Winner Winner Chicken Dinner - Day 150

I don't generally play the lottery, maybe purchase a scratch card once a year or something, so imagine my surprise when I received an email confirming that I had won a competition I entered on the off chance on facebook!

Not just any competition. Oh no.

Drum roll please....

I awoke this morning to this amazing email, after spending the last few days in bed with a sickness bug:

Hi!

We are pleased to advise that you have been selected from a random draw to win a pair of tickets to join our brand ambassador, World Champion eventer Ros Canter for a private Jump 4 Joy xc course walk on Thursday 2nd May at Badminton Horse Trials.

A cross country course walk with non other than the amazing, best surname for a horse rider ever, Ros Canter!!!!

I mean if I wasn't feeling so weak from being poorly I would be jumping for joy like the company who have organised this amazing opportunity for us.

J and I have never been to the Badminton Horse Trials (@bhorsetrials) and since he is developing with his riding every day I am hoping this will inspire him to aim high and generally have a fantastic fun day!!!

To become a world champion Gold Medallist like Ros Canter you have to be so dedicated and I see some of that determination in my young J. He too is passionate like Ros even if they have different upbringings. Ros grew up on a family farm and has always been surrounded by horses and competed whether it was through the pony club in her home town of Lincolnshire or being shortlisted for the British Junior Team.

From there her success has continued to grow not only as an individual competitor but as a team member also. With terms and competition names I am still learning about - being new to everything equine - I do know how important riding an affiliated level and at prestigious competitions such as The Badminton Horse Trials and International shows also.

I wonder how Ros manages to juggle her work/home life balance now she has a new member in her family as Ros has become a mother. I wonder if her child will follow in her footsteps.

As J and I were talking before he went to school this morning we joked about B having the potential to be good at eventing - especially the cross country part. B is showing real promise out in the woods on hacks and we have a small plan to help improve his schooling in the arena. J has his heart set on competition at the next local show jumping competition, but that's an entirely other blog post.

If I am allowed to I will be videoing the course and I cannot wait to meet the team for Jump4JoyJumps and see their amazing jumps. I wish we had more jumps at ur yard so we could really desensitise the horses and ponies to different shapes and colours and have more variety to make a small curse up. It would really help their training. Especially as we have the use of the rubber ménage and sand school which would train the horses and ponies to jump in different environments too.

From what I have seen on their Twitter account; @jump4joyjumps and on their website; www.showjumps.com they have some fabulously decorative jump wings and with a wide variety also. They have lots of fillers and planks also as well as an amazing array of cross country jumps also.

One can but dream, considering we (both J and I) are on cross poles/small straights.

I am so excited, I wish my family shared my enthusiasm. They keep reminding me not to give out any bank details to strangers and to ensure that this is a legitimate offer (despite my reassuring them). I shouldn't complain that they care so much for me really lol.

I cannot wait to share our day with you all and if you have any advice on what we must see/do while at Badminton then please do not hesitate to leave a message in the comments below!

Until next time,

KJB

xxx