I’ve enjoyed a slightly quieter week at home after returning from our disappointment in La Baule.

On a brighter note I jumped the baby horses at a local show at Pycombe and they were all super. This weekend, I am taking five horses up to Towerlands Park in Essex for the young horse show there.

My plan at the moment is to get my up-and-coming horses really going well so in the next few months we can get them to a few bigger shows later in the summer.

The news on Paulien after La Baule is that she will need a bit of time off now — it’s nothing too serious — but we will use this time to try and get some embryos from her which is very exciting. After this break she should come back and be back on top-form. That is horses for you, unfortunately.

A couple more foals have been born to our mares at home. They are all stunning of course, but will they become top show jumpers? I’m looking forward to finding out!

Charlotte

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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

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After a quiet couple of weeks schooling the horses, we have been busy competing this week.

I have just got back from a show at Royal Leisure EC where we took the babies and they were all super. I didn’t fall off which is a bonus — last week I took a couple of them to a local show for the clear round jumping and fell off twice in about 30secs — I was a bit sore afterwards!

I took four horses to Crofton Manor on Friday and they all jumped well. My six-year-old Willem won the H&H Foxhunter class and my eight-year-old Ulien, who is Paulien’s sister, won the 1.40m so I was really pleased with them.

BSJA trainer Corrine Bracken, the junior and young rider chef d’equipe, came to the yard yesterday to give my fiance Ron and I some instruction. We got totally soaked in the rain but, as always with Corrine, the horses jumped and worked brilliantly.

At home, I have been doing a lot of work using poles on the ground into a fence so they really learn to sit on their bums — it seems to be working at the moment as they all feel great and I’m really looking forward to the new season.

The exciting news is that our first foal was born on Sunday night in the field. She is a filly out of a thoroughbred mare by a young stallion called Wallenberg and we have decided to call her Frankie. There are 15 more due in the next few weeks so we’ll have our hands full!

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I have had a very quiet week — getting some of the young horses up and ready for shows. We’ve just been hacking the horses and turning them out in the field so they’ve had a nice chilled week too.

The horses I took to Italy for the Toscana tour have settled in well back at home.

There was a lovely surprise when I got back as my small barn where Paulien, Lacanda, Sunflower and Ulien and two other horses live had been completely de-cobwebbed, jet-washed and painted — what a transformation! So the horses had lovely clean stables to go into when we got back.

At the weekend we went to Pycombe, a local show, to help a girl on our yard who was competing there.

But this lovely spring weather we’ve been having has been great. Our first few foals are due in the next week so hopefully by the time I write my blog next week we’ll have some new arrivals to tell you about!

Charlotte

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Hi, I’m British show jumper Charlotte Platt. Here is my first weekly blog for Horse & Hound, which I’m writing from sunny Tuscany, in Italy.

I am here for three weeks on the Toscana tour (similar to the Spanish sunshine tour and Portuguese Atlantic tour) to get the horses up and running after a quiet winter. I have brought seven horses with me — Paulien II, Lacanda, Sunflower P, Ulien V and three new horses owned by Beth Gillespie — USA Today, Undercover and Ucon.

There are hundreds of horses and riders here and the courses are all about 5cm bigger than it says in the schedule. I’ve been living in the lorry for three weeks — which has been fun.

It’s all been going really well — I’ve been placed in lots of classes and all the horses are jumping well. They definitely feel ready for the new season. The weather here is fantastic, apart from two days of snow we had, which was a bit random!

My life is not usually this glamorous though! For the rest of the year I am based in the village of Henfield in West Sussex — right next to Hickstead showground. Life at home is great. My parents live in the main farmhouse while I live on a different part of the farm with my fiancé, fellow show jumper Ronnie Healy. It is very much a family-run business and we all work well together. The day starts at about 8am and we ride all day every day.

We have two young riders based with us — Irish rider Kelly O’Connor and English rider Marla Lovett who are hopefuls for the young rider and junior European teams.

My biggest achievement so far was in the Super League at Hickstead in 2008 where I jumped a double clear on Paulien II and the team finished second. It was my first Super League.

This year is all about the European Championships — I would love to be in the running for that.

I”ll be keeping you all up to date with my weekly news and gossip so log on next Tuesday to read my latest instalment.

Charlotte

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Dee Kennedy’s blog: packed and ready

Dee reports on her final preparations for Badminton

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Dee Kennedy’s blog: a week of very mixed emotions

Dee is looking forward to Badminton, but was rocked by the news of Ian Olding’s death at Belton

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Charlotte Platt: being bucked off and first 2009 foal

Charlotte’s young horse are feeling a little too fit and well at the moment and she is excited about the arrival of their first foal of 2009

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Charlie Hutton: Addington international

Charlie’s horses show the reverse of their expected form at Addington international

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Dee Kennedy: what to wear at the Badminton trot-up?

Big El continues to work well, while Dee Kennedy considers her footwear for the trot-up

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Charlie Hutton: Winter dressage champs

Charlie was pleased with how his horses went at the winter dressage championships at Hartpury

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Dee Kennedy: Good day at Burnham Market

Badminton Horse Trials entrant Dee Kennedy is impressed with Big El in the three-star at Burnham Market

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Dee Kennedy: first advanced run of 2009

Dee Kennedy and Big El tackle the advanced course at Weston Park as part of their Badminton preparation

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Charlotte Platt: Back to reality

Charlotte is back from Italy and enjoying the spring sunshine at home

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Charlie Hutton: Training and fabulous physio

It’s been a busy week for Charlie with two days of World Class training and two days competing

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Dee Kennedy: We are in at Badminton!

The waiting is over… entries have closed for Badminton and to our delight, Big El (“Eliot”) and I are in!

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Charlotte Platt: hello from sunny Tuscany

I’m writing my first blog from sunny Tuscany, in Italy. I am here for three weeks on the Toscana tour. The horses are jumping well, although all the courses are 5cm bigger than it says in the schedule…

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Dee Kennedy: Big El does his first event

Big El was a true pleasure around the cross-country. He is so easy and he reminded me why I love him after the other two phases…

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Charlie Hutton: feeling a bit below par

I was fine on Monday, but then Tuesday night I threw up about five times and was sick for the next two days…

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Dee Kennedy: youngsters’ first event

Friday was our first eventing outing of the year — the BE100 at Stafford — and it didn’t go entirely without problems…

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Charlie Hutton: a new challenge

This week eventer Lucy Wiegersma brought one of her advanced horses, Porloe Alvin, to Talland for me to ride for three weeks…

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Dee Kennedy: Big El is on track

On Thursday Big El had his first “away from home canter” and this was a really great sweetener as he loved it and worked very well. He went beautifully on the flat the next day, making me think I should canter him more often…

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Charlie Hutton: success at Burrows Court

I went out competing on Thursday at Burrows Court, not far from us in Gloucestershire. I took my sister Pippa’s ride, Belmondo, as well as my own home-bred mare Amo…

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Dee Kennedy: plans for the eventing season

Hi, I’m Dee Kennedy and I’ll be writing every week in the build-up to Badminton. I thought this week I would start my blog by introducing myself and telling you a bit about my eventing career so far…

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Charlie Hutton: Life at Talland

Welcome to my first weekly blog for Horse&Hound. I thought I’d start by letting you know a little about my day-to-day life. I’m generally on the yard at my family’s Talland School of Equitation in Gloucestershire by half seven, and try to get 8 horses ridden by half one…

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