The 2016 season has begun! I blew away the cobwebs at Moreton on Saturday 5 March taking Emma Fisher’s two lovely young hunters round the BE100.
They had literally just been plucked off the hunting field and I had only sat on them once in the past six months so we didn’t disgrace ourselves at all. I do feel they were slightly disappointed to find white boards and not hounds on arrival, but at least they had some mud to make them feel more at home!
It was great to get the season started and see lots of friendly faces I haven’t seen over the winter months. A big thank you to everyone involved in running Moreton and keeping the show on the road when unexpected heavy rain arrived the night before.
Rosie Fry’s eventing blog: It’s looking like an exciting year
We have been super busy at home so thank goodness to my wonderful and hard-working head girl, Bridget Fox, who makes sure everything runs smoothly, along with our part-time girl, Kelsey.
Bridget and I took five to combined training at West Wilts last week and with very tight times it was a bit of a mission but Bridget had them all ready and waiting for me to hop on one once I’d finished on the previous one. We then took five horses British Showjumping at Summerhouse and thankfully the horses all jumped their socks off with lots of double clears. Ruby (Rubabell Cruise) was the star girlie bringing home the bacon with a second and a third place.
Busy days like these really wouldn’t be possible without the necessary support at events and at home so I can’t thank my hard-working team enough. We are definitely looking forward to having chief supporter/helper/horse-holder/work-rider/chef aka Mum back on the scene — she is currently on the sidelines having just had a hip replacement.
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Rosie Fry’s eventing blog: That’s a wrap
I’ve taken two lorry loads down to Pontispool to use their all-weather arena cross-country in the past week. This has been a godsend as we have been unable to get onto grass cross-country courses so far due to the weather.
It was a real shame that poor Tweseldown had to abandon all four days of their competition. What a massive blow for the organisers who I know put in so much time and effort into running events for us.
Fingers crossed the weather is onside for Aldon this weekend where I have Archie (Arise Cavalier) in the intermediate novice, Max (Maximus Meridius, pictured competing last year) in the open novice, Effie (Augusta Firefly) in the BE100, Ruby in the intermediate and Kitkat (Another Breakfast) in the open intermediate. A busy weekend!
Rosie Fry’s eventing blog: A heartbreaking loss
At the time of writing this I was particularly looking forward to the Cheltenham Festival this week as it could be a very special one. My mother’s horse, Zulu Oscar, trained by brother Harry, was entered, so the Fry family could have had their first ever Festival runner. It would have been a life-long dream fulfilled for my mother.
On a sad note, it was devastating to hear of the fatal fall that Olivia Inglis suffered while competing in Australia. The equestrian community has been joining in with the #rideforOlivia campaign that has generated something like a crazy 60 million shares worldwide, where we have been posting a picture of ourselves riding using that hashtag. The photos will be used to created a mosaic of Olivia riding so what an amazing way to show our support to her grieving family. RIP Olivia.
Rosie
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Rosie Fry has been blogging for Horse & Hound since shortly after she left university to concentrate on eventing full time in July 2013. She is the sister of National Hunt trainer Harry Fry and helps school and exercise his horses when time allows.