Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Now I am going to start this by stating I have only put my
aim as £50.00 as I know the majority of my family and friends donate to a lot of different charities. I am not looking to bug people to donate as this is a personal challenge for me and I will be putting in a donation in the end when I complete this. If people would like to donate and sponsor me, whether it is £1 or £10 I would appreciate anything.

I am aiming to complete in a One day event (BE80t) on my 14.2hh
pony Danny with the aim of raising some money for the fantastic cause. Cancer is something that in one way or another has touched us all.

The charity aims to support vital research into osteosarcoma and to
grant equine related wishes to seriously ill people and their families.
The charity was registered on 29 March 2016, number 1166416.

Any support is apricated as I can guarantee I will need motivation and
those close to me will see plenty of “wobbles” along the way, as will the rest of the world as I will be sharing my progress.

In all honesty, at the moment it doesn’t feel achievable, as we have had a few months without jumping and bringing Danny back into something is never easy!

Many of you know I am a bit of a wimpy rider! The thought of jumping sent me (and still does) green with nerves, I would feel sick and shake
like a leaf. I had initially planned to enter this to complete in 2017, but
quickly realised it wouldn’t be achievable then. So in May 2017, I decided to take Danny Express Eventing which is cross country and show-jumping only. It was up to 70cm and we refused 8 of the 12 xc jumps and 3 of the 8 show-jumps, thankfully the organizers let me carry on as a training round, but this is where me and Danny started to find our brave pants!! We then went out the following week and nailed it coming 1^st!

I have had Danny since July 2015, he had a rather long journey from Scotland to Coventry and honestly, in the first few months I constantly thought what have I done.

He has a fantastic personality, but a lot of it… A bit too much personality at times. He has a super jump… When he wants to jump… Can do a fantastic dressage test.. When he wants to… Do you get the gist of this?

So he arrived, in a very loud Dino Dan manner and announced himself to the yard (You will hear us before you see us) and that’s where our journey started. I spent weeks doing ground work with him as he  wouldn’t stand still… anywhere! Then when I finally hopped on in the arena we just cantered (as I had no breaks) laps doing a fantastic shoulder in! We got this under control (months of just walking in the school) and after a while managed to start doing some poles on the floor, but he was going into them stopping dead dropping his shoulder then leaping them. It is safe to say I lost my nerve and we went back to flat work schooling and hacking.

During the winter we eventually started doing trotting poles, but I avoided cantering in the school at all costs as we just motorbiked around and it was dangerous. We have only recently started getting a nice balanced canter (although the downward transition leaves a lot to be desired!). Trying to get a relaxed horse (Or one that would listen to me anyway!!) basically went on throughout all of 2016, and in the August of 2016 I went to camp and braved a few jumps, but once away from that environment we stopped jumping. It
scared/scares me!!!

So we carried on and then I read The Diary of a Wimpy Eventer and decided it was time to do it! So that’s when May 2017 happened and
I started jumping! By July we had managed a few show-jumping and cross country clinics, Express Eventing and Dressage. During this we  managed to jump an 85cm grid!

Then I stopped jumping as I had 2 months till my wedding and didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.

This is where it went wrong, we went back out on our first
show-jumping clinic on 28^th October 2017, and let’s just say it
didn’t go to plan. We refused most jumps, however, we did get over them all eventually, with an unplanned dismount over the final jump! But hey-ho we learn something from falling off… 

...Possibly that at 29 you stop bouncing!!! 

So this is where we are at…  

So, I am sure you can all understand that this will be a challenge
for me. I promise to do my best, honestly I cannot guarantee I will succeed, but I will keep a log and everyone updated on my progress hopefully we will complete a BE80t!

Thank you for taking the time to read my essay and wish me luck!

Training in the
diary

I have dressage camp on the weekend of the 18^th
November 2017

Gridwork Clinic – 25^th November 2017

Saddle Check – 25^th November 2017

Pole Clinic – 26^th November (possibly) 2017

Gridwork Clinic – 09^th December 2017

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