I think everyone is rather frustrated with this wet weather and knee deep mud (slight exaggeration) we are all encountering!    Not forgetting the dark mornings and nights.  Bring on the 2019 eventing season is all I can say, I’m counting the days down already.
At this time of year, I’m sure I’m not alone in having a touch of the eventing blues so it is always a good time to reflect!

This past year has been a huge eye opener for me and I’ve been very fortunate to be around such amazing people helping me along the way.  I couldn’t have been luckier having such a life changing pony.  Kayla has given me so much confidence and a taste of the high levels.   She is so special to me and my family, which made our decision to find her a smaller jockey incredibly hard, something that took me months to come to terms with.   To say I’m devastated, in all honestly is putting it mildly, as there is so much more to come from Kayla, her talent is amazing……its only now I can actually talk about her leaving us.  Sadly my pony time has ran out, standing tall at 5’ 7, I seem to have grown, not a little but a lot and they were occasions this season when my toes brushed the occasional cross country fence, which was a sign not to be ignored!  Kayla was quickly snapped up by the loveliest family down south and I’m looking forward to following their many successes, but even so, home won’t be the same without her.

At the same time Max and I are enjoying our fairly new partnership.   Those close to me have said to me this year “he’s next year’s horse” and although I hate the phrase I know they are right.  We’ve made it through our first year and done a lot of learning, so we are going to knuckle down on our winter training and come out prepared for the 2019 season. I’m thrilled with his progress and he shows the scope to go all the way.  Earlier this month he took the win in the Baileys BE Arena Eventing series in the 90 class at Richmond Equestrian Centre, so there was lots of extra carrots for Max a million.

Having spent endless weekends and months travelling from end of the country to the other to find the impossible, I feel incredibly lucky to welcome Duffy into our family. I’m looking forward to our future together, it really is exciting times ahead with Max and Duffy.  I can’t thank my parents enough although my mum is distraught with Duffy being a white grey, so we will be calling into Millbry Hill’s Richmond store to stock up on shampoo, in an attempt to keep her clean.
Lastly I’m looking forward to a bit of a breather, after all we are ready for it! Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year and a big thank you to Millbry Hill, for their generosity and on-going support, its great being part of the Millbry team.  I’m looking forward to showcasing my new competition jacket kindly provided by Shires – watch this space for my review.

– Jessica Burnham

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