We're now over half way through the season and the first event at Poplar Park back in March seems like a lifetime ago!
As I write this we are midway across the English Channel, travelling back to the UK having been competing at Haras de Jardy which is just outside of Paris. I live at home on the South Coast of England which makes competing in Europe really accessible and sometimes easier than going around the M25!
Although I have been to Haras de Jardy several times, I was making my debut in the new Event Rider Masters series which is a very exciting proposition for the sport and the French made us feel very welcome. Livingstone soaked up the atmosphere with a PB at 3* scoring 38
which was good enough for 7th amongst multiple Olympic combinations - including Michael Jung! The SJ time was super tight and I felt like I was rushing him a little, resulting in a couple of poles but the track was very technical so I wasn't overly disappointed, I just need to get out to do a bit of pure show jumping against the clock!
I was a little apprehensive about the XC as it had just about everything that 'Henry' (Livingstone) hated; right handed corners, skinny arrowheads etc... As we weren't super competitive after the show jumping I took him steady to keep him confident - he felt great and we are now ready to crack on into the Autumn!
It's been a great first half of the season for Collien P 2. She followed up a great result at Houghton - 4th in the CIC3* Nations Cup - by winning the CCI3*u25 at Bramham and taking the u25 British National Championship! It was our first time at this level so although I was hoping to be competitive, I certainly wasn't expecting to win... I was a little disappointed with her dressage if I'm perfectly honest. We scored 49 which was by no means disastrous but she got a little tense in the main arena and
consequently made a couple of silly mistakes. Cross country was a different story though... 'Tinks' was absolutely awesome and came home just 2 seconds over the time (I think 3rd or 4th fastest all day) to move up from 7th to being in the lead with a healthy cushion to the rest of the field. She has a rather abnormal show jumping technique and can get quite flat after having galloped the day before so I knew the penalties
in hand would be needed! I wasn't wrong either, we managed to keep hold of top spot... but only just! A couple of fences down and a time penalty meant that it was a little close for comfort but hey ho we manage to get the job done. We now only (!) need another clear at CCI3* level to get qualified for 4* and hopefully after doing the Guinea Pig test at Badminton we can go back to do the real thing!! I'm still looking for some syndicate members to buy into Tinks so that I can keep the ride on her - so if you know anyone interested please get in touch!
The young horses have been going well and 5yo Akina Z won
her qualifier at Rackham to gain her qualification for the Young Horse Championships at Osberton at the end of the year. I've been doing a bit more teaching recently to keep the business side of things going as I'm sure you are all probably aware - having horses is not cheap!
To keep up to date head over to my Facebook page 'Will Furlong Eventing' for more regular updates and posts.
Enjoy the Summer!
Will
As I write this we are midway across the English Channel, travelling back to the UK having been competing at Haras de Jardy which is just outside of Paris. I live at home on the South Coast of England which makes competing in Europe really accessible and sometimes easier than going around the M25!
Although I have been to Haras de Jardy several times, I was making my debut in the new Event Rider Masters series which is a very exciting proposition for the sport and the French made us feel very welcome. Livingstone soaked up the atmosphere with a PB at 3* scoring 38 
which was good enough for 7th amongst multiple Olympic combinations - including Michael Jung! The SJ time was super tight and I felt like I was rushing him a little, resulting in a couple of poles but the track was very technical so I wasn't overly disappointed, I just need to get out to do a bit of pure show jumping against the clock!
I was a little apprehensive about the XC as it had just about everything that 'Henry' (Livingstone) hated; right handed corners, skinny arrowheads etc... As we weren't super competitive after the show jumping I took him steady to keep him confident - he felt great and we are now ready to crack on into the Autumn!
It's been a great first half of the season for Collien P 2. She followed up a great result at Houghton - 4th in the CIC3* Nations Cup - by winning the CCI3*u25 at Bramham and taking the u25 British National Championship! It was our first time at this level so although I was hoping to be competitive, I certainly wasn't expecting to win... I was a little disappointed with her dressage if I'm perfectly honest. We scored 49 which was by no means disastrous but she got a little tense in the main arena and 
consequently made a couple of silly mistakes. Cross country was a different story though... 'Tinks' was absolutely awesome and came home just 2 seconds over the time (I think 3rd or 4th fastest all day) to move up from 7th to being in the lead with a healthy cushion to the rest of the field. She has a rather abnormal show jumping technique and can get quite flat after having galloped the day before so I knew the penalties 
in hand would be needed! I wasn't wrong either, we managed to keep hold of top spot... but only just! A couple of fences down and a time penalty meant that it was a little close for comfort but hey ho we manage to get the job done. We now only (!) need another clear at CCI3* level to get qualified for 4* and hopefully after doing the Guinea Pig test at Badminton we can go back to do the real thing!! I'm still looking for some syndicate members to buy into Tinks so that I can keep the ride on her - so if you know anyone interested please get in touch!
The young horses have been going well and 5yo Akina Z won 
her qualifier at Rackham to gain her qualification for the Young Horse Championships at Osberton at the end of the year. I've been doing a bit more teaching recently to keep the business side of things going as I'm sure you are all probably aware - having horses is not cheap!
To keep up to date head over to my Facebook page 'Will Furlong Eventing' for more regular updates and posts.
Enjoy the Summer!
Will