Showing Tag: "driving trials" (Show all posts)

New Goals for 2016

Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, February 29, 2016, In : Day to day 

Hang on a moment, its nearly March, isn't it too late to be setting goals? Not according to psychologists and I reckon better late than never. This probably isn't an extensive list but these are my medium term goals for this year.

1. Get better at clipping Jasper's legs.
I'm going to confess this has always been my Mums job. The only time they get clipped is before a competition so they have to look good and there's no room for me to practice and have a go.
I realised at the weekend if I want ...
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The fitness programme begins!

Posted by A O'Neill on Friday, July 17, 2015, In : Day to day 

Hello everyone!
I'm sorry its been a while since my last post. I've been super busy working like crazy and I've just come back from a fabulous 2 week trip to Crete (excuse the bragging).
Now that I'm actually home properly and not jetting off an fabulous holidays (which you can read about on my lifestyle blog if you're interested) its time to start getting Jasper fit again so we can tackle a few outdoor events this summer.
Have to say I am seriously excited about this!
While our plans are not...
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July 21st 1st Place at Lyvers Farm ODE

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, July 21, 2013, In : Outdoors 
Today Jasper and I headed off to Lyvers Farm near Salisbury for a ODE run by the WHHC. After 3 seasons of pretty much exclusively doing Nationals taking a step back down to club level was rather weird and for me remembering everything in 1 day was very challenging (must be getting old!). I had another chance to practice the test I am doing this season and we had a great score of 50.04 with just one ball down in the cones. This was slightly frustrating as Jasper and I were cantering along nice...
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July 18th Horse Quencher Delivery

Posted by A O'Neill on Thursday, July 18, 2013, In : Sponsorship 
Nice big parcel has arrived of Horse Quencher and the weather here in Wiltshire is scorching as we are gripped in the heatwave. Jasper now has plenty of his favorite drink to help him stay hydrated and in top condition. It will definitely be coming with us to Lyvers Farm ODE this weekend. Also new pictures from Sandringham in the Gallery page.

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July 12th Home from Majorca

Posted by A O'Neill on Friday, July 12, 2013, In : Day to day 
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!

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June 30th 1st in Intermediate Pony

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, June 30, 2013, In : Outdoors 
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...
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June 29th Marathon day

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, June 30, 2013, In : Outdoors 
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...
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June 28th Dressage

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, June 30, 2013, In : Outdoors 
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 ...
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June 27th off to Sandringham

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, June 30, 2013, In : Outdoors 
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!

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May 5th Cones Day

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, June 1, 2013, In : Outdoors 
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!

Thanks to all my sponsors for their support.

Secondhand Tack Online

Blue Chip Feeds

Horse Quencher UK

Mr & Mrs J Young
Barleycroft Farm


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May 4th Marathon

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, June 1, 2013, In : Outdoors 
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!
He was raring to go round the marathon and had a nice low heart rate of 57 at the halt. He drank his Horse Quencher and electrolytes and the sun shone. Great day, looking forward to cones tomorrow.

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May 3rd Dressage

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, June 1, 2013, In : Outdoors 
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.
Jasper warmed up beautifully and then decided to impersonate a steam train in his test and proceeded to yank my arms out. Not sure what that was all about but we still had a good score of 57.07 so we have already nearly hit our season target of a low 50's dressage score now we have moved up a level. Currently lying ...
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May 2nd Off to Ashfields National

Posted by A O'Neill on Thursday, May 2, 2013, In : Outdoors 
Today we are off to Essex for our first event of the year, Ashfields National. This is one of my favorite events and I'm really excited. This also our first event at Intermediate level and the forecast looks excellent so should be a really good weekend!

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April 21st Carriage Fair

Posted by A O'Neill on Thursday, May 2, 2013, In : British Young Drivers 
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!

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April 7th Obstacles

Posted by A O'Neill on Thursday, May 2, 2013, In : Indoor Driving 
Today was obstacle day and also the final day of the competition. Jasper flew round the obstacles but we always find Indoor obstacles challenging as they are often tight which doesn't suit Jasper and the scoring places greater importance on this phase. We were delighted to come 3rd overall and it was a great end to a fantastic season. Now we have got a 4 hour drive to Pembrokeshire as I am supposed to be on a field course in wales!

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March 15th Wiltshire Life Awards

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, March 16, 2013, In : Day to day 
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...
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January 24th Exams are finished :)

Posted by A O'Neill on Thursday, January 24, 2013, In : Day to day 
Finally my exams are over! As they have stretched over nearly three weeks so far the return to uni has not been much fun. To be honest quite sick of being locked up in my bedroom staring at notes so finally freedom! Refreshers starts next week and we have been reliving the fun of our Freshers week today when I found my camera with loads of pictures on it that I had forgotten about.
Can't say my exams have gone brilliantly but I have done my best and worked hard so there's not much more I can ...
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January 19th Driving in the Snow

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, January 20, 2013, In : Day to day 

Great drive with Jasper in the snow today, he was not very impressed! You can see a video of our drive here
The other picture is Jasper galloping up the field today as he was desperate to come in and out of the cold.
He is such a wuss! I have done some revision today as I have yet more exams next week which was a lot less fun but I do at least feel productive.


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January 18th SNOW DAY!

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, January 20, 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 :(
But at 12pm we were told the uni was shut, exams were cancelled and we escaped outside to freedom and a massive snowball fight! Amazing fun!
The bad news is that obviously I still have to do the exam but they have postponed it to a Saturday that I am away competing on. Not sure what happens now but hopefully it can be sorted ou...
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January 6th Win at Sparsholt

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, January 12, 2013, In : Indoor Driving 
Today we headed back to Sparsholt to compete at in the Wessex Regions January event.
After being in second place after dressage, we then had a clear round in the cones with several time penalties to be 2nd place in the phase and then remain in second place after dressage and cones. Knowing we had to make up ten penalties to win (and the person in front of us is renowned for being speedy) we were hoping to hang onto our second place. However, Jasper thought otherwise and we had the fastest obst...
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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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