New Sponsor - EQUILINE ITALIA

I am very excited to announce a new sponsor to the Lizzie Brown Eventing team

EQUILINE ITALIA the proffessional clothing company for horses and riders. 

 

The products arrived into New Zealand this week and I was stunned by the generosity of EQUILINE who have provided me with full competition clothing as well as team jackets, saddle clothes and gorgeous fleece show rugs for the horses. Everything in the range is absolutely stunning and I am very much looking forward to modelling the range on the show circuit starting this weekend at Woodhill Sands.. will post photos on Monday!

EQUILINE ITALIA..

Founded in the '80, Equiline has grown to a point of international reference within the riding world. The company mission is to offer top quality products for horses and riders thanks to the use of the best fabrics and production processes. Our items satisfy all our customers' needs and match their demand for high technical standards, innovation, extreme performance with a touch of Italian style.

Many thanks to Stirrups Equestrian (http://www.stirrups.co.nz/) the New Zealand suppliers of EQUILINE products.

EQUILINE ITALIA join HAMILTON VETERINARY SERVICES as sponsors of my team and I am very thankful for their invaluable and ongoing support.

8 November 2010- Rotorua and a win!

I took 5 horses to Rotorua on the weekend. The ground was impeccable, by far the best we have seen this season and the courses beautifully presented which makes for a lovely ride!

I took Henton Attorney General for a final run at Advanced-Intermediate level before Richfields CIC 3* in a few weeks time. He felt great, winning the dressage on 27.3 ahead of the second placed horse on 39, 12 points ahead! He then jumped a great double clear sj and xc with 8.8 time faults, as we were just there for a nice outing, but still won by over 4 marks.

Playtime NZPH had a nice run at novice level, he was leading after dressage and sj on 34.2, I then took him quickly xc to try and make the time and paid the price when he got a little too keen and overjumped fence 6 and ran straight past fence 7! I used the rest of the round for schooling as I really think he is a serious horse for the future and I want to produce him the best I can.

I had 3 youngsters in the training class, my own "Play Along", Steph Leifting's "Tonic" and Sue Broughtons "Rockhill Rocket". These are three stunning young horses so it was a pleasure to compete them all here.

"Play Along" debuted his eventing career with a 40 dressage, he is still tense in this phase as he is a former racehorse. He then jumped a lovely clear round sj and had a minor 'spook' xc for 20 penalties but it was a great experience for him, I am excited about his future potential.

"Tonic" took a lot of peoples eye in his first outing. He is a stunning black horse with excellent movement and a big jump. I was disappointed with his dressage score of 41 as I felt he hadn't made any mistakes but sometimes that is how it goes, he had a simple rail when he relaxed in the sj and finished with a confident round xc to finish 8th overall.
"Rockhill Rocket" is another gorgeous horse, dark dapple grey. He scored a 32.5 and double clear to finish third in his class.

17 October 2010 - 2nd Taupo CIC 3*

 

I had a great weekend at Taupo for the first CIC event of the season.

I had Playtime NZPH in the pre novice, Farbio in the intermediate, Push Play in the advanced and Henton Attorney General in the CIC 3*.

Playtime NZPH did his trademark lovely test for 3rd place on 29.1. He had an unfortunate rail showjumping and felt like a pro xc for a steady clear round. I am really excited for his future and am looking forward to stepping him up to novice at his next event.

Farbio in his first intermediate wowed the judges to win the dressage by over 10% on 29.0! He had an unlucky showjump round where he got distracted down the first line an oxer five strides to a one stride double of verticals and had the three fences down. He finished the round confidently and was literally jumping the height of the stands so I will put the rails down to greenness not a lack of scope! He felt brilliant xc at this level and jumped a lovely clear round to finish 5th in his class.

Push Play stepped up this weekend to advanced and did a nice test to win on 35.5 he then had an uncharacteristic 5 rails down. This was really disapointing as he has jumped clear all this year, I put it down to the ground as he jumped the first two fences brilliantly and then just lost a little confidence and wasn't pushing strongly off the ground. I decided to still take him steadily around the xc for the experience and he was AMAZING jumping straight through everywhere and gave me lots to look forward to for the future! He finished 3rd overall.

Henton Attorney General was next and we had a few fresh moments in the test but overall the quality is much better so he still scored 46.2 to be 2nd after dressage in the CIC 3* class. He jumped one of only two clear rounds in the class, but after my earlier SJ rounds I took my time and got 11 time faults! Annoying. I was lying 4th before xc and made the decision to go for it and try make the time and go for the win as it was looking achievable. Unfortunately I was pipped at the post as although we had an awesome round inside the time, Emily Butcher on her four star partner Southern Ben also ran inside time and we finished 2nd

10 October 2010 - Flaxmere

No sooner was I home from WEG, we were off in the truck to Flaxmere event in the Hawkes Bay!

I was very lucky to have NZ eventing coach Erik Du Vander at home to help me on Friday morning to jump the horses before heading off. I am very thankful to Erik who also had only flown in the day before and had been away for a lot longer than me but was still happy to spend the morning helping get my team in shape for the weekend. Erik doesn't stop working and it his hard work that is paying off for the kiwis on the world stage.

I had four horses, Playtime NZPH in pre novice, Farbio in the novice and Push Play and Henton Attorney General in the open intermediate class.

Playtime NZPH did another lovely test for 26.1 leaving him 2nd, he jumped clear showjumping but a silly run out xc marred an otherwise great event for him.

Farbio did a nice test for 3rd place and 31.1, he also showjumped clear and I took him for a steady run xc for a clear round with some time faults. He is feeling very established at this level now so I am looking forward to stepping him up to Intermediate next week at Taupo.

Push Play did a nice test but the judges were marking very high in this class, I thought his test was more consistant and relaxed than his previous test at Woodhill however this was not reflected in the mark of 37.3, he was 2nd after this phase. He was brilliant in the jumping phases with a lovely double clear. I took him steady xc for time faults as he is doing his first advanced next weekend I wanted to make sure he was confident and had a good experience.

Henton Attorney General was feeling very fresh in his dressage, he added a few extra movements and I will blame the jetlag for the TWO course errrors I made in the test, he subsequently finished down the field on a score of 41!! He then had what must be his first ever rail in eventing showjumping but redeemed himself with a brilliant clear xc.

All in all it was a succesful run for all horses, I am feeling lots of improvements in all of them after a winter of training and I am looking forward to Taupo next week where Push Play will step up to do his first Advanced and Farbio his first Intermediate!

World Equestrian Games, Kentucky!

New Zealand support crew at WEG

After the event at Woodhill I had a quick turn around on the Monday, unpacking, cleaning and repacking the truck, checking the horses and taking them for a hack before jumping on a plane to Kentucky to support my boyfriend Jonathan Paget who was riding for the New Zealand eventing team at WEG, Kentucky, America!

I was very lucky to have the oppurtunity to see a world championship from 'behind the scenes' and I learnt so so much, watching and stalking the best riders and horses in the world. I was in my element!!

It was a totally amazing event to be a part of and the whole NZ team is full of excitement for the future. It was great watching but I can't wait to be back there sometime soon... this time with my own horse!

I was very thankful that for the 7 days I was away, Tamara my wonderful working pupil kept the horses in work with lots of hacking and my even more wonderful dressage trainer Penny Castle was able to give them one schooling session before I got home so they were on their game for the weekend event at Flaxmere

23 September 2010 - First show of the season!

The season has arrived!
Last weekend, we took 3 horses, Push Play, Henton Attorney General and Playtime NZPH to compete at the first event of the spring season, Woodhill Sands.

Strangely it didn't feel like the first show as we have been out and about quite a bit lately and I have been very lucky to have Erik Du Vander (Team NZ Eventing coach) help me train the horses at home.

During the week I had been very lucky to have my dressage trainer Penny Castle to stay for two days and the horses all did great dressage tests and jumped lovely clear sj and xc rounds. They all finished lower in the placings as I let them take their time xc and get back into the swing of things.

I have to say, I am very thankful for the all weather surfaces at Woodhill Sands. This is such a fantastic venue to compete at which even withstands this shocking bout of weather we have been experiencing here in NZ!