Scotts of Thrapston

Our plans for Carlton Horse Trials are underway and I just can’t wait!

Posted on 13. Jun, 2011 by Julia Berrie in Alex Elliott, Rider Development Programme

Our first competition at Carlton and a lesson with Piggy French…

With my first BE event behind me and my excitement for Carlton Horse Trials growing I was keen to keep my schedule busy with training and competitions. With the chance to have a go round Carlton in the May open cross country I was keen to find someone to give us a lift as my parents were away. Sally Wagstaff the owner of my yard was the willing volunteer, eager to see the set up of Carlton, yet praying I stayed firmly in the saddle!

We arrived at Carlton and it was great to see the place buzzing! We walked the course as soon as we arrived, it was nice and flowing with some lovely long gallops. Apart from the small step into water at the last fence there was nothing making me uneasy! With plenty of time to spare we were able to track down Sara Tusting on her chocolate cake delivery route for all the volunteers, who informed me of everything we needed to know. Despite everything Sara had to do she still gave a calming aura to all the riders. After a quick warm up I headed down to the start and we were off. The course ran as smoothly as I thought it would and Nix flew everything, even the small step into water which had been a real issue in my previous lesson with Nick. I approached the step repeating Nick’s advice, sit deep, let him have his head and be determined!  To top off a lovely day we came 3rd which was fantastic.

Cross country and dressage training has dominated the last few months so on the 5th June I had a spur of the moment urge to head to Arena UK for show jumping. I did not head off with high hopes as it had been weeks since I had entered any showjumping events. Nix was spooky yet surprised me with a double clear in 85cm placing me 5th. The 95cm felt HUGE but Nix was unfazed and with just one fence down we left Arena UK on a high.

With the Piggy French clinic fast approaching there was a big part of me disappointed that I had not booked a slot, and after a tough week at University with a tight deadline and being unable to train with the University Equestrian team for a while my week was topped off with a heavy cold! As I sat and watched my mum lunge Nix (Nix and I hate it – she loves it) I received an email from Sara offering me a place on Piggy’s clinic as they had received a cancellation. On Saturday my spirits were up, standing next to Piggy after watching her at Badminton was unreal! The lesson was fantastic as well as the weather, I loved Piggy’s calm stress free approach to everything. Nix behaved himself, which was a great relief, and I squeezed all the questions and advice I could get. My lesson finished on a high with some lovely complements from Piggy and she said she could clearly see the relationship and trust between me and Nix.

After my lesson I was lucky enough to meet Janet from the programme last year, it was lovely to finally meet her after reading all her blogs and following her progress. We all headed down to watch Sarah’s lesson and it was great to get to know each other better. Our plans for Carlton Horse Trials are underway and I just can’t wait!

Alex Elliott

Tags: Alex Elliott, Arena UK, Carlton Horse Trials, Piggy French