Mike Jackson

Spring looks like it is finally here....

Well, spring is finally here and thankfully the horses seem to be on great form!  Last weekend I took Jagganath (Jack) and Daisy Duke to Larkhill to do the novice - and both of them behaved beautifully.  Jack got 30.5 in the dressage and went double clear - finishing 3rd.  Daisy did a 28.6 dressage and had one down show jumping but went clear cross country to end up 4th.

This weekend just gone, Up With The Lark (Max), Billy Bird and Kangasong (Joey) went to Belton to do the Intermediate.  Belton's one of my favourite events - it's set in beautiful surroundings, lots of the top riders and horses compete there, and the cross country course is really big and bold.  All the ingredients for a really good day out - and I guess it helps when things go well, and they did...

All three of them did lovely tests - Max got 30, Joey got 32 and Billy got 33.  The show jumping caused a few problems and although they jumped well, Max and Joey both had two down and Billy had one.  However, three fairly speedy cross country rounds put them all in the top ten - finishing 6th, 8th and 9th respectively!

Next stop for the "A-Team" is Withington intermediate in a couple of weeks time and then they'll be heading for Houghton CIC one star/two star in May.

So not a bad start - I'm just hoping the grass starts to grow soon, so they can spend more time out in the fields.  I like them to go out as much as possible - as it helps to keep them sane and stops them getting filled legs after they've been competing.

On the breeding front - the good news is that we're down to one puppy, although I don't think Ellie is that keen on giving this one away!  They've all gone to nice eventing homes so hopefully we'll see them out and about on the circuit.

Foal-wise Bunny (my old advanced eventer mare) is due to pop hers out soon - she is in foal to Wish Upon a Star, so we're really excited about that new arrival.  The other arrival we are awaiting is our baby.  Ellie is getting bigger by the day - only 10 weeks to go until Mini Jackson arrives....I think at this rate we need to start a creche!

Mike