Hello again!
Nice big parcel has arrived of 
Home today from our first family holiday in 8 years. We've had a fantastic time in Majorca with plenty of sun, sea and sand. Now tanned beyond all recognition having enjoyed some well earned R&R. Glad to be home though and Jasper was certainly pleased to see us :) Shame we missed Catton but it was certainly worth it!
Jasper was a star today with a fantastic clear in the cones to win our class. With less than 5 penalties in hand when we went in our cones round was rather nerve wracking as the competitor in 2nd place is extremely good at cones, so any mistake I made could be costly. She then had 2 cones down, allowing me to relax and we had a fab round with just the tiniest amount of time penalties. I think I am going to have to spend some time practising the faster cones speed I have to make in Intermediat... 
Today the rain has finally let up and we've had glorious sunshine. Our marathon time was really early at 8.30am and it was freezing at that time of the morning. My teeth were chattering the whole way round the marathon! Today Mum is back on the backstep but she has hurt her foot and can't walk that well so I was really nervous as I knew it was completely down to me to remember where we were going. However I remembered it fine and we had a good round. Jasper was extremely lively this morning a... 
Today's dresaage test has had its fair share of drama. After coming down the centre line the judge beeped the horn and said I was doing the wrong test! This caused a fair bit of panic amongst the Intermediate Pony Class as we had all learnt the same test I had but as the first competitor in it was fairly stressful to be told you had learnt the wrong test. Eventually it turned out what had been printed in the shedule was not what the judge had been told to mark and I was allowed to restart. I ... 
After 5 hours of driving we have finally arrived at Sandringham National. An hour of that was spent stuck in traffic on the M25 (no suprise there!). We are set up and its been raining since we arrived. Fingers crossed it brightens up for Dressage tomorrow!
We came 2nd! Not bad for our first attempt at Intermediate level! With 1 ball down and a few time penalties we held our place to come 2nd overall. Its been an amazing weekend with glorious sunshine the entire time. Now for the long trek home and back to uni to start actually doing some work as my exams are rapidly approaching! 
Best marathon of my life today :D so proud of our little pony! He flew round the marathon to move up a place to 2nd with great times. I am particularly proud of our last obstacle which we had similar times to Advanced Pony Pair! 
After a hectic early start with lots of rushing around the stressage is done! Picture is of Jasper chilling in the sunshine before our test. Thanks to Kate for plaiting him for me.
Today the British Young Drivers were out in force to run our trade stand and display in the South of England Carriage Fair. This is generally considered the 'start of season party' and is a great chance to catch up with everyone. We raised over £200 and although the display didn't quite go to plan it was still a good laugh. Thank you to all our volunteers and everyone who helped raise the money. Thank you to the BC committee who have given me one of our new gilets to wear, its gorgeous!
Last night was incredible! My Mum and I spent an excellent evening at the Wiltshire Life Awards Ceremony, enjoying the delicious food and entertainment. My category had been shortlisted to four people with extremely strong candidates so I thought I had no chance and decided to just relax and enjoy the free champagne. We were the penultimate award so had an agonizing wait for the result but eventually it was our turn, where I was announced the Young Achiever of the Year! I was very suprised to... 
Today Jasper has been a star! After a lethargic start Jude jumped on for 5 minutes and we then had an awesome lesson. Much improved with his medium work and rein back. Although he does reins back well in harness he has suddenly decided he doesn't know what rein back is under saddle, which is odd as that is where he orginally learnt to rein back. Very pleased with him. Spent the rest of the day getting ready for our competion tomorrow. Thank you to my sister Kiera for cleaning my carriage in e... March 4th We're in Ridgeway Rider
Posted by A O'Neill on Tuesday, March 5, 2013,
In :
British Young Drivers
February 23rd Lesson and IHDT Championships
Posted by A O'Neill on Tuesday, March 5, 2013,
In :
Day to day
What an improvement from last week! I thought we were going to have to start from scratch again after the winter with working on Jaspers medium trot. But today he was actually doing it which was amazing. Great lesson, very pleased with him :) thank you Jude for your help, it was a great lesson and I wasn't as exhausted afterwards this time. Was hacking Jasper home when we rode past the postman. He is clearly new around here as he looked mildly alarmed to see someone riding a horse and was the... 
Had my first dressage lesson with Jasper today for the first time in ages. He was an absolute star and was really trying with his lengthened strides which he seems to have forgotten how to do over the winter... Lots to work on as always but hopefully some progress is being made too. February 5th Shortlised for Wiltshire Life Awards!
Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, February 10, 2013,
In :
Day to day
Today I got some very exciting news that I have been nominated and shortlisted for the Young Achiever of the Year category in the February 3rd Cheering Ann on at Sparsholt
Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, February 10, 2013,
In :
Indoor Driving
Today I am not competing myself (which is very strange!) as I am trying to watch the pennies and only compete in really necessary events. But I have instead gone along anyway to cheer Ann on with Socks and to backstep for Vicky in the obstacles (see pictures). February 2nd BYD Committee Meeting
Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, February 10, 2013,
In :
British Young Drivers
Been a really long week at uni so I am looking forward to going home tonight. 
We should have been at an Indoor event at BCA today but it has been called off due to the snow, despite the fact that it has nearly all melted here. It was decided that it was too dangerous and it has been cancelled due to Health and Safety. While its a shame we can't compete today there is a small bit of me that is glad as it is very cold and I did not have to get up at some unearthly hour this morning.January 24th Exams are finished :)
Posted by A O'Neill on Thursday, January 24, 2013,
In :
Day to day
Woke up this morning to about 4 inches of snow! This was all incredibly exciting but... I had an exam in the afternoon so spent all morning cooped up indoors revising :(
Its all a bit doom and gloom here at uni at the minute as everyone is stressing about exams. To cheer myself up today (and to procrastinate in truth!) I went to collect my kit that I get as part of my 
Today we headed back to Sparsholt to compete at in the Wessex Regions January event.December 30th Hat Trick at BCA!
Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, December 31, 2012,
In :
Indoor Driving
November 10th BCA Indoors 1st again!!
Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, November 19, 2012,
In :
Indoor Driving
October 30th University of Southampton Sports Bursary
Posted by A O'Neill on Wednesday, October 31, 2012,
In :
Sponsorship
October 28th 1st at Thames Valley Indoors!
Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, October 29, 2012,
In :
Indoor Driving
Whooo! Spent a fantastic day watching the Grade III para dressage with Ann (thank you for my ticket!). What an inspiration! Huge congrats to Deborah Criddle who won a Silver medal for Team GB and later that day were also celebrating Team Gold! What a fantastic year for equestrianism with the Silver in eventing, team golds in both showjumping and dressage as well as our amazing Individual gold and bronze in the dressage. At the same time our para drivers were in Breda celebrating Team Bronze s... June 29th Jaspers back :)
Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, July 1, 2012,
In :
FEI Junior European Champs 2012
Jaspers home from Judes today, who tells me he has been a very good boy. I went to see him yesterday when our farrier Jerry came to shoe him for Austria and kindly gave me a spare set of shoes for him. Tonight was my Leavers Ball so I was busy getting ready for that so thank you to Jude for having Jasper and to my Mum and Dad who went and picked him up for me. I had a fabulous night and my feet are absolutely killing me! It was great to see all my friends and get all dressed up for once. April 14th Jaspers passport is here!
Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, April 14, 2012,
In :
Day to day
April 1st Indoor Championships Day Two
Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, April 2, 2012,
In :
Indoor Driving
We came 5th!!! After 4 nail biting obstacles we held our position to come 5th!!! This is brilliant as I wanted to come in the top 10 but I never thought we would be placed! Jasper really stepped up the pace today and although we weren't the fastest we still had good times. A video of obstacle 2 can be seen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2psHfsKscrg huge thanks to Fiona Powell of Inharness magazine for that! March 31st Indoor Championships day one
Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, April 2, 2012,
In :
Indoor Driving
Today we were up at the crack of dawn as we were the fast class on for our paces and precision (dressage) and cones. Our wonderful friend Elanor plaited Jasper up for me as she is a pro so big thanks to her :) 
Today we are off to The College EC, Keysoe Bedfordshire for the IHDT National Championships. After a whole winter of Indoor Driving from I was the higest placed junior in the Wessex points league we are finally off to the championships which is so exciting! We are travelling up there today as its a three hour drive and settling Jasper in as we are the first class on tomorrow morning. As usual we left about 2 hours after we were supposed to and met up with our brilliant friends Julie and Ann B... 
Woke up this morning to non stop rain, so when Sam from Hooves-n-Woofers arrived to do Jasper we decided to move the party to inside his stable. Today was the day where Jasper officially enters 'Boot Camp' in preparation for our trip to Keysoe. Stage one was this morning where he had a full clip and his mane pulled, so big thanks to Sam, he looks lovely and smart now. After a quick cup of tea and some lunch it was time to commence with Stage two of the plan, dropping Jasper off at my dressage... 
March 2nd Indoor Championship qualifation
Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, March 4, 2012,
In :
Indoor Driving
February 5th Indoors Sparsholt
Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, February 18, 2012,
In :
Indoor Driving
We woke up this morning to find that we had had four inches of snow overnight! However as Sparsholt College had not cancelled the WHHC had to go ahead with the event planned. We loaded up and braved the icy roads to compete Jasper in the snow! Despite being freezing cold we had our best ever dressage test of 22.5. This was the joint best score and we had the best paces mark of the whole event! The judge also commented on how much he had improved. I just couldnt believe it. Obviously Jasper th... About Me
| Carriage Driver Blog |
Hi my name is Amber, welcome to my blog! This is where I will record what it is like being a Junior Carriage Driver and what I get up to day to day.
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