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We went down Friday evening to miss the mele and it chucked it down overnight.

Saturday dawned and someone decided to roll the arenas at 4.00am. so not much sleep.

Had to Substitute again, now we have Digger and Felix as Fast & Furious. Hanna rode as groom as she’s helped with the ponies at home and she wanted to see Hickstead. They went we’ll and we got 5th  and into the Championship in the main arena.

The going in the outside arenas is not brilliant, the rings get a lot of use so they undulate a lot and are a ‘bit rough’ for driving at speed. But as always we drive to the conditions and everyone got round safely.

Rip and Tear went well and we also got 5th and into the Championship in the main arena. Some of the others are really going well today, great scrap for places. Ian and I love tough competition, it makes everyone appreciate the effort involved in the sport.

The Championship: The new Ring Surface is JUST BRILLIANT, long may it last. Kevin Millman set a fast but technical course, one show jumping fence even obscured the line to a set of cones.

The first two to run suffered penalties. We were 3rd to go with Fast & Furious, Holy Moly they FLEW. and went clear.   this set a real challenge to those that followed, and no one went clear…

Rip and Tear were 7th to go, I was hardly able to believe that F&F were still in the lead, my head was spinning. Deep breaths, concentrate I thought as we entered the arena.

And Off We Went, Ian Asked me “what we were going to do”?as he always does as we approach the start, I replied ‘ We’re goin’a have some FUN’ and boy-o-boy did we have fun. I thought the smalls were fast but the speed was incredible, to say we flew was not enough, we rocketed! My Ponies Love the New Arena. In a matter of seconds we we’re at the box, I still can hardly remember the first 4 sets of cones. And instead of bogging in the box as Teddy sometimes does the pair just skipped round and with the crowd roaring behind us we went like crazy for the next cones. 7 was the tricky one, you had to guess your line without a clear view and it worked, again, this meant we were set up for the slalom which went like a dream. 1 stride to the right set us up for 9 and 10 and they we ran past the devils dyke  up the hill through 11 and 12 and through the finish. WE WENT CLEAR AGAIN. trouble was we beat the smalls by FIVE SECONDS.

The remaining competitors all suffered penalties in one shape or another and Sally beat the Smalls into third place with 4 seconds added. otherwise we would have had the One, Two

WE WON The Osborne Refrigerators Double Harness Scurry CHAMPIONSHIP at the Hickstead Derby meeting 2011.

So far this year that’s 3 Championships, 2 Reserve Champions, and nothing lower than 5th.

Thanks to all those that have gotten me this far.

Ian & I really love this Show, the main ring is beautiful, the going is nearly always good, and we’ve done well in the past here.

Not so good this year. The going was very slick. especially the entrance to the main arena where the loaders drove in and out, polishing the grass to a nice shine.

Fast and Furious went round OK but were not happy together. mmm

Rip & Tear set of in the class, went through the first cones, and Teddy slipped and dropped his right shoulder, ok you’d think slow down, resettle and go again, Not Teddy, he threw his head to the right to regain his footing and hooked the rein under the pole. This spelt trouble, Mel the palamino thought she needed to keep cantering at full pelt, Teddy the numpty stuck his head in the clouds and said I Can’t, I don’t understand, where am I? what should I do? Somebody help me! ( if you new him you’d understand all this)

With a lot of hauling and serious help from Ian we managed to stop Mel cantering and bring the pair to a hault. How we missed the Timing gear I’ll never know. Ian got off, fixed the ‘rein issue’ and of we went again, on the longest round ever.

We finished with 126 seconds plus 8 for Ian getting down to fix the problem. We still came 5th

took a lot out of me but I drove a great clear in the Championship and got Reserve Champion! Ponies seem to have forgot the previous run, luckily.

Off to Hickstead next

Substituted felix for Furious in the smalls, Furious has show a need to rear up when standing at a halt after work, luckily I found this out whilst long-reining her…phew!! work needed here.

Considering they were only thrown together the day before and driven once, Fast & Furious (felix) went OK and came 8th. 70 second courses take a lot from the ponies.

Rip and Tear did a blinding round and won the class, Yipee!

came 4th in the Championship R&T where tired after the first run. Can’t complain about anything except the rain storm that blew through the showground just before the Champs.

Stayed overnight at the Show but didn’t get a lot of sleep, Furious has learnt that she can kick the aluminium door of the portable stables, which she did every 10 minutes or so it felt. I could have murdered her… and it rained.

and then Fast and furious did a cracking clear round and came Fifth! So we had to forgive the noise.

Rip & tear set of in the ‘larges’ and we flew, Kevin Millman the coursebuilder had built a lovely flowing course and then made it technical by setting cones at angles. He left out the Power Turns as the ground was a bit slick, Mel decided that we were in the wrong place to clear 8 and shifted sideways onto the outside cone. We still set a cracking time of 40and a bit seconds and the hit cost us 4 secs to make our time 44and a bit, we still placed 4th so we were in the championship.

Everyone is going really fast now and the Championship was exceptional. We finished 2nd reserve (third) with a clear run.

Off to The East of England Show 17th June, Peterborough, next.

I drove the Kenworth for the Second time today, what a Buzz, we stopped at fleet services for lunch and swopped over so I could be awake for the show, Driving the kenworth is really tiring as everyone else on the road seems to view it as a moving target. Arrived later than we though as the A303 was stuffed with traffic. Ian was Knackered. Got the stabling up and ponies to bed quite quickly as we are getting more practiced. then we had a Barby and too much to drink. Woke Saturday to a fat head…

We bought Rhubarb & Custard out for the jolly as the show is not a hoys qualifier. They went fantastically.    Rip & tear amazed me, they should have been tired but they stormed the course and won the Class.  Bless them. In the Champoinship, 2nd to go Rhubard & Custard stayed in the number one slot until I beat them with Rip & Tear and they just got beaten into 3rd by Sue Ridley with her smalls. So I got Champion Again, yipee!!!

Great Show, great Company, Great result, great big fuel bill. All great so far.  Next Stop- South of England Show, Ardingly.

Ian Drove the Kenworth up to the show on Tuesday afternoon so that we would be bright and breezy ( that would be a good name for a pair) for the Class early on Wednesday morning. Fast & Furious went well again and placed 6th, got in their first Championship!!! Rip & Tear came 3rd. In the Championship Rip & tear came 3rd F&F didn’t place (not unexpectedly) back home Thursday evening, off to Bath & West  on Friday.

Surrey County, 30 May -Bank Holiday Monday.

Took  the new smalls, Fast & Furious for their first run of their first full season. What a great pair these are turning out to be, we came 7th with one down but they ran very well. Also took Rip & Tear. WE WON! (again) and then we took the Championship as well! means we Qualified for the horse of the year show on the first outing for the last 3 years. off to Suffolk Show next.

I was lucky enough(and good enough) to be invited to compete at Jumping Amsterdam with the Osborne Scurry Group, in January this year.

What an amazing trip, it’s a long way but the venue(a big convention centre like the NEC) was really well laid out, the surface was the best i’ve ever competed on.

I won the first 4 of the six rounds and just came second in the fifth, the last round was not so good as I messed up the second set of cones and the second to last pair as well. You can’t win ‘em all as they say…

but I’m still going to try!!!   Scurry at Jumping Amsterdam

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