It’s was great to do this special feature with Christine, after a super weekend on her beautiful 6 year old Wild Atlantic Way in only there second event. Christine is doing a super job producing him. We will be looking forward to watch their journey a long.

Tell us about the event and how you got on?
I headed down to Hilcrest in county Limerick on Sunday with my lovely 6-year-old Wild Atlantic Way. He competed in the EI100. This was his second event, he has only recently taken to eventing.
We had a great day. We had a lovely double clear to finish on our dressage score of 34. He learned a lot, and he’s going to get a nice two week break on some spring grass.

How did you prepare for the event? Any challenges coming into this?
We just prepared like any normal event. I like to make sure my horses are exercised every single day. I am lucky. Where I live has 2 arenas, a round pen, a walker, a gallops and fields for hacking. I try to keep a variety to make sure my horses are happy and enjoy their work. I also find the variety makes sure the horses are obedient in all eventualities because of the change in scenery they still get to see new things while being educated.
A general preparation for an event for me would be to ride through the dressage test I would be riding at least twice that week. Some don’t like this but I find it helpful. I try to jump once before the event in the week leading up to it. I will vary this between a course, pole work or grids. I will canter on the gallops but depending on the level the horse is competing at this varies.
I suppose the challenge leading up to this has been the cancellation of other events. Because my horse is green and hasn’t done many events, I would’ve liked to have had another run at 100 level earlier than this but sadly the weather wouldn’t allow!

Anyone you want to give a shout out to? It really does take a village.
Yes definitely! I’d like to give a huge shout out to my ever helpful boyfriend John who is my spare hands when I need them and when I get caught up chit chatting to people, he’s usually the one making sure I don’t miss my slot!
Of course my parents who have been and always will be a huge influence and help.

How do you handle the pressures and stress that might come competing in events like this?
For me events like these are not a stressful or high-pressure situation, they are all about education and enjoyment. Because I don’t make a living from eventing I’m not relying on winning etc, with that said I am secretly a crazy competitive person who wants to win all the time!!
I am all about producing horses correctly and making sure they have good experiences while eventing.
I try to keep myself as relaxed as possible so the horse can do so too. To me these are stepping stones to a bigger picture and if there are some mistake made by myself I don’t like to punish horses, simply because it’s not a reflection on them.

What’s the one event you’d like to compete in and win?
To me, competing at 5* level is not really in my agenda. My bread and butter is producing nice horses up to a level. Usually I try to produce horses to 3* level. With that, Le Lion d’Angers is an event I have competed at a couple of times. I’ve been lucky to place there once before but I think as a person who produces young horses winning a medal at the young horse world championships is everything. I hope to do that someday soon.

What have got you to say about your horse/pony?
My horse MJ as he is known at home was very impressive. I went home extremely excited about him; he gave me a very classy feeling. Unfortunately, our dressage test was on a little bit of a hill so we found it a little difficult but he coped very well and there was some very nice moments that I would definitely be getting excited about. He’s a jumper out and out having show jumped until this year I enjoy showjumping him. It’s terrible to say it but I do expect him to jump clear simply because he is such a great jumper!
Cross-country, that is something he has done less of. However, we had an amazing clinic a few weeks ago with the legendary Caroline Moore. This I think has set him up for the season. He absolutely adores cross country, and he’s a flying machine.

Most proud of this weekend?
That I didn’t forget my dressage test!!

What’s up next for you? Any big events coming up?
Next for myself and MJ will be a step up to Novice level. He will compete mid May and do one then and he will then head to Milstreet international.
The rest of the I’ll aim to get some good results out of him, I know I can expect some he is a horse who is only improving. He’ll get his 2* Long format done by the end of the year with the view of aiming him for the 7 year old World Championships next year.

What advice do you have for others wanting to compete like this?
I would say try to remember why you event and try to enjoy it.
Up until a few years ago I began to not enjoy eventing. I was too caught up in where I’d place and how I rode. I stopped enjoying the whole experience. You need to sit back and think for a second. Why do I do this? Why do I enjoy eventing? For me it was the young horses and watching them improve through my system. I lost sight of this trying for underage teams. It wasn’t until I went back to the beginning again and started at 90 again on 4 and 5-year-olds that I found why I loved eventing again. So my biggest piece of advice is to make sure you enjoy it and reward your horses. After all, they most definitely are not robots and we are the riders are in the driving seat.