Willa Newton: Dealing with disappointment

It was a huge honour to be part of the new ERM series at Bramham and what a competition. Neelix felt fantastic – perhaps too well – and after a disappointing showjumping round we decided to save him for another day and not run him cross country. A huge blow for all of us, but is is just too much of a risk to run him these days when we weren’t going to be competitive. But we will be back, and having now had a taste of what can only be described as the best thing ever to have hit eventing, I am desperate to have another crack at another ERM class.

The events come thick and fast so you don’t have time to dwell on the disappointments.  So it was onwards and North to Hopetoun.  A fantastic venue and a brilliantly run event with perfect ground! So near, yet so far, is the only way to describe it. Neelix was rerouted following Bramham and his dressage and showjumping was back on track with a vengeance to lie second. I was having a brilliant cross country round until the third last where it all came to an end far too soon and we hit the deck. Luckily we were both ok and will live to fight another day but it was incredibly frustrating and disappointing.