I’ve just got back from the Meydan FEI Nations Cup in La Baule, France, where I had been selected to ride in the British team alongside John and Michael Whitaker and Peter Charles — let’s just say it was an interesting trip… why is it horses never seem to go to plan?
We were due to set off on the Monday night so we could reach the show on Tuesday afternoon. The idea was that this would give the horses plenty of time to set in.
However, with windy weather sweeping the south coast, P&O decided the seas were so rough they couldn’t take any horses on the ferry. This meant we didn’t end up getting to the show until Wednesday — about 30mins before the trot up!
The horses were fine though after the long journey and all trotted up well so we all enjoyed a good sleep on Wednesday night.
I’d taken along Sunflower and Ulien for the experience and they both jumped well. Flower ended up sixth in a world rankings point class which I was really pleased with — and it helped pay some of the bill!
I was really hopeful for Paulien because she felt great, but she had two fences down on the first day — the second fence and the last — and the following day she was a little bit sore. I think she may have twisted herself. So that was the end of my trip with Pauls unfortunately.
Luckily Guy Williams kindly stepped in my place on the team and they finished ninth.
You have to learn to take the ups and the downs with horses and always remember that tomorrow is another day — it is character building anyway!
But hopefully next week I’ll speak to you on a happier note…
Charlotte