WE ARE OFF TO THE NATIONAL AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS!!

Today I achieved an ambition by qualifying for the Amateur Championships at Aintree in November.

We went to Maelor to jump our 2nd round today. Pete and I were last to go, and I must admit this is not one of my favourite venues as it is quite a narrow arena and I find it difficult to get into a nice rythmn round the course.

The first round was a tricky course with unusual turns, set at 1.05m. Pete tried hard in the first round and went clear to join 15 others. This meant that with 12 to qualify for the final, 4 horses would miss out. Fortunately we were last to go in the jump off so I had chance to see how the others were going.

There was not too many clears so I decided to gamble on a steady clear as I knew this would be enough for us to take a qualifying place. Luckily, Pete tried hard again and left all the fences up. We finished 6th to easily go through to the final. I was over the moon with him!!

As an added bonus we won 2 lovely rossetes and £15 prize money. The most important thing is the ticket to the final which is held at the end of November at one of my favourite venues, Aintree Equestrian Centre. This gives us a real focus with points to work on before the final. I'm hoping to afford some lessons to improve our jump off turns in the next few weeks as the Finals get very competitive! This means we do not need to attend the other second round qualifier at Bold Heath at the end of October.

Next week we look forward to our next Event together at Kelsall Hill BE 90, so this week its back to focusing on dressage to improve his scores!