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Wednesday 14th October 2009 - Beautiful grey Ringwood Cockatoo retires
There was much emotion flowing as Bettina retired Ringwood Cockatoo at the age of 18 after a ten year International career. It took place during the closing stages of Boekelo CCI3* Netherlands in front of a huge crowd. Bettina and Cockatoo paraded around the arena while J.P. Fair sang a song he specially wrote for the occasion “History”. The beautifully chosen words and the music brought tears of emotion to
Bettina and thousands of the spectators.
In the ten year career with Bettina Cockatoo became the most successful German event horse of all time. Winning ten 3* CCI and CIC competitions, finishing second at the Rolex Kentucky CCI4* 2009 and winning the Pau CCI4* in 2008.
Boekelo was a perfect retirement venue as he won in 2002. It is close to Bettina’s childhood home of Rheine in Germany and where there were over 100 International riders with many German and UK competitors who knew and admired the combination so much.
Tuesday 8th September 2009 - Superstar in the making
At the weekend Composer was very relaxed and took everything in his stride. He won the 5-year-old class at the German National Championships for young horses (Bundeschampionate) in Warendorf and was not in awe of the 32.000 spectators. Hans Melzer, the German national eventing trainer said of him: “He looks more like a CCI3* horse than a 5 year old.” In the first round of the cross-country he received a score of 9.0, followed in the dressage by 8.6, in the show jumping 8.1 and finally in the cross country 9.4. If Andrew had not been on the horse at the time he would certainly have performed a back flip through joy and excitement.
He could not have hoped to achieve more this year, and will now enjoy a well-earned rest.
Monday 7th September 2009 - Andrew heads back to the UK
Andrew with Composer, Cheeky Calimbo and Grand Joca has just returned from a four week trip from the UK.
The purpose was to compete in four events. The first event being Wilton, where all three horses were second after dressage in their classes. Show jumping was not their greatest day but all jumped clear cross country with minor time penalties. Cheeky Calimbo finished fourth in novice section, Composer at his first novice event was just amazing and Joca gained in confidence all the way round in the open intermediate.
West Wilts for Cheeky and Composer was rained off so the next start Aston Le Walls. Cheeky won his novice section. Composer jumped so big of a drop, Andrew nearly fell off so circled around the B element to incur 20 penalties but otherwise was great. Joca, in the open intermediate, did a great dressage and show jumping and with some time penalties in the cross country finished in 7th place.
Composer was on his own at Sapey producing a 25.5 dressage, clear show jumping and only 2.6 time penalties on the novice cross country to win.
The next event was 700km north at Blair Castle, Scotland. Composer was a tourist. Joca was in the CCI3* starting great by being second after dressage but they got caught out at 19c on the cross country and Andrew decided to walk home doing a meet and great with the crowd. Cheeky proved his star talent and made the weekend by having a wonderful win in the CCI 1*.
Monday 7th September 2009 - Disappointment
The highs can be so exciting and the lows can be so tough.
Cockatoo had bruising to his right front foot the week the German selectors were making their decision as to who shall be representing their country last weekend of September at the European Championships in Fontainebleau, France.
Bettina’s heart sunk as they were unable to compete at Schenefeld therefore they were left off the team. If the timing is bad there is nothing one can do about it. Cockatoo is now back in work and Bettina is presently in the process of making a decision as to the next competition.
Monday 4th May 2009 - Young Horse Show & Cockatoo bucking with excitement
Last Friday Andrew and Bettina took the young horses Rutherglen and Composer to a local show Sendenhorst 30km from the DOKR for Dressage and Show Jumping. Composer was in great form, winning both the dressage and show jumping classes. Rutherglen was really excited by the atmosphere coming from the catering marquee running the length of the arena and 5m from the edge ofit. An experience he needs to learn to cope with. They need to learn that competition is another day at the office.
Cockatoo and Genna arrived back in the evening at the DOKR from Kentucky and while Bettina lead him straight to the field he was bucking with excitement, so happy to be back!
Yesterday Andrew took Rutherglen back to Sendenhorst for another jumping classes and also Grand Joca for two classes. Rutherglen jumped a really nice clear round in the 1.20m and Joca was great in the 1.20m and 1.25m classes and all the time improving and enjoying his work.
Tuesday 28th April 2009 - Amazing....Cockatoo in USA, Joca in Italy
At the age of 18 Ringwood Cockatoo is looking as well and fresh as he has ever looked and Bettina enjoys each competition for what it is. Bettina and Cockatoo have finished an amazing competition in Rolex, Kentucky CCI4*, USA. They performed their best dressage test ever resulting with a record score of 28.8 and after the dressage Bettina said “he was amazing and has never felt better, I am so happy”.
The Mike Etherington-Smith designed cross country was big and testing with three waters complexes and ran over the rolling country side of the Blue Grass State. “Cockatoo gave his all and tried so hard for me” Bettina said at the completion of the round where they were clear jumping incurring just 9.6 time penalties.
On the Sunday morning Cockatoo came out of the stable fresh to pass the final horse inspection. Following in the afternoon they jumped a clear show jumping round giving them a final score of 38.4 to finish in second place.
Their success would not have been possible without the fantastic help from Cockatoo’s groom Genna Bombardieri, Bettina’s long time friend Tracey Edge and Tegan Cook, former student of Andrew and Bettina who came from Australia to watch them competing at Rolex.
Team chef Hans Melzer gave tremendous support and trainers Christopher Bartle and Ruediger Schwarz completed the successful team.
Bettina has arrived back in Germany while Cockatoo is under the watchful eye and care of Genna stayed who is staying in Kentucky for two extra days before boarding a plane from New York to Amsterdam and then by road return to the DOKR, Warendorf arriving Friday.
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Andrew and Grand Joca competed in CCI3* Vairano, Italy. After the 1250km drive from the DOKR they arrived at Vairano the beautiful home of Susanna Bordone.
As Andrew has said the improvement is step by step, day by day and he was very happy with Joca who produced the best dressage of his career to score 37.1 finishing on top of the leader board.
The cross country course designed by Mark Phillips ran over the flat country side and created some interesting questions where he used one water complex twice and had built some man made banks. Joca and Andrew started out on the cross country very nicely but at the first water they had a little misunderstanding which resulted in a stop. In the effort to make the fence easier for Joca by going a slightly longer route the horse lost his focus and concentration. The rest of the round was great where Joca produced some great jumps out of a wonderful rhythm.
The show jumping was good and although Joca had two rails down he jumped a really nice round. Their final placing was 7th so a great final result of a competition they so much enjoyed.
Tuesday 7th April 2009 - Joca has his first start
Grand Joca and Andrew competed in their first competition at Sahrendorf CIC** and as they have said before the improvement is step by step. Joca was so much more related than he has ever been at a competition taking ever phase in his stride.
The quality of his dressage has improved and out of a field of 44 starters they were really pleased to be just 5 points of the lead behind some quality and experienced horses.
The show jumping was strong and Andrew was told it is always difficult and as they were one of the eight to have no jumping penalties he was happy dispite incurring three time penalties due to riding wide on two of the turns.
Then came Joca’s favourite phase the cross country and although seeming to have just a nice canter around the rolling country side with a clear round incuring 6.40 time penalties moved them up into third place behind Hong Kong Olympic Team Gold medalist Butts Leon.
Sahrendorf was a good preparation for the next competition 17/19th April Vairano CCI***, Italy.
So a great start to the season :-)
Monday 6th April 2009 - Great start to the season
Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo had a wonderful start to the season at Fontainebleau CICO*** France. The dressage for the first time for many years was on grass and they lead the from a strong 90 competitor field by 4.80 on a score of 31.70.
The cross country was a flowing course party running through the beautiful woods of Fontainebleau and incorporating a new double pond water complex. With it being their first start for the season they ran around the cross country sensibly quickly incurring 10.30 time penalties which put the into second place 1.90 points behind French rider Nicolas Touzaint.
The show jumping is always strong and this year was no exception with only 15 jumping clear of the 79 completing the completion. Cockatoo and Bettina jumped an amazing round incurring no penalties putting them back into the lead as Nicolas had 2 rails down.
Their success was also aided to by German winning the Team competition 13 points over France and Great Britain coming in third.
So it is now fingers crossed for their next competition 22-26th April at Kentucky, USA
Monday 23rd March 2009 - Cross Country Schooling - so exciting!
Last Friday Andrew and Bettina took five horses cross country schooling, the weather in Germany was beautiful the facilities fantastic with so many variation of fences and a wonderful water to school through with many options.
Andrew had Grand Joca who was so relaxed and soft jumping fantastic and he also rode Rutherglen making the comment that he is an Olympic horse. Although excited and fresh he was just amazing with the ease in which he galloped and jumped.
Bettina rode Ringwood Cockatoo and was really excited with the way he felt as he is now in his final preparation for Fontainebleau CCI***. Looks like Red was a star being so neat and easy to ride and Composer at the age of five coped with the whole day like a professional.
Monday 16th March 2009 - Jumping & Dressage shows & Clinics
Andrew has had a busy time with Grand Joca competing at three shows a week ago. Two of them jumping shows where he jumped in 1.20m and 1.30 classes and although having one rail down in both classes Andrew was really pleased as he is now riding him in a snaffle bridle. The third show being Dressage, Joca produced a personal best excelling himself by finish in the top five against the advanced medium dressage specialists.
Bettina in the mean time won an advanced medium dressage class with Cockatoo against some top dressage horses and finished third and fourth with Looks Like Red in a medium and advanced medium class for young horses at the same show. Red was fantastic in dealing with the atmosphere which frightened a lot of the young horses but he kept his nerves and performed brilliantly.
Bettina then headed to the UK to conduct another three day dressage clinic at the beginning of last week at Mere Farm in Marlborough organised by Jonelle Richards and Tim Price while Andrew conducted a three day jumping and cross country clinic in the South of Germany organised by Carola Bierlein.
Saturday 7th March 2009 - Show weekend
Freckenhorst is only a 15 minutes drive from the DOKR and the young horses had their first show for 2009 competing in Springpferde Pruefung class R. This class is for five year old horses and is judged on the style the young horses jump where they are given a mark out of ten. Looks Like Red scored 7.60 and Composer 6.90. Ruthglen was in Springpferde Pruefung class L. for six year old horses and scored 7.60. All three horses jumped great and were very excited to be out so were shying in the arena but Andrew and Bettina are not worried by this with the young horse and were really happy.
Monday 2nd March 2009 - Andrew Jumping, Bettina running clinic
Andrew rode Grand Joca at a jumping show in Freckenhorst only a twenty minute drive from the DOKR. His training at the DOKR has been so improved but as always it is so important to take the training into the competition arena. They jumped in two class’s the first being 1.15m and the second at a 1.30m. Andrew was really happy with the way Joca jumped and is heading to more shows for continued competition practice.
In the mean time Bettina was running a really successful three day dressage and jumping clinic organised by Carola Bierlein for eighteen riders from pre-novice to Three Star level in Neumarkt, Bavaria. As there was still snow on the ground the group are hoping for warmer weather in two weeks time as Andrew is running a cross country clinic for the same group. The riders would welcome some the warm weather from Australia in the northern hemisphere!
Tuesday 24th February 2009 - New addition to the stables
Today there was a new arrival in the stables, Lacorna, a 9 year old, bay, Trakehner, mare, by Cronus out of a thoughbred mare. She is owned by Annette Wyrwohl who’s daughter Stefanie has previously been riding Lacorna successfully competing her at two star level.
Thursday 19th February 2009 - Bettina in the UK
Bettina has had three days in the United Kingdom giving dressage lessons, two days were organised by Janelle Richards and Tim Price at there property Mere, near Marlborough with many of the students starting to prepare there horses for Badminton. The third day was at a private property in Surrey and plans are being made for her to return to provide regular lessons.
Andrew was on the home front at the DOKR keeping the horses in work, doing some jump schooling and with the ground not so frozen was able to work outside and also through the wonderful woods a joining the DOKR
Friday 13th February 2009 - Change of Weather and Tragedy
While in the Northern Hemisphere we have freezing conditions our thoughts are with the Australian community and our friends who have suffered tragedy due to the horrific fires that engulfed communities in Victoria. The loss of human life, property, wild life and animals that people work with so closely shall be affected for generations. May God give the family and friends the strength to pull through this hardship and loss!
Andrew and Bettina are still concentrating on the dressage and jump training in the amazing indoor arenas at the DOKR. The frost is slowly leaving the ground and they are able to work the horse more out doors to improve there fitness.
Ina Goesmeier, our horse acupuncturist came to have a general check of them and said she has never had them feeling so good so the move and new environment for them has been very positive.
Monday 2nd February 2009 - Legendary Help
Day by day the horses are settleing into there new environment and Andrew and Bettina are finding the work very inspiring as they have the opportunity to work with some of the best trainers in the world. For example today Germany's Show Jumping legend Hans Gunter Winkler was helping his wife Debby with some young horses. While Debby was changing horses Andrew jumped Rutherglen and Hans Gunter Winkler was very kind in giving Andrew some invaluable tips. Bettina is having regular show jumping lessons with Heiner Engemann, Germany's new Show Jumping coach along side Otto Becker and they are seeing the improvment...
Thursday 29th January 2009 - DOKR trainning and horses having fun..
Two days ago at Warendorf the surfaces in the Dressage and one jumping arena were topped up and laser levelled which makes it so wonderful for the horses.
Since his shoulder oporation in Australia at the end of November Andrew has had a long break but the rehabilitation is making good progress and his surgeon and physio are happy. Joca seems to have a change of personality and is becoming so soft and gentle. His dressage and Jumping is improving day by day.
Bettina has Cockatoo in flying form who is so much enjoying life with him bucking away while jumping and out hacking. Life just seems to be so much fun!!!
The young horses Rutherglen, Looks Like Red and Composer are enjoying there work so much. It is such a great education for them being able to jump in different arenas and always a changing environment and scenery is important for them to develope and build in caricature...
Thursday 22nd January 2009 - Completion of the move Gatcombe Park / DOKR Germany
All of the horses arrived at the DOKR and are really happy with there new stables and training environment with three indoor arenas. One full size dressage arena and two jumping arenas plus outdoor dressage, jumping, cross country schooling and general training areas.
Andrew and Bettina headed back to the UK to complete the move from Gatcombe Park. A hugh task but fortunately they had removers in to pack the cottage but there was also the steam cleaning of the stable.. It is now completed and they are back in Germany to continue with the training.
Daiki has gone back to Australia via Japan as he is newly wed to his long time girl friend. Although Andrew and Bettina were sad to see him leave everyone is very happy for him and wish him all the very best for his future. Daiki wants to secure his residency of Australia but he said he would be back at some stage. His position has been filled by Donna Straderick who groomed for Yoshi for the passed two years so is familiar with the running of the stables.
Tuesday 13th January 2009 - We Have Arrived
The horses, Andrew and Bettina have arrived at the DOKR, (Deutsches Olympiade Kommitee fuer Reiterei) Warendorf, Germany. Home of the German National Equestrian Federation.
Upon arrival it was -14c with snow on the ground, yet amazingly it didnt feel as cold as England can be as it was a dry cold. The welcome was very warm in more ways than one as the stables had been heated especially for their arrival so the horses were able to settle in and are very happy with their new accomodation. Andrew, Bettina and grooms Genna and Daiki are busy unloading, unpacking and getting everything in order to find a good system for the horses in there new surroundings.
Tuesday 6th January 2009 - Final Days at Gatcombe Park
An era is coming to end with the final days of packing up their belongings and horses after being at Gatcombe Park since July 1997...
Moonfleet after being with Andrew for ten years has retired to his home at Coolmore Stud Ireland. His career has been acceptional with his major wins being Badminton, Burghley and Luhmuhlen. Wonderful for any horse to have these wins on their CV.
Master Monarch retired at the end of August after not being selected for the 2008 Olympic Team. Following discussions with his owners Tom Attwood and Major Richard Constant it was dicided he returns to Tom Attwoods property in Kent. Master Monarch's performances were amazing with him never being out side of a top ten placing in a four star competition.
The horse still going strong is Ringwood Cockatoo, now having just turned 18 he is heading towards the start of the 2009 season in great form following his and Bettina's wonderful win at the end of the year at Pau CCI****
Monday 24th November 2008 - Tegan
Andrew and Bettina were very sad when the owners Rick and Anne-Margaret Stowe of Devereaux Master Buzz and Devereaux Blinky Bill decided to place the horses with another Australian rider. Tegan has been working very hard and we felt had made huge progress in patricular over the past few months and we feel very upset for her that she was asked to go back to Western Australia to work with the horses of the Devereaux Stud that are not going to be good enough in the polo field. Obviously the competition scene in Western Australia is very limited in comparison to the UK, and other states in Australia but we hope that Tegan will somehow find her way back into the International eventing scene as she is a great talent and was a wondeful student to work with. We wish her all the best of luck.
Monday 10th November 2008
The Hoy Team was notified a few months ago that the rental contract with Gatcombe Park Estate was not going to be up for re-newal. Andrew and Bettina have made a big effort in trying to purchase a suitable property to prepare the move towards the end of the year. Unfortunately so far they have not come across the right property. As time is now running out and certainly the horses will have to be moved by the end of January they are looking into relocating at a new premises either bought or rented. The Hoy Team will definitely keep everyone updated with their future movements.
Saturday 8th November 2008
The competition season certainly finished with a highlight by Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo winning the 4 star in Pau/France.
After the long trip down to the south of France with 3 horses they were greeted by beautiful sunshine and the most amazing view onto the Pyrenaes (not sure how they spell).
Lamnfranco competed in the CIC** and Moon Fleet and Cockatoo in the CCI****.
The 2 star horses were first to go and Lanfranco did a very pleasing test to be in 4th after the dressage.
Ringwood Cockatoo looked and felt amazing to be in the lead after the first phase followed by Moon Fleet in 2nd.
The xc was very technical as was expected from course designer Pierre Michelet and caused many problems on the Saturday.
Only 2 horse went inside the time with Moon Fleet being 3rd fastest incurring just 1.6 time penalties. Cockatoo held his lead with a clear round and 7.2 time penalties and Moon Fleet remained in 2nd.
Although both 17 years of age both horses looked and felt fanstatic on Sunday morning and the show jumping was going to be very exciting.
Both Frank Ostholt and Nicholas Touzaint had one fence down and gave us a bit breathing space.
Unfortunately Moon Fleet didn't like the very firm ground in the show jumping arena and ended in 6th place after lowering a few rails.
Bettina and Cockatoo jumped a great round until the final treble where Cockatoo made one mistake jumping into the combination. Luckily they had a big advantage over Nicholas and the win was theirs.
Lanfranco had one fence down in the show jumping in the 2 star to start the xc in 7th place. Unfortunately he was very unsettled while warming up for the xc by some shetland pony show jumping.
He found it difficult to concentrate on the job and jumped far to big into the first combination to run out at the b element. After that Bettina decided to give him a schooling round and prepare him for further competitions to come next year.
Andrew and Bettina are now in Australia enjoying the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne and catching up with friends and family.
But they wouldn't be able to do that if it wasn't for their great team at home in particular head girl Karen Hughes who has been the most important factor to their success for so many years.
Thursday 2nd October 2008
Last weekend turned out to be a very successful weekend for the Hoyteam. Andrew riding the Classy syndicate's Classy Touch and Yoshiaki Oiwa riding Nittoh Kogaku's Khanjar Black in the CCI*** in Kreuth, Germany. The venue was also hosting the Young Rider European Championship and therefore attracted a very international field. After a pleasing dressage test and a very good clear round xc inside the time Andrew and Classy Touch had moved into 2nd place over night. The show jumping was up to height and the beautiful all weather surfaced arena always creates a lot of atmosphere which Classy Touch found a little difficult to deal with on the day. He ended up with 12 penalties to finish in 5th place.
Yoshi was also lying in a strong position before the show jumping with a very good chance to finish the competition on a personal best. Khanjar also got very distracted by the atmosphere and lowered 3 poles which left him in 7th place.
Bettina decided to take her own 8 year old Trakehner bred Lanfranco TSF to South of England for the CIC**. It was a first time for her at that venue and the conditions couldn't have been better. Lanfranco performed a personal best in the dressage and with a score of 39.2 was is 2nd position. He went clear xc with just 6.4 time penalties and after a very good clear round in the show jumping finished in 5th place.
Wednesday 24th September 2008 - Another great win for Cockatoo!
After leaving Gatcombe Park at 2.45 in the morning the lorry with Ringwood Cockatoo, Grand Joca and Classy Touch we arrived at Burnham Market at 7.15. Ringwood Cockatoo was one of the very early starters to score a very good 25,4 and went into the lead in section P. Grand Joca did his best dressage test so far at that level to achieve a 28,8.
The show jumping was testing but rode really well. Ringwood Cockatoo was unlucky to have the second last down but jumped even better than the week before. Grand Joca was full of concentration this time and showed a very classy clear round.
The cross country course build by Hugh Lochore and his team was the expected straight forward course but with enough questions to test even some of the experienced horses.
Ringwood Cockatoo jumped a beautiful clear round with the second fastest time in his section to win Advanced section P. Grand Joca jumped really well but got very distracted by a motor bike that ran along side him as he approached fence 11 and ended up with one very unfortunate stop to finish in 18th place.
Andrew left Burnham Market with the Classy Syndicate's Classy Touch to compete in the CCI*** in Kreuth and with Tom Attwood's and Richard Constant's Grand Joca who will be going to Boekelo after the prize giving. He went directly to Harwich to catch the over night ferry to Rotterdam.
Wednesday 17th September 2008
Georgie Strang who also rides a horse owned by Master Monarch's owner Tom Attwood is spending some time with us at the moment. She rides a horse called Highland Leopard who was produced in Germany by Dirk Schrade for the owner Tom Attwood and was only 2 months ago passed onto Georgie to compete in the UK.
They have already had a win at pre novice level and are now aiming to qualify for the 6 year old championship at Tweseldown in October. Georgie is getting training from both Andrew and Bettina while at Gatcombe and our expert staff is helping her with little tips regarding the management of a top class athlete.
Tuesday 16th September 2008 - Pontispool One Day Event
After Blenheim being cancelled Andrew and Bettina couldn't believe their luck when competing at Pontispool. The ground conditions were perfect, the sun was shining and the horses performed really well. Cockatoo had his first outing since Aachen and after being already in the lead after the dressage on a score of 21,9 and one mistake in the show jumping he cruised around the xc to win the open intermediate section very comfortably. Lanfranco started in his 4th intermediate and also won his section with only 0.8 of a penalty to add to his dressage score and Bettina was absolutely delighted with her 2 horses. Youngster Rutherglen this time ridden by Andrew produced the best dressage test in his section and with only one little mistake in the show jumping he also won his section.
Classy Touch finished 11th in his section and a very fresh Grand Joca finished 17th.
Monday 8th September 2008 - BURGHLEY
With the weather not being great for the Burghley Horse Trails organisers the event seemed to get of to a slow start. Moon Fleet and Andrew draw number 50 of the 73 starters which meant they had a 09:36 Friday dressage. Both performed a great test with Moon Fleet looking as elegant as ever which gave them a score of 41.90 placing them in 6th position with Ruth Edge and Mr Dumbledore being the leaders on 33.70. Andrew and others felt that the test was worthy of a better mark but it wasn't to be according to the ground jury.
Andrew's opinion of the Mark Phillips designed cross country was strong and this was proven with only 29 combinations jumping clear rounds and only three inside the time. Andrew and Moon Fleet were producing a fast and wonderful copy book round when they came to Capabilities Classic, fence number 22, two thirds of the way around the cross country course where they had a run out at the second element thus Andrew decided to retire and walked back through the crowd. It was such a shame as everything had been going so smoothly with Moon Fleet running and jumping fantastically.
Moon Fleet was not the only horse at Burghley from the stables as Bettina rode Rutherglen in the 5yr old Winergy Young Event Horse class on the Friday morning. This is a class is judged on the potential of the horse fro eventing. The dressage is out of 36, Jumping out of 40, Confirmation and Type out of 15. then suitability and Potential out of 10.
Rutherglen was so excited with being at such a big show that he was anxious in the dressage in didn't settle therefore scoring 24, in the jumping he received the highest score of the class 36.5 and with confirmation and type 12. They missed out on being in the final 10 by only 2.5 marks. Overall Andrew and Bettina were still very pleased with Rutherglen as he is definitely a horse for the future.
Thursday 24th July 2008
July 18th - Tegan was Elimiated at Aston le Walls on the XC.
July 16th - New computer ordered for office, all 4 of Andrew's rides are withdrawn from competing at Aston le Walls this coming weekend (18th-20th).
July 15th - Ringwood Cockatoo went to the vets for a scan and 5 horses went to SJ at Summerhouse.
July 12th - back to Stockland Lovell with the stallion Easy Going in the Novice, he scored 34.5 but was retired on the XC phase.
July 11th - Andrew competed at Stockland Lovell: Lanfranco TSF finish 2nd, dressage score of 25.0, 4 SJ penalties and 10 XC penalties leaves thrm on a finishing score of 39.0. Classy Touch had a great dressage test scoring 30, clear SJ but Retired on the XC. Grand Joca also scored 30 in his dressage, clear SJ but 10.4 penalties on XC giving them a score of 40.4 putting them in 9th position.
July 10th - Leap of Joy is vaccinated for returning to Australia as Analisa has decided to stay there.
July 6th - Bettina arrives back at the Gatcombe stables wih Yoshi. Andrew competes Master Monarch at Barbury, score 37.5 in the dressage but then get 12 penalties in the SJ so withdraw before XC.
July 5th - Bettina and Cockatoo had a problem in the SJ at Aachen.
July 4th - Master Monarch was vetted by the Australian Management. Andrew has not been selected for the Beijing Olympic Games. Andrew WON on Rutherglen in the BYEH at Barbury Castle
June 30th - Vicky Tuffs came for a lesson with Bettina
June 28th - Bettina won onLanfranco TSF at Rolleston. The vet came to do the export health papers for Bettina and Yoshi for Aachen.
Thursday 26th June 2008
Paul Tapner had a dressage lesson with Bettina yesterday and today I confirmed with the vets that Moon Fleet will be available for the full pre-Olympic vet check but Bettina will be taking him as Andrew is away in poland.
Wednesday 25th June 2008
Andrew and Analisa left for Poland on Monday for the event this weekend. Yesterday Bettina took her 2 young horses to Stonar.
Rutherglen WON, finishing on his dressage score of 28.5. Easy Going - the stallion was very good and well behaved.
Monday 23rd June 2008
Salperton Horse Trials were held at the weekend. Andrew had 2 horses running, Grand Joca and Balloo IV.
Grand Joca finished 5th on a score of 38.5, he had a dressage score of 27.3, a double clear but 11.2 time penalties on the XC.
Ball finished 22nd, dressage was good with 23.6 but 20 penalties on XC and 20 time faults gave them a finishing score of 63.6.
Analisa won her Novice section with Papillion II, finishing on their dressage score of 18.6! Sadly she was eliminated on thr XC with her other horse Political Mandate.
Tegan finished 7th in the Intermediate on Devereaux Blinky Bill.
Monday 16th June 2008
Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo won the 3* in Luhmuhlen, finishing on a score of 32.80 adding just 3.2 time penalties to her dressage score of 29.6
Andrew finished 4th on Moon Fleet with 58.30, they had 16 penalties in the show jumping but this position has allowed them to gain their Olympic qualification. Unfortunately Andrew and Master Monarch were eliminated due to a horse and rider fall.
Yoshi finished 28th on Gorgeous George but was sadly eliminated on Khanjer Black.
Sunday 15th June 2008
Final Horse Inspection and Show Jumping Day
Andrew is the overnight leader with Moon Fleet in the CCI****.
Bettina is the overnight leader with Ringwood Cockatoo in the CIC***
Bettina and Cockatoo passed the Horse Inspection before heading into the show jumping ring to complete a brilliant clear round to end the competition in 1st place, on a score of only 32.8!!
Andrew and Moon Fleet went into the show jumping in the lead in the 4* competition but unfortunately had 4 poles down which added 16 penalty points to their score moving them down to 4th position.
Yoshi and Gorgeous George had 1 pole down adding 4 penalty points to their total of 90.3, which left them in 28th place.
Saturday 14th June 2008
X Country day today at Luhmuhlen.
Bettina is in 1st place after the dressage and Andrew is well placed with both Master Monarch and Moon Fleet.
Bettina and Cockatoo had a clear round with only 3.2 time faults which leaves them still in 1st place as they head into the final phase of the show jumping tomorrow.
Andrew had a great round with Moon Fleet adding no penalties to their dressage score! They had a clear round AND inside the time which is wonderful to hear as Moon Fleet was so unlucky at Badminton, when they were in the lead after the dressage.
Things did not go so well for Master Monarch and they were eliminated as was Yoshi on Khanjer Black, his other horse Gorgeous George incurred 20 penalties on the X Country and 10 time faults which was unfortunate.
Friday 13th June 2008
Dressage Day at Luhmuhlen
Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo are leading after the dressage in the CIC*** compeition with a score of 29.6, in 2nd place is Ingrid Klimke on 33.9 and joint 3rd F. OStholt and B. Kaack on 34.3. Andrew is in 7th place with Master Monarch on 45.7 and Yoshi is in 20th with Khanjer Black on 51.3 and 32nd with Gorgeous George on 56.3.
In the CCI**** after the dressage, Lucinda Fredericks and Headly Brittania are in the lead with 32.6, Simone Deitermann and Flambeau H 3 are in 2nd with 35.4 and Andrew and Moon Fleet are in 3rd place with 39.3.
Tomorrow is X-Country day and Yoshi is 1st to go with Gorgeous George at 10.30am. Andrew and Master Monarch are on at 11.39, Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo at 12.12pm and Yoshi on Khanjer Black at 12.27pm over the CIC*** course. The CCI**** X-Country is run afterwards and Andrew and Moon Fleet are on at 15.39pm
Thursday 12th June 2008
Andrew and Bettina have both walked the course and are getting themselves prepared for the 1st phase of the competition, the dressage. Go to www.luhmuehlen.de
Wednesday 11th June 2008
The dressage for the CIC *** starts on Thursday and the dressage for the CIC**** starts on Friday. To find out the latest go to www.luhmuehlen.de.
Tuesday 10th June 2008
Andrew, Bettina, Karen, Rambo are all at Luhmuhlen settling in. Ringwood Cockatoo. Master Monarch and Moon Fleet are all stabled there as they are competing. Bettina also has Lanfranco as he was also at the training camp.
Andrew has left Balloo, Grand Joca and Peaceful Consort at Dolf Keller's and will join up with them after the competition is over. As amazing as Karen is, I don't think she would have been able to cope with 5 horses at an event with 2 competing!
Friday 6th June 2008
Bettina has been at the German Training Camp all week with Ringwood Cockatoo and also her Intermediate horse, Lanfranco TSF.
Andrew has travelled on with his 4 horses - about 6 hours away for his dressage and show jumping training. This is with his horses he is taking to Luhmuhlen and also to Poland at the end of June.
Andrew will drive back to Bonn Rodderberg to pick Bettina and her horses, before heading to Luhmuhlen where amongst other riders they will be greeted by their working pupil, Yoshi who is taking out 2 of his horses to compete.
Thursday 5th June 2008
Bettina has Ringwood Cockatoo entered for Luhmuhlen and Andrew has Master Monarch and Moon Fleet. Andrew is hoping that Moon Fleet will be able to get his Olympic qualifications at Luhmuhlen.
Wednesday 4th June 2008
Andrew and Bettina both left for Germany at the weekend, Bettina has to go to Bonn-Rodderberg for the German Team Training camp and Andrew has gone over to get some dressage and show jumping training before they both head to Luhmuhlen.
Friday 30th May 2008
As Cleobury Mortimer was cancelled all of the horses have been re-routed to LIttle Downham, which is a great help. The Hoy stables have 6 horses going, Bettina - Lanfranco & Ringwood Cockatoo, Andrew - Grand Joca & Peaceful Consort, Tegan - Blinky Bill and Analisa with Papillion II.
Thursday 29th May 2008
Today we say good bye to Pip who sadly has only worked for us briefly but has decided she wants to return home and work with horses nearer to her family.
We had the Hoy Horsebox tested today in order for us to be able to get our T2 Authorisation document, another one of the Government's costly adventures.
Wednesday 28th May 2008
Today I registered a new horse of Bettina's called Easy Going 14 who is a stallion they bought in Germany, he arrived in Badminton week when one of the fellow German riders bought him over.
Vicky Tuffs came for some more lessons with Bettina and I entered 4 horses for Andrew to ride at Strzegom in Poland.
Tuesday 27th May 2008
This evening at 7pm Andrew and Bettina are travelling across the country to hold a Lecture Demonstration at Hadlow College in Kent. It has been organised by a student at the college called Nicolle Eustration. With it being so far away the Hoy Team are not going to be getting home until very late!
Sunday 25th May 2008
Cleobury Mortimer has been cancelled due to the wet weather.
Friday 23rd May 2008
I had to take Rambo - Bettina's dog to the vet today for his annual check-up and necessary boosters as he travels around with Bettina as much as possible even when they go to Europe.
The Hoy Team have a total of 5 horses going to compete at Cleobury Mortimer on Monday (26th). Bettina is taking Lanfranco in the Intermediate and Cockatoo in the Open Intermediate. Andrew is also competing in the Open Intermediate with 3 of his horses: Classy Touch, Grand Joca & Peaceful Consort.
Thursday 22nd May 2008
***LOOKS LIKE RED - WON**** and **RUTHERGLEN was 2nd **
The Wiltshire College Horse Trials at Lackham were a worthy trip for Bettina and Karen. Red won on his dressage score of 22.5 - miles ahead of anyone else with 2nd place finishing on their dressage score of 35.0 and 3rd scoring 35.5!! Glen also finished on his dressage score of 27.5, the first 5 in the placings all finished on their dressage scores and it was a very close competition: 1st=25.0, then Glen/2nd=27.5, 3rd=28.5, 4th=30 and 5th=31.0.
Wednesday 21st May 2008
Karen is our 'Little Trucker' today as Andrew is away and Bettina had a small problem with her car, she is driving the lorry to Lackham College. Bettina is competing Looks like Red and Rutherglen in the Pre-Novice class.
Ringwood Cockatoo, Gorgeous George and Khanjer Black have all started their course for the Japanese Enchephalitis vaccination in preparation the Beijing Olympic Games being held in Hong Kong.
Monday 19th May 2008
Mattingley - Bettina and Lanfranco TSF were 3rd, finishing on their dressage score of 31.4. Tegan and Analisa had a frustrating day with both having problems in the S Jumping and X Country phases. Tegan finished 23rd on Devereaux Master Buzz and Analisa finished 32nd on Leap of Joy.
Chepstow - Tegan withdrew Devereaux Blinky Bill after scoring 41.9 in the dressage but then gaining 12 faults and 12 time penalties in the S Jumping. Analisa also had a bad day, she did not run Papillion II and Political Mandate scored 43.3 in the dressage but then had 8 S Jumping faults followed by 60 faults in the X Country with 26.4 time faults leaving them with a small cricket score of 137.70 putting them in 19th position.
Friday 16th May 2008
The German Federation have been on the phone today in regard to vaccinations for the Olympic Games. The rules are very tight and every horse going into Hong Kong has to be vaccinated against Japanese Encephalitis, so they were ringing to get Ringwood Cockatoo on the programme. Master Monarch will also need the vaccine so the Australian Team Vet - Graham Potts or 'Pottsy' as most like to call him will be down to the yard in the near future.
Today Andrew drove the lorry to Mattingley with Bettina and her horse Lanfranco TSF, Analisa with Leap of Joy and Tegan with Devereauz Master Buzz.
On Sunday Analisa and Tegan head to Chepstow, Analisa with Papillion & Political Mandate and Tegan with Devereaux Blinky Bill.
Thursday 15th May 2008
Today I had to withdraw the babies - Rutherglen and Looks like Red from Mattingley as Bettina has a personal engagement at the weekend and is now going to take them to wiltshire College, Lackham next Wednesday.
Wednesday 14th May 2008
**LOOKS LIKE RED IS A WINNER**
Bettina went back to Aston le Walls last Sunday with the babies to gain another victory, with both horses having double clears!!
Looks like Red scored 29.1 in the dressage phase and this was his winning score and Rutherglen scored 35.2 in the dressage, his finishing score, putting him in 7th position.
Friday 9th May 2008
**Bettina and Analisa both WON their Novice sections at Aston le Walls yesterday**
Bettina and Lanfranco TSF scored 25.7 in their dressage, 4 penalties in the S Jumping and 2.8 time penalties in the X-Country to finish on a score of 32.5 - the Winning Score!!
Analisa and Papillion II scored 34.3 in their dressage - which was their winning score in their section! Unfortunately Analisa did not have the same luck with Leap of Joy and they were elimated.
Tegan took Devereaux Master Buzz - they scored 27.6 in their dressage but had 8 penalties in the S Jumping and 11.2 time penalties in the X Country so had a total of 46.8 putting them in 14th position.
Andrew is now not taking Moon Fleet to Saumur so he has been entered at Luhmuhlen along with Master Monarch for Andrew and Ringwood Cockatoo for Bettina.
Thursday 8th May 2008
Today Bettina, Tegan and Analisa are heading to Aston le walls to all compete their Novice horses.
Andrew has had to withdraw all his horses from competing this weekend at Aston le Walls and also Chatsworth, due to his fall at Badminton his shoulder is still sore and he is unable to compete.
Wednesday 7th May 2008
Luckily for Bettina and the magazine people that Tuesday turned out to be a marvellous day with lots of sunshine and a bright blue sky. We are looking forward to seeing the final photo as the venue they chose in the woods looked to have great potential for an awesome picture.
More entries today for Cleobury in the Open Intermediate and Bettina with Lanfranco in the Intermediate, as well as Cockatoo who I entered yesterday in the Open Intermediate.
Tuesday 6th May 2008
Moon Fleet is all okay after his tumble at Badminton and will now go to France next week to compete at Saumur. Andrew has a sore shoulder but nothing is broken..
Today Bettina is having a photo shoot with a German magazine, they are flying over a stylist and photographer and are looing to get a shot of Bettina with Ringwood Cockatoo in their article based on the build-up to the Olympic Games.
I have entered Bettina with Cockatoo for Cleobury Mortimer - this will be their final competition in the UK before heading to Germany for team training and the competition at Luhmuhlen.
Saturday 3rd May 2008
Going into X-Country day, Moon Fleet is the over night leader at the Badminton Horse Trials 2008. The course is (as you may have seen in Horse & Hound) very tough and big with many jumping elements happening in short spaces of time.
Andrew and Moon Fleet parted company at Huntsman's Close which is quite early on the course, the 5th fence. Both horse an rider were able to walk away from the incident, a bit battered and bruised but ready to fight another day.
Friday 2nd May 2008
Andrew and Moon Fleet did an amazing test and are in 1st place after the dressage phase with a score of 35.4, in 2nd place is Ruth edge with 36.1 and 3rd place Lucy Wigersma on 37.4 so it is all very close.
For more information go to www.badminton-horse.co.uk
Thursday 1st May 2008
Today is the first day of dressage as it is held over 2 days, Thursday and Friday with the X-Country on Saturday and the S- Jumping on Sunday. Andrew and Moon Fleet are doing their dressage test tomorrow.
Wednesday 30th April 2008
For all the latest news and scores at Badminton, please go to www.badinton-horse.co.uk
This afternoon is the 1st Veterinary Inspection for the Badminton competitors. All the horses have to be in by 9am today and have to present themselves for the inspection before they can begin the competition.
Tuesday 29th April 2008
Andrew, Karen and Moon Fleet have departed for Badminton and hope to be there around mid-day. This will give Moon Fleet time to settle in and for Karen to be able to un-load the lorry and get everything in place before all the other horses arrive mid-afternoon.
Monday 28th April 2008
Bettina left early this morning to get to the airport and she is flying to Germany today and flying back to the UK this evening. Andrew has gone X Country schooling with a few horses - this is a standard training session to be ready for Badminton for both horse and rider as Badminton has one of the stiffest, most taxing and technical X Country courses in the world.
Thursday 24th April 2008
Today Bettina has gone off with the car and trailer to Milton Keynes, they had so many entries that they were able to add on an extra day - which is great news seeing as so many events have had to be cancelled due to the adverse British weather!!
Wednesday 23rd April 2008
Back to Powderham Castle again on Sunday, this time for Tegan, Friedrich and Analisa in the Novice Classes.
Tegan rode Devereaux Master Buzz in the Novice - Section P, scoring 32.9 in the dressage and having a clear round in the S Jumping and X Country but picked up 0.8 time faults leaving them on a score of 33.7 and finishing in 2nd place!!
Friedrich was also in the Novice - Section L scoring 37.1 in the dressage, 4 faults in the S Jumping, clear X Country with 3.2 time faults finishing on 44.3 and in 10th place.
Analisa rode Papillion II in the Open Novice as they were unable at such short notice to squeeze her into the Novice. Analisa scored 33.3 in the dressage, went clear S Jumping and X Country but had 5.2 time faults which sadly cost her 1st place as she finished in 2nd by a score difference of only 1.2 !!!
Bettina is taking just Rutherglen to Milton Keynes (1) tomorrow as Looks like Red has been withdrawn as he seems a little under the weather.
Tuesday 22nd April 2008
Andrew, Bettina, Tegan and the Team travelled to the South West last Friday to compete at Powderham Castle Horse Trials.
Andrew rode Grand Joca in the Open Intermediate - Section D and has a dressage score of 26.4, 4 faults S Jumping, clear X Country but 6.8 time faults leaving them on a score of 37.2 putting them in 2nd place.
Peaceful Consort also in the Open Intermediate - Section E had a dressage score of 25.9, clear S Jumping and X Country with no time faults leaving them on their dressage score of 25.9 and WINNING their section!!
Bettina rode Ringwood Cockatoo again in the Open Intermediate - Section E starting with a great dressage score of 22.7, clear S Jumping and X Country but 10.4 time faults leaving them on a score of 33.1 putting them in 4th place.
Tegan rode Deveraux Blinky Bill in the INtermediate - Section B, scoring 31.8 in the dressage, clear S Jumping and X Country but with 13.2 time faults finishing on a score of 45.0 putting them in 8th place.
Sadly our Japanese student Yoshiaki Oiwa has to had withdraw his horse Fifth Avenue Fame from Badminton next week, this was his only ride at the event so he will now have to stay at home and concentrate on his next competition with his other horses.
Friday 18th April 2008
The entries secretary at Powderham - Mrs Rosemary Cann is an absolute legend - she has managed to squeeze our students in so that they can compete this weekend.
Andrew and Bettina are competing in the Open Intermediate today and Teagn in the Intermediate, so they all had a very early start with the first being on at 0933 hrs!!
We had some forms from Badminton to fill out today as they need to know what day and time we will be arriving, also what bedding the horse needs: paper/shavings/straw and the name of the groom attending -we will of course be sending Karen - our Head Girl for Moon Fleet, she is very fond of him and knows him inside out.
Thursday 17th April 2008
What with Sapey being cancelled I have been trying to get our students and their Novice horses into Powderham as Andrew, Bettina and Tegan are already competing there.
Today Andrew, Bettina and Yoshi are going through their 3* and 4* dressage tests in a competition at their local equestrian centre. Andrew is taking Master Monarch and Moon Fleet, Bettina - Ringwood Cockatoo and Yoshi - Fifth Avenue Fame, Gorgeous George and Khanjer Black.
Tuesday 15th April 2008
**SAPEY has been cancelled both days**
Monday 14th April 2008
What a busy weekend the Hoy Team have had, travelling up and back from Belton on Saturday and Sunday.
Tegan rode Devereaux Blinky Bill on Saturday and finished 17th. She had a dressage score of 34.8 but then a cricket score in the show jumping of 16, clear X Country but with 13.2 time faults leaving her with a total score of 64.0
Andrew rode Master Monarch and Moon Fleet in the CIC*** on the Sunday.
Master Monarch scored 45.3 in the dressage, 5 faults in the show jumping, clear X Country with 22.4 time faults leaving them with a score of 72.7 putting them in 7th place.
Moon Fleet scored 46.6 in the dressage, also 5 faults in the show jumping, clear X Country with 29.2 time faults so they scored in total 80.8 putting them in 14th position. This is a great start for Moon Fleet as this was his first CIC*** he has completed since having his problems last year which caused him to be withdrawn from Badminton, so he is now on the right path to Badmintonthis year, hopefully gaining the necessary qualifications needed for Beijing 2008.
** SAPEY on Tuesday has been cancelled**
Friday 11th April 2008
Today I have made some entried for Aston le Walls (1), Bettina with Ringwood Cockatoo in the Open Intermediate and her young horse Lanfranco TSF in the Novice. Also in the Novice I have entered: Friedrich & Conepeak, Tegan with Devereaux Master Buzz and Analisa with Leap of Joy and Papillion II.
Thursday 10th April 2008
Today the start times came out for Belton on Saturday, the first being at 0900 hrs was not happily received by the Hoy Team. This means a very early start for everyone and with the last time being around 5pm it's going to be a long day. But at least it is on which is a change as everything seems to be getting cancelled or we are getting balloted.
Tuesday 8th April 2008
The Larkhill results are finally through, I think due to having so many runners it must have been a tough task getting all the results sorted and organised.
Bettina took her 2 Intro horses to Larkhill: Looks like Red and Rutherglen.
Looks like Red had a 36.0 dressage, 4 penalties in the S Jumping, clear X Country with 4.4 time faults finishing on a score of 44.4 which would have put her in 15th position but they have to run HC as Bettina is riding them.
Rutherglen had a 29.0 dressage score, clear S Jumping and X Country with only 0.4 time penalties so they would have finished 2nd - but were also HC.
Wednesday 2nd April 2008
I am still unable to get the final results from Belmont Park which is frustrating - I guess they must be having a problem their end.
Pippa - our new groom who starts this Friday came to the office today to fill out lots of forms. She came here highly recommended from the Hunt Kennels where she worked all winter so we hope that she is happy here.
Tuesday 1st April 2008
Andrew, Karen and Grand Joca, Master Monarch, Moon Fleet & Peaceful Consort and away at the Australian Training Clinic until Friday. They are having both dressage and show jumping training. The dressage is being conducted by Harry Boldt and the show jumping by Gilbert Boeckmann.
The yard feels so different with 4 horses away, a lot quieter and without Karen here it's very strange as she is like a permanent fixture.
Monday 31st March 2008
Andrew went to Burnham Market with Classy Touch on Saturday and had a very early start. They scored 34.4 in the dressage but had 12 penalties points in the S Jumping followed by a clear X Country but 13.6 time faults so they ended on a score of 60, putting them in 17th position.
On Sunday Bettina, Tegan and Friedrich went to Belmont Horse Trials which is just outside Bristol. At the moment I am unable to get their results.
Today Andrew is training with all the other Australians at a clinic for all the Olympic selected riders and horses at Hoplands Equestrian Centre, Karen has gone to help.
Wednesday 26th March 2008
Somerley yesterday, Andrew and Classy Touch had a dressage score of 28.2 but 8 penalties in the SJ, plus 9.6 time penalties in the XC they ended up with a total of 45.7 putting them in 13th place. Andrew withdrew Balloo IV.
Tegan and Devereaux Blinky Bill had a dressage of 32.4 but also 8 penalties in the SJ and 121.0 time faults XC giving them a total of 56.2 putting them in 12th place.
Analisa and Papillion scored 32.4 in the dressage and had 4 SJ penalties and 11.2 XC time faults so their total was 47.6 leaving them in 9th place.
Tuesday 25th March 2008
Today is the first day of Somerley Horse Trials. Andrew is taking Classy Touch and Balloo IV in the Open Intermediate, Bettina is riding Lanfranco TSF in the Novice and Tegan is riding Devereaux Blinky Bill in the Intermediate.
Friday 21st March 2008
The Novice that was meant to be held at 'Little Gatcombe' today was abandoned this morning at 0830hrs, it is quite windy but we have not had that much rain so I am surprised it has been cancelled.
It must be a nightmare for all those riders and owners that set off at the crack of dawn to get here in time only to be turning around, such a wasted day for them but better to be safe than sorry.
Thursday 20th March 2008
'Little Gatcombe' is well under way and I have had to listen to a mumbled cross country commentary for most of the day!!
It's really cold here today and quite windy, rumour has it there is snow on the way and with the British weather like it is - I wouln't be surprised, even though it is March!
I popped down to the stables to find Tegan getting ready to go out and compete so fingers crossed.
I spoke with Andrew & Bettina and they are having a busy time trying horses as they only have a very short space of time, they return to the UK on Saturday evening.
Wednesday 19th March 2008
Andrew and Bettina are travelling to Germany today to look at some horses with hopefully star potential to join the Hoy Team.
'Little Gatcombe' horse trials as we like to call it is being held this weekend so a fleet of very shiny smart new land rovers has arrived, sadly they won't let me have one so I will just have to look but not touch!!
The dressage arenas are all marked out, the show jumps up and the flags up on the cross country course have all been laid out. It is normally a very popular event where they often have to ballot riders.
Tegan - our Australian student is competing both of her horses, Devereaux Blinky Bill and Devereaux Master Buzz, so lets hope being on home-turf doesn't show their cheeky sides!
As Andrew & Bettina are both away, Daiki has moved into their cottage to look after Rambo as he has been left here.
Monday 17th March 2008
Andrew finished 7th on Classy Touch in the Open Intermediate Section R. They scored 32.9 in the Dressage and had 4 faults in the show jumping and 14.4 X Country time faults which made their final score 51.3.
Andrew had a Dressage score of 28.1 with Balloo IV and then Withdrew him from the rest of the competition.
Tegan and Devereaux Blinky Bill had a Dressage score of 34.3 in the Intermediate and then had 8 faults in the S Jumping and withdrew from the rest of the competition.
Saturday 15th March 2008
**ANALISA and Papillion II WON the Pre-Novice Section C at ALDON **
It was quite a mixed day for the Hoy Team at Aldon on Friday. Bettina rode Analisa's other horse Leap of Joy and they were 12th in their pre-novice section(D). Friedrich and his mare - Conepeak were 4th in their pre-novice section(A) and Andrew and Tegan are both competing on Sunday.
Friday 14th March 2008
Today the team headed off at the crack of dawn - 5am I think, to Aldon in Somerset. Bettina is riding Analisa's horse Leap of Joy, Analisa is riding her own Papillion and Friedrich is riding Conepeak with Andrew being the driver for the day.
On Sunday Andrew is riding Balloo IV and Classy Touch in the Open Intermediate and Tegan is riding Devereaux Blinky Bill in the Intermediate.
Wednesday 12th March 2008
Andrew, Madeleine and the horses are now back in the UK after their long journey home. All the horses have settled back in well and are not appreciating leaving lovely hot, sunny Portugal for rainy, cold England!
Saturday 8th March 2008
At present the results at Barroca in the CCI*** are:
1st - Karen Donkers - 39.3
2nd - Andrew on Peaceful Consort - 43.7
3rd - Joe Meyer - 48.1
4th - Tizana Realini - 48.1
14th - Madelaine & Sundancer - 54.3
15th - Madelaine & Marango - 54.5
18th - Andrew & Grand Joca - 55.4
Friday 7th March 2008
Andrew, Grand Joca and Peaceful Consort have just begun their next competition in Barroca and hope to achieve similar results.
Thursday 6th March 2008
Andrew's scores from the first weekend of competition in Barroca were:
Peaceful Consort - D: 49.8, SJ: 0, XC: 0
Grand Joca - D: 45, SJ: 0, XC: 0 but 5.2 time penalties, which cost him 1st place!
Sunday 2nd March 2008
** Andrew WON at Barroca today with Peaceful Consort and was 3rd with Grand Joca **
What a great result for the first competition of the season. Both the horses are staying out in Portugal for another competition this weekend and will then come back to the UK, Madeleine is also staying out for the next competition so they can all come back in the same lorry.
Friday 29th February 2008
Peaceful Consort scored 49.8 today in the Dressage with Grand Joca scoring 45.0, there are still quite a few riders to do their tests so placings are unknown at present.
Thursday 28th February 2008
Andrew rode Grand Joca today in the Dressage and is the overnight leader after the first day of competition at Barroca!
Peaceful Consort has his dressage at 9.54 tomorrow morning so I will let you know the score, but it won't be for a while as they are very relaxed with getting the results out in Portugal.
Wednesday 27th February 2008
Andrew, Madeleine and the horses have all reached Barroca and are getting used to the extremely hot conditions. All the horses travelled well and are raring to go.
Andrew has travelled down with Madeleine in her lorry as she herself is also competing so the Hoy lorry is staying at home.
Friday 22nd February 2008
Today Andrew is trawling around the countryside with the Australian Team Vets looking for a suitable base for the Australian Horses to be put into quarantine before the Olympics.
Analisa is recovering from her X-Country training yesterday, Andrew had her put her stirrups up 6 holes and her legs are paying for it today!
We were looking forward to meeting Emily this morning who was coming for an interview to join the Hoy Team. She never showed up, never contacted us, nothing! I find it very frustrating when I asked her specifically to contact me if there were any problems but no, nothing. You structure the day around their arrival and when they don't show up it affects everyone and their plans for the rest of the day.
Thursday 21st February 2008
Today Andrew has gone X-Country schooling at Badgerstown with 2 horses, he has also taken Analisa (our latest Australian Working Pupil) with her 2 horses and Friedrich (who is here from Germany) with his horse.
Madeleine Brugman is going to meet him there with her horses for some further training as she is also going to Barroca to compete.
Madeleine has come over to the UK to be based with the Hoy Team but as we do not have any free stables she is going to stable her horses over at Aston Farm. It is perfect for Madeleine as it is still close enough to hack over each day for training with Andrew and still be involved with everyone and everything.
Wednesday 20th February 2008
Yesterday the Hoy Team and some other local riders/grooms participated in a training day for them to gain the necessary qualifications that DEFRA have recently introduced for all people travelling with/driving horses.
It is a very expensive test to take with each person having to pay around £145!! It involves taking a 1 hour theory exam followed by a practicle exam and also driving if they are doing the drivers part as well.
It was a long drawn out day, basically everyone had to show that they were capable of driving/being in charge of a horse, loading, unloading, etc. Very mundane but lets hope that everyone had passed!!
If you transport horses you will need to have this certificate so make sure you check out the DEFRA website if you haven't already got one.
Friday 15th February 2008
Andrew is flying to Geneva this weekend to attend an FEI athletes meeting in Lausanne, he flies out on Saturday and returns on Sunday.
Bettina is flying to Germany on Saturday to attend a meeting so they are ranking up the airmiles between them, Bettina also returns on Sunday ready to continue with training on Monday.
Wednesday 13th February 2008
Today Dolf departs back to Germany, he has been working very long hard days in order to give the Hoy Team as much training as possible, he is a talented trainer and gets the best out of every horse and assists with the rider in helping them use their skills to the max. Everyone has had lessons, Andrew, Bettina, Yoshi, Tegan so everyone should be working on what they have learnt ready to put it into practice at their first competition of the season.
Frauke Wartenberg a German Osteopath is arriving at Heathrow today, she is going to work on all the horses and is staying until Saturday.
Monday 11th February 2008
Today we have to pick up Dolf our dressage trainer from Heathrow, he is going to stay and train with us until Wednesday. He is going to go through all the horses and all the riders and find out what is good and what is bad!
Friday 8th February 2008
*** Today is Andrew's BIRTHDAY ***
Another year older, another year wiser... but other than that it is a pretty normal day, nothing wild and crazy, not this year anyway!
Wednesday 6th February 2008
I have booked in our German Dressage Coach to come over and train with the Hoy Team next week. Whilst here he will instruct Andrew, Bettina, Yoshi, Tegan, Analisa, Daiki - everyone basically and all the horses will receive training.
It is always good to have someone elses opinions and ideas, Andrew and Bettina may be at the top of their game but improvements can always be made.
All top athletes receive coaching and most on a daily/weekly basis in order for them to reach the best results and. Many have dieticians and pyschologists to enhance their training programmes and mental state leaving no stone unturned in their fight for glory.
Friday 1st February 2008
The lecture demonstration at Hoplands Equestrian Centre last night was a great success and went really well with around 160 people attending.
As well as the horses Andrew and Bettina rode, Tegan our Australian student took her 1* horse - Devereaux Blinky Bill and Friedrich Dumrath who he is here from Germany for a few months took his horse - Conepeak.
It was along day as the lorry left the stables at 3pm on Thursday to travel to Hoplands, plenty of time had to be allowed due to the windy conditions the UK is being hit with.
The demonstration started at 8pm and finished at 10pm and they did not get back home to the stables until 2am!
Thursday 31st January 2008
Andrew and Bettina are tonight going to HOPLANDS EQUESTRIAN CENTRE to conduct a LECTURE DEMONSTRATION.
They are going to demonstrate some dressage skills in the first half mostly with Bettina followed by jumping skills in the second half with Andrew.
They have taken a variety of horses with them, starting with Bettina's young horse Looks Like Red in the dressage and ending with her 4* horse Ringwood Cockatoo. In the jumping they will begin with another of Bettina's young horses - Rutherglen and then finish with Andrew's Advanced horse - Balloo IV.
Wednesday 30th January 2008
Equine Transport Qualifications - do you have a horse? Do you transport it? Then you need one of these qualifications!
We are in the process of setting up a day for us on-site as there are enough people to hold our own test day, which is very useful as it saves a lot of time and hassle re. travelling and time taken.
Thursday 24th January 2008
Tonight Andrew heads to Australia House in London to celebrate Australia Day: What's great about Australia and being Australian.
Australia Day is a big day of celebration in Australia and is observed as a public holiday in all states and territories.
Wednesday 23rd January 2008
Finally it has stopped raining!! The weather here has been unbelievable with the local news and radio stations putting on flood warnings, when only a week or 2 ago we had snow.
The horses are all back in work and in training for the forthcoming season which will start for Andrew and Bettina in early March.
Thursday 17th January 2008
Andrew and Bettina are both away for the weekend, they have been fortunate enough to be invited to a Masked Ball in Venice, which sounds amazing and the invite alone was very elegant.
Wednesday 16th January 2008
Well, the snow has gone but the rain is here to stay. All the local rivers are swollen and reaching breaking point so we just have to hope for all those people situated nearby, that the banks will hold and the rain will stop.
The yard is working well, but we are in need of 2 new grooms as Marika has gone back home to Italy and another groom has left. So if you are interested or if you know of anyone, we are looking for a yard groom to assist with everyone and everything and be based mostly at the yard and a groom to assist Bettina with her horses, travel to competitions be they in the UK, abroad, maybe the Olympics. Please contact us.
Friday 11th January 2008
It is SNOWING, can you believe it?! Not just a dusting either, it is settling all around and I am not looking forward to driving home.
2008 has begun with some bizarre weather, freezing cold, ice, rain, snow, bright sunshine..the British weather is truly unpredictable.
Andrew and Bettina are ready to start 2008 and looking forward to the possibility of competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Bettina has qulaified Ringwood Cockatoo and Andrew has qualified Master Monarch and Yoshi has qualified 2 horses so 2008 is full of Olympic talk.
Thursday 10th January 2008
The yard is ticking along well, but we are in need of 2 new grooms as Marika has gone back home to Italy and another groom has left.
So if you are interested or if you know of anyone, we are looking for a yard groom to assist with everyone and everything and be based mostly at the yard and a groom to assist Bettina with her horses, travel to competitions be they in the UK, abroad, maybe the Olympics. Please contact us.
Friday 21st December 2007
I am signing off now until 2008 as this is my last day in the office for this year!
I wish you all a wonderful Christmas with plenty of time to relax and eat & drink far too much!
Happy New Year to you all and may 2008 bring you lots of luck
Wednesday 12th December 2007
Andrew and Grand Joca arrived back safe and well in the UK yesterday evening and while Joca was very hapy to see all his friends he was not very amused with the chilly English weather!
Sunday 9th December 2007
The final results for the CIC** at Barroca in Portugal were:
1st - Carlos Grave for Portugal with 52.5
2nd - Delphine Strube Bileitczuk for France on 53.9
3rd - Joao Duarte Silva for Portugal on 55.1
4th - Andrew and Grand Joca on 55.6
and Lost for Words was 13th on 90.9
Saturday 8th December 2007
At the end of the competition today Carlos Grave for Porugal has gone into the lead with 50.1 penalties, Andrew and Joca have moved done into 2nd position after havng 4 jumping faults and 4 time penalties. In 3rd position is Delphine StrubeBileitczuk for France on 53.9 and in 4th is Joao Duarte Silva for Portugal on 54.3.
Friday 7th December 2007
Today was the start of the competition with the Dressage phase.
** Andrew and Grand Joca went into the LEAD with 44.4 **
In 2nd position was Antoine le Pape on 48.0. 20 Riders have completed their dressage with another 9 to go tomorrow.
Thursday 6th December 2007
Joca and Andrew are thoroughly enjoying the warmer temperatures after the weather the UK has been experiencing this week.
Wednesday 5th December 2007
We have a new member to the Hoy Team, Analisa Hegyesi.
Analisa bought Leap of Joy from us back in the summer and flew him out to Australia, so Leapy is a well travelled horse as he has come back over from Australia with Analisa and her other horse Papillion.
Analisa is going to be based at our stables to train and prepare for competing in the 2008 season with Andrew and Bettina.
Tuesday 4th December 2007
THEY'VE ARRIVED!!
Andrew and Grand Joca are at Barroca and settling in well for the competition at the weekend.
I'm sure Andrew is appreciating the 27 degrees heat in Portugal, he probably feels like he is back in Australia. He returned to the UK on the 27th, went to Germany on the 29th, drove back to the UK on the 30th and left for Barroca on Dec 1st so he experienced very little of the English winter weather we are all dealing with back at the yard - gales, sleet, rain and not just a few drops, massive deluges!
Saturday 1st December 2007
Andrew and Grand Joca left today to begin the long drive to Portugal, where they are competing in the CIC** at Barroca.
Andrew is meeting up with a fellow rider who is also competing at Barroca on the way and their groom which should break the journey up a little
Thursday 29th November 2007
Andrew flies out to Germany today to go and pick up his lorry from the Ketterer factory. When he was at Pau they had an electrical power surge which caused damage to almost the entire electrical contents of the lorry. He was not alone as nearly everyone in the lorry park was affected - a very costly accident.
Wednesday 28th November 2007
Andrew and Bettina have return from Oz looking tanned and relaxed and can't wait to get out and enjoy the beautiful wet, cold weather we have been having!!
Saturday 17th November 2007
Andrew and Bettina today return from Lord Howe Island where it seems they must have been out of radio contact, so hopefully they will have both had a great holiday break from the rest of the world.
Saturday 17th November 2007
Andrew and Bettina today return from Lord Howe Island where it seems they must have been out of radio contact, so hopefully they will have both had a great holiday break from the rest of the world.
Thursday 15th November 2007
Andrew and Bettina have flown to Lord Howe Island with some friends and will be there for a few days break before they return to Melbourne.
Friday 9th November 2007
Today they fly to Sydney and are staying with some friends and fitting in a few engagements whilst they are in Sydney as they fly back to Melbourne on the 12th
Wednesday 7th November 2007 - WORK RIDER & GROOM WANTED TO JOIN THE HOY TEAM
Do you think you have what it takes to be a member of the Hoy Team? In the near future we are going to have a Work Rider position available and also a Groom's position.
They are both full-time positions, if you would like to hear more please contact us.
Tuesday 30th October 2007
Andrew and Bettina both flew out of Heathrow today to Melbourne, Australia. They are planning to attend The Spring Racing Carnival whilst they are out there, catch up with friends, attend some business meetings and maybe fit in a day or two's rest before the 2008 season starts and the countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games.
Monday 29th October 2007
The charity race in Mallorca that Bettina managed to finish a brilliant 16th in her section, was to raise money for traumatised children in Germany, they raised a massive 14,000 euros!!
Sunday 28th October 2007
Yoshi and Fifth Avenue Fame finished in 17th place.
They had a dressage score of 49.0, X Country they incurred 40 penalties and 8.4 time faults and for the Show Jumping he had a Clear round inside the time.
Paul Tapner, who Bettina gives regular dressage coaching finished in 5th on Inonothing, adding only 15.2 time penalties from the X Country to his dressage score of 46.0
Saturday 27th October 2007
Unfortunately Andrew has withdrawn Yeoman's Point from the rest of the competition. As the horse is for sale it is too much of a risk to take running him any further, to pick up an injury at the end of the season would be very frustrating.
Friday 26th October 2007
They have finished the dressage at Pau and Andrew is in 4th place with Yeoman's Point on a score of 42.6 and Yoshi is in 12th position on 49.0 with Fifth Avenue Fame.
The leader has a score of 41.6 so there is no room for mistakes as the contest already looks to be a close one.
For more information go to: www.event-pau.fr
Monday 22nd October 2007
Tegan had a clear round in the show jumping with Devereaux Blinky Bill for her to end up with a total score of 54.9 putting her in 15th position.
Tegan, Katy and both the horses are now back at the Gatcombe Stables having a well earned rest.
Andrew and Karen left for Pau on Sunday evening with Yeoman's Point and Yoshi Oiwa's horse and his groom, Donna for the CCI**** event being at the weekend.
Betttina had her Charity run yesterday and finished a very creditable 16th in her section on her racing debut and will now be enjoying a brief holiday in the sun before returning to the chilly UK!
Saturday 20th October 2007
Tegan had a clear Cross Country with 9.2 time penalties with Devereaux Blinky Bill.
Unfortunately she had to withdraw Devereaux Master Buzz from the competition as he was found with a slight swelling, no ones knows how, why, where or when but Tegan thought it best to let him rest.
Friday 19th October 2007
Tegan has now completed both of her dressage tests and is currently in 13th position with Devereaux Blinky Bill on 45.7 and 16th position with Devereaux Master Buzz on 48.2
Bettina left this morning to fly out to Palma Mallorca where she is going to run in a charity race at the weekend.
Wednesday 17th October 2007
Tegan is competing her 2 horses at Aldon in the CCI* this weekend. Yoshi has very kindly lent her his lorry for her and Katy to stay in, as it is a CCI they have to stable on-site and therefore stay on-site so Yoshi is driving them up and leaving them and his lorry there whilst he comes back to the stables at Gatcombe to prepare Fifth Avenue Fame for Pau.
Tuesday 16th October 2007
*** Bettina WON on Lanfranco at Broadway on Sunday***
They had an awesome dressage score of 29.5, clear in the show jumping and clear in the cross country with 3.2 time penalties, finishing on a score of 32.7.
Bettina won with 32.7, 2nd place had 34.6 & 3rd place had 35.8. There was less than 10 penalty points between 1st and 10th!
Tuesday 16th October 2007
* Yoshi and Khanjer Black finished in 3rd place at the weekend in the CIC*** at Nichelino in Italy *
They had a dressage score of 48.9 which put them in 3rd place after that phase. The cross country had 30 fences to negotiate and including the different combinations it totalled in a massive 40 fences to be jumped!! So the time was very tight with not one rider going inside the time. It was a very flat course with only one hill, it was of a good size and quite inviting with one water complex.
Yoshi had a clear round in the cross country but knocked up around 13 time penalties.
The trot-up in the morning went without a hitch and Yoshi and Khanjer had a brilliant clear round in the show jumping finishing inside the time, so they finished where they had started, in 3rd place!
Sunday 14th October 2007
Balloo passed the trot up this morning and completed a brilliant clear round in the show jumping and in the time but sadly due to their 20 penalty points yesterday they finished in 45th place.
For the complete list of results go to: www.military-boekelo.nl
Saturday 13th October 2007
Balloo slept well after his awesome test and came out raring to go for the Cross Country.
The course caused a lot of riders problems and sadly Andrew and Balloo were one of those. Andrew was really pleased with how he jumped and he really enjoyed himself but sadly jumping up a step he left a foot and could not get himself balanced and prepared for the following jump, so they incurred 20 penalties. Andrew couldn't blame the horse as it was just an unfortuante mistake and his only one of the whole course as at the 5 minute marker they were 10 seconds up and everything was going according to plan!
We will have to wait until the trot-up tomorrow to see if he is okay but Andrew was not concerned as he finished well.
Sadly William Fox-Pitt lost his lovely horse Monarch's Aristocrat on the course. No one likes for their horses to be injured as they are like a riders extended family, our thoughts are with the Fox- Pitt Team.
Friday 12th October 2007
Balloo IV yet again achieved a PERSONAL BEST in the Dressage phase at Boekelo with 39.4 to go into joint 2nd place!
Ingrid Klimke is in the lead with 38.5. There is only just over a 10 point difference between 1st and 25th, making it a very exciting contest.
Andrew has walked the course and he thinks it is by far the best course Sue Benson has designed. There are 2 water complexes on the course, the 1st water has been altered so that instead of jumping a fence into the water they will now jump a fence that is actually in the water. There are quite a few corners but it is a galloping, inviting course where the time may be achievable.
Lets hope Balloo can produce another personal best tomorrow in the Cross Country phase to enable him to stay in 2nd place.
Yoshi is currently in 1st place in Nichelino,Italy in the CIC*** with 48.6 ... but there are still a few riders to go so that may move him by a few but still, he is right up there with a brilliant dressage result.
Friday 12th October 2007
Bettina took Lanfranco to Tweseldown yesterday and finished in 2nd place.
They had a dressage score of 34.8, clear show jumping and clear cross country adding just 10.4 time penalties to their score to finish on a total of 45.2. The winner finished on 43.7 so it was a very close contest.
Thursday 11th October 2007
Bettina took Lanfranco to Tweseldown yesterday and finished in 2nd place.
They had a dressage score of 34.8, clear show jumping and clear cross country adding just 10.4 time penalties to their score to finish on a total of 45.2. The winner finished on 43.7 so it was a very close contest.
Wednesday 10th October 2007
Balloo has passed the first trot-up so it's all systems go for the Dressage which Andrew is performing on Friday.
Tuesday 9th October 2007
Andrew travelled to Holland on Sunday night with Balloo IV and Sundancer for Madeleine Brugman.
Andrew is riding Balloo IV in the CCI*** at Boekelo, the trot up is on Wednesday and the competition runs through until Sunday.
For the latest information from the competition go to www.military-boekelo.nl
Thursday 4th October 2007
Everyone is back in the UK and both the horses seem fine and happy after their competition.
We had an extra horse come back on the lorry which belongs to Madeleine Brugman, it is over here for Andrew to train in preparation for Madeleine to compete on the horse at Boekelo.
Andrew and the horse Balloo IV will be leaving at the beginning of next week to compete at Boekelo in the CCI***, they will also take Madeleine's horse back over, so he is only here for a very short visit.
Sunday 30th September 2007
Andrew and Peaceful Consort had 4 penalties in the Show Jumping giving them a total score of 56.8 which meant they finished in 3rd position overall which is great as they have not changed places since the start.
The winner had a score of 45.0, 2nd place had 56.7, Andrew - 56.8, 4th - 57.3 and 5th - 58.0 so all the scores were extremely close, it must have been very exciting to watch the final phase, the show jumping.
Yoshi managed to move up from 22nd place after the dressage with Gorgeous George to finish on a score of 63.3 putting him in 9th position overall.
Andrew, Yoshi, Marika, Daiki, Peaceful Consort & Gorgeous George will now be heading straight back to the UK for a well earned rest after their weekend outing!
Saturday 29th September 2007
Andrew and Peaceful Consort are currently competing out in Germany at Kreuth. They were in 3rd place after the Dressage with 44.4
Today they completed the Cross Country with a clear round but gained 8.4 time penalties but they have still managed to keep 3rd position.
Yoshi also had a clear round in the Cross Country with 5.6 time penalties, so he has moved up into 12th place.
Friday 28th September 2007
Andrew and Peaceful Consort have gone into 3rd position in the CCI*** at Kreuth with 44.4
The leader is on 35.2, 2nd placed rider is on 44.0, Andrew is 3rd with 44.4 and the 4th placed rider is on 44.6! The scores are all very close which should lead to a very exciting competition. Yoshi is in 22nd position with Gorgeous George on 57.7
It has been raining at Kreuth all day so the conditions may be a little slippery for the cross country tomorrow. Andrew is not worried about that as Peaceful Consort can cope in the wet.
1st - 10th positions are all held by Germans except Andrew in at 3rd!
For the latest news and results go to www.cross-country-tage.de
Wednesday 26th September 2007
Andrew, Yoshi, Marika and Daiki will now be in Kreuth, Germany competing in the CCI***. Andrew has taken Peaceful Consort to ride and Yoshi has Gorgeous George.
This will be Yoshi & Gorgeous George's 1st CCI*** where he is hoping to collect some more points to secure his place as an Individual for Japan at the Beijing Olympics 2008.
Tuesday 25th September 2007
** Bettina continued her great result from the European's by WINNING at Moreton Morrell with LANFRANCO on Sunday**
They achieved a brilliant Dressage score of 27.1, had a double clear with only 3.6 time penalties X-Country leaving them with a total of 30.7. The rider in 2nd position had a score of 37.6, so they won well.
Andrew took 2 horses to the South of England Horse Trials, Classy Touch & Yeoman's Point.
Classy Touch did a great Dressage test to score 27.6 but then had a cricket score in the Show Jumping of 16 penalty points! X Country he went clear with 7.6 time penalties so the final score for Classy Touch was 51.2 finishing in 22nd position, (having been equal 4th after the Dressage!)
Yeoman's Point achieved 32.9 in his Dressage test and went on to have a brilliant double clear only incurring 6.4 time penalties on the X Country. This left him with a total score of 39.3 putting him in 12th position.
I spoke to the yard today and the horses that competed at the weekend are all fit and well and ready to go again. Lanfranco is next entered at Charlton Park (28th-30th September).
Friday 21st September 2007
Andrew and Bettina have both gone X Country schooling this morning with 3 horses.
Bettina leaves for Ireland this afternoon where she has been asked to judge the Finals of the Future Event Horse League - (FEHL) being held at Tatterstalls, Ireland, for more information go to www.fehl-ie.com.
Bettina will be returning home on Saturday evening in time to prepare for competing Lanfranco in the Novice section at Moreton Morrell on Sunday.
Andrew is also competing on Sunday at the South of England Horse Trials, he is riding Classy Touch and Yeoman's Point both in the Open Intermediate Class.
Wednesday 19th September 2007
Cockatoo had a 2-day journey back to Gatcombe. On leaving Pratoni there was Andrew and myself in the lorry as well as my groom Katy Selby, we also had Vittoria Panizzon, her horse Rock Model and groom Mel. Vittoria was the highest place Italian rider in 8th position and with her ride secured the Team Bronze for the host country.
As we were returning direct to England we took a different route than the route we took out to Pratoni, as we had had the German Training Camp at Kreuth in the South of Germany for the week leading up to the Championships. We opted to take the very picturesque route of going via the Mont Blanc Tunnel, the scenery is amazing and seemed to reflect the happy mood that everyone was in.
Just 40km's into the South of France we were able to give the horses a 5hr rest at the home of Swiss fellow competitor Melanie Berkovitz here the horses enjoyed some happy hours out in the field, whilst Andrew was having a well earned rest before we tackled the last part of our journey home. The long travel back certainly had the advantage of enabling me to have time to reflect on the previous days at the Championships.
On arrival in Kreuth (the German Training Camp) Cockatoo experienced some muscle problems in his back and shoulder which became obvious after a couple of days training. Thanks to the fantastic work of Physiotherapist Gitta Padberg from Schweinfurt, Cockatoo was back in full work within 24 hours and only delayed our gallop training by 1-day!
We left Kreuth on the Sunday (9th) evening to arrive in Pratoni Monday morning, Cockatoo had travelled really well and after having had some quite cold days in Kreuth it was lovely to arrive in the beautiful Italian sunshine.
I obviously knew since Schenefeld that I was going to compete as an Individual and was not going to be a member of the German Team, this is the first time I have not been on the Team since 2001. Not being included in the Team felt very different but in hindsight in gave me a lot of freedom, I was even able to pick my start time which is a luxury you do not receive with being part of a team.
I picked Friday mid-morning as my start time and while I was getting ready Dr Ina Goesmeier, a member of the German Veterinary Team, came into the lorry to tell me that Cockatoo had had an accident in the stables and although he grazed his bum and hocks quite badly he was suprisingly sound and well within himself. It turned out that while he was being prepared for the Dressage for some unknown reason he scared himself and fell over backwards. Apparently it looked very scary and I'm glad I didn't see it as I would have probably pulled him out of the competition straight away. Our Team Vet - Dr Carsten Rohde attended to him immediately. As the injuries were only superficial and he was sound I entered the Dressage arena after only a short warm-up having had the very helpful and watchful eyes of our Team Trainer Chris Bartle looking on. As my usual Dressage Coach Dolf Keller was unable to be at Pratoni I had some invaluable help from Chris which gave us the final edge for the competition.
Cockatoo was just a star, he rose to the occasion and produced a Personal Best score winning the Dressage with 27.1.
The Cross Country course was very interesting and didn't look over big at the first inspection but the more we walked the course the more we realised the hidden challenges which proved to be the case on the Saturday.
There were several fences that made riders opt for the long route, Fence 9 was one of them with only 4 riders taking the direct route of which I was one of them. Fence 11 - caused run-outs with all riders that attempted the direct route except Daisy Dick and Spring Along (England), so I opted to take the direct route at 11 A & B and then the long route at C & D. This meant that I lost valuable time but I felt this was better than getting 20 penalties.
Due to the constant change in terrain and with the steep hills the horses started to tire after Fence 18 and I wasn't able to make up the time that I had lost at Fence 11. Cockatoo was absolutely awesome over the rest of the course and taking all the direct routes and he finished 28 seconds outside the optimum time which dropped us down to 3rd after the X-Country.
Just before I started my round I got some invaluable advice from Australian Team Trainer - Wayne Roycroft who told me through Andrew how best to ride in particular Fence 24 - The Coffin, that had caused trouble to some experienced riders like Frank Ostholt, Karin Donckers and Arnaud Boiteau.
On finishing the Cross Country Cockatoo felt very good so I was not so worried about the trot-up on Sunday which allowed me to sleep a little easier on Saturday night!
Unfortunately for the German Team Marius ridden by Hinrich Romeike had to be withdrawn after the Cross Country because he hurt his stifle at Fence 10 and would not have been fit enough to Show Jump. With Air Jordan ridden by Frank Ostholt being eliminated at Fence 24 - the very influential Coffin, the Team was unable to finish (as you need 3 scores to have a Team Result).
The Show Jumping proved again to be quite influential and there were no clear rounds in the morning session of competitors. With the top 20 jumping after lunch it still proved to be a challenging course but some riders were able to produce clear rounds of which one was Mary King on her lovely horse Call Again Cavalier meaning that I had to produce a clear round as well to keep my bronze medal.
Cockatoo tried really hard over the jumps but I could feel him not being as bouncy as usual which could have been down to the accident he had had in the stables. At Fence 8 I opted to take one more stride to Fence 9 which in hindsight proved to be the wrong decision as I had Fence 9 down.
With the 4 penalties I received with the knock-down I dropped down behind Mary which was disappointing but I was absolutely delighted with Cockatoo's performance over the whole of the competition. I was convinced that Nicolas Touzaint and Zara Phillips would have great rounds in the Show Jumping and was very sad for Zara to have a mishap with Toytown in the final phase. It was wonderful to get the Bronze medal but I was sad to receive it on Zara's misfortune.
We ended up being the ONLY medal Winner for Germany at the 2007 European Championships with Nicolas Touzaint being a very worthy Champion Winning the European Championships for a 2nd time after his last win in 2003.
Cockatoo is now having a well earned break out in the field and I am very much looking forward to competing him again in 2008, with Hong Kong as our next Big Goal.
Sunday 16th September 2007
Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo win a BRONZE Medal in Pratoni, the English win an 8th consecutive Team Gold Medal and the German Team can not complete due to only have two Team members left in the competition!
Which means that Bettina was the highest placed German Rider at the European Championships, with her INDIVIDUAL BRONZE MEDAL.
Please check out the Pratoni website for more information www.eueuropeanchampionship.com
Saturday 15th September 2007
What a day!
Bettina is now in 3rd position, she had a clear round on Cockatoo but incurred time faults.
Nicolas Touzaint was last to go on the X Country, he had a clear round AND inside the time so he stays on his dressage score of 29.4 putting him into the lead.
Zara Phillips is in 2nd position with 32.6, Bettina is on a score of 38.3, which means the Show Jumping tomorrow is going to be nail biting.
The X Country course today caused many an upset and a few surprises, a few stops, lots of run-outs, 1 horse fall, a few jumping the wrong side of the white flag, and some being cautioned with yellow flags leading to retirement.
The coverage on BBC 1 with Kristina Cook and Clare Balding was superb, perfect for us Equestrian fans but I doubt the football fans would have appreciated it much as it ran from 1pm through to 4pm!
The course today was a real testing, undulating and tricky course with the hot humid weather not helping. There were some lovely fences that jumped well and at speed, whereas the combinations required total control, balance and plenty of impulsion.
The trot-up will be held in the morning and we can only hope all the horses pass and are fit and well to compete in the final phase... the Show Jumping.
Friday 14th September 2007
European Championships, Pratoni, Italy
Positions at present after Dressage
1st - RINGWOOD COCKATOO, BETTINA HOY
2nd - GALAN DE SAUVAGÈRE, NICOLAS TOUZAINT
3rd - TOYTOWN, ZARA PHILLIPS
4th - FRH BUTTS ABRAXXAS, INGRID KLIMKE
5th - AIR JORDAN 2, FRANK OSTHOLT
Today has not gone as smoothly as we would have liked!
Cockatoo was tied up and something spooked him/upset him causing him to pull back and fall over backwards. He fell into an area where he could not immediately get to his feet and therefore was scrabbling about a lot with legs going in all directions as panic set in.
As I was not there I don't know exactly what happened but it sounded very distressing and uncomfortable for Cockatoo. Luckily he came out unscathed but we will just have to wait until tomorrow to see if he is okay.
This all happened BEFORE he even went in for his dressage, so hopefully with the scores he obtained he is okay for the rest of the competition!!
Friday 14th September 2007
Latest news is that Cockatoo seems okay, fingers crossed. Bettina will be starting the XC just after 2pm. I believe it is going to be shown on the BBC from 1pm-4pm, but you may want to look it up in a TV Guide to be sure.
Thursday 13th September 2007
Today if the first day of dressage at the European Championships in Pratoni, Italy.
Ingrid Klimke for Germany is currently in 1st place with a dressage score of 31.5, but there is another day of dressage tomorrow. Fingers crossed for Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo.
Wednesday 12th September 2007
I have heard back from Pratoni that all the horses passed the First Veterinary Inspection (Trot-up), which is great to hear.
Today they walked the X-Country course, generally the German Team seemed happy with the layout and the fences. The ground is amazing, it has been so warm with no rain for months but due to it being on volcanic ground it manages to contain its moisure well and should be fine to run on.
Last night the competitors had to compete in an Inter-Team sort of Eurovision competition. The German Team won doing a scene from Swan Lake, the boys were dressed in swan outfits with the girls wearing top hats and tails with black hotpants! Surprisingly enough they won, the outfits may have been a hidden secret! The home team, Italians came in 2nd.
The Dressage starts tomorrow, Bettina is due to do her test on Friday around 10.30am.
Wednesday 5th September 2007
Andrew, Bettina, Katy and Ringwood Cockatoo left yesterday afternoon to go to Kreuth in Germany. This is where the German European competitors are having their training camp in preparation for Pratoni on the 13th-16th September.
Andrew will fly back from Nuremberg today to continue the work on the other horses left back at home. On Sunday he will return to Germany to drive Bettina from Kreuth down to Pratoni, Italy and stay for the duration of the competition to then drive them home after the event.
Karen our Head Groom is going to fly out for the actual event to help Katy, as it will be her first major event grooming and the European's is a big place to start!
Master Monarch seemed very well within himself after Burghley, which is wonderful news after all the problems we had earlier in the year. Andrew had thought that he may never be able to compete him again, let alone go to Burghley this year and finish 3rd!!
Monday 3rd September 2007
At Burghley Andrew and Piggy French won the Mountain Horse International Pairs Challenge.
The competition matches the top 10 GB riders with the top 10 from the rest of the world and the pair with the best score at the end of the event wins.
The winners receive the prize of £2,500 between them, plus Mountain Horse SCS3 boots and stirrups.
For more details see www.mountainhorse.co.uk
Sunday 2nd September 2007
Andrew and Master Monarch finished in 3rd place at Burghley.
They had one down in the show jumping, the last fence - The Land Rover Planks, which caused major mayhem amongst the competitors.
Andrew is delighted with Master Monarch and it was wonderful that both Tom Attwood and Richard Constant his owners, could be there to see it.
For the full list of results go to the Burghley Webiste, (direct via our links page)
Saturday 1st September 2007
Andrew and Master Monarch have just completed the X Country with a clean sheet and exactly on the optimum time, leaving him on his dressage score of 43.2.
At present he is lying in 4th but that may change as not everyone has been.
Please check for latest details on the Burghley website.
Friday 31st August 2007
Andrew has just scored 43.2 in the Dressage with Master Monarch putting them in 4th place, at the moment!
Harry Boldt has been up at Burghley helping Andrew in the build up to his test and Narelle our physio went up with Bettina yesterday to work her magic on Monarch last night and this morning.
To see the latest results go to our links page and click on the Burghley link.
Thursday 30th August 2007
Master Monarch has passed the initial trot-up so it's all systems go at Burghley, they do their Dressage tomorrow - Friday @ 10.59.
Andrew has walked the X country course and says that Capt. Mark Phillips the Course Designer has put in a really demanding course and at maximum height.
Master Monarch is usually a wonderful horse out on the track, so lets hope he is 100% for Saturday as it is going to be a serious test for all the competitors.
Bettina left this afternoon to go and help Andrew out with his dressage tomorrow as that is very much Bettina's stronger phase.
Wednesday 29th August 2007
At Martinvast Yeoman's Point as you know was 3rd. He scored 45.6 in the dressage, clear show jumping - one of only 5 clears in the whole class! In the x country he had 9.6 time penalties which gave him a total of 55.2, the winner won with 45.9 and 2nd had 54.4, so all very close.
This was the first run for Yeoman's Point since he has come back from injury so Andrew, the owners and the whole Hoy Team are delighted with such a result.
It makes all the hard work done out of the limelight all worthwhile when a horse gets back to performing at the ability he is capable of.
Peaceful Consort also had a 45.6 dressage, sadly he had a pole down in the show jumping and 2 stops on the cross country, which also resulted in time penalties. So his final score was 116.8 putting him in 22nd position.
Balloo IV scored 44.7 in the dressage, did a lovely clear round in the show jumping but did not participate in the x country due to the ground conditions not being suitable for him.
Bettina winning at Highclere on Ringwood Cockatoo scored 26.5 in the dressage!!!!
Show jumping Cockatoo had a pole down but went clear x country, inside the time finishing on a winning score of 30.50.
Tuesday 28th August 2007
Bettina won the AI section at Highclere yesterday, Monday 27th with Ringwood Cockatoo. This has deighted Bettina having been going mad with all the cancellations and bad conditions she was concerned about getting a run into Cockatoo before the European's @ Pratoni. Winning is perfect preparation so she can now go into the Championships with confidence that Cockatoo is as happy as he can be.
Andrew had an up and down time at Martinvast in France, Yeoman's Point was 3rd which was an awesome result as it was his first run since injury.
I will let you know the exact results in the next couple of days, as we also had Balloo IV and Peaceful Consort competing.
Andrew, Master Monarch and Karen leave today for Burghley, they will arrive tonight and settle themselves in, in time for the trot up on Wednesday.
Saturday 25th August 2007
Bettina rode Cockatoo in the dressage phase and was lying in 2nd place with 38.4 but she has decided that with the ground the way it is she would rather run at Highclere back here in the UK.
Luckily Bettina has managed to catch a lift home with a fellow rider, right to the stables. Cockatoo will now be back home with plenty of time to relax and chill out before Highclere on Monday (27th).
Thursday 23rd August 2007
Well Andrew and Bettina and I think the rest of the eventing community are having a nightmare out at Martinvast, North France near to Cherbourg.
They left on Wednesday morning with 4 horses, Karen and Katy ready to compete this weekend and most importantly give Cockatoo his final prep run for Pratoni.
At this moment in time they have rung to say the event might not even go ahead due to the huge amounts of rain they have been having. Hard to imagine as back in Gloucestershire the sun is shining as good as it has all summer. Perfect BBQ weather for this evening, so at least I am happy.
They have both gone into a meeting now which is discussing the event and the possibilities of it being able to run.
Thanks to Holly Farr, a superstar of an entries secretary, she has been able to squeeze in Ringwood Cockatoo at Highclere on Monday. So if Martinvast was to be cancelled at least Cockatoo will be getting in a run. With the weather behaving over here like it is at the moment and with an awesome sunny weekend forecasted, hopefully fingers crossed Highclere will be able to go ahead and Cockatoo will finally 3 weeks later get in his prep run!
Tuesday 21st August 2007
Andrew and Bettina leave for Martinvast tomorrow, they will catch the ferry from Poole to Cherbourg, as that is the closest port to the event. They are taking 4 horses: Balloo IV, Peaceful Consort, Ringwood Cockatoo and Yeoman's Point, Karen, Katy and all the extra kit, tack, feed, rugs, hay, the list is endless.
The weather over here has been inconsistent, so we are hoping for a smooth crossing tomorrow for the horses. The weather reports at present say it will either be cloudy or sunny with showers for the next 5 days, so that could mean anything!
Thursday 16th August 2007
Brockenhurst has been cancelled which is a real nightmare for the Hoy Team. We had been planning to take 3 horses for Andrew, 2 for Tegan and most importantly Bettina was taking Ringwood Cockatoo for his final preparation run for the European's.
Fortunately the organisers at Martinvast have been very helpful and Bettina is now going to run Cockatoo there so at least he will get a run. Martinvast is in France and runs from August 24th -August 26th. We had already entered 3 for Andrew there just in case anything was to happen with Brockenhurst, I nearly cancelled the entries as I thought there was no way Brockenhurst would be off.... thank goodness I hadn't!
Sadly Tegan will not get to compete her 2 horses until Cleobury Mortimer on September 3rd, we put the ballot stickers on for Brockenhurst for her to then be balloted out of Spring Hill, poor Tegan is desperate to get competing. At least now she will have a few more days to practice so there can be no excuses for anything less than a dazzling performance!
Andrew and Bettina will leave for Martinvast on Wednesday next week with 4 horses and they may come back with 5 as they have just purchased a new horse in Germany.
They plan to return on the Monday after the event and Bettina will then have to turn around and get her novice horse Lanfranco in the lorry as they are competing at Spring Hill. Luckily for Bettina, Spring Hill is one of the nearest events to the stables and Holly Farr the entries secretary has very kindly put her as the last to go in her section.
Tuesday 14th August 2007
Bettina returned from Hong Kong today having been involved in an official capacity for the Olympic Test Event. They were in the middle of a typhoon whilst the event was going on which didn't help matters.
Overall the competition went well with a wide variety of skilled riders and horses, the ground stood up to the test so fingers crossed for next year.
Andrew flew with Bettina to Frankfurt but then went on to Geneva to take a train to Lausanne in Switzerland. Here he is attending an FEI Athletes' Committee meeting at the FEI headquarters and returns to the UK on Thursday (16th) early in the morning.
Friday 10th August 2007
Andrew and Bettina are now both away in Hong Kong in official capacities for the Olympic Test Event in Hong Kong. Andrew left on Tuesday and Bettina on Thursday, Andrew rang today to say that they are banned from leaving the hotel as their is a typhoon on its way and it's not safe for anyway to go outside!!
Looking to the plus points, Andrew says it's hot but not unbearable so hopefully fingers crossed it will be similar weather for the eventing part of the Olympics next year, minus the typhoon!
They both get back next week, Bettina on Tuesday and Andrew Thursday as he has to attend an FEI meeting in Lausanne on the Wednesday.
They are both planning to compete at Brockenhurst the 18th-19th August 3 horses for Andrew, 2 for Bettina and 2 for Tegan, (our Australian student). This will be Tegan's first event since arriving in the UK from Australia at the beginning of May!
Tuesday 7th August 2007
We had a very successful one week training camp in Warendorf from July 23rd - 27th. It was great to see all my team colleagues which I normally only see at the competitions. The training consisted of a good mixture of dressage, show jumping and cross country schooling depending on what each rider preferred for their horses to focus on.
During that time we also had the opportunity of trying a few young horses and decided to buy a 4 year old stallion by Ramirez out of a Roncalli XX mare. The horse has been placed already in a few show jumping for young horses and will come to us in England after he has been gelded.
On Tuesday 31st July we drove up to Schenefeld just outside Hamburg where the German Championship, World Cup Qualifier and also the Final Trial for the German Team positions were being chosen. The rain seemed to have followed us from the UK and to start with the ground conditions were not very good. After an enormous effort by the organiser where they even got a helicopter in to blow away the surface water in the fields, the ground was actually very good.
Cockatoo did his usual exceptional test and won the dressage with 31.1 penalty points. Peaceful Consort did a personal best as he competed for the first time in a World Cup Qualifier to have a score of 48 and Balloo for whom it was also a first time scored a 53. Yeoman's Point took part in a national advanced class as Andrew was not allowed to run more than 3 horses in the World Cup Qualifier, he was lying in 2nd position after the dressage with a score of 39.
After having had such pleasing results with our dressage scores we were looking forward to getting out on the cross country course and keeping the high standard up.
Sadly Saturday turned into a very tragic day for German eventing as a very experienced and successful German Rider Tina Richter-Vietor had a fatal accident at the 2nd fence of the CIC** course which caused the organiser to make the decision to cancel the whole competition.
Our heart goes out to all her family and friends of which there were many, she will be much missed by all involved in the eventing world.
With the event being cancelled we packed up on Saturday night to arrive back at Gatcombe on Sunday afternoon after a much longer check-in than usual at Calais due to the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth in the UK.
Although the final trial was abandoned the German officials selected 4 team riders and 2 individual riders to compete at the European championships in Pratoni, Italy.
The 4 team members are:- 1 - Dirk Schrade with Gadget de la Cere AA, 2 - Hinrich Romeike with Marius, 3 - Peter Thomsen with The Ghost of Hamish and 4 - Frank Ostholt with Air Jordan. The 2 individual riders are Beeke Kaack with Sinjang and myself with Ringwood Cockatoo.
Due to the missed competition I have now re-directed Cockatoo to Brockenhurst where he will compete on the 18-19 of August in an Advanced class as a final run in preparation for Pratoni.
Monday 30th July 2007
Andrew and Bettina have been based at Warendorf in Germany for the last week as Bettina is having Team Training and Andrew has also taken over some horses and will now be heading this week to Schenefeld. Bettina is riding Ringwood Cockatoo and Andrew is riding Balloo IV, Master Monarch, Peaceful Consort and Yeoman's Point. So fingers crossed it all goes well and the horses get good marks.
Karen, Katy and Daiki have gone over to look after the horses leaving Tegan, Moritz and Marika back here at Gatcombe with the horses that have not gone.
The rain thank goodness has stopped and the waters are going down. We received in the post information about the water as there has been a lot of contamination in Gloucestershire due to the flooding. Thankfully we are far enough away and high enough that we have not been affected but people only 10 miles away have had major problems.
Friday 27th July 2007
Finally we are getting some sunshine! It is very quite with some many horses and people away but Tegan, Moritz and Marika and looking after the yard well. Moon Fleet has perked up and is getting back to his oldself so lets hope he will be back on the competition circuit soon.
Monday 23rd July 2007
Andrew and Bettina are now both in Germany and staying at Warendorf but not just themselves, also 3 grooms and 5 horses! Bettina is having Team Training and Andrew will also be training in preparation for Schenefeld.
They had a good drive over with the lorry and also the trailer. They are going to be away until the 2nd week in August so they have had to take enough hard food and hay to last them all the time they are away, plus rugs, saddles, bridles, human clothing, food, etc. not an easy thing to organise and the lorry plus the trailer took a while to pack!
Saturday 21st July 2007
Andrew competed at the wet and soggy Aston le Walls on Friday, (before it was postponed). It only took him 5 hours to get home on a normal 2hr drive!! He wasn't the only one to need some flippers... a couple of their friends who were at the Dressage at Hartpury attempted to drive home in their Range Rover and after 5 hours into a normal 50 minute journey they had to turn back to towards Hartpury and stay in their B & B which they had stayed at the previous evening! Everyone seems to have been majorly affected by the huge torrents of rain the UK has received in the last 36 hours. I have never seen anything like it and my grandfather said the last time he saw it like this was just after the end of the 2nd World War!!
Andrew and Bettina went to meet the Australian Paralympics Team at the World Championships that were being held at Hartpury. Bettina found it a truly inspirational experience and it was simply amazing at what they managed to do.
Andrew was nearly offered a place on their team when he dropped a water bottle and almost hit his head but.. they said he would have to go on a trial programme to see if he was good enough!
Aston le Walls are trying to continue their event this coming week so we wish them the best of luck and hope the rain stays away and gives them a chance and also the riders a chance who are desperate to compete their fit horses.
Andrew and Bettina are off to Germany on Sunday with a few horses in preparation for Schenefeld - the German Championships and also German Team Training for Bettina. Schenefeld is the final team trial for Bettina for the European Championships being held at Pratoni in Italy.
Caroline Paul who owns Balloo IV and Ginny Rusher who co-owns Peaceful Consort (with her husband Glyn Norcutt) are both going over to watch their horses compete.
I will keep you updated on their progress throughout the competition and lets hope they haven't had the same amount of rain as what we have had back here!
Monday 16th July 2007
Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo WON at Stockland Lovell and Andrew riding Peaceful Consort was 13th, both in the Open Intermediate on Friday 13th! Obviously not unlucky for Bettina.
Charlotte Retallack who was with us all last week on work experience was 16th on her own horse - Jeremy Fisher in the Junior Regional Novice Final.
Well done Charlotte, brilliant result.
Friday 13th July 2007
On writing this the exact results from Stockland Lovell today are not known so you will have to wait until Monday when I write them up, unless you find them out yourself.
Today at Stockland Lovell in Somerset, Ringwood Cockatoo and Bettina won the dressage phase with a score of 24.0. As Cockatoo hasn't been out since Luhmuhlen he was quite fresh but as usual did a great test.
The show jumping was on an all-weather surface which was very good for the horses and nice to ride on but quite a long way from the lorry park. Cockatoo was feeling so well he put in a few bucks after the 2nd fence and was therefore not concentrating and rolled the top of the 3rd fence, other than unfortunate mistake he went clear.
Cockatoo completed the cross country course clear and inside the time. The course is run on good ground over hilly terrain and was a perfect place to run Cockatoo in preparation for the German Championships at Schenefeld in 3 weeks time.
Andrew rode Peaceful Consort and he is improving at each competition. He is getting more accurate, confident and really pleasing Andrew with his progress.
In the show jumping, believe it or not Andrew also rolled the top of the 3rd fence. Andrew purposefully picked Stockland Lovell for Consort as it has 2 good water jumps. As you know Consort was unfortunate enough to take a bath in Luhmuhlen, so he wanted to make double sure the horse had not lost his confidence jumping in, through and out of water.
Tegan took her horse Devereaux Blinky Bill to work in and around the people, horses, tents, cars and lorries at the competition. His aim is the 1* at Schenefeld, Germany.
Moritz rode Yeoman's Point and Grand Joca whilst Andrew and Bettina were competing. Similar to Tegan it is extra practice for them to get used to a competition environment.
Charlotte Retallack has been with us on work experience this week, she herself loves riding her horses and competing them. As Charlotte finishes with us today she went in the lorry down to Somerset to join her mum who was there to meet her with her horse as she is competing in the Novice tomorrow. We wish her lots of luck.
Tuesday 10th July 2007
It has been a busy 4 days of competition with Barbury Castle and Tweseldown following on from each other.
At Barbury Castle Master Monarch was 7 points off the lead after the dressage with 51.7, to give you an idea this actually placed him in the top 30 out of the 117 starters.
With Waylaid it was my first competition with him due to the cancellation of Rolleston (which was meant to be at the end of June). He did a dressage of 56.3 in general that was what he is about capable of doing, yet he didn't make it easy for himself to score good marks due to a resistance in the counter canter.
The venue at Barbury Castle is the only venue that I know, in the world where from one vantage point you can view the entire cross country course. The ground conditions were absolutely excellent and I believe since the beginning of May, if not earlier, the grass has been mown every 5 days which gave the most amazing carpet of good grass to gallop across.
Show jumping for Waylaid was not one of the highlights of his career with him becoming anxious in the arena and having 4 rails down giving him a score of 20 penalties in 90 seconds. I'm sure the England Cricket Team would like him to play for them!
Waylaid's cross country round was good as there was one particularly difficult complex - the Quarry, 2/3rds of the way around the course, fence No.21. We had to jump a log with 30cm's of brush above it, on a very steep upward approach with the same level of descent after negotiating the fence, after which there was placed a very narrow triple brushed arrow head, 4 strides from the log on the ridge. Following the triple brush there were 3 forward or 4 holding strides to a stone wall.
I was thrilled with how well Waylaid negotiated this very difficult question. Master Monarch flew through this complex as if he had been practising all season!
Due to his time off prior to the event I was riding Master Monarch step by step. He jumped a wonderful round in the show jumping all be it having 2 fences down, 1 of which he leant on the 4th fence and then was very unlucky to have the planks down being the 3rd last fence. Out of the 116 starters in the show jumping there were only 10 clear rounds.
After having such a good show jumping round I decided to start the cross country and as I continued around the course it became one of the nicest rides I've had on him in the last 18 months.
Considering he was not at full fitness I did not run him so quickly thus incurring 18 time penalties. Major Richard Constant, one of the owners of Master Monarch was there to view his performance of which he was also absolutely thrillled in the way in which he ran.
Master Monarch finished with a score of 77.7 placing him 23rd and Waylaid finshed 43rd.
Yesterday I took Grand Joca and Balloo IV to Tweseldown, this being the venue for the cross country phase of the 1948 London Olympics.
Grand Joca produced a personal best by being 5 points in the lead after the dressage, he jumped a wonderful round in the show jumping subsequently carrying this on through to the cross country.
He did a great clear round incurring 16.4 time penalties to finish on a final score of 37.8. This was the same score as fellow team member Matt Ryan, but as he ran faster around the cross country course, 1st place went to him with Grand Joca being 2nd.
Balloo - bless his little cotton socks also produced one of his best dressage scores in an Open Intermediate section.
He had 1 rail down in the show jumping which I would be prepared to take the blame for and went on to jump clear cross country incurring 14.4 time penalties which placed him 15th with a total score of 49.7.
Stockland Lovell this Friday is our next event, Bettina is riding Ringwood Cockatoo and I am riding Peaceful Consort both in the Open Intermediate section.
Friday 6th July 2007
Master Monarch and Waylaid are competing at Barbury Castle this weekend in the CIC ***, this will be the first competition back for Master Monarch since his cervical injury hence his withdrawal from Badminton.
He did his dressage today scoring 51.7, at the time of Andrew departing the competition 45.0 was the leading score which was Andrew Nicholson on Henry Tankerville.
Waylaid does his dressage tomorrow-Saturday with both horses doing show jumping and cross country on Sunday. This is Andrew's first event on Waylaid previously ridden by Ms Bryony Holloway who jointly owns the horse with Mrs Marilyn Harvey.
Andrew went cross country schooling with both horses on his way back from Barbury today and was really happy with the way they both went.
Bettina is currently in Aachen where she is going to be doing some television commentary for the CCIO being held this weekend with completion of the competition being tomorrow-Saturday.
On Monday Andrew is going to Tweseldown with Balloo IV and Grand Joca in the Open Intermediate.
Let's hope the weather is still good by then! We will be updating the diary on Tuesday with the latest results.
Friday 29th June 2007
After delivering the horses, Classy Touch and Ringwood Cockatoo back to the UK I returned immediately to the DOKR in Warendorf (German National Training Centre) where Consort and Balloo had been staying under the care of Dirk Schrader and Bettina. On the Wednesday morning I schooled both Consort and Balloo through the water complex at Warendorf a procedure that was essential as Consort had become very shaken by his fall at Luhmuhlen. To begin with Consort would not even walk into the water so I just quietly persisted and walked, trotted and cantered through and around in the water for 15 minutes by which time he realised there was nothing to attack him! Balloo also benefited from the same procedure as the questioned asked at Luhmuhlen were very strong for 2* level where he had the one stop in the 2nd water complex.
Upon arriving at Ede, Holland where it was the first time both horses would be competing at CIC 3* level, I looked at the entry list to see that there were 100 starters in the class! Balloo had the privilege of being drawn first to go of all starters and in his dressage performed admirably to achieve 50.6 placing him in 9th position at the end of the dressage phase. Consort being drawn No.92 also produced a good test 50.9 to achieve 0.3 of a mark behind Balloo, placing him 10th.
The cross country was on fairly flat terrain through both wooded and open landscape with a water complex that in the 3* we had to jump into on 4 separate occasions, this did create a little bit of anxiety for me but with full credit to the horses they performed their tasks brilliantly. Balloo did have one stop on the cross country which I would have to take the blame for as I rode him backward on a bad distant to the first element of fence 10 - a coffin complex. Consort was excellent around the entire course to have a clear round and incur only 2.4 time penalties, which was a wonderful result as there were only 4 horses inside the time.
The show jumping was placed around the water complex and was not on level ground so therefore adding another dimension to what I felt was quite a strong 3* course. I could not have wished for more as both horses jumped amazing clear rounds which gave me a final placing for Peaceful Consort of 4th, the 3 horses in front of him were all experienced 3* horses and had all run at 4* level. Balloo's 20 penalties on the cross country and extra time penalties of 15.6 which I had incurred gave him a final score of 86.2 finishing in 43rd place. I had 2 of the 15 clear rounds out of 77 starters in the show jumping so therefore something I was very proud of with the horses.
All in all the performances from both horses were excellent and the owners of Peaceful Consort, Ginny Rusher and Glynn Norcutt were thrilled and Balloo's owner Mrs Caroline Paul was really happy with the result he achieved.
Friday 22nd June 2007
We are now in the middle of the year and have just competed at our first 4* event, Luhmuhlen in Germany. On our way to Luhmuhlen we stopped off at the DOKR, German National Training Centre in Warendorf to have some last minute training from our Dressage coach Dolf Keller. Whilst we were there they were having a Young Rider Final Trial to select a German Young Rider Dressage Team for the European Championships, we were delighted to see that Dolf's daughter was selected for the team.
From Warendorf we headed out to Luhmuhlen, the weather on the first two days was great, warm and nice to work in but then the heavens opened. It is only due to Luhmuhlen being on such practical sandy soil that the competition could still go ahead.
Balloo and Peaceful Consort both did very pleasing dressage tests and went clear in the show jumping. The cross country cause had two water complexes that caused many problems, you only have to look at the results page to see how many falls were at the water jumps, one of which was myself and Peaceful Consort, who I then retired after his nasty fall. Balloo had one stop on the cross country at the second water complex, it had a big drop in that gave him a fright and unbalanced him for the following fence, a genuine mistake.
Bettina and Ringwood Cockatoo did a beautiful professional dressage test, as per usual! Which put them in the lead for the 4* class only for Cockatoo to pick up an infection in his leg on Friday evening and was therefore lame on Saturday morning meaning he had to be withdrawn, antibiotics were given immediately and the swelling and infection went very quickly.
Classy Touch was not working with me in the dressage, I scored 55 which is ten marks away from what I was hoping would be realistic for him. Cross country I could not fault him he was simply brilliant. Mark Phillips made a comment that it was the 'Round of the Day', he finished clear inside the time over what I would call a strong 4* course. Show jumping was a different matter, the warm up went well but during our round he decided to lean on the poles and started rolling them out with his toes, causing us to have 5 fences down, putting me out of the placings which was frustrating after such a brilliant round the day before.
We were really happy for Dirk Schrader who finished 2nd behind Ruth Edge by only 0.4 penalties, a close and exciting finish.
Following Luhmuhlen I returned to the UK with Classy Touch and Ringwood Cockatoo leaving Balloo and Peaceful Consort in Warendorf as they are both competing at Eda in Holland this weekend. I arrived back in the UK on Monday morning to then turn around and drive straight out to Warendorf on Monday afternoon, catch a bit of sleep and then on to Eda in Holland.
I have never competed at Eda so it is always interesting to see a new event and how people do things differently. After dressage I am 8th and 9th (out of 100 horses) with Balloo and Peaceful Consort, this is both their first 3* event.
Yoshi is also competing at Eda with Gorgeous George, who decided not to listen to him during the dressage therefore resulting in a high mark but they have just completed a clear show jumping round which will help them move up a place or two.
After Eda I am back to the UK and competing most weekends so please check our results page.
Friday 8th June 2007
Andrew and Bettina left this week to go to Germany. Bettina took the quick route and went by car on Thursday morning, Andrew on the other hand took the horsebox, Karen (Head Groom), Anna-Lena and 5 horses out on Thursday evening. Anna-Lena is very sadly leaving us to return to Germany along with her horse Sammy, she starts work in August for an Australian Breeding Society in Munster. They had a good journey out and a smooth ferry crossing which is always helpful as some horses can get very upset if the weather is bad.
They travelled straight to Warendorf where they are having some training with their dressage coach Dolf Keller and also some show jumping training in preparation for Luhmuhlen the following weekend. Early next week they will be leaving for Luhmuhlen Horse Trials, in the CCI**** Bettina is riding Ringwood Cockatoo and Andrew is riding Classy Touch and in the CIC** Andrew is riding Balloo IV and Peaceful Consort.
Yoshi had a great time at Bialy Bor and did really well. He was 8th on
Khanjer Black in their first CIC***, which was also a World Cup qualifier. He followed this by being 8th on his new horse Gorgeous George in the CIC* which was their first international event together.
Whilst Andrew and Bettina are away in Germany Yoshi has moved into their cottage to baby-sit Rambo, Bettina's dog until they return.
Friday 1st June 2007
It is really nice to see Darien Power face looking over the stable door again as we had to bring him in on Tuesday 29th May due to a cut on his chest which needed to have some stitches. Karen has been spoiling him, he has had a bath, his mane pulled and now looks great. He may be over 20 but Clive - our farrier even joked today whether or not we wanted him to have some shoes put back on and bought into work as he looks so magnificent.
Andrew returned from his flying visit for his Mother's birthday in Australia and was happy to see all his horses looking fit and well, which is all down to the Hoy Team working together.
We have a new member in the Hoy Team, a German by the name of Moritz Brockers. He passed his Bereiter exams with honours and decided to work with us for a couple of years, which we are very excited about. Moritz started to bring Master Monarch back into full work and so far he looks very well and very happy in himself.
Tegan Cook from Western Australia has also joined the Hoy Team with her two horses, as the horses have arrived from Australia after a very long journey they will take time to settle in before they can start to compete.
Due to our limited number of stables Jules Stilled decided to move her horses to another yard where she can have more horses than we were able to accommodate here at Gatcombe. We wish Jules all the best of luck and hope everything goes well.
Witch Doctor was sold this month to an Italian lady called Olivia Simonazzi who is going to compete him herself, they have already been to one competition and she was very happy with him.
Yoshiaki Oiwa has started his campaign to qualify for an Individual place at the Olympic Games in Hong Kong 2008 by opting to compete in a CIC***, Bialy Bor in Poland. The latest is he had a Dressage score of 51.8 , he was very pleased with the judge at C but not so impressed with the judge at E! But as everyone knows Dressage is only 1/3 of the competition and we keep our fingers crossed for the rest.
Friday 25th May 2007
Andrew is currently in Australia making a surprise visit to see his mother for her 80th birthday. Andrew will be back on Tuesday, it really is a flying visit as he will have spent almost just as long in the air getting there and back, as he will have spent on dry land, in Australia!
The horses are well and Master Monarch and Moon Fleet are improving every day.
Their next event is Luhmuhlen on 14th-17th June and then onto Ede in Holland 21st-24th June.
Bettina spent the previous weekend in Germany from Friday - Sunday to attend a marathon training session sponsored by Tui and the German magazine Stern. The training was held on the beach in Damp 2000, just on the edge of the Baltic Sea. The training was conducted by Ex-European Middle Distance Champion Dr Thomas Wessinghagen. This was to prepare her for a charity marathon which will take place at the end of October in Mallorca. Bettina was part of a group of 8 VIP's, mainly actors, actresses and television personalities together with 8 competition winners who took part in the Stern magazines competition for a chance to participate in this training.
The beneficiary of the marathon is the Tabaluga Charity Organisation, a charity raising money for dis-advantaged children which is run by the famous German singer - Peter Maffay. Bearing in mind that her knees are not the best anymore Bettina was very reluctant to commit to participate but she got great help from the company Bauerfeind who fitted her out with some special knee protectors called GenuTrain and custom made her some insoles for her running shoes. The training went so well that Bettina is sure she will survive the half marathon.
Friday 18th May 2007
Last weekend was Chatsworth horse trials of where I completed Classy Touch and Peaceful Consort. For the 2nd competition running I have virtually had the same dressage score 28.9 and 28.3 respectively which has given me much joy as I told Bettina I must be doing a wonderful job with my dressage, as at the previous event I had exactly the same mark, 32.4 with 3 horses!
Both horses jumped really well in the Show Jumping with Classy Touch having one rail down and Peaceful Consort having the first element of the last fence down due to the rider on top! The Cross Country designed by Mike Etherington-Smith is over really undulating terrain with two water complexes making it a course to really test a horse’s fitness.
One of my funniest moments arose on the Cross Country after having jumped Classy Touch clear around the course without any jumping penalties but not so fast due to the wet conditions, I started with Peaceful Consort but he was finding the slippery conditions not to his liking so therefore was hesitant coming out of the first water. It was over a Normandy bank with a very steep landing and a bending left turn with 6-7 strides to a big corner. I decided after he jumped the bank a little hesitantly to do a right turn before the corner to make it easier for Consort. When trying to slow him down he stopped suddenly, took a step to the left, I went right and with a wet slippery saddle we parted company with me landing on my backside in the mud! Hence re-mounting Consort and the time taken, the following rider, Pip Peters caught up so I waited for her to jump the bank. I then joined in to follow her at a safe distance behind to arrive at the top of a hill, 3 fences later, to see her sitting on her backside on the landing side of a fence! She saw me coming so bussled out of the way and as I was taking the long option at this fence I offered to give her a lead if she got on quickly! My offer was declined but we both finished the course safely to discuss our mishaps.
Chatsworth is one of the most beautiful venues that we ever get to compete at in the World. It is owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, the garden alone is 100 acres, manicured to perfection and definitely worth a visit as it is open to the public. The British weather as usual is quite unpredictable, at Badminton only the weekend before we were seeing some of the top riders in the world withdrawing due to the hard ground then at Chatsworth the heavens opened so who knows what the weather will do next.
Friday 11th May 2007
Yesterday I competed at Aston-le-Walls where it rained on and off all day and by the end of the day it was there to stay, I was drenched!
The ground was amazing, they had been spiking and watering it for the last 2 weeks, it was perfect going. Perhaps Hugh Thomas should go to Nigel Taylor for some Work Experience?!
I felt I rode well and managing to get the same dressage mark of 32.4 with all three horses, something I've been working on for many years.
Grand Joca was my first ride, he did a PB in his Dressage, well behaved and jumped great, check the results page to find out more.
Baccus Cognac had two rails down in the S-Jumping but I was thrilled with the way he jumped, he has so much more confidence and he was a star as per usual for the X-Country.
Balloo IV is my latest recruit, this is our 2nd competition together. Even though I had a rail down in the S-Jumping I was really happy with him and he was super on the X-Country. He just needs time to improve his fitness.
Witch Doctor as you know is for sale so he was W/D before the event started, as we had some potential owners coming to see him whilst the competition was on.
I had a quick discussion with Andrew Nicholson at the end of the day, firstly to congratulate him as he had won a class, his response was that he couldn't ride the X-Country with his glasses due to the rain and had to go without them. I told him he should do it more often as he only had 1 time penalty!
Moon Fleet and Master Monarch are both being ridden and back in light work and we hope they are okay.
Leap of Joy is in quarantine as he heads back to my home country, Australia to start a new life with his owner Analisa Hegyesi.
I am at Chatsworth this weekend competing so keep a check on the results page
Tuesday 1st May 2007
Welcome to our new website. This year has started very different to last year, firstly Mr. Pracatan has gone home to his owners Jeremy & Anona Young who own and bred him and I decided not to compete at Kentucky this year with Classy Touch as I felt it wasn't the right event for the horse at this stage in his career and sadly at the end of last week I had to withdraw Master Monarch and Moon Fleet from Badminton.
Master Monarch has suffered a mild injury to his cervical cord causing a loss of stability in his limbs but is not life threatening and is making a remarkable recovery. He is almost back to his normal self although it is not going to be a quick return to competition without further veterinary investigation.
Moon Fleet has suffered a partial paralysis of his Left Larynx causing him to be unable to obtain sufficient air when under a high work load.
Both horses are very happy and well within themselves but are unable at this point of time to be able to perform at their best and with the horses welfare always of utmost importance I have had to withdraw them both from Badminton. We are hoping they will both make a full recovery and be back competing soon.
Badminton is the most amazing event to compete at and at the highest level, every rider dreams of just competing at Badminton but to win it was the icing on the cake.
We are very busy at the moment training all our horses, some of which are entered at Aston le Walls and Chatsworth and also teaching and training our students.
We wish all those running at Badminton to have a great time and to come home safely.
Andrew
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