Jessica Burnham heads to Frickley with the U18’s Northern Squad!

Millbry Hill are thrilled that Brand Ambassador, Jessica Burnham, has been selected to compete at Frickley Park National U18 Championships at the end of the month as part of the U18’s Northern Region squad!

We are proud to be sponsoring the event by providing the Northern Region team with some super smart branded and personalised jackets.

A first of many kinds for our Brand Ambassador Jess Burnham….

So where do I start… Its been some 3 months since my last blog and wowsers we’ve travelled some miles competing and training from over the border to the fabulous Floors Castle, in Scotland to down country to sunny Keysoe, in Bedfordshire.

It has been quite a juggling act trying to run both horses and mum has become a whizz at managing our hectic schedules. Duffy and I are a fairly new combination and our plan was to build our partnership together under no real pressure!  That said, we’ve had some good results very early on in the season and are delighted to be one of ten combinations selected for the Northern Squad at the BE U18 National Championships later this month at Frickley Park, in Doncaster.

As goes with Eventing, we’ve had equally the odd day when its doesn’t quite go to plan, a tack malfunction at Floors in the show jumping was a costly round and losing the win at Speetley, Derbyshire when we parted company at the water and went for swim, were both real lessons for me.

Max my other horse had his first proper BE run at Warwick Hall, in Cumbria and I was delighted that he secured 2nd place finishing on his dressage score.

Both of us haven’t that long returned from being on the Northern Squad at the British Dressage Youth Inter Regionals, held at Keysoe, in Bedfordshire. Wow, this was some experience and one I’ll never forget, as it was a real honour to ride amongst the best of British Dressage Youth.

We agreed weeks before that Max and I would not be leaving the ground, to limit any risks of injury to us both, so all Eventing entries were withdrawn once the team was announced.  I found this a real challenge as my head told me this was the right thing to do as there was the team to think about too but my heart loves all things Eventing, followed by dressage of course.

Max enjoyed the opportunity to put on his dancing shoes and I was so proud of him delivering three solid tests during the three days of competition securing individual 7^th in the warm up test and being part of the team to secure 10th place overall out of 42 teams.

The first of many continued for us, I had to ditch the beige Eventing breeches for white and replace black gloves with white, I was paranoid about how an earth I was going to stay clean!  Mum often laughed that weekend ‘spot the Eventer, the one without bling’ but I loved every bit of the experience, caught up with old friends and new and look forward to doing more of it all being well.

In between all of this we were very lucky to visit Carl Hester’s dressage yard set in beautiful Gloucestershire and it is quite something.

On arrival we were greeted by Carl’s many dogs in all shapes and sizes and by two magnificent peacocks standing proudly in the car park, none of which were fazed by the horses.  The yard was immaculate and after a morning of watching him and Charlotte train, my mum and I were delighted to meet Valegro and Nip Tuck in person and this did not disappoint!

It was an amazing experience to see behind the scenes of how Carl runs his yard and I left later that day feeling very inspired.

Over the recent weeks our focus has been on fitness and preparations for our u18 run at Frickley and I can’t thank Millbry Hill Country Stores for their generosity in supporting the Northern Squad, the sponsored jackets look fantastic!

5 stars for the Noble Outfitters Peddies

As a Millbry Hill Country Stores Brand Ambassador I was asked to review the Noble Outfitters Printed over the calf Peddies. This couldn’t of been better timed as most of my riding socks did not pair up after washing – arrgghhh!

I love the funky design, in fact all of the Noble Outfitters Peddies range is bright and somewhat different. The material is super thin and provides great support all round but most of all I love the fact that my feet are able to breathe when riding during this hot spell.

These are definitely a must have product for my riding wardrobe and a bargain at just under £10.00 a pair!

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