For those of my friends who don't know what a BE80 is - it's like a triathlon for horses.

It starts with a dressage test then show jumping followed by cross country jumping.  The jumps will be 80cm high or about 2'4" in old money. 

This is a really scary prospect for me who can barely leave the ground without wetting myself at the moment and galloping and jumping downhill is beyond terrifying right now, even the dressage is a really big deal.  I've had some painful falls (no doubt with more to come) but I've always loved the idea of doing a cross country event. 

So 2017 is the year.  The event is yet to be chosen!  But I hope you will all get behind me (whips and spurs may be needed at times) and help me and my gorgeous girl Amber achieve what right now seems a huge challenge. 

Your support will keep me going through the sweat and tears (I'm hoping no blood will be involved).  

Late season update:

We've had some ups and downs lately.  I broke my wrist and my mum unfortunately died so I had a couple of weeks of no riding.  But I'm back at it.

Amber and I had our first cross country schooling lesson.  I was very nervous beforehand but my amazingly understanding instructor Katie Williams helped me overcome the nerves and we had an amazing time.  Only jumped the very little things but I had so much fun and had a smile on my face for days.

Now working on the schooling and more jumping practice and hoping to do our first ODE on 10th September.  Then there's a fun ride at Badminton I'm looking forward to. 

So we are planning to do our first BE80 next year now 😊

Onwards and upwards with this game of snakes and ladders that is riding.

So there’s been some changes since I started this challenge. Amber is no longer with me  it became clear that she wasn’t happy with the volume of work and jumping so she went back to the charity I had her from.  I then had a short lived spell with Breean but again it quickly became clear that we weren’t going to work out  

So I’m now the proud owner of Penny.  She is just the most amazing girl ever and I now feel that the challenge is within reach.  

We will go and complete late this year or very early season next year so I would love for you to spare a few pennies for Penny and me.

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