few changes at Team Pickles with a hard decision to retire Airtime (Albert)…
Saturday, 07 June 2014 00:00
Busy Busy...
As promised I am back with my blog and loads has been going on at Team Pickles. Last week being half term meant my time was definitely pretty tight teaching the Warwickshire Pony Club and the Ettington and Kineton Riding Club. We had a clinic here over three evenings and attendance was great. We had some lovely horses and rider combinations and look forwards to seeing lots of them out competing soon. In addition to lots of teaching we have been out and about competing and to training sessions with the horses. All the young ones are coming on leaps and bounds. Hathaway Strider is unrecognisable from the horse we bought a couple of months ago and I think could be a very exciting future prospect. Hathaway Quality and Hathaway No.1 are out this week at Aston le Walls UA and they are beginning to feel like they know what…
Tuesday, 20 May 2014 00:00
Whole New Look
I hope you have been keeping up to date with all the goings on at Team Pickles with facebook and twitter over the last few months whilst the blog has been sadly lacking. Well we are back with a fantastic new look to the website thanks to Max Ross and Suzie Allen my super technical support crew, I would be lost without them. We have been exceptionally busy the last few months with lots of new horses on the scene. Our lovely young horses are now all up and running with Hathaway Strider, Hathaway Quality and Future Divine Illusion all doing their first event last weekend and although we weren’t winners they all behaved impeccably and bar a few green moments I was extremely pleased with them- they are beautiful. Hathaway No.1 and Lucianna Wiser than Wise will also be making their debut at Aston next month for the unaffiliated…
Saturday, 26 April 2014 00:00
Well Overdue
It’s been a while……… but not due to the fact I have been sunning myself in the Caribbean or holidaying ‘down under’ but due to the fact we have been having so much fun at home with our lovely babies!Coco, Roxy, Ruby and Little George have all been coming on leaps and bounds. Coco has muscled up and is becoming more and more consistent in her training. I forget she is only 4 years old and have to refrain from doing too much with her. Roxy is a lovely three year old, who we are breaking in, she has a real zest for life with a cheeky streak and I am hoping bags of talent!Ruby has the ‘WowFactor’ as her name suggests and is a forward thinking, kind horse with heaps of presence and Little George belongs to Little Al and we have just got him under saddle. He is…
Monday, 10 March 2014 00:00
A long time coming
Hi folks,I know it's been a while since my last blog but it's been a busy winter and the days have been long and very very wet.Winter is a good time for sorting out the wheat from the chaff it takes it's toll on staff and riders as the wet conditions make it so difficult to work in and the eventing season can seem so far away. Not anymore fortunately, my team have been amazing this winter and come out the other side so we are all raring to go. We delayed competing for the first events in March and not competing the younger horses until April. They aren't in need of a long season so we've had a few weekends at Weston Lawns which have done them well and are now looking forward Aston Le walls unaffiliated next month. Ernie (Olympic tracer) is the my first ride of the…
Saturday, 23 November 2013 00:00
2013 B.E. Statistics
Below are some irrelevant facts and figures from the 2013 eventing season. Enjoy! • 2 Team Pickles Horses in top ten Foundation Points Rankings• 4th in the BE foundation points rankings (+ 6 places from 2012)• 5 Wins (Winning 5.88% of classed entered) • 19 Different horses ridden competitively (+3.61% 2012)• 27 BE Points (gained from only 10 eligible starts)• 29 Top ten places for pupils • 30 Dressage marked 70% and over • 32 Top Five results (Top five result at 37.64% of events attended) • 34 Events attended (o% increase 2012) • 47 Top Ten results (That’s a top ten result in 55.29% of BE starts) • 48 Double clears • 68 Clear Cross country rounds • 85 Classes started (-13% 2012)• 327 Foundation points awarded (100 more than in 2012) • 354 BE Points in Total earned in 2013
Friday, 25 October 2013 00:00
Awesome Airtime does it again
We have been having a much better time of it recently with all the horses performing to their best at their recent competitions. I would love to say that I have done something different to make this happen but all I can say is a bit of luck is winging its way back to Team Pickles and the winning (or almost) formula is back! The dressage judges have suddenly started to love us again and the poles seems to be staying up (most of the time anyway)!Working back from Gatcombe this weekend where not only did Albert (Airtime) go exceptionally well Apple (Ciderpress) also went like a dream to complete a really really special weekend. This year has been testing to say the least and when it all comes together it really does make you appreciate the good times!!!Airtime felt awesome, he was a little naughty in his dressage however,…
Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:00
Fun in the sun
The sun is still shining and one can safely say we have had a summer this year and what a difference it has made to everyone here at Team Pickles – let’s hope this spell continues and we can finish the season with good going and some fun days out.The horses are all on great form with Apple(Ciderpress) making a good comeback. She did her first event at Carlton and was 3rd in the 100Open and then went to Aston Novice where she was 6th. She felt like an old pro and popped round the XC no problem so we are aiming for Gatcombe CIC1* as our next big thing!Albert (Airtime) has made a good recovery from our not so good time at Aston le Walls Advanced. I can only think that he was suffering with bruised feet after losing both his shoes at Barbury. We had a good run…
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Saturday, 20 July 2013 00:00
It's been a long time...sorry
I always know that we are half way through the season when the grass is sky high, the list of jobs is two pages long and Mr Pickles is no where to be seen - you guessed it he is in Germany at his favourite event Luhmuhlen!On his return he was presented with his list of duties which he is steadily working his way through and I was presented with a bottle of some ghastly German spirit which is apparently the best thing ever and a jar of rollmops; god he knows how to spoil me!We have had some good outings with the horses and the star of the show is still Mr Percy pig aka Knights Escapade. He finished second in his first BE100 at Shelford Manor and then third in the same class at Ascott under Wychwood. He is on great form albeit a small blip at Stonar…
Tuesday, 09 July 2013 00:00
It's all about Albert
Well peeps it is with great delight I am writing to tell you about our amazing result at Barbury Castle Horse Trials last weekend. Not wanting to bragg but........Airtime was at his very best and made the 2* track feel easy and we just had the best weekend ever! We had Thursday dressage so went down early Thursday morning to prepare and also had the lovely Tully (Tullyoran Field of Dreams) on the lorry to do the BYEH 5yo section.Albert (Airtime) was on mega form and produced what I thought was his best test to date – (regardless of the score), but I was secretly confident that he would score well as it all felt right and in the right place!The scores on Thursday were a little slow to come out and it was only when I received a text message from Chloe (Airtimes owner who couldn’t be there) to…