Stanley-Giraffe is 'raring to go - and feeling great'!

Eaimbry Endeavour and Elli Darling

Elli Darling’s background in eventing ensures that she still enjoys jumping, but the Suffolk-based rider and trainer now specialises in dressage and last year, when her parents bought the then five-year-old Eaimbry Endeavour to join the other nine horses on the yard she shares with her partner Tori Bahal, it was the realisation of an ambition born a year earlier.

Standing 16.3hh, the San Amour gelding Eaimbry Endeavour is known affectionately as ‘Stanley-Giraffe’ and Ellie says: “We first saw him as a four-year-old and managed to buy him a year later. We did the five-year-old classes, but he was sharp and quite naughty – you could be riding along quite nicely and then all of a sudden, be facing the other way without having time to work out how you got there!
“I did a couple of novices with him at the end of last season and he came out this spring to do the six-year-old classes. He felt amazing, we had the changes sorted and were aiming for advanced medium, but then he went lame in April.

Heading for advanced medium at the start of the season.

“It started with him feeling a bit ‘iffy’ for a week, being really argumentative and difficult, yet when we went to a show at the end of that week, he was brilliant. After a day off though, he just didn’t feel right and when I went into trot, he was very wrong – and our vet duly found a shadow on a scan indicating he had injured a front suspensory ligament.
“Nerve blocking proved this was the problem, but although the shadow was tiny, the severity of his lameness had the vet worried about the true extent of the injury. 

He told me it may not repair fully, as Stanley has an extremely athletic action in trot and doesn’t know what ‘half power’ is, so it was going to be difficult to keep him sane during rehabilitation.
“Not only that, but he is too sharp to hack because he’s terrified of traffic, including bicycles. So although he’s not spooky or tense in the way most riders would understand, he uses any excuse to have a ‘hooley’. He doesn’t ‘wind up’ but does whip round – and round – and round – and if he changes direction, it can be a bit unseating. I knew that if we couldn’t rehabilitate him successfully, he didn’t really have a future as he obviously couldn’t go jumping either and he would never be someone’s hack!

“He was put on strict box rest and it was at that stage one of my clients suggested I look at the ArcEquine. I hadn’t heard of it at that point, but she persuaded me to ring the company and I duly did. That conversation, and the fact that I felt I had nothing to lose, resulted in my decision to give it a go – and so far – brilliant!
“The vet has just been out again and on this latest scan, the leg looks normal again and Stanley is feeling great. I adore the horse and so I’m still taking it so, so slowly. We’ve progressed to trotting and are looking at more weeks of trot work, steadily introducing lateral work, before we canter. He still loves to play about, but he never tries to really get me off and knowing him so well helps me to keep things going in the right direction.

“I’m obviously delighted with the result we’ve seen and I now use the ArcEquine for maintenance on the other horses too. I’ve never tried it on myself yet, because it’s either on a horse or on charge. Maybe we need another one!”

Images courtesy of Ana Goodrum, White Cat Photography. www.white-catphotography.com

Alfi's story is still unfolding .....

Alfi

When Holly Davies brought home an 11 month old pure bred chestnut arab called Alfi 12 years ago it marked the beginning of an often difficult journey, but her recent purchase of an ArcEquine microcurrent unit, has opened up the prospect of resolving the last of many different veterinary and management problems affecting Alfi over the years.

Holly has worked as an Animal Communicator and Therapist from her home base in South West Wales for 16 years and she specialises in horses, which account for 90% of her caseload. Most of her work is UK based, but around 10% involves telephone or email contact with international clients. Alongside this she is an enthusiastic author, having written no fewer than seven books in the last year along with college courses in Equine Energy Therapy and Animal Communication.

Her current book Arabian Recipe will be published early in 2016 and is about Alfi, who carries the sought-after Crabbit bloodlines. It chronicles his life and will include reference to the successful use of an ArcEquine microcurrent unit. Holly takes up the story.....

“When I first brought Alfi home, I was aware he had something of a parrot mouth and a rather odd hind leg action, but somehow I knew he was the horse for me. Straight away though, he had problems, starting with a ‘snotty nose’ virus from which it took him six months to recover.

“Other problems over the years included ongoing mud fever and persistent cellulitis and various often severe sensitivities and allergies. However despite all of this, he was backed when he was four, then turned away again for a year.

“He has also suffered from sarcoids and I remember one occasion a vet banded a sarcoid in his foreleg ‘arm pit’ and it rubbed, eventually causing a split in the skin. This developed a horrible infection in just two hours – and it took him three months to recover.

“Along the way, I discovered his current cranial therapist, a brilliant lady called Lucinda Munchhausen whose expertise has helped him enormously. Managing him was easier than it might have been, as I was working from home, but these experiences meant I started to work more in natural therapies, zoopharmacognosy* and remedial nutrition and I’ve used all of that knowledge to help Alfi.
“Earlier this year, when Alfi was fit and looking well, he came in from his nice flat paddock very lame and we discovered that he had somehow damaged a stifle joint quite badly. At one point we were near putting him to sleep as we didn’t expect him to recover, but we didn’t and happily, although it took many weeks, he did indeed recover. However he was only sound for two weeks then he suffered a puncture wound (and developed a splint) on the other hind leg, which led to an abscess that subsequently burst out along the coronet band. Between the two injuries, he had spent a lot of time standing on whichever was the sound hind leg and as a result, it emerged that he had seriously damaged both hind fetlocks.

Alfi's worst hind fetlock on Oct 10th

“When the equine vet scanned him, his near hind had suspensory damage and a thickened annular ligament which measured 5.5mm rather than the normal 3-4mm. The off hind also had suspensory damage, along with an annular ligament over three times the normal thickness at 11mm and a tear in the deep digital flexor tendon. The vet basically told me that his only chance was to have the worst annular ligament cut.....

“I was very upset, but the next day, having decided that after 12 years, that wouldn’t be kind to him, I started researching other options. Although I work in lots of different therapies and have researched more, I looked in depth at the ArcEquine and sent a link over to Lucinda, who told me she had a unit and would get one sent to me. It arrived in two days and since then – five weeks now – he’s worn it for 10-14 hours every day.

Improvement - the same fetlock on Oct 20th

“We saw dramatic changes in the worst fetlock in just 17 days and he came sound again, but it is still distended and we are now waiting for his next scan, which we hope will show that repair is going on ‘inside’ the tissues. He’s also on nutritional support to facilitate cellular repair, including amino acids and vitamins C and E. I was told to either box rest or yard rest him whilst still ensuring he used both legs evenly, so as he’s incredibly sensible, my version of that is to turn him out in the yard or a small paddock so he is wandering, not standing still and resting one of his hind legs.

More improvement by Oct 27th

“Lucinda is thrilled with his improvement and his usual vet has described the images as ‘pretty impressive’. How much repair we’ll end up seeing I don’t know, but we are only five weeks in, so expectations are high and the equine vet says that even if there’s a marginal improvement that we’re on the right route.

“I love the ArcEquine, as the programmes run for several hours, so there’s no need to frequently re-set it. It’s so simple to use and the straps and unit are very straightforward to put on. With a boot over it for protection, I just pop it on and leave him to wander.”

Alfi is one of three Arabs Holly owns and like his grey half brother Harree, she describes him as a “gentle, sweet horse”. Her third arab is an eyecatching black horse called Manta.

Holly concludes: “All of the horses I’ve taken on to date have had some sort of a problem and I wanted my perfect horse, so I went looking – and found Alfi! As it turned out, he is the perfect horse for me as I’ve learnt so much and if it wasn’t for him, I would not have done the research and learnt all the things I now use with other people’s horses. His story has provided not just content for books, but also strategies I now use for working successfully with other horses.

“I am waiting to see how much healing we get - and it would be wonderful to see my granddaughter, who is eight, able to ride him around the fields again without tack.”

*pharmacognosy - the study of medicinal drugs derived from plants or other natural sources.

Murphy's event career back in the start box

After an unexpected injury to her young Irish Sport Horse Murphy, Bryony Crowther's vet recommended she consider microcurrent therapy and following dedicated treatment, rehabilitation, and daily use of an ArcEquine unit, Murphy's intended event career is now definitely a reality once more, as Bryony explains.....

"I bought Murphy straight out of Ireland and he arrived weedy and weak, yet when I started riding him he was 'lovely lovely' and as it was July, we had a great start together. That Christmas, my generous husband bought him a new saddle, which was fitted by a master saddler. We live just outside Basingstoke in Hampshire, I work mainly from home and Murphy is on a livery yard literally just a couple of fields away, so it's ideal for me and all went well until his behaviour started to deteriorate when ridden, to the point where the yard owner suggested he might be turning into something of a lunatic as he became fitter!

"He was examined by my vet, along with my physiotherapist and X-rays were done, but nothing was diagnosed, except the possibility of soreness caused by the saddle. Having had intense physio to correct the muscular soreness, Murphy had no more behavioural issues, which stopped overnight after the treatments.  We went on holiday shortly afterwards just when he was coming back into work and, whilst we were away, the yard owner called me to ask if the vet could check Murphy again as he didn’t seem right once back in the school - and this time he was diagnosed with a strained suspensory, or more accurately, proximal suspensory desmitis in his left hind leg, potentially secondary to the back soreness.

The injury is a niggly one, with better prognosis from acute causes, but with potential for reoccurrence due to it being similar to carpal tunnel syndrome. The vet treated him bilaterally with a cortisone injection and three shockwave sessions, and a recommended work rehabilitation programme. He also suggested doing some research around microcurrent therapy as, although there was little scientific evidence, he knew of people talking about success with it in relation to soft tissue injuries, amongst other things.

"I did the research and came across ArcEquine, then had a detailed conversation with Ian Thirkell at the company about Murphy and as I wanted to give the horse the best possible chance, I initially hired an ArcEquine unit for him. I used the machine religiously every day for 10 weeks, after the initial cortisone injections and shockwave therapy, alongside a programme of very careful rehabilitation.

"We started with 10 minutes in walk on the lanes, under saddle, straight after box rest. Yes, we did have some 'hooleys' and I thought I was going to die more than once! I remember calling the vet after four weeks of this and said - 'I can't do this any longer' - but we did, for another two weeks, and then another two weeks, and then another and so on, building up a little bit of trot by two minutes more each day. I'm thankful it was all in the summer and we were so lucky with the weather.

"The 10 weeks of treatment with the ArcEquine ended in October and we switched to using the unit for maintenance. At the same time, Murphy was turned out for the first time using Sedalin, the dosage of which was reduced over five days and he reacted well, remaining calm throughout. Next we started with some arena time, five minutes of walking 'large' only, and only 3 x a week, continuing to slowly build up the work. This spring, we introduced 20 metre circles again whilst in the school, trying always to keep him as balanced as possible, all the time still hacking out on the roads.

Bryony and Murphy. Courtesy NicolaElliotPhotography.co.uk

"Murphy is nine this year and we are still just continuing to build up the work slowly to develop his strength and having done his first Intro dressage test back in February, he began jumping in March and did his first cross country school towards the end of the summer.

"He was scanned just before he was turned out and it was fairly inconclusive, so the vet suggested we should go on the way the horse felt, not the way the scans looked. I am aware that the prognosis for this sort of injury in a hind leg is tricky, but on the plus side, we know that an acute injury has a better prognosis and that's helped by Murphy's good conformation.

"I would say this is a success story, at least so far, and I am pleased that I chose to use the ArcEquine as part of his rehab programme. Murphy is on a 4-star eventing competition yard and the original plan to event him is now back on track. I've also bought into another event horse which we part own with rider and eventer Mark Corbett and his family, so we are looking to pop the ArcEquine on him after competitions as he progresses up the grades. I am also delighted that ArcEquine' microcurrent technology is gaining increasing traction and I think that as more clinical research is carried out, then people not yet willing to take a leap of faith will have more evidence to rely on.

Overreach 'downtime' halved for eventer Buddy

Buddy back in action - 'healed in half the time'

Garry Russell enjoys eventing ex-racehorses and his most recent purchase, the 16hh grey gelding Cottonfields, had already proven himself bold and enthusiastic when disaster struck in the form of a serious overreach injury. Garry's wife Cala takes up the story.....

"We first saw Cottonfields - we call him Buddy - on a web site where you can source ex-racers. A sprinter, he'd come over from the US with trainer Heather Main when she moved to Britain and he was trained at Lambourn with the hope that his dislike of starting stalls on race days might change over here, but it didn't. He was fine on training days, but not when it was time to race! As an American thoroughbred, he has a big quarter horse bum and isn't your typical eventer shape, so at that point, we decided not to make the trip to see him.

"Then Kylie Manser, a former lady jockey who picks up the odd ex racehorse rang to say she had Cottonfields, so we went to see him. Well, he didn't really want to canter and jump, but he seemed to try, despite not looking like the most capable of sportsmen, so he was duly delivered in February 2014, aged 8, basically straight from the trainer."

Garry, a full time telecoms engineer and Cala, who works full time as a civil servant, live near Lavenham in Suffolk and own another ex-racer called Chester, or Da Floying Oirishman, who had come out of racing in poor condition along with many issues, including a previously fractured spine and chronic problems with his hind suspensory ligaments - which is how Cala came across ArcEquine's microcurrent units.

She explains: "I'd been recommended to try an ArcEquine and asked my normal vet Ben Gibson of Catley Cross Equine Unit what he thought. He said the evidence he'd seen was encouraging and on his recommendation, my insurer Stoneways Insurance, paid for one, so Chester was the lucky recipient of ArcEquine microcurrent treatment and he subsequently went back out eventing."

Bandaged and stitched post injury

Cala continues: "So it was nice when Buddy arrived, that Garry could basically just get on him, put up a few jumps, go cross country schooling and take it from there. Buddy did his first unaffiliated one day event over an 80T course and seemed quite bold. Then he did some unaffiliated 90s last season and this season, we affiliated him and he's done a few BE90s followed by his first

Week 2 post injury

BE100.

"To help develop him, Garry was advised to take him show jumping and he'd entered his first 3ft 6" class on a Friday evening, June 26th. With only four in the jump off, he was the only one clear, and Garry's enthusiasm saw him push for a long stride at the last fence......

Buddy stood off too far, knocked a pole off with his chest, got it tangled with his front legs and

Week 3 post injury

his back legs 'overtook' them, resulting in an overreach.

"It was getting dark when we untacked him; he wasn't lame but in torchlight, we could see down to the bone in the pastern, so we took him straight to the vets, where it was cleaned and stitched. The vet advised it was so deep it would be two months before he'd be able to do any canter work and he came home bandaged from knee to hoof.

Week 4 post injury

After two weeks of bandaging, using the ArcEquine daily and changing bandages every third day, during which time he didn't have any antibiotics or pain relief, there had been no swelling and the wound wasn't 'manky', the vet checked him. All but two stitches were removed and another week later, all the stitches came out and he started walking in hand.

"The farrier said he didn't think the wound would stay closed and that he also thought it would be two months before it was completely healed. That was week three, which was when all the bandages came off and Garry  got back on.

Completely healed and enjoying his jumping again

At week four, we sent the vet some photographs and she said: "yep you're away" ... and he was. He had his first flatwork lesson on July 28th, having started cantering before that.

"Buddy hasn't looked back and ArcEquine is part of our normal routine now, as we use them for a couple of days after an event to deal with any knocks and micro tears. I wouldn't want to be without one!"

Find out more at www.arcequine.com

ArcEquine user Francis Whittington on European Eventing Squad with Easy Target

This year's European Eventing Championships (Sept 9-13) are being hosted in the UK at the beautiful and historic Blair Castle Estate in Perthshire and as the host nation, Team GBR squad will total 12 horse and rider combinations, amongst whom is experienced and enthusiastic ArcEquine user Francis Whittington with Catherine Witt's 14yo gelding Easy Target.

Francis grew up surrounded by the horses at his mother’s riding school and represented Great Britain initially in the Pony Team, winning team silver and individual gold in 1993 on North Down Nova at the European Championships in Hassett, Belgium. A full time event rider, he is also a qualified as an equine dentist.

Having represented Great Britain on the British Nations Cup teams for the past two seasons, Francis was part of the second placed Nations Cup team at Houghton Hall at the beginning of June. Last year he enjoyed a great season with Easy Target achieving some impressive results at three star level including winning the CCI3* class at Blenheim Palace, second place in the British Open at Gatcombe and second place in the CIC3* at Barbury.

Based in East Sussex with his wife Samantha and their young son, Francis has used the ArcEquine microcurrent units for a number of years. He says with conviction: "ArcEquine enables our horses to be as fit and well the day after an event as they were the day before."

ArcEquine Golden Voucher win for Sue Buckley

With several very positive experiences of using her ArcEquine unit to support rapid and successful healing of injuries in her horses and her dog, it was an easy decision for Sue Buckley to upgrade to the new ArcEquine 2 and she was delighted to find a coveted 'Golden Voucher' in the packaging, entitling her to a complete refund of the purchase price.

Sue Buckley with George and Sam

Working as a Bowen therapist with horses, dogs and humans, Sue, who lives near Pershore in Worcestershire, has almost finished her training to qualify as a tutor and confirms she has had an ArcEquine unit since the they were first manufactured. "I've used it to support the healing of a small tear in a tendon that one of my endurance horses, George, sustained", explains Sue. "I used the ArcEquine every day and followed the recommended rehabilitation programme - starting with in-hand work, then ridden work, scanning along the way. George did his first competition just 12 weeks later and is absolutely fine."

"I've also used the ArcEquine on our dog Sam, who suffered from medial elbow dysplasia. He had a fissure in the joint of his elbow - causing inflammation and pain. The microcurrent therapy helped with the inflammation and pain, allowing me to release his tight muscles afterwards, improving his range of movement, which is now normal.

"So now, with four horses, two dogs and two cats, I'm thinking of buying a second ArcEquine unit as we now make so much use of it and I'm looking forward to the launch of the ArcPet unit later this year.

Solving 'Summer Stress' with ArcEquine

When it comes to horses, over-stressing muscles, tendons and ligaments can all too easily result in injuries needing a lengthy period of rest and spoiling even the best-laid summer plans, so it's good to know that by using an ArcEquine unit, not only is injury less likely, but any healing will take literally half the time and you'll have a much happier horse along the way!

Turn it on, pick a programme, press play – done. For us, what an ArcEquine does isn’t the most impressive part. It was the years of inventive development and research, producing the 120 prototypes to test and refine it and the massive investment needed to make something so complicated so simple. ArcEquine is a wearable, non-invasive, drug free device. On one hand it’s the same size as the smaller disposable devices, yet can be charged and is far more sophisticated. It’s the very best of both worlds, without compromise. Packing all of that into something barely larger than a credit card was quite a task. Not that you’ll ever notice. Which is precisely the point. Read more about the science in our Arc4Health section.

ArcEquine in use on a hind leg.

Years of research and development have resulted in the small, yet robust ArcEquine unit that delivers a user-selected sequence of pre-programmed microcurrents during each daily session. Simple and practical, the ArcEquine is easily attached to a horse or pony's lower leg using the uniquely designed, adjustable strap.

ArcEquine is in everyday use by many leading riders, including Francis Whittington, Lucinda Fredericks, Liz Halliday-Sharp, Milly Kruger, Lissa Green and Amy Stovold, endorsed by vets and recognised by a leading equine insurer.

You can buy securely online at the ArcEquine Shop.

Karry wins ArcEquine Golden Voucher

When Karry Gardner's talented 14yo pure bred Lusitano mare Utopia de Santarem (Tia) injured her left stifle last autumn, it heralded months of veterinary investigations and treatment, but still a gloomy prognosis. So after a recommendation from a friend, Karry decided to give the ArcEquine a go. Imagine her delight when the newly purchased ArcEquine kit arrived containing a 'Golden Voucher' for a full refund of the complete purchase price!

Tia, ridden by Beth Robinson

Karry, who lives near Scarborough in North Yorkshire, explains: "I'd spent a lot on Tia, £2500 just for the arthroscopy surgery, but the Golden Voucher win was like a 'sign' - it wasn't just about the money. Tia was a surprise present from my husband following a holiday to the horse fair in Golga, Portugal, where I sat on her and felt there was 'something' about her. She was just four when she arrived, along with three birthday cards and three Christmas cards; she means a huge amount to me."

"My vet has been so negative lately as Tia was definitely not improving. As a result, I'd been feeling very depressed before speaking at length to a helpful ArcEquine advisor and ordering a unit. When it arrived, I initially put the Golden Voucher aside and when I picked it up again later thinking it was part of the instructions, I had to ask my husband to read it before I believed I'd really won!

"That day we put the ArcEquine on Tia for the first time and within half an hour she was chilling at the back of her box with her lip drooping, clearly more relaxed and comfortable. Two days later, she had her teeth rasped and was so laid back she didn't need the usual sedation. There was an obvious improvement in her left hind within days and we have already started a very careful programme of rehabilitation. I've now got faith and hope and I am in a place where I can say - I am going to do this - I am committed."

ArcEquine supports Lissa Green's eventing success

With a family background in eventing that would be the envy of most riders - Lissa Green's mother Lucinda Green was a six-times Badminton winner and her Australian father David Green a dual gold medallist, but until fairly recently, riding was more of a hobby and not a full time occupation, as Lissa herself explains......

"I only turned to riding and competing full time in the last couple of years but I always had one horse to event in the summer holidays between term time at school and university. My biggest highlight would be as first reserve for Team GB in the 2007 Junior European Championships; I remember being more than ecstatic when I got that phone call!

There are always low points with horses, sadly it comes with the territory, most notably when a horse is injured. When they hurt themselves it is truly horrible.

Lissa Green and Malin Head Clover

Secondly would be when I get injured, as I did last August when I had quite a nasty fall, as my then new ride Malin Head Clover misjudged the smallest fence on the course. Luckily he had a soft landing on me so was absolutely fine, but I came off a little worse with four fractured ribs, a broken collarbone, damaged rotator cuffs in my shoulder, multiple fractures to my jaw joint and my chin bone was split into two bits at the front. I had my chin plated and spent a week in hospital and hoped my collarbone would mend.

Five weeks later an X-ray revealed it hadn't and needed to be operated on, but I wanted to finish the season and although I was sore, it was worth it. The horse I fell on did two Intermediates and was 7th with a double clear on our last run.

I then had my operation and straight away my collarbone was so much more comfortable – with the bonus that I didn’t have to spend a winter perhaps worrying about how my nerves would be when I got back on Malin Head Clover. To top it off we managed three top 10 placings out of those last five competitions, so maybe I should fall off more often….

I have to say my parents have been a huge influence; they both treat me as an individual and always help when I need it, but don’t interfere too much. I have taken inspiration from so many amazing horsemen, it is such a privilege to be constantly around the calibre of rider that is competing today.

When it comes to fitness, I have a very strict schedule and I think plenty of road work is very important to keep hardening up the tendons on their legs. I also think feed is hugely important, as what you put into your horse has a massive impact on helping them perform at their best.

In addition, I rely on a brilliant little microcurrent unit called - an ArcEquine - for both my horses and myself. It is ideal to have around if any horses acquire an injury as it helps to heal more efficiently and in a fraction of the time; I love it. I used it on myself when recovering from my operations and when I went back to the physio's, they couldn't believe how good my shoulder was and how far ahead my recovery was. Definitely thanks to this super machine!

Follow Lissa Green Eventing on facebook.

ArcEquine sponsored event rider Liz Halliday-Sharp wins at Rockingham Castle

Event rider Liz Halliday-Sharp, who is an enthusiastic ArcEquine user for her string of successful horses, marked the start of her UK British Eventing season with a commanding victory and double podium (May 22-24) at Rockingham Castle International where two horses competing at very different levels were in action.

It was the UK-based Californian’s first British outing since returning from her winter base in Ocala, Florida, where a number of horses resident at her Chailey Stud had benefitted from warmer weather training and competition.

Having racked up plenty of success Stateside over the past five months, it didn't take Liz and Blackie (Fernhill By Night) long to get back to winning ways. Following a debut appearance together at the CCI4* Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event in April, the pair were understandably amongst the favourites in their Open Intermediate section, and so it proved. 

Indeed, they were never headed after accumulating just 22.3 points for a highly accomplished Dressage test and would later finish on that same score thanks to going double clear in Show Jumping and Cross Country. After finishing with the best mark across all five Intermediate sections, Liz is now feeling confident ahead of her and Blackie’s appearance at Houghton International’s CICO3* FEI Nations Cup event this weekend (May 29/30).

“After a tough time in very wet conditions at Rolex I just wanted to give Blackie an easier, confidence-inspiring round on good ground, and the course at Rockingham was perfect for that,” she confirmed. “He found it all quite easy and I wasn't pushing for time, but it’s noticeable how much naturally faster he is between fences after competing regularly at Advanced level in the USA throughout the winter. He’s always responded best when being ridden positively, but we certainly weren't flat-out, so it's nice that he still found the time easy to make.

“It was a good pre-run for Houghton where I’ll be the sole US Team representative. I’m sure it’ll be a tough competition, but hopefully we can come home with a good result; I feel confident that if we put all the pieces together we can do just that.”

While Blackie has demonstrated his pedigree countless times before, stablemate Ozzy (Oskar X) remains comparatively new to both the sport and Liz, who had spent just two weeks working with the six-year-old prior to Rockingham.

Not that it showed at his first British event last weekend when the duo secured second place in their BE100 section. Lying joint-fourth after a tidy Dressage performance, clear Cross Country and Show Jumping rounds helped them pick up two positions and finish on their original score of 28.5, just 0.2 marks shy of victory.

“I was a little bit frustrated to miss out on winning by such a small margin, especially as I thought his Dressage test was better than the mark, but I can’t be too disappointed after spending so little time with him,” continued Liz. “He’s clearly got bags of potential and has a lovely temperament, too. He really tried hard in every phase and I'm thrilled with him! We’ll continue at BE100 for the next month or so before hopefully upgrading to Novice in July if he’s ready.”

Ozzy’s eventing education continues at Borde Hill this Sunday (May 31) just a day after Halliday-Sharp returns from FEI Nations Cup duty at Houghton.

Keep up with Liz by following her on Twitter – @lizhalliday – or on either her personal or Horsepower Equestrian Facebook pages. Visit the ArcEquine website at www.arcequine.com