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My Express Eventing ride Wii Limbo (“Woody”) has been doing some work again after a few days off after Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials.
The floorplan for my dressage is now finished and I rode through the test on Thursday and Friday and videoed it so my boyfriend Tom [Davison, son of dressage rider Richard] could start working on the music. Woody then had another two days off while I was at Gatcombe over the weekend.
The music is going well – we haven’t put it together yet, but we know what we are using. I want it to be surprise for Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), so I’m not going to give anything away until the day!
Woody is on good form, but unfortunately I pulled a muscle in my back at Gatcombe so I haven’t been able to ride since, which has slightly hindered my Express Eventing preparations.
I think my back is just generally sore after a busy time – a week at Burghley, a week at Blenheim, Pontispool on the Monday after Blenheim and then two days at Gatcombe over the weekend. I am going to rest for a few days. Then it’s my birthday next Tuesday and I’m having two days away with Tom. I’m sure after taking it easy then I’ll be fine.
Looking ahead, I’m very excited about going to HOYS. I’ve competed there several times before. When I was younger, I focused on showjumping, so I competed in the 138cm championship in 2001 – at Wembley – with Dreamtime Outlaw and in 2002, when I finished eighth on Mars Kyfe Jake.
I have also competed in the indoor cross-country championships three times at HOYS, in 2008, 2009 and 2010. I won once and came fourth twice on my long-term partner Song For Gull.
This time, I don’t have huge expectations for the Express Eventing competition. Of course, it would be fantastic to be well placed, but it’s a new competition and Woody is quite inexperienced with some of the dressage movements. Also, he can be quite a hot-headed horse, so I hope he copes with the atmosphere, as he won’t have seen anything like it before.
As long as he goes well and learns something I will be delighted.
I’ll be back next week to fill you in on my final preparations.
Georgie
We will be running our popular H&H Live service — an up-to-the-minute interactive written commentary — from the Express Eventing final at HOYS, thanks to support from Georgie’s sponsor Tottie clothing. Register for a reminder at www.horseandhound.co.uk/expresseventing2011.
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