I have just moved into a fabulous new apartment here in Lastrup in Germany, where I will be sharing with Marne, the American lady who also trains with Markus Gribbe. We have our own terraced garden perfect for sunny days, having said that the weather here is miserable at the moment.

Since my last blog so much has happened. I was at the 'Horses & Dreams' show in Hagen two weekends ago. It’s a big international show for both show jumping and dressage, and this year the theme was Mexico so many of the shops and restaurants were offering Mexican style products. We went on the Sunday for the Grand Prix Special and Freestyle and it was absolutely packed. We watched both the tests and the warm up and it was really interesting as there were many big names such as Valentina Truppa, Nadine Capellmann, Matthias Rath, Victoria Max-Theurer to name but a few. Hubertus Schmidt was the winner and you could see why, his attention to setting up the movements is extraordinary and the way he prepares the half passes in the warm up is unique. In the corner before the half pass he rides a clear shoulder in and then in the actual half pass he changes the angle and bend frequently. Then as he finishes the half pass he rides travers for two strides or so and then straightens the horse quickly. He does not do this in the test! This appeared to be his method for training for this horse - in the test he rode the movement in the normal manner but the horse finds the movement easier because of the training beforehand.

I was a lucky girl this week and received an early birthday present - a large tack locker for competitions, which can take up to four saddles with lots of room for extra equipment - it even has a mirror! It’s brilliant for the shows here. We have a show next weekend where Marne, Aaron (one of Markus’s riders) and I will all compete so I just hope we don’t have any more rain.

Mum says the building work at home is really coming on with the new access road completed and the foundations laid for my indoor school. It shouldn’t be long now until it’s finished. We also have a new member of our family - a little black Patterdale cross Jack Russell - he’s seven months old and was a rescue dog. Luckily my dog Diesel likes him so I cannot wait to meet him.

Fiona Price is doing a feature on Horse Hero with Francisco da Braganza in Portugal. I was lucky enough to have two weeks of lessons with him on a riding holiday many years ago and I rode a beautiful black stallion. Francisco teaches in a very different way to the German trainers, however he had me riding so many movements, I gained a lot of experience. My biggest memory though is the day he took me and one other lady on a hack around the mountains. I remember the groom asking if I knew Francisco was crazy on a hack and then saying have fun and smiling! It was all really relaxed until Francisco said "right follow me" and cantered flat out down a track until we reached a small river. I hesitated saying "I can’t go with the horse through there", he said "yes you can" and before I had chance to think he tapped my horse on the bottom and we were in the water. I was completely covered and when the horses got out of the water they bucked like stink! Just when I thought the excitement was over he took off again, we followed jumping ditches and then took a relaxing walk back to the stables with Francisco laughing all the way. It was so much fun for us and the horses - Fiona, you will have a great time!