Isabel Houghton is a one of Victoria's most loved and talented eventing riders who has competed up to 3* level, we are excited to announce Issy as a new blogger for EQ Life. Read her latest blog here...

Issy and Mohito ©Jenelle Christopher

Between the UK, eventing season, then polo season and eventing season again I've had a pretty crazy year!! All the craziness started around May last year when I made a pretty rash decision and decided to go to the UK for a couple of months.

Not an ideal time as many will tell you because it meant I missed out on MI3DE (whoops) but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. While in the UK I spent the majority of my time working in polo which I must say I love. I think us Eventers definitely enjoy the adrenaline rush and are known to be a bit wild however it is the precision and control achieved at the top level that is truly amazing. This is the same for polo, the players and ponies really are highly tuned athletes and let's be frank the social side is pretty good too!! I did however manage to sneak away to a few big horse trials including Badminton and Barbury Castle.

Barbury was beautiful. It was sunny, the course was presented beautifully and the going was great with undulating terrain. The best part for me was the "ride off" they have between the disciplines, jockeys vs showjumpers vs hunters vs eventers. This involved them all selecting a horse from 12 pooled hunters (making a team of three), and then racing around a short jumping course with a batten which they then passed onto their team mate.  Let's just say it was 'extreme' riding it was hilarious. Definitely think it's something to look at as a great spectator attraction. 

Badminton was unfortunately not as enjoyable. Despite the weather which was pretty horrible it wasn't the most inspiring thing to watch as a young rider. This was not the fault of horse or rider it just didn't seem to be anybody's day on cross country plus I saw a few nasty falls. Highlight for my day was jumping the lane rope to catch Pippa Funnel's horse which I'd just watched have a tumble... one of the less nasty for the day,(I definitely don't think this was the highlight of Pippa's day)!! Putting all that aside though it's still Badminton and you can't help but be a little in awe of it all. 

So after all this galavanting around in the UK I came home and kicked straight into eventing season. One of my first events back, Friends of Werribee was a great success with Mohito winning the 2*. Moj can be known to either excel in dressage or be very much on the accelerator in the completely wrong direction!! I have to say that was probably the best dressage test we'd ever done which being a pretty flashy thoroughbred felt amazing.

Unfortunately his next event out where he stepped back up to 3* wasn't the best. Dressage went pretty well considering I couldn't ride him around the warm up because he was so excited. Instead I went for the 3 pre rides but no warm up approach getting on him right before my test and going straight in. While not the way I ever want to have to do it sometimes you had to think outside the square with him a bit. Sj was great, cruised around with me having a rail (classic Isabel move). Cross country was not great, Mojo was one of the easiest horses I've had the pleasure of riding around cross country so when he started pecking on landings and pretty much flopped into the water I knew he wasn't right and retired. This signed the end of our partnership together which was quite upsetting as he's still only 14 and I felt we had a lot left to prove. Turned out he has what's called a farengial collapse which pretty much means when he gallops at max capacity instead of his airways opening they close in. So while he can still do dressage, showjumping and up to 1* eventing he just can't do the upper levels of eventing. 

Issy and Mohito ©Jenelle Christopher

On that note I decided I needed a regroup so...... I went back to polo!! For the next 6 months I lived at Bakers Bridge Farm, just outside of Geelong. Bakers Bridge is owned by the Mann family, a big polo family in Victoria. 

Stay tuned for my next blog when I tell you all about my polo experience.

- Cheers Issy