Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our lovely clients & followers! Thank you for making 2019 a fantastic year for us and we hope 2020 will be even better. 

There have been a lot of new arrivals at GHF Equestrian over the months of November and December with Vicky and Andrew attending the Monart Sale, Goresbridge Go for Gold Sale and Brightwells Elite Sale. We are very pleased with the horses we have going into 2020! You can see all of the horses we currently have on the Our Horses tab of the website. 

We were all sad to say goodbye to the very special Heartbeat in November, who has been sold to a lovely young rider in America. We are sure he will bring his new family as much success and happiness as he did for us but it was personally upsetting that the sale meant we didn't go to Le Lion. 

We were very excited this month to celebrate a fantastic year with our amazing friends and clients in an End of Season Party at Cefn Tilla Court! It was a fun filled evening with lots of prosecco and dancing! We were thrilled to have everyone together to thank them for the contributions they have made to us having a successful year. 

We have been busy continuing to break the 3 YO horses and train the others we have. We have been busy with clinics for clients at GHF as well! 

Bring on the 2020 season!

October was the biggest month of 2019 with the National Young Event Horse Championships taking part over the first week of the month. This year, we had "Kadans" in the 4YO Championship, Mr George Andersons' "Trend de la Cruise" and Mr Andrew Reid and Miss Corrina Bithell's "Jasper" in the 5YO Championship. Both Jasper and Trend de la Cruise put in classy performances, storming around the cross country to finish their seasons. They are both definitely going to be fantastic horses for the future. Our 4 YO Kadans stole the show with an outstanding competition in all threw phases. He led from start to finish on his dressage score of 28.1, securing GHF Equestrian's first win in the 4 YO class. We are very proud of this fantastic horse and how he has performed all season. He has the most fantastic attitude and we are very much looking forward to 2020 with him. All of these lovely horses are now out on a well deserved field holiday. 

We were all also overjoyed to find out that amazing 7 YO Heartbeat had been selected to go to Le Lion d'Angers to compete in the World Young Horse Championships! This is Vicky's first selection for Le Lion and we couldn't be more pleased. 

The rest of the month was spent cracking on with our crop of 3 YO horses with lots of long reining and backing to be done! We have some more trips over to Ireland planned to see what other horses we can find to add to our string for 2020! ​

September has most definitely been a whirlwind here at GHF Equestrian. In-between events we have been exceptionally busy training. We have had dressage lessons with Annabel Scrimgeour and Islay Auty and been on multiple trips to Vale View Equestrian to see Caroline Moore for SJ and XC tune ups! The horses have also been to BSJA at Summerhouse and Rectory Farm and had a day at Mount Ballan BD… where Vicky won every class she was in with all eight horses that went!  Andrew has been to Ireland to source our future stars and you can see on the “Our Horses” page that we have a lot of lovely young ones in ready to be broken/produced over the winter. Exciting times!

Events wise this month, it has been the 5 yr olds turn to get out and really consolidate their knowledge before they head off to the Young Horse Championships at the beginning of October. All 3 of them finished inside the top 10 at their first September event, West Wilts BE100. Mr George Anderson’s Trend de la Cruise won her section finishing on her 27 dressage score. Mr Andrew Reid and Miss Corrina Bithell’s beautiful boy Jasper just added one pole to his exceptional 25.5 dressage to finish 3rd. Westwick Rebel jumped a super double clear to finish on hiss dressage score as well to come in 9th place! Onto Monmouth Horse Trials, the horses all continued their great form. It was Jasper’s turn to seal the deal with a win on his 25 dressage. Trend de la Cruise finished in 3rd place with a 29.5 dressage and Westwick Rebel jumped another double clear finishing just outside of the top 10 on his 32.8 dressage. All of them were super at both of their events and now all of their boxes were ticked for them to go to Osberton.

In between West Wilts and Monmouth, our working pupil Anna had another trip to Gatcombe but this time to compete in her first international. She and Rhode Island 19 put on a great performance to finish in 6th place at the final Autumn Gatcombe. Another well deserved result for Anna.

This month we sadly said goodbye to Gen as she had to go back to university to continue her studies. We will miss her! Our newest recruit is Emilia Johns-Powell who has her own horse, Jip, here with us to train. Millie is settling in really well and is looking forward to a winter of training with us at GHF.

We are now very much looking forward to Osberton! We have 4 yr old Kadans and 5 yr olds Jasper and Trend de la Cruise heading to the championships. Anna is taking Zack to compete in the CCIYH2*-S… let’s hope this rain eases off and fingers crossed for a successful event!

GHF Equestrian kicked off the month of August with two days of competition at Aston le Walls. Day One saw the big boys Heartbeat and Mrs Catherine Witts’ Max McInerney contest the intermediate! At 6 years old, this was Max’s first time at this level and he absolutely showed everyone what a top class horse he is. He jumped a super double clear just adding some time to his exceptional 29.1 dressage gaining him 9th place. What a star! Not to be outdone by his brother, Heartbeat also brought his A game to finish in an amazing 3rd place in a very, very competitive OI section. A double clear following a 28.2 dressage meant it was smiles all round coming home. Day Two was the turn of the young horses. Vicky rode Kadans and MBF Bite the Bullet in the 4YO class. The conditions were challenging to say the least with extreme gusts of wind blowing the dressage boards across the arenas and the jumps down! Kadans rose to the occasion with his cool guy attitude to take the win with a 26.8 dressage, double clear. MBF Bite the Bullet was also a super star, finishing on his dressage score of 33.3 which he did in the worst of the weather. Clever babies!

Mid August was time for one more trip to Ireland for Millstreet Horse Trials. It was a full lorry with both of Vicky’s children - Jack and Oliver - going along for some fun too! It was a successful trip, with Kadans being a winner again in the 4YO Eventing Discovery! Heartbeat and Vicky were competing in the CCI3*-L and they totally rose to the occasion. Heartbeat produced a pleasing dressage test and went on to jump a super double clear! He was the only 7 yr old to do so this year.

Once back on home soil, the final event of the month was Sapey. 5 yr old Jasper, owned by Mr Andrew Reid and Miss Corrina Bithell, finished on his amazing dressage score of 18.8 in the BE100!! Jasper’s future rider, Beanie Sturgis, was there to see him perform like an absolute star all day.

At the beginning of August, our fantastic working pupil Anna and her little pocket rocket 6 yr old Rhode Island 19 went to the Gatcombe Corinthian Cup Novice Championships and finished in an amazing 2nd place, jumping one of only 3 double clear inside the time to finish on their dressage score of 31.1! An absolutely amazing result and very well deserved for the very hard working, dedicated and talented young rider she is.

We are all now very excited for September… A very busy month planned but with it all culminating in the British Young Horse Eventing Championships let’s hope it will all be worth it!!

 We have had two very busy and very exciting months at GHF Equestrian! I will try to be succinct in writing what we have been up to - there is a lot to cover!

Following our trip to Tattersalls at the end of May, the big boys had a small break to recover - but we continued to be very busy with outings for our young horses including cross country and show jump schooling to prepare them for their eventing debuts!

The first event of June was an outing for Max McInerney (owned by Catherine Witt) to West Wilts to run around the Novice where he posted a great, steady double clear. Next was a trip to Nunney with the two Intermediate boys! Heartbeat was a super star to finish 2nd after producing a stunning 23.4 dressage! Wishing Time (owned by Rachel White) also produced a very good 29.3 dressage, just rolling a couple of poles in the show jumping keeping him out of the placings. He soon put this right at our next event, Farley Hall. Both Wishing Time and Heartbeat were once again just fantastic. Wishing Time finished on his dressage score of 25.5 to take 2nd in a very hot OI section and Heartbeat finished on his dressage score of 26.8 to take the WIN!

The biggest event of June was another trip across the Irish Sea to Kilguilkey House International Horse Trials. Vicky, Andrew and Anna took 7 horses in total to compete in the international classes and the young horse classes! It was a very busy trip with lots of success across the levels. The young horses were up first in the the 4 and 5 YO Masterclass sections which were sponsored by Fernhill Sports Horses. These classes were fantastic for the education of the horses - comprising of a dressage test in the morning followed by a short show jumping & cross country course in the afternoon which included water, ditches and steps… The horses were all absolutely spot on. Kadans lead the 4 YO from start to finish on a 26 dressage, with the highest marks for jumping and cross country too! MBF Bite the Bullet came 4th at his first show, proving what a star he will be in the future. Trend de la Cruise (owned by George and Jane Anderson) was 2nd in the 5 YO class with a 29 dressage and 2 super jumping rounds. The gorgeous Jasper lead the dressage and was amazing in the show jumping - he had one green moment on the cross country which pushed him off the top spot but we were so, so pleased with them all! Once that was all done it was time to move onto the big boys… Max McInerney contested the CCIYH2*-S and put in a great performance jumping a super double clear adding just 0.8 time penalties to his dressage score to secure a top 15 finish. The very lovely Heartbeat produced a lovely test for his first time at the CCI3*-S level and jumped a very classy clear in the SJ. He has a green moment on the cross country and Vicky decided to save him for another day and retired. The Pocket Rocket Wishing Time was really on form, finishing in 10th place with a very cool double clear around the CCI3*-S!! It was a great event to attend and definitely one to pencil in for next year!

Onto July… We haven’t taken our foot off the accelerator! We kicked off July’s events with a fabulous trip to Bicton Arena - one of our favourite events! Jasper truly showed his class taking the WIN in the very hot 5YO section finishing on his 23 dressage!! We were very proud of what a pro he was all day and that he qualified for Osberton at his first attempt. Trend de la Cruise was also a very good girl finishing in 4th place on her dressage of 28.3. Both Heartbeat and Wishing Time then had a quite run around Upton House Intermediate - this was Vicky’s last competition with Reuben (Wishing Time) as his usual rider had made a recovery from her injury. We were very sad to see him go but wish Rachel, Gwen and all of his connections every success in the future.

Moving on into July, the 4 YO horses got their BE debut! Kadans and MBF Bite the Bullet went to Stafford Horse Trials for their first events and both of them tried really hard and learned a lot from the day. Kadans finished in 5th place after a 25.5 dressage, 1 down SJ and a clear XC! MBF Bite the Bullet was also very classy producing a sweet test, jumping clear SJ and having just one green moment on XC but giving Vicky a very good feel around the course in general. 2 future stars in the making. Next up was Dauntsey where the lovely Trend de la Cruise strutted her stuff for a 26.8 dressage and jumped double clear into 3rd place and to secure her qualification for Osberton 5YOs as well! We are very pleased for her and her owners. Max McInerney had a steady run in the Novice, jumping a double clear adding some time faults to his very impressive 26.3 dressage.

The final event of July was a third trip to Ireland! Vicky took Max McInerney and Heartbeat to Camphire to contest the CCIYH2*-S and CCI3*-S respectively. Our lovely working pupil, Gen, also took her horse “An Imp Named Borris” to compete in the CCI2*-S. George and Jane Anderson’s Trend de la Cruise competed in the 5YO showcase and put on a great performance to finish 7th. Heartbeat jumped a fantastic double clear to finish 22nd out of 73 and Max McInerney was super throughout the weekend to finish 11th! Gen did a great job at her first overseas event and stormed around the XC to finish the competition on a high.

That sums up the eventing that has gone on over the last couple of months! There has been a lot of training in amongst all of the competing with fantastic trainers Annabel Scrimgeour, Islay Auty and Caroline Moore! The horses and Vicky are going from strength to strength and this season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting ones for GHF Equestrian yet!

It has also been fantastic to see so many GHF graduates being fantastic for their new owners! A special mention and huge congratulations have to go to Bubby Upton and the very special Cola for winning Team Gold and Individual Silver at the Young Rider Europeans!! He looked just fantastic and we are so proud to see horses we have selected and started going on to be such mega stars in the sport. Rose Nesbitt and EG MichaelAngelo finished 7th in Barbury CCI3*-S and it was great to see that Dargun is back out and won his intermediate section at Aston Le Walls.

We have had a few new additions to the team with horses coming back with us from our Ireland trips! Check out the Our Horses page to see and up to date list of the lovely horses we have in our stables at the moment.

Keep and eye out to see how our August goes as we get closer and closer to Osberton! We are planning another trip to Ireland and our amazing working pupil Anna is off to Gatcombe to compete her 6YO in the Corinthian Cup! Keeping all our fingers crossed for her and for another great month at GHF Equestrian.

Thank you (and well done!) if you read this far!

Chloe

Here at GHF, we like to keep ourselves nice and busy… April has been the busiest month so far in 2019! There is a lot of news to share from a really great month. There has been lots of competing and training for current GHF horses. GHF Graduates have performed amazingly at events across the country all month. Vicky has also been busy coaching both privatley and for the Vale of Usk Riding Club.

Firstly, have a look at this link - https://www.facebook.com/ghf.equestrian.3/posts/2250813821800246 where you can see how some of the amazing GHF Graduates got on at Belton at the end of March. It is quite a list! Dargun and Emily King continued their Belton form, finishing 4th in the CCI4*-S at Burnham Market and Dreamaway and Tom McEwen finished 2nd in the CCI3*-S. There are so many fantastic riders campaigning our lovely horses it is hard to mention them all!

We began April with the big boys, Heartbeat and Max McInerney competing at Weston Park BE. As always, both horses tried their hardest for Vicky! They coped well with the conditions (Weston was definitely before the April heatwave). Harvey produced a super 27.3 test in the intermediate to go into 2nd and was awesome in the jumping phases, just being a little green at the troublesome elephants on the XC (see photo below of him nailing it straight afterwards) after being held on course but otherwise storming the rest at just his second attempt at this level. Max McInerney had a super solid run around the Novice to finish 10th and complete his qualification for Tattersalls!

We were all very excited for it to be the start of the Wales and West Shows at the David Broome Event Centre. We had lots of horses to take and all of them were just fantastic! 4 yr old Kadans jumped double clear at his first ever show in the British Novice, 5 yr olds Jasper, Jarillo and Trend De La Cruise (owned by George Anderson) all jumped double clear in the 5 yr old showcase. Max McInerney and Heartbeat were both spot on to jump fantastic rounds in the Foxhunter. We couldn’t have asked for any more!

Heartbeat and Max McInerney took a mid-week trip to Rosamund Green Farm XC, where Vicky had some great training around the jumps from Robin Dumas. The boys were both fantastic.

We then replicated our previous weeks escapades with another super trip to Wales and West at the Welsh Masters. Kadans and Trend de la Cruise went double clear again in the British Novice. Max McInerney and Heartbeat were show stealers, with them finishing 2nd and 4th respectively in the Foxhunter! Heartbeat is now qualified for Foxhunter Second Rounds.

All of the previous outings set up Heartbeat and Max McInerney for a trip to Bicton. Another great run for Max McInerney in the Novice earned him another top 10 placing in the Novice (that’s 3/3 runs in the top 10!). Heartbeat put in another excellent performance in the Intermediate - he learns more and more every time he runs and feels top class around these big tracks. Working Pupil Anna got her long awaited first run of the season completed at Bicton in the 100Plus. She  jumped a great double clear to finish 5th and is looking forward to Howick Novice.

To throw something slightly different into the mix, we collaborated with Equi-Events to put on a Pre-Badminton Eventers Combined Training at Broomes. The show had classes from BE100 (aimed at the Mitsubishi Motors Cup taking place at the beginning of May) through to CCI5* level (for those competing at Badminton Horse Trials)! It was a big task but the day was well worth the work with lots of high profile riders competing. We secured top judges for all of the classes and had a great course builder. We also had fantastic sponsors and volunteers. Our horses did themselves very proud, with 9 of them competing throughout the day! The young horses did really well in the 100 class - all producing very pleasing tests and jumping super rounds. Max McInerney took the win in the CCI2* class. Heartbeat pinged around the challenging CCI5* jumping track at the end of the show. It was a good day all round and there will be another one soon.

Our lovely 5 yr olds all had their first taste of a cross country round with a trip to Mendip Plains Hunter Trial in the last weekend of the month. Vicky was really pleased with all of them and we are now very much looking forward to getting them entered at their first events!

Finally, Islay Auty paid us a visit on Monday to train Vicky on 4 horses - Heartbeat, Max McInerney, Jarillo and Trend de la Cruise all worked really hard and made great improvements. Hard working Anna also had a lesson on her horse, which she thoroughly enjoyed and found very helpful.

Looking to May, we have more exciting events happening! Workaholic Andrew is off on a well earned holiday for a week, the big boys are off to their first international of the year and plenty more! Here are some photos of our month (mainly of Heartbeat because he is just so photogenic!).

Until next time,
​Chloe

We have had an exciting month here at GHF Equestrian! The eventing season is in full swing, the sun has been shining and our horses have been going from strength to strength.

We have said goodbye to two of our lovely young horses this month. Unique has been sold to Luana Edge for Dani Evans to ride and begin her eventing career and Hadaline has been sold to Global Event Horses in Ireland to continue her education. We wish both horses, their new owners and riders the very best of luck with these lovely mares.

Without doubt, the most exciting few days of the month involved a trip all the way to Great Witchingham! Vicky and Andrew took Heartbeat and Max Mcinerney to Vale View for some pre competition training with Caroline Moore and then carried on all the way to Norfolk. The journey was totally worth while. Heartbeat was competing in his first Intermediate (it was also Vicky’s first for 5 years!). He delivered a fantastic double clear to finish 10th. Vicky described him as being “absolutely mega”! Not to be out done by his partner in crime, Max Mcinerney also posted a super double clear around the Novice to finish 5th. Both horses truly excelled themselves, despite their prep run at Pontispool unfortunately being abandoned. They are looking forward to Weston Park in the first weekend of April, which is thankfully a lot closer!

The young horses also had a great outing to Rectory Farm Eventer’s Combined Training. They all strutted their stuff and tried very hard for their first tests on grass and did a great job in the SJ ring. They will shortly be entered for their first events. This competition is a great way to prepare them for what is to come.

Back at the ranch, we have welcomed Natalie Trigg to Team GHF as our Yard Assistant. She has been a great addition to the team as she is hard working and has a high attention to detail! We have held clinics both on the flat and jumping that have been very successful with lots of lovely participants. Vicky and Chloe also attended the BHS National Convention for Coaches which was a fun and interesting day out.

Until April!
​Chloe

If you blinked you’d have missed February! As always at GHF Equestrian, we have kept ourselves busy with some very exciting horses and some beautiful weather for us to enjoy them in!

This month we said farewell to Jenny, who has gone to America to begin her eventing career! We wish her new owners lots of luck with this lovely mare.

This month, Vicky has invested in training both on the flat and jumping. We have been to have lessons with Annabel Scrimegeour and Islay Auty has been to our yard. The horses are going very well on the flat and this is showing with super consistent scores with lots of wins at local dressage shows at Mount Ballan this month. We have also been back to Vale View for 2 days with Heartbeat and Max McInerney for lessons with Caroline Moore. Both horses were fantastic, and we learnt a lot with lots of homework to carry on with until next time! It was great to get out on the surface to do some XC training!

We also managed to get in the first XC school of the year at Oxstalls! We took 10 horses in total and arrived in convoy with 3 vehicles! Vicky rode 5 horses… 4 of which were first timers! They all took to the XC very well and we are looking forward to getting their first events entered. Photos we have of horses going XC can be found on their profiles on the “Our Horses” tab of our website.

Heartbeat and Max McInerney are entered for their first events of the season… Pontispool and Great Witchingham! These two horses are going really well and are a reflection of the winter training that has gone on behind the scenes. Now to go and show the world and enjoy getting out eventing in March not May like last year!!


Until next month,
​Chloe

Start as you mean to go on! January has been a super busy month for us here at GHF Equestrian, with lots of new horses, training and competing!

This month saw the addition of 3 lovely young horses we found late in 2018 during a trip to Holland. We were waiting and waiting for their arrival, as Christmas and New Year delayed their travel. All good things are worth waiting for and they most certainly did not disappoint! Kadans (Leo) is a stunning rising 4 yr old gelding by Emir R ex Hilton. We also have two 5 yr olds - Jarillo (Milo) by Dantos ex Alicante and Jasper by El Clarimo ex Indoctro. They have been very impressive since their arrival and we are very excited about the year ahead with these horses to add to our lovely string. They will be aimed at their respective BE Young Horse Classes with the Championships in mind for the end of the season. We said hello and goodbye to a lovely sales livery horse - Venezuela. She arrived at GHF and was sold very quickly to the first people that saw her! We wish her new owners lots of luck in the future. 

We have already been out to a couple of training shows this month! We took 4 horses to Mount Ballan Manor British Dressage where Vicky took home 1st and 2nd place in all of the tests she had with super stars Heartbeat, Max McInerney and Tara Anderson’s Mister Bond. Anna also took her horse Rhode Island 19 and she did a lovely Novice test to come 2nd. Chloe took her horse Dissington Miss Grainger for their first show and won both of her Prelim sections. The horses have also been to Summerhouse for some BSJA. Heartbeat and MaxMcinerney both jumped super double clears in their classes and Anna won the 1.05m class on Rhode Island 19 and jumped double clear in their first Newcomers! A great way to kick off the year for all!

We have had a busy month training both on the flat and jumping! We have had flatwork lessons from Annabel Scrimgeour, Islay Auty and Rachel Struel - the horses are ever improving and training is so valuable for us. Vicky has also hosted jumping clinics here at GHF. We had a very successful arena XC clinic that we will soon host another of! We had been looking forward to some jump training we had booked in for Heartbeat and Max McInerney at the end of January… Vicky and Chloe took the special boys up to Leicestershire to have lessons with Caroline Moore! Vale View Equestrian is a fantastic training venue and the lessons were just amazing. Vicky shared 2 of her lessons with reigning World Champion, Ros Canter! Both Harvey and Big Tom were fantastic over the couple of days we were there and really showed off how super our young horses are. To be told that both horses could be medal winners was a serious compliment. We are really looking forward to putting what we learnt into practise and then going back for training at the end of Feb!

February is set to be another very busy month!