May turned out to be a great month with the sun finally shining! Alongside shows I also managed to go on holiday and see my friend get married in Italy. For once, both my mum and I went away at the same time which was nice but meant leaving the ponies for someone else to do. This is something that always makes me nervous, although I came back to a spotless yard, immaculate beds and very happy (although a little fat) ponies, so I am not sure why I should have been worried.

Both of my Dartmoor boys have been on good form — well I say both…

Windy has been busy covering and returned for a total of two days before going out to a show and picking up his Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) ticket, so that’s one show, one win — I am counting that as good form! Windy likes to do very little so it is ideal for him. If only getting a Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) ticket could be that easy.

Windy

Leo has been busier and has had a good run of shows picking up his RIHS ticket at the BSPS Area 11 show. I then took him to our local area show where I expected him to be nice and quiet as the show was just in a field, but I guess the thing is to never under-estimate a Dartmoor! After a quick lunge, on I got with my friend leading me forward. Leo decided some airs above the ground were needed and there was a moment of bail or be dumped, so I opted to bail! Thankfully after a little more lungeing he got over himself and went on to be perfect in the class winning a lovely open class and then winning his silver medal too.

The week after that we headed to my favourite show — Royal Windsor. After falling off my ‘veteran’ Jacob last year in the ring, I really just wanted to make it safely round on Leo, which after the week before I was a little concerned about. However, Leo went out and not only stayed in the ring but he even WON his class! I was absolutely thrilled as I have never won Royal Windsor on Mountain & Moorland. The last time I won there was on my old intermediate which must be 15-odd years ago. It was fantastic to be in such a top quality championship — Windsor really does bring out the best of the best and the chance to see The Queen is just the icing on the cake.

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I also was very lucky to pick up a ride on the beautiful Welsh section D stallion, Swchyrhafod Brenin for Megan Hewitt and on my second ride with him we won our RIHS qualifier. What a lovely boy he is. The first time I rode him I’d had an operation two days prior and shouldn’t have really been riding, but I am sure like many of you, it is hard to sit on the sidelines. Thankfully he looked after me and gave me an easy ride around the ring.

Swchyrhafod Brenin

Looking ahead, June brings the start of the HOYS qualifiers, although for me it’s a fairly quiet season with just Windy to concentrate on. I am looking forward to some other lovely shows coming up — South of England (our local) and Lincoln, both who have fantastic food tents! I will update you next time on the best cheese I manage to find at each.

Chloe

Honor Gordon and her eye-catching palomino Made Of Gold have held their place at the top of the leaderboard after cross-country in the 90cm section of the Horse & Hound Festival of Eventing.

The 13-year-old rode a well-judged round to finish just one second over the optimum time of 6 minutes 46 seconds, adding 0.4 time penalties to their dressage of 27.25.

Keysoe’s course, designed by Angus Smales, rode well, with a smattering of problems throughout.

A total of 42 out of 50 combinations jumped clear, but the majority of riders picked up time faults.

Honor Gordon and Made Of Gold tackle the combination in Keysoe’s main arena

Honor, who was celebrating with a Chinese takeaway, said she was excited ahead of tomorrow’s showjumping phase.

“We’ve just got to leave the jumps up,” she smiled.

“I was worried about the brush coming out of the water and the log pile at fence six as it was quite big and she only has little legs.”

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Honor has been riding the 14hh mare for two years and enjoys all Pony Club activities, but eventing is their favourite discipline.

While the time proved influential, there remains little room for error and less than two poles separate the top-16 cominbations.

Honor has less than a fence in hand over second-placed Celia Bellamy and Toptime Taliesin, who added 0.8 time penalties to their dressage score for a two-phase total of 29.05. In third is Sarah Nicholls with CSH Sioux on 30.5.

The showjumping phase of the Bedfordshire event, run in association with KBIS, starts at 9.30am for the 70cm section, with the 90cm class set to start at 1.35pm.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday

The full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound will be in this week’s issue of the magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June and follow online at www.horseandhound.co.uk

Louise Bergicourt-Toolan put in a polished performance on cross-country day of the H&H Festival of Eventing, run in association with KBIS, to become the new leader of the 70cm class.

Riding Melanie Gatt’s six-year-old Connemara x thoroughbred, Woodfield Gold, Louise stopped the clock just one second over the six-minute optimum time, to add 0.4 penalties to a strong dressage score of 28.25 which saw them fourth after the first phase.

“I’m so happy with ‘Phoenix’, he was so relaxed and took everything in his stride,” said Louise, a single mum who helps run a riding school near Richmond Park in south-west London. “It’s our first eventing competition together and his first ever so I wasn’t sure how he would cope, but he flew.”

The 15.2hh dun arrived in Louise’s riding school two years ago and has spent most of his time teaching novice riders.

“Then one day we went cross-country schooling and realised that Phoenix had a real talent for it.”

Louise said she is in disbelief that Phoenix and her are in pole position.

“I honestly can’t believe it — we came here to have a nice time with friends and to give Phoneix a good experience,” said Louise. “I’m quietly confident about our chances tomorrow as he enjoys showjumping. To be honest even if we have a fence down, I will still be over the moon with him — all of this is a bonus.”

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Louise’s nearest rival is 11-year-old Frankie Fox and Rookwood Dundoolie who sit 3.1 penalties behind in second on 31.75, while last year’s 70cm winner Sally Pidsley and Tranwheal Tineth Moon is in third on 32.25.

Don’t miss the full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June and follow online at www.horseandhound.co.uk

On Friday afternoon, Sarah Nicholls and the seven-year-old 15.1hh CSH Sioux sat in seventh place after the dressage phase of the H&H Festival of Eventing, run in association with KBIS. But thanks to a great clear cross-country round inside the optimum time, followed by one of few clear showjumping rounds, the pair found themselves in first place at the end of the competition.

“I can’t believe we’ve won,” said a delighted Sarah, who hails from near Leicester and works for an engineering company in Rutland. “I knew ‘Simon’ was capable as he can do a good dressage test and is reliable across country, but showjumping is my weakest phase. I was hopeful but I tried not to let my emotions get in the way of how we performed.”

Sarah was competing in her first three-day event aboard the coloured horse, who is by a Grade A showjumper, out of a gypsy cob mare. She bought him as a just-broken four-year-old “for little money” as a project to sell.

“But he just kept getting better and better, so I’ve kept him,” explained Sarah, who also crosses the biggest of Quorn Hunt country with this diminutive gelding. “I couldn’t fault Simon this week — I do this purely to have fun and I couldn’t do it without the support of my parents who have been holding the fort with my other two horses at home this week.”

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Hannah Parr and Tinkers Boy also rose up the placings thanks to a clear showjumping round, moving up from fourth to eventual second. While overnight cross-country leader, Honor Gordon and Made Of Gold dropped to third after incurring four faults.

Don’t miss the full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June and follow online at www.horseandhound.co.uk

Being organised is key for Horse & Hound Festival of Eventing competitor Lorna Ewin.

The Kent-based rider balances working as a facilities manager for a London firm of brokers with riding and competing three horses.

“It is about working out your timetable,” said Lorna.

“I get up at about 4am, arrive at the yard between 5-5.30am, ride and am on the train to London at 7am to start work at 8am.”

Lorna finished at 4.30pm before catching the train home and riding another horse after work.

She has two of her own horses and also rides Claudiuss (“Claude”) for her mother, Valda Angier.

“This is the first time he has done this sort of thing,” said Valda, who had made the trip up to the Bedfordshire venue to support her daughter.

Claude, a pure-bred Arab, competed in ridden showing classes at Royal Windsor Horse Show earlier this month.

He has also enjoyed success at arena eventing and in Arab Horse Society classes, finishing seventh in the overall performance awards last year.

Lorna has competed in showing classes at Horse of the Year Show three times and took her first steps into the world of horse trials this weekend.

The Horse & Hound Festival of Eventing, run in association with KBIS, was also Claude’s eventing debut.

“He is nearly 100% Crabbet — we did a hunter trials two weeks ago at Crabbet Park, which is where his ancestors are all from, which was nice,” added Valda, adding he is an “absolute angel”.

“We bought him as a five-year-old from breeder Diana Whittome in Wales and have remained great friends.”

Valda added the event has been “super” and found it a “great help” to have nutrition advice on hand from Spillers.

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The striking grey was a stallion until he was five, but has taken to his new life as a riding horse with aplomb.

Lorna walked the course with four-star eventer and coach Milla Lanni, which she said was really helpful.

“The only thing he questioned was the ditch, but he looked and went,” said Lorna.

The pair jumped double clear to finish ninth in the 70cm section.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday

The full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound will be in next week’s issue of the magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June

Charlotte Dujardin turned heads earlier today when she celebrated her success at this weekend’s Somerford Park Premier League with a spot of cross-country schooling.

Charlotte and her prix st georges (PSG) and inter I winner River Rise Escala (Maisie), who is also the reigning PSG winter champion, enjoyed a pop round Somerford’s cross-country course this afternoon (28 May) to round off the show.

“What a brilliant final day at Somerford Park Premier League; such a wonderful show and so well run by Millie [King] and her team. River Rise Escala won the inter I today; her first ever inter I with 73%. So to celebrate, we went for a little play and decided to have some fun around the Somerford cross-country course,” said Charlotte.

The videos show the nine-year-old bay mare, who is by Lord Leatherdale x Ferro, thoroughly enjoying herself as she pops small logs with lots of scope and room to spare, before showing off her fantastically elevated trot through the water jump.

“It was so much fun — she can really jump!” Charlotte told H&H.

The afternoon rounded off a hugely successful Premier League for Charlotte, who scored wins across the levels with three of her exciting upcoming mares. She claimed victory at PSG and inter I with her own and Paul and Wendy Dockley’s eight-year-old grey mare Florentina, who recently made a winning international debut, as well as topping the seven-year-old test on Emma Blundell’s Mount St John VIP.

With Maisie, whom Charlotte owns along with her breeder Sarah Tyler Evans, she took another PSG win with more than 77% before posting 73% on the mare’s inter I debut.

Celebrations for the yard were also in order after Carl Hester triumphed in the grand prix on over 75% with his World Equestrian Games hope Hawtins Delicato.

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Don’t miss 7 June issue of H&H for our full report from the Somerford Park Premier League

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.

In this week’s edition, out on 24 May, don’t miss our “cob special”, including how to find the perfect cob, meet champion cob Our Cashel Blue and more.

Beccy Belcher was in total disbelief upon winning the 80cm championship of the H&H Festival of Eventing, run in association with KBIS.

Riding Sarah Rooke’s coloured mare, Sugar IV, Beccy rose from sixth after dressage. The pair then enjoyed a clear cross-country round within the optimum time to sit in second place coming into the final showjumping phase, where they proceeded to leave all of the poles in their cups. This was good enough to secure the win when overnight leaders Debbi Cox and Molly incurred eight faults.

“To win is completely unexpected,” said an elated Beccy. “I’ve only had ‘Spice’ for a year and this is our second horse trials together and until today we had only jumped one round of showjumping too.”

Beccy was given Spice by Sarah to use as a broodmare.

“Spice has already had four foals and then was chucked in a field,” explained Beccy, who works as a lecturer and is head of business, travel and tourism at Berkshire College of Agriculture. “My history is in showing and dressage and so I fancied giving eventing a go. Spice looked like she was bored and so we brought her into work and haven’t looked back.”

Beccy admitted she left entering the festival until the very last minute.

“I hadn’t actually even taken Spice cross-country schooling when I entered,” she explained. “I entered on a whim and thought we could use the experience as a schooling exercise.”

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The pair looked thoroughly convincing throughout the event and stormed around the cross-country.

“Spice is like a Ferrari and is always 400 steps ahead of me,” said Beccy. “But she was a dream across country — when her owner saw we were well-placed after the dressage, she text me saying ‘make sure you let the handbrake off on the cross-country and she will look after you’. I’m glad she said that, else I might have gone a bit steadier.”

Chloe Nixon, who led the dressage, finished in eventual second riding her Lipizzaner mare, Anna thanks to a clear showjumping round. They added four cross-country time-faults to a 28 dressage. Craig Messenger and Findon Euphoria completed on their dressage score of 33 to finish third.

Don’t miss the full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June and follow online at www.horseandhound.co.uk

Lucy Ohlson has overcome two horrific accidents in the past eight years to compete at the Horse & Hound Festival, run in association with KBIS.

Lucy, who runs Petesbrooke Equestrian Centre near Hartlepool, competed in the 70cm class aboard Donna House Star T (“Wilma”).

The pair enjoy taking part in “a bit of everything”, including unaffiliated one-day-events and Team Quest dressage competitions with friends who are based at her yard.

The riding instructor had to learn to walk and ride again after she nearly died in a car crash eight years ago.

She was driving to a friend’s house when her car collided with a piece of farm machinery being towed by a tractor.

One of the blades of the plough tore into Lucy’s car and into her side.

Lucy, who was 28 at the time, was placed in an induced coma and sustained a broken neck, brain trauma and severe internal injuries.

“I had to teach myself to ride again,” she said.

“I knew how to do it, but I had to teach my body how to do it again.”

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Lucy added she believes her recovery was down to her determination to get better.

“I’m quite a determined person,” said Lucy.

“I never thought I was never going to walk or ride again, these were just hurdles I needed to overcome.”

Lucy also broke her pelvis in a schooling fall at home last year and has been working hard to build up her strength and fitness over the past 12 months.

“My horse caught a pole between his front legs and nosedived, he fell and landed on my hip and my pelvis just shattered,” she explained.

Following extensive rehabilitation, Lucy is back in the saddle and jumped double clear at this, her first three-day-event, to finish 18th.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday

The full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound will be in next week’s issue of the magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June

“A wrong is being righted”, according to the vet who has been giving his time to treat a filly injured in a suspected acid attack.

Dave Rendle, of Rainbow Equine Hospital, said coloured pony Cinders, who came into the team’s care on 24 April with horrific facial burns, underwent further surgery on Friday (25 May).

For the past three weeks, since a specialist vet flew in from the US to help the team at Rainbow Equine operate on Cinders, her dressings had been changed daily and removed in stages as she healed beneath it.

“Most of the damaged areas have healed but on either side of her face and around her eyes she has been left with bands of scar tissue,” Mr Rendle said.

“Scar tissue always contracts and the contraction of tissue on Cinders’ face caused distortion of her eyelids and muzzle. Her eyelids had become pulled out of line and her top lip was being pulled upwards exposing her teeth and gums.

“The scarring did give Cinders a very endearing smile but the contracture was getting gradually worse, so she underwent a third surgery.”

Areas that had not completely healed were grafted, while those that had been distorted by scar tissue were debrided and released, to allow her muzzle and eyelids to move into more normal positions.

To prevent further contracting, skin grafts were placed within the releasing incisions, so new skin can grow across the gaps to stop them closing.

“Within 30 minutes of the end of surgery, Cinders lifted her head, looked around and simply stood up, unflustered by her third general anaesthetic,” Mr Rendle said.

“Half an hour later, she was back in her stable enjoying her lunch.”

Mr Rendle said Cinders was bright overnight, and “demonstrating her usual voracious appetite”, and that by the next morning, it was clear her features were in more normal positions.

“Both her face and her back [from which the skin grafts were taken] will be sore but with the help of the mixture of pain medications her attitude, interest in all around her and needless to say her appetite are unchanged as a result of the surgery,” he added.

The biggest issue affecting the success of skin grafts’ adhesion to underlying tissue is infection, which is hard to manage in horses, especially in facial areas as it is hard to cover the surgery sites completely. But the vets at Rainbow are optimistic enough will remain in place to minimise further scarring.

Burns and plastic surgeons from Pinderfields Hospital Trust helped with the surgery, while manufacturer Zimmer lent equipment.

“We are extremely grateful to all the professionals involved from both Rainbow Equine Hospital and Pinderfields who have donated their time to treat Cinders, to Zimmer for the loan of equipment and most of all to the hundreds of people who have made donations to ensure that

Cinders gets the very best of everything,” Mr Rendle said. “A wrong is being righted.

“We will continue to do all we can to ensure Cinders makes the best possible recovery and has a long, happy and pain-free future.”

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For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.

In this week’s edition, out on 24 May, don’t miss our “cob special”, including how to find the perfect cob, meet champion cob Our Cashel Blue and more.

Louise Bergicourt-Toolan didn’t let the pressure get to her on the final day of the H&H Festival of Eventing, in association with KBIS. She jumped a clear round in the final showjumping phase of the 70cm class to maintain pole position.

“I just can’t believe it — for us to finish so close to our dressage score is a great achievement, especially as this is our first eventing competition together,” said Louise who helps run a riding school in Richmond, West London.

Louise was riding Melanie Gatt’s six-year-old Connemara x thoroughbred, Woodfield Gold. The dun completed on a score of 28.25, some 3.1 penalties ahead of second-placed 11-year-old Frankie Fox and Rockwood Dundoolie.

Woodfield Gold (or ‘Phoenix’ as he is known at home), arrived from Ireland onto Louise’s riding school two years ago, and was used as a horse to teach novice riders until recently.

“He is a one in a million horse and he gave me a brilliant round today,” said Louise, a mother of one. “He was looking at each fence, concentrating and didn’t let the atmosphere get to him. I was nervous this morning, but only because I didn’t want to let him down. I just shut the crowds and atmosphere out and imagined I was schooling at home.”

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Louise is excited about the future for this 15.2hh dun.

“I think it’s onwards and upwards for us now,” she said. “We will hopefully look to aim him at qualifying for the Mitsubishi Cup at Badminton.”

Last year’s winner, Sally Pidsley and Tranwheal Tineth Moon, added four faults to their score in the showjumping but held onto third place.

Don’t miss the full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June and follow online at www.horseandhound.co.uk