Mike Jackson

May 2011

The recent rain was a welcome sight for Team Jackson although we could have done with it a bit earlier in the season. The going at Moreton Morrell was very disappointing so I withdrew most of the horses from the cross-country making it a rather expensive combined training. 

Thankfully the going at Hambledon was better and I was especially pleased with the younger horses. Billy Be Cool (BBC) won his BE100 section with a 25.5 double clear, Direct Mission (Arden) came 9th in the novice, and Pepper Mill (Milly) finished tenth in her novice section. The novice and intermediate tracks were causing a few problems so I decided to take Wallaby (Wally), W Iridium (Viz) and Downleadon (Minx) steadily. Unfortunately I had to retire Yorkie’s Delight (Yorkie) after a problem with his bit at the water, which was rather costly as he was in the lead at the time.

Something rather strange happened to me at Rodbaston – I rode four horses and had a stop on all of them cross-country. I’d like to point out that this has never happened to me before and all of their problems were at different fences! I’m writing it off as bad karma or something….

Anyway we fared much better at Aston-le-Walls. Joss Riley’s Direct Cruising (Cruise) and Direct Mission (Arden) came second and sixth in their respective intermediate and novice sections. Wallaby (Wally) was seventh in his novice section and The Master’s Apprentice (Archie) picked up a sixth rosette his intermediate section.

Despite hitting the deck on the cross-country course on my first ride at Tweseldown things improved - I was thrilled with Billy Be Cool’s (BBC) double clear and seventh in his first novice (see below), C’est Tout (Claude) also came seventh in the NRF, as did Direct Diamond Lad (Carrick) in the BE100. 

Direct Mission (Arden) continued his faultless form winning his novice section, and Windmill (Lola) got her second sixth rosette of the season in the BE100. I was pleased with Richard Oliver’s promising young horse Sea Summer Bay (Paddy) - his confidence has grown especially in the show jumping and he ended up tenth.

Sarah Royal’s five-year-old Early Bird (Bird - by Up With The Lark) had her first cross-country run at Tweseldown and despite some greenness showed great promise.

Our first three day of the year was at Houghton 2 star where there was more rain (the first in Norfolk since February) which wasn’t great for outdoor living but made things easier for the horses. All three horses did tests in the early ‘50’s’ - slightly off the leaders but certainly in touch. Yorkie’s Delight (Yorkie) was super and jumped double clear, but sadly it wasn’t to be with the other two. The Master’s Apprentice (Archie) and Direct Cruising (Cruise) both had minor hiccups, which was disappointing but certainly nothing to worry about in the future.

Mike