Alice Oppenheimer

A busy and exciting April

Wow... the season is really starting to kick off now! I have had a very exciting month this April; let’s hope the rest of the year follows the trend!

We went to our first Premier League show of the year, the College EC, with Wiz (Wurlizer) and Del (Headmore Delegate) on 8th – 10th April. Del was on first on Friday in his PSG and he was quite excited when I arena walked him in the morning as it was his first outdoor show of the season. Thankfully by the time we came to do our test he was settled and rideable. I just rode a safe test as it was his first proper PSG and I wanted him to gain confidence at the level and there were just a couple of green moments in the test, but overall we were pleased. We scored 70.35% and finished an eventual 3rd, so not bad at all!

Wiz then did the Grand Prix in the afternoon and Erik Theilgaard (my trainer) came to help me warm up. Wiz was a bit grumpy to start off with but Erik was amazing and he helped me get him firing and ready to go. I was very pleased with our test, there is still room for improvement and we had a mistake in the 2’s, but overall it was not a bad effort. We scored 65.32% and finished 4th, and the German judge had us to win with nearly 68% and an 8 for my riding, so I was over the moon with that! However, horses being horses, we came back to earth with a bump on the Saturday when Wiz and I did the Inter II! He wasn’t quite as good as in the Grand Prix but it wasn’t going too badly until we got into the canter work when Wiz got a bit stuck in the first pirouette and had a moment! However, we’ve decided that the Inter II test doesn’t suit Wiz as where the pirouettes are makes it difficult for him so we have decided to just compete at Grand Prix now, so it’s not all bad news! Finally, on the Sunday, Del had his second PSG. I had decided to ask for a bit more as he had already done one test and Erik was there to help me warm up again. He was going well in the warm up and was very expressive and the test started off well, but something spooked Del halfway through his trot work and then again every time we went down the bottom end of the arena. It was a shame as we had many more 8’s than we had got on Friday, but we also had more 6’s. We finished on 68.68% and 4th place, but we were only less than one percent behind the winner, so there were good points and not so good points, but we couldn’t really complain as, all in all, it was a very good weekend!

The following weekend was back to concentrating on some of the younger horses. On Saturday 16th, we took Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) to Berkshire Riding Centre to do her first ever advanced medium. I was feeling very confident as Erik had seen her in a lesson in the week before and he was very impressed with how much she had come on and said that she is going as well as she can at the moment! She hadn’t been to a show for about 6 weeks but nevertheless she warmed up well and her changes felt super. She got a little bit hot in the test as you warm up inside and the test is outside, but she made no mistakes and stayed with me. Her changes were good but they are so expressive and she almost tried to jump too high off the ground in them! She needs to learn to stay forward as she puts so much expression in them that she gets a bit stuck, but they were correct which is more than enough for her first advanced medium! We scored a massive 76.88% and won, proving that she will definitely be a better horse at the higher levels!

Then, on Sunday 17th, we took Zué to Sparsholt for another outing. We were just hoping that he would be starting to settle to his competing and relax into it. He was much calmer and his concentration was much better, he is now starting to stay with me at a show rather than letting his excitement get the better of him! We were very pleased at it was a massive improvement from last time and as he relaxes into his competing I’m sure the scores will come!

The following weekend was Easter weekend so we had an easier weekend than normal and had a weekend off competing. However, we made great use of the next extra long weekend by taking Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) and Dream (Headmore Dream On) to Fair Oak Grange on Friday 29th April. As it was the day of the Royal Wedding, we managed to hold off leaving until we had seen the bride’s dress... and we still managed to arrive on time! Dream was on first in the elementary and we had only had her back for schooling for about 10 days, but we thought that as we were taking Bracks we might as well put Dream on the lorry as well and take her out too! She was a bit cheeky to start off with in the warm up but, once she settled, she started to go beautifully and she really relaxed into her work. I wasn’t sure what she would do when I took her in the competition arena as the warm up is outside and very open and the indoor school is a small arena so I thought she may back off as there was quite a big difference. Much to my delight, however, she was super in the test and didn’t even mind when a rather stupid blackbird kept flying into the mirrors rather than out of the open side of the arena! She scored a very pleasing 71.6% and won, and the nicest part of it was that there is still much more to come from her in a test! It was then Bracks’ turn doing her second advanced medium. She warmed up very well and was doing some very expressive work and I was pleased with how she was going. She was quite hot off my leg but she stayed rideable. I was very pleased with the test, there were just a couple of little mistakes, and she scored 72.3% and won, completing her advanced medium qualification. She has only done two advanced medium tests and scored over 72% both times, so roll on the higher levels! It was a very good day all round and my chestnut mares both proved the stereotype wrong!!!

I have another very exciting bit of news! I have a new ride who arrived this month. Don Rolieto (Dante) is a rising 3 year old graded BWBS stallion by Don Ricoss. He is owned by Sue Botha and is a very exciting young prospect!

Finally, we have been approached by the BHS to see if we can help the charity 'Horses Help Heroes' in their quest to raise £1million for our wounded British service men and women. They will be driving a replica World War I horse drawn ambulance from John O'Groats to Lands End in just 10 days this summer. We will be helping one of the participants (an injured service person) who lives in our region with some riding and training to improve his or her fitness before this amazing feat. The website is www.horseshelpheroes.org.uk, please give whatever you can to this very worthwhile cause.

Alice