The week of the 13th of November Annabelle and I went to the South of France to compete in Le Pouget International Horse Trials. I have never been to the south of France but wow I think I will be going back! The countryside was absolutely beautiful! We stayed in a nearby village called Rojan. The countryside was full of markets of delicious foods, and fields upon fields of vineyards! I was absolutely mesmerised!

The weather was gorgeous the week we were there as well. Every day it was beautifully sunny and warmed up by mid morning. Although I have to say when the temperature would drop it certainly did drop! I am not sure I have been that cold yet this year. England is certainly now starting to head into winter. It was lovely having a week of uninterrupted sunshine!

Annabelle had the trot up Wednesday as well as ring familiarisation. She was super and handled it all like a pro, having only arrived Tuesday. The journey took 24+ hours in total. But they arrived safe and sound. Thursday was dressage as the CCI two star was going a day early from the other divisions. Our ride time was at 4:26 and so I took her for a long hack in the morning to give her a look around the property. She warmed up so well in a very busy warm up and went in and did one of our best tests. I was so proud of her and I as we both were able to communicate and she stayed supple and obedient through the test. I was thrilled with her as she has gotten better and better each time she has gone into the ring.

Friday was cross country day! I was mildly stressed as we did not get ride times until 9 am and although my division did not start until 1 pm I still wanted to know when I would be riding. Although when I got my ride time I realised there would be no rush as I was literally the last in the division, which meant my time was for 4:15pm. I had walked the course 3 times before to make sure I knew where the course went as well as where the string would be strung. I doubled checked the routes I was going to take and because I went so late in the division it gave me an opportunity to watch a few horses go at the start of the division. It was definitely not looking easy and there were certainly some problems happening on course, but after watching a few horses I decided to go stick my earphones in and clean my tack again before getting ready to go. As usual Annabelle knew what was going on as soon as she had her cross country boots on. I got on but had to wait longer than anticipated as they were running behind as a few problems had occurred since I had watched. I ended up going closer to 4:30/4:40 instead of 4:15. The light was already starting to change to evening and due to this a few riders had some issues. I took note and focused on Annabelle and I getting ready to tackle the course. To my surprise she tolerated walking/jogging to the start box and then we were off. She was absolutely unreal on course. We shared a number of fences with the CIC three star and nothing was easy but she was a dream. I could not have been prouder of her. Our first CCI 2 star cross country clear with some time. She jumped her heart out for me and was super well behaved in the box afterwards. She trotted up beautifully that night and I was excited for show jumping.

Our trot up was not until 10 am which meant I was at around 10:40 as I was yet again at the last of the divison. She was super well behaved and passed the jog beautifully. We had a bit of a break after as my show jumping didn’t start until about 2 pm. So I had some lunch and Annabelle did as well before both of us got spruced up for show jumping. The warm up was a bit manic to to say the least but she dealt with it so professionally. She jumped absolutely unreal in our round. We came home with a double clear and I could not be prouder. She tried her heart out for me.

I have to say it was very odd being finished by Saturday but it gave Annabelle and I a day to enjoy France on Sunday and watch the event. We were super lucky with the food and vendors at the event. They were all amazing and I was definitely spoilt for choice. Not to mention that the stable managers had fresh croissants and baguette in the mornings which were absolutely delicious. I was in heaven not only for the food but also for the countryside views and beautiful weather. I would definitely go back again! It was an opportunity and experience I will never forget and I feel so grateful to have been able to go to this amazing event. My schedule with the horses quiets down a little bit for the next few weeks and then we will be doing some dressage and show jumping competitions before our event season starts up again in the spring. I will keep this updated on how everything is going!

Until next time!

Sophie, Annabelle, Fintan, Ainle, Feyre, and Diarmid.