Philippa about Irish’s itch
I have ridden for 20 years and competed in a number of disciplines including: showing; eventing; show jumping; endurance; racing and hunting. Irish (also known as Nightnews) is a 10 Year old ISH by Last News out of a Carroll’s Flight mare. I’ve owned Irish for 5 years, ever since my Dad swotted a wasp away from his wine at a sale in Ireland… SOLD to the gentleman over there! Oops.
Why I’m excited about Aloeride
Aloeride has given Irish a chance to be steroid free, I am able to compete her using a non-banned substance that is helping her with her dermatitis. It was heart-breaking to see Irish itching so much and to see her now, not rubbing herself raw is such a weight off my mind. I was so close to pulling my own hair out before I started using Aloeride, now when I take her rugs off she’s no longer taking to attacking her skin. I am looking forward to the Spring when I can notice a lovely healthy shine on her coat.”
I moved from Hampshire to Banbury to progress and became a working pupil for Jodie Amos in 2011. This was our first season eventing and we went from BE90 to Novice and qualified and competed at the Tri-zone eventers challenge at Blenheim Palace. Once I had finished working for Jodie Amos, I then stayed at Washbrook Farm, Aston-le-Walls and rode out for a local National hunt trainer Alex Hales, whilst grooming for Matt Heath, Ann and Nigel Taylor as well as Jodie Amos.
The last eventing season is where we competed the least as I took to BSJA competitions in August, winning our first try at Discovery followed by 4 further wins at Discovery and 1.05m. I qualified for the National Amateur Championships at Aintree on my first attempt at both the first and second rounds, something I later discovered whilst at the championship that riders spend all season trying to qualify for. We competed at Arena UK, coming 9th out of 72 competitors to confirm our spot at Aintree.
The championship was held at Aintree Equestrian centre and was very daunting for my eventer turned show jumper, meaning that we did not jump as well as hoped on the first day. Our second day was much better and we missed qualifying for the final by 1 second and 1 place. Although I was gutted I had to remember how far we had got in the 3 months of BSJA competitions. On the final day we competed in a ‘fun class’ and came a respectable 11th place out of 40 in the top score, clearing the 1.20 joker.
