This year we start off the season with three horses competing at BE90. Jo will be taking over the ride on Todd (News For You) for her first ever season of BE, while Barry will be riding the seven year old Stan (Seein Star) and the five year old Ina (In A Spark). This will be the debut season for both horses.

So after a long winter of dressage and showjumping, we kicked off the eventing season at Poplar Park. It was a very positive start for the two youngsters, neither of whom had ever dressaged or showjumped on grass. Ina did a reasonable, if not slightly tense test and a really smart double clear, time penalties cross country meant that they were never going to be in with a chance of a place but she won't be 5 until next month so all in all a very positive first event. Stan did a solid first dressage test on grass but sadly lowered a pole in the showjumping (his first ever competitively). A bold but fairly slow run cross country finished off an encouraging day. The real stars of the day though were Jo and Todd. Todd is an experienced campaigner but BE90 open classes are very difficult to get placed in and Jo did really well to jump a double clear and finish in the rosettes.

we're off to Hartpury Easter weekend with Stan for the BRC winter sj finals and both Ina and Stan are entered for their next BE at Solihull next month.

Hi folks, 
It's Jo here, well I'm sure you've all heard the saying that horses are great levelers - here at Meadow Lane Equestrian, Team Meningen are experiencing a little leveling at the moment, so I thought I'd share with you our highs and lows, as I'm sure lots of these experiences will be familiar to some of you!

The picture this time is of Todd (News For You) and I at the Solihull UA.  We achieved a 27.5 dressage and a clear XC - no I have not missed the show jumping phase out, I have just chosen not to mention it as I unfortunately missed out a few jumps so eliminated ourselves!  

This was really the start of some disappointing results.  However I still love this picture, and felt very proud of myself in lots of ways.  This time last year, I was struggling to muster the courage to jump 70cms, it's easy to forget how far you've come when faced with frustration, but it's always worth being reminded - I have great family and friends to help me with that.

Lola (Lomark Lady) had a good run at the MK3D, dressage is not her forte but other than a rider navigational error (the start of Barry's leveling) she jumped boldly round a tricky XC course and delivered a fab clear on SJ day.  Unfortunately, Rosie (Kiss That Doesn't Pop) and I can't say the same.  I get a bit dramatic here but stay with me :-)...  We came home from the endurance phase on our dressage score, laying in 4th position.  I have to admit, it felt great.  We do a lot of Show Jumping training with the wonderful Carol Mailer, so I was keen to go and give a good account of ourselves, and you never know stay in the ribbons!  Sadly, this was not to be.  Jumping quite late on, we warmed up superbly - everything was feeling great, until we got into the arena!  The nerves hit me like bulldozer and to be frank, I wasn't sure I could make it through the round without a sharp exit to use the facilities!  Rosie could clearly feel my tension and we basically zoomed round the course, rather fast, taking poles with us on most occasions.  To say I was disappointed is an understatement.  I couldn't (still can't if I'm honest) believe I'd messed up quite so badly.  It has taken a bit of toll to be honest, and so I'm now taking some time to gather my thoughts, motivate and confidence to get back to it.   

This weekend saw Barry take all three (Rosie, Lola and Todd) to the Little Downham Horse Trials.  There were positives and negatives from the three horses.  Lola had a good performance in the show jumping, considering it was here first proper attempt at 100 level in a big arena with lots of atmosphere but let herself down across the country - unusual for her as she is usually so bold.  Rosie on the other hand let herself down in the show jumping but excelled across the country, coming home clear and inside the time (of course - anyone that knows Rose, knows she does not hang about, coming home fastest in her section with no negative time penalties).  Todd jumped a fantastic round show jumping but had an unfortunate run out XC.  

From writing this and recalling and mentally reliving these highs and lows reinforces a couple of things.  They are horses we ride, not machines, and we are humans not robots - both equally able to make mistakes, have off days and generally loose our way a bit - whatever level you compete at.  However as with any sport, it is not really our successes which we learn most from but our mistakes and it is not by our mistakes that we are judged, but how well we recover from them!   Easier to write than to feel, I know!

Anyways, to finish on a lighter note, Barry and I have been horsey hunting so I hope to be introducing a new addition to the Meningen family in the next edition! 

Take care all!