So Sunday found DK and I on our way to Eland Lodge for the ODE.

I had entered Mini Dk's pony D for his first event, the 70 cms seemed a good start as the poor lad was going to have to carry me around, plus I have only jumped him at home and never jumped a xc fence on him ,so well prepared! V & J with DK riding were entered for the 90cms.

The logistics of juggling all 3 and being in the right place at the right time on the right horse was a little brain boggling, especially as DK had 3 minutes between sj'ing one horse and being on teh xc course on the other!

Walked the xc course and we were both rather surprised about how stiff all the courses were, it was certainly going to be a step up for the boys. DK being his usual self just said lets see how they cope, I was relieved he was riding not me, the broken bridge on a nearly 19hh seemed like a very long way down!

Watched a few over the sj'ing course, there were some interesting turns and it was going to need riding.

Got on D to warm up for the dressage and wondered what had happened to my relaxed calm and easily rideable pony, he was transformed into a very off the leg, on the bit let me get at it Mum boy Was a little unsure how to ride him like this as he had never felt like it before Thought I would just get on with it point him in the right direction and ride as accurately as possible, test went by in a blink of an eye and I came out thinking I would be happy with a late 40's score.

The boys dressage looked good but could only watch from a distance, DK said they felt OK but J needed pushing along.

Back to D for the sj'ing, got on to find that normal service was resumed he was soft willing and listening. He jumped really well, he loves it and I left the arena with a smile on my face and a clear round.

Straight over to the xc, just popped 2 practice fences as I was worried he would get tired. The start box was a little scary but the starters were lovely giving him time to get used to it. Counted down from 3, he felt like he knew what was coming and set off nicely. 6 strides out from the first fence he had a massive wobble, looking at the fence judges and people walking the course, had to hold him very straight with my legs, and 2 strides out he suddenly realised there was a log in front of him, seemed to click and say 'ah yes jumping mother why didn't you tell me?' thought about no 2 but flew it with some encouragement. Took the rest of the course at a steady pace, having a nice schooling session around it we both finished smiling.

Back to the boys having spoken to the stewards in the sj'ing and xc times were abandoned and we could fit in when we were ready, made life so much easier!

V jumped first, he is such a big lad the turns were very difficult for him, but 2 down was perfectly acceptable. J had 3 down, but we were hugely encouraged by his attitude, when we first had him he wouldn't walk over a pole on the ground at practice days at Eland, so to see him happy and taking DK into the fences and carry on jumping when he had knocked a few was a massive improvement.

Onto the xc and they both answered all the questions asked and came up with the correct reply

Had been far to busy to check on the dressage scores so was totally surprised to find that D had got a 28.5 and had been in the lead until the xc! Was relieved that I didn't know this before I had gone round as I may have pushed him too fast rather than give him the quiet run he needed. He still came 6th so a very happy Team DK

V has got a very reasonable 33.5 and J a 24 So proud of all of them

A huge thank you to my daughter for looking after Mini for the day and to our friends and DK's clients who came to support us, and also to Eland Lodge for being so friendly and putting on such a good day

Sorry no pics as no time and no free hands to take any! Home made chocolate cake on offer for reading