Loki finds his extra gears, here's to 2022!

After the countdown to Tokyo, the last few months feel like they’ve flown by! We’d been working hard on developing Loki’s expression in the trot, and he was starting to get stronger within this. In September we had the National Championships, which, for the first time was being held at Somerford Park. Having been to Stoneleigh every year, it felt strange heading off in a new direction but the weather was lovely, which always makes a difference when you’re predominantly based outside!

As the class was fairly quiet, my goal was to try to take some of the new work we were getting in training through to the competition arena. I had a super ride on Loki the day before in training, so I was looking forward to seeing what we could do the next day. I think we might have put our best foot forward in the training as we didn’t quite get what we could do in the arena, but he’s still getting stronger and I’m still finding out his new gears so it’s all a learning experience. I was delighted that he didn’t bat an eyelid at anything as even though we were first in there was still a good atmosphere. We went on to do his first mounted prizegiving too where he was impeccably behaved so we ticked those boxes.

Next up was Keysoe, the last International of the year. Following the Nationals we decided to not pick him up too much in the training day or the warm-up to save his best for the arena and I just had to trust that I would be able to get it when I went in. It worked perfectly and Loki showed just how much stronger he is getting as just a few weeks after the Nationals he was able to sustain it over the 3 days, getting better each day. It was a superb end to the Para season and we walked away with 3 wins and more importantly, I got a really good feeling from him.

After a few weeks break for him and having qualified for everything for Para next year I decided to step up the challenge for both of us and contest our first Medium. Opting for the freestyle (so that I had a bit of flexibility in where we did the movements!) and using new music from Aladdin that I put together myself, we went off to test the water in his Medium debut and finished on 70%. Having achieved our first qualifying score we went out a few days later and scored over 73% to secure qualification for the Regionals! I think it’s great to mix the tests up so that he doesn’t always go through the Para test every time he competes and it also tests me as a rider as I need to have much more control and influence over how he uses his body. I’ve also been playing with his flying changes ready for the advanced medium work but as with anything new, one way is easy and consistent and the other way is currently a bit hit or miss. Of course, when I then want to run through my Medium without any changes, they sneak in everywhere!

Looking forward to the World Championships 2022 and Paris 2024 I am on the lookout for a second horse to campaign, so if anyone sees or hears of anything that might be suitable or has a horse in the stable with a super walk and trot - and even bigger dreams - please do get in touch!

A massive thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year… fingers crossed 2022 is kind to us!

Tokyo - what a Games!

The last few weeks following selection is always a stressful time for anyone involved, trying to keep horses and riders fit whilst preparing for optimum performance. As a reserve, Loki and I had to be as prepared and ready as the Team. And this year we had the added pressure of trying to avoid Covid as we’d have to pass pre-flight tests in order to be able to go. So with quarantine and isolation as well, once the horses were loaded onto the lorry and on their way to Belgium, I was definitely ready to get out of the Team bubble and do anything normal / non-Tokyo related!

The one positive to come out of not having any audiences allowed at the Games was that the coverage was fantastic. I’d been first reserve for Rio in 2016 and remember vividly having to watch the online results or get updates from people out there just to know what was going on. Having been part of the journey it was a small reward to be able to watch the action on live stream. I enjoyed a slightly more relaxed few weeks of training Loki, work, a bit of teaching and alternating between live stream screens. As everyone will be aware by now there were a few last-minute changes that happened in quarantine (just to add to the drama) but a strong team went out there and what incredible results they delivered.

Everyone went out with their own challenges, goals and expectations and I was thrilled to see them all go and achieve what I’d suspected was possible. The individual competition gave an exciting preview of what might be possible with the Team, and what a finish it turned out to be. Great Britain finished 0.6% ahead of the Dutch team, which was strangely the same difference that the Dutch led by at the 2018 World Equestrian Games when we had to settle for Silver.

It was an outstanding result for the British team who quite frankly all went with the goal of ‘hopefully medalling’ with their three inexperienced horses, but they all delivered personal bests and performances to be proud of in order to secure that coveted Gold medal and Paralympic title. The standard of both horsepower and riding has continued to improve and there were some impressive combinations across the grades from all Nations. With the start of a new (slightly shorter) Paralympic cycle I think the next few years will be exciting for all Nations as we build up to the Paris Olympics.

I’m incredibly proud of Loki!

A massive congratulations to everyone selected for Tokyo 2020 - another strong team for British Equestrian! We may not have made the team of four but I am incredibly proud of Loki (LJT Diamond Crusador - Lady Joseph Trust) as in his first year campaigning we have been selected as reserves and so will be heading into quarantine alongside them. Whilst it's disappointing to miss out on a place, I can be nothing but proud of how far he's come, the consistency he's shown this year and what we've achieved together so far.

A massive thank you as always to everyone who's supported me in this journey, I continue to be eternally grateful to my sponsors, supporters, home team and family who continue to make this possible.