So... its official... I have joined the Wobbleberries Challenge! 

The Wobbleberries are a group of over 25, "wimpy" riders who aim to compete at a BE80 by Autumn 2018, all to raise money for the wonderful Willberry Wonder Pony - inspired by Hannah Francis. 

For my friends and family who are not familiar with "horsey terminology" a BE80 is a one day event (ODE) where we will do a dressage test, a round of show jumping (SJ) @ 80cm height and a cross country (XC) round @ 80cm.  This is a very challenging task and takes months of training, preparation and a high level of horse and rider fitness. 

To read more about the Wobbleberry team, please visit http://www.wobbleberries.com/

The Willberry Wonder Pony charity aims to support vital research into osteosarcoma and to grant equine related wishes to seriously ill people and their families. 

To read more about the wonderful charity, please visit 

https://www.willberrywonderpony.org/charity/

This challenge is going to be scary, difficult but very rewarding and I can't wait to get training with my trusty steed - Tash. 

Tash is my first horse and I bought her as a leisure hacking horse. I had no plans to jump or do dressage but here we are, aiming for a BE80 after only learning to jump in May 2016.  After our first jumping lesson I was hooked and Tash showed to have a bit of a talent for jumping which surprised a lot of people given that she is not a naturally athletic horse that you would normally see on the eventing scene. 

One of my biggest challenge's will be getting Tash to the level of fitness and stamina required for eventing. This means that this winter while you are sitting in with your heating on, I will be strapping on my waterproofs and thermals and training with Tash.  We will do a mixture of flatwork training, SJ / gridwork lessons and XC lessons.  I will be self funding all of this which will be another challenge in itself. 

To top it off, in order to get out and do all this training, I will need to pass my trailer test! My brilliant and supportive partner currently takes me out and about but to get to the next level - I need to be able to transport myself! 

Along the way I will keep you updated with any achievements i.e. jumping our first 80 course, cracking the left canter (an ongoing issue that needs resolved to complete at BE80) and progress of my own fitness which atm needs serious improvement!  

As well as the above, I will be trying to think of easy, fun ways to raise some extra money in support of the charity. 

Please support this wonderful charity - even the smallest amount will help! 

Thank you :)