Hi Everyone,

I think I need to introduce myself first. I am Hilary Secker and I am just 13. I have one horse, Foxy, who is seven but she really thinks she’s a pony! I have done all PC activities with my branch, Cheshire Hunt North. I have had Foxy two weeks now and I have my very first one day event on her this weekend! Exciting and nerve-racking! Keep riding!
Hilary

This is a pic of Hilary with her old pony Sonny.

Hilary and her best friend Foxy

Hello everyone,

I have now reached my four week anniversary with Foxy. We have packed so much in that it is hard to believe that it has only been four weeks. We've had a rally with Stephen Hadley (the famous showjumper), we've taken part in the Grasshoppers Final and have done two One Day Events already!!

The first one day event was almost a Level 3 course (that is 2'9"). We had a super day - our dressage was very interesting - we were going brilliantly until Foxy decided to have a buck and a squeal!!! Showjumping was ace and so was the cross country although I did have a stop due to technical difficulties (I took a dodgy line).

Our second ODE was just last week, over a BE Intro course although it was a Pony Club event. I had never jumped so big cross country before. To say I was nervous when I walked the course was an understatement. Foxy was magnificent! In the showjumping she listened to me and gave me so much confidence for the cross country, we flew round with only one stop (again a technical difficulty!!). I have to mention the dressage too (oh dear). The first half was appalling - Foxy was more interested in what was going on around her than listening to my aids - but still, she only squealed once and managed not to buck! We improved our dressage score by 0.3 penalties on the competition before - well, an improvement is still an improvement.

I have school exams coming up so I am easing off the competitions (Mum's orders). But we still have a lot of training and rallies to fit in. Rallies are great because I see my friends and ride Foxy at the same time. Of course I think Cross Country rallies are the best, but not everyone would agree with me. Some actually prefer Dressage rallies - can you believe that?

Signing off for this week,

Keep riding!

Hilary x

Hey everybody,

Gosh it’s hard work eventing! If you’re not competing you’re training or schooling! Luckily we have had a bit of rest from eventing helping my Branch host Area Games! It’s always fun when our Branch hosts something because you feel part of the organisation. I got to add up tack and turnout scores but some of the scores were shocking. I think some Branches need to have a few tack cleaning lessons!

Foxy has come on so much it’s unbelievable! Unfortunately it didn’t happen overnight! We had a good few hours of training for it to have even started to change for the better.

We had another ODE this week and it was, if possible, more fun than the last one! The weather was horrendous but, luckily, when Foxy and I were actually competing it wasn’t too bad.

Dressage was much better. We achieved our aim, no squealing, bucking or jolly cantering off! Unfortunately I had Foxy going a bit too quietly so the judge thought her head carriage was too low. At least it was down!!

In between dressage and show jumping the rain was so heavy we had to get all the horses onto the box before they got drenched asap! Foxy wanted to stay outside and carry on munching the grass, even if the rain was lashing down! Show jumping was as good as usual. It was bad luck that I had the very last pole down to achieve four faults in total. It was a tricky fence, a short-strided double going downhill.

Showjumping in style!

(Photo thanks to fotograffs)

Cross-country was great fun as always. The course was neither big nor scary but posed a few technical questions. Seeing as this is only our third ODE together we did very well to finish with one stop at a very technical corner. It was sloping rails and about three sides on a tight dog-leg to a corner. Poor Foxy didn’t have enough time to see the fence and was confused about what she needed to do. We sailed over it second time and the rest of the course flowed beautifully.

Our favourite discipline - cross country.

(Photo thanks to fotograffs)

I have Novice event training this week. It’s for all those people who might want to be considered for the Novice teams later on in the year. Rallies continue and the fun never stops. We have camp pretty soon; it’s so exciting! Soon I have exams so I won’t be doing much but I always 'school' after school!

Keep riding,
Hilary

Hello everybody

The horses have finally gone out for the summer. Foxy and her fave grazing pal Snowy (a 14.2hh Connemara) are in a heavenly paddock. The flies have been awful though, so we have had to put cute fly fringes on them both. Foxy’s is gold and black, very stylish! Snowy’s is more a manly, leather coloured one. Foxy loves living out. She doesn’t mind the rain (which is just as well, because it hasn’t stopped raining for ages) and she and Snowy take it in turns to lie down.

Foxy and Snowy in their fly veils

Foxy enjoying a good roll!

My exams have finished, finally! So now I can get back to some serious training. And lots of FUN! I have a pairs cross country on Sunday, there’s nothing more fun than that! I am riding with a friend whose horse is huge – bigger than H+P's new blogger Sophie's – Alfie must be at least 17hh and he's still growing!! It will be a real laugh if we have to dress at a fence (that is jump it together alongside one another), I will be in shadow and it will be impossible to match his stride. I’ll try and get a photo to show you.

Can’t wait for the sun to come back, I hate getting drenched at cross country rallies!

Keep riding
Hilary x

Hey all

It’s been a busy week as far as Foxy is concerned. It was Cheshire Show week so I was washing and plaiting to get Foxy looking spick and span.

We did the pairs cross country on Sunday and we did have to dress (ride side by side over a jump) at TWO fences! Luckily the sun was in the right position so I could still see and wasn't totally in Alfie's massive shadow! We would have come 3rd but because Alfie’s stride is so much bigger than Foxy’s we gained five penalties for bad dressing! Later Foxy and produced a wonderful clear in the Open but we were two seconds too slow to get placed.

On the first day of the Cheshire Show (Tues) my Pony Club took part in the inter-hunt relay. I was picked for the B-Team so it was stress to get Foxy REALLY clean for the Tack and Turnout. It turned out to be a great success because our A-Team came 3rd and my team came 4th.

The relay itself was good fun. It was a course of jumps and you had to go through some bending poles in the middle. We had to hand a whip over to each of the members of our team so they could then do the course. What made it so much fun was that you had to race another team! My team was very inexperienced (including me!) so we didn’t get past the first round. It didn't matter though because we all had fun and we were really pleased with our ponies who had all tried so hard.

The relay handover.

On the Wednesday I did the novice working hunter class. It wasn’t too technical but the course did pose a few questions. Only half of my class turned up because of the awful weather and even fewer went clear. A lot of people got eliminated at the last, which was a grass covered water tray. Someone was even taken away in an ambulance after they had a fall at it!

Foxy makes the hardest jump of the course look easy!

Foxy jumped her heart out and when I didn’t place her too well for a fence she helped me, and vice versa. There were no slip-ups, even though I did jump the last a bit sooner than Foxy, and we jumped clear! I haven’t had a lot of practise in showing so it wasn’t top notch, but I was happy with it! The in-hand show was great fun and it went well! The judges had to confer for a short time and then they called out the line up and I came 4th! I was so pleased! We then came back home after a long day.

I have combined training at the weekend, in the rain! In a fortnight I have another ODE, finally! Foxy will be just as pleased as me!

I hope that this awful rain goes away soon; it’s hard to jump in this weather!

Keep riding
Hilary

It's been awful these past weeks. After having no room to squeeze anything extra in, we've ended up with nothing to do. The rain has cancelled almost everything and so Foxy and I haven't had a proper trip out for weeks! We finally had a proper ODE when it was the Area Horse Trials. Our Area Rep (the person in charge of the branches in my Area) had it moved so that the XC phase could go ahead! Even the big kids where excited to be out doing again!

All of my Branch did really well at the qualifiers. Two individuals qualified for the championships and one of the teams missed out by point 1 of a mark!! Everybody enjoyed themselves and every horse went well!

Foxy was overjoyed to be back out there on the XC course, so much so we went round far too fast and got 4.8 time penalties! The dressage phase wasn't terribly good as the wind was making Foxy a bit spooky but, as we always say, she didn't blow up in the canter. The show jumping course was very technical, even though it appeared otherwise. Foxy rattled a few poles but luckily they all stayed up so we got a clear. I was so pleased to get a double clear I didn't mind the time penalties!

Foxy and I have also qualified for the Riding Club's ODE champs and so we are already preparing ourselves for it. I qualified as a team so it's all efforts for the club.

Let's hope the rain holds off, I really hate combined training!!

Keep Riding,

Hilary

Hey everyone!

It's like the calm after the storm now! The champs took up so much time that it seems weird that we're doing nothing now. My branch hosts the National Novice Championships, so not only did we have to worry about the competitors but the competition itself! However, the running was smooth and all went brilliantly! An open team from our branch got through to the Show Jumping champs so it was training for them. Also the Novice Show Jumping team got through so we were at both champs!!

Unfortunately my eventing team didn't get through to the champs (I was a novice) but to make up numbers I was allowed to go H/C. It was a wonderful experience even though I wasn't competing! It was both mine and Foxy's first championship course and a few of the more technical jumps seemed a bit imposing.

The dressage went okay, we didn't blow up in the canter!! Foxy was very excited in the Show Jumping because of the Cross-Country so we had one down. We were right at the end of the day for the XC so the nerves built up! Foxy got so excited that she leapt out of the start box at the beginning! We went round really well but one jump(no 16) was very technical and neither of us had seen anything like it before so we had a run out! I was a little complacent that she was going to jump it, so it was also a fall!! However, I got back on and completed the course, which is a great achievement. Even though I fell off it was so much fun and Foxy really enjoyed herself.

I have the Riding Club Show Jumping Champs in Lincoln coming up which will be great fun, as well as the Oliver Townend Eventing Challenge at the weekend. Foxy is going to have a holiday after Lincoln before the winter season starts.