PORTIA HOWARD - LATEST NEWS

Portia and team in great form at zuidwolde

Portia took the trip to Zuidwolde in Holland to take part in the CSI ** show with Urgent and Macgarveys Choice and had an excellent couple of weeks.

Alison Claxton owned Macgarveys Choice were in tremendous form from the start with an impressive win in the first class of the show, the 1.30m single round class, finishing in a time of 59.60sec which was over two seconds in front of Bobo Fuchs riding Bacchuz.

On the second day of week one it looked as if Portia and Mac were set for another class win. After an impressive clear in the first round, Portia and Mac were well ahead on the clock in the jump off, but an unlucky pole two from the finish put the pair back to sixth place.

Mac and Portia were also very unlucky in the Small Grand PRIX at the end of week one. After jumping clear in the first round Portia had the best time in the jump off but just lowered one pole to finish in a very creditable sixth place.

When Mac is in this sort of form he has the habit of winning a string of classes in quick succession and that's exactly what he did in the second week of the Zuidwolde show. Again quick out of the blocks, Portia and Mac made short work of the first class of week two with a very impressive victory. Portia was up on the clock most of the way but two top class turns on the second half of the circuit enabled the pair to win in good style.

The jump off class on day two was a desperately close affair with Portia and Mac just failing to catch the winner Remco Been riding Volvo's Whisper Walienna by one tenth of a second in a very exciting jump off, but Portia and Mac got their revenge and took their tremendous form into the Small Grand PRIX on the final day of show and after jumping an excellent clear in round one, Portia and Mac saved their best for last finishing nearly two second clear of Dennis van den Brink riding Ultra for a decisive victory and a €600 first prize.

Portia jumped Urgent - 'Cindy' in the big tour classes at Zuidwolde and this talented mare again had a very solid show. After jumping a very nice clear round on day one, finishing in the money in tenth place, Portia and Urgent were in excellent form on day two jumping clear in round one of the Grand PRIX qualifying class to finish in a creditable tenth place securing a spot in the Grand PRIX on the final day.

The Grand PRIX was a big and technical 1.45m contest - only two double clear rounds and only six clear rounds in the first round - Urgent jumped very well and was very unlucky to lower just one pole and had to settle for a good eleventh place. 'Cindy' is getting closer and closer to winning a very nice class and Portia is hopeful that 'Cindy' will have a successful second half of the summer season.

Portia IN TOP Form at Towerlands & Weston Lawns

Portia was in top form during June with a string of good class wins at both Towerlands Park and Weston Lawns Equestrian Centres.

At the Towerlands Park summer show (11th - 15th June) Portia and Macgarveys Choice were brilliant winning two of the 1.25m Open contests and coming an excellent 3rd in the 1.30m contest. This is Macgarveys Choice time of year and he is ultra competitive in any class up to 1.40m level and Portia is hopeful of more class wins during the summer. With owner Alison Claxton one of the judges at the show, she had the honor of presenting her own horse with the winning rosettes.

Urgent had another solid show, jumping double clear to finish a fine 4th in the 1.40m open, and then followed that with a good double clear in the 1.35m contest. Zafira Utopia, also owned by Alison, produced another very sound effort jumping double clear to finish and good 5th in the Blue Ribband qualifier.

After the Towerlands show Portia quickly moved on to the Weston Lawns Summer Spectacular and again entered the winner enclosure, this time on Urgent. Looking in great form from the start of this 1.35m content, Portia and Urgent were the dominant team in the jump-off and came away with an excellent class victory.

One of the younger horse Atlanta VII was also in good form for Portia jumping a very nice double clear to finish in 8th place in the B&C Handicap class. Atlanta has been showing signs recently that the penny has started to drop and it will be interesting to see how this talented horse progresses during the summer circuit. Zafira Utopia took part in the Newcomers 2nd round, and after jumping a very eye catching clear in the first round, had a very unlucky pole in the second round. This talented youngster has one more chance to qualify for the 2010 HOYS newcomers final and will probably take that chance at Towerlands in the second week of July.

 

Portia has team in good form at weston lawns

Portia and the team were in very good form at the Weston Lawns Equestrian Centre with a string of very good results.

Alison Claxton owned Zafira Utopia continued her upward progress with two very good efforts. The first was a good 5th in the Foxhunter class, and she followed that with a superb effort in the 6yr old Scope Quailifier jumping triple clear to comfortably qualify. This young mare has been on the upgrade for the last 18 months and is expected to have a good summer.

Macgarveys Choice was at his usual competitive best and put in a fine effort to finish 5th in the A&B class. A prolific class winner in this grade, Portia and Macgarveys Choice look in good enough form to add to their classes victories this summer.

Younger horses Atlanta VII and Elias II were both in good form with Altanta jumping double clear in the National 1.30m class finishing in 7th place, Elias put in a similar effort jumping double clear in the Kingland 6yr old class finishing equal first.

Portia has excellent show in Moorsele, Belguim

Portia took three horse, Urgent, Utopia Zafira and Macgarveys Choice, to the CSI** International at Moorsele, Belgium and produced some excellent performances.

Urgent, who Portia has high hopes for this season, was in great form during the show. After an excellent sixth place on the first day of the show in the 1.40m speed class, Portia and Urgent were again flawless on day two jumping double clear to finish 3rd in the big 1.45m class. Urgent then when on to produce and even better jumping performance in the Grand PRIX on the last day of the show and was very unlucky to have one pole down to finish with the fastest four faults in 10th place. Portia was delighted with the way Urgent jumped and hopes 'Cindy' can maintain this form into the summer.

The ultra dependable Macgarveys Choice again was his usual competitive self and was in great form on day two jumping double clear to finish 3rd in the 1.30m class. 'Mac' will no doubt have a good summer and looks close to top form for the summer shows.

For Portia one of the most pleasing performances at the show came from the Alison Claxton owned Zafira Utopia in the young horses classes. Zafari Utopia has been brilliantly produced by Portia and has done nothing but improve the last 18 months. Portia has always been keen to give this talented youngster experience of jumping the International young horse tracks and Zafira didn't let Portia down with two classy performances, both double clear, finishing 5th and 6th respectively in the two young horse classes. This really does auger well for this fast improving young horse.

Portia in fine early season form

Portia and her young squad have started the 2010 season in solid form with some really encouraging results.

Macgarveys Choice, who has been busy the last two months, appears to have already slipped into his consistent best with a string of good performances. After winning a competitive 1.30m class at the Solihull show in February, 'Mac' produced another excellent effort in taking forth in the 1.30m Open at the Towerlands Park Premier Show. Ultra competitive, Macgarveys Choice looks on course for yet another successful season.

Portia has only just got Urgent up and running in preparation for the long summer season and this lovely mare is starting to show some fine form. After a very encouraging 4th in the 1.35m class at Solihull, 'Cindy' produced a flawless display of jumping with a triple clear performance in the PCA qualifier at the Towerlands Premier show. With this progressive mare still on the upgrade, Portia is looking forward to the bigger national classes this summer.

Witro has started the 2010 season in fine form and Portia has high hopes for this impressive 7year old. Despite only competing at a few shows so far this year, 'Wally' has already been placed in two B & C events at Solihull and Towerlands Park and continues to show his potential. Very much one to keep an eye on this year.

Portia in excellent form at Towerlands & Patchetts

Portia goes into the autumn/winter indoor season in good form with some excellent performances at the Towerlands Stallions & Mares show and the Patchetts Development Classis.

Alison Claxton owed Zafira, who has done nothing but improve all year long, was the star of the show jumping a very eye catching double clear to win the 5yr old championship. Zafira has been excellently produced this year by Portia and is a very exciting profect for 2010.

Atlanta VII, another one of Portia's young horses, was also in very good form jumping a very nice double clear in the 1.30m Championship to finish a very creditable fifth place. Stable star Urgent was also at the show and showed her well being by jumping double clear in the 1.40m Open finishing a very good 5th. Portia has been really pleased with Urgent this year, it has been her first year consistently jumping at 1.40m and above and the step up has proved no problem for this very talented and scopey mare.

Portia also visited the Patchetts Development Classic show during October and again had some note worthy results. After being placed a very good fifth on Atlanta VII in the Blue Chip B&C qualifier, Portia was brillant in the 1.30m Open coming first and second on Urgent and Macgarveys Choice respectively. This was a very good result for Macgarveys Choice who was coming back form a short break and Portia hopes "MAC" will have a very good autumn/winter indoor season.

Portia's Youngsters in good form at Addington

Portia brought her young horses to the British Young Horse Championships at Addington Manor and all performed with great credit qualifying for the finals of the 5yr and 6yr olds Championship Finals.

Portia's jumped the Alison Claxton owned Zafira-Utopia and her own Elias II (ridden by Hermano Marin) in the 5yr old Non-British Bred preliminary rounds on the first day of the show. Portia and the fast improving Zafira-Utopia were in excellent form to start the show, jumping a very fluent and impressive clear round. Elias II also jumped very well just taking a dislike to one fence to finish with time faults. In the 6yr old Non-British Bred preliminary round Witro - a big jumping horse with a good deal of scope - was very impressive jumping clear. Portia jumped Atlanta VII, and although this nice grey mare is still very much on a learning curve, she showed her best form so far this season jumping an eye-catching clear round.

Day two was another good day for Portia. Zafira-Utopia produced another flawless display of jumping with an impressive clear round to cement her place in the final of the 5yr olds on the final day of the show. Elias II showed much improved form on day two jumping clear with a very fluent performance. In the 6yrs old contests Portia was very unlucky. Atlanta VII was again in good form and jumped very well just lowering one pole. However, the combined performance of Atlanta qualified her for the final of the 6yr olds. Witro and Hermano Marin were again very impressive and were very unlucky to have one pole but still had produced enough to qualify for the Championship final on the last day of the show.

On the final day of the show Portia's had three of her four horses in the finals, which was very rewarding for the hard work she and the team have put in with the younger horses over the year. The 5yr old Non-British Bred final was a case of so near yet so far for Portia. Zafira-Utopia, who had been one of the most eye catching 5yr olds to jumping during the week, was jumping with great fluency and coming to the final combination was looking to add to her impressive list of clear rounds during the week. Unfortunately she barely touched the last part of the combination and was desperately unlucky to finish on four faults. Although not taking her deserved place in the jump off, Portia was delighted with the way she has progressed over the last two months and really feels she has an exciting future. The 6yr Non-British Bred Finals unfortunately went the same way for Portia. Witro, who had been particually impressive during the show, was looking in excellent form during the round jumping big and bold, but he like Zafira-Utopia had a very unlucky pole to finish on four faults. Atlanta VII completed a most frustrating day for Portia's with another good round but lowering one pole to finish on four.

Although the last day didn't quite go as planned, it was very evident during the week that Portia has all her young horses going the right way. Zafira-Utopia was very impressive during the week and is a really nice 5yr old. Witro has started to look the big jumper Portia and Tim had hoped he would and is looking more and more polished with every outing. Atlanta VII showed her best form of the year and Portia is hoping for further improvement over the rest of the summer and autumn and Elias II is another on an upward curve.

Portia impressive at Addington & Western Lawns

Portia had another impressive month in June, posting some excellent results at both Western Lawns and Addington Manor equestrian centre. At Addington Macgarveys Choice was again at his impressive best with two second placing's in the 1.30m Opens. Macgarveys Choice is one of the most consistent horses around at this level and if he leaves the poles up 'Mac' is very hard to beat. Portia's star horse Urgent again put together some very good jumping finishing a good 5th place in the PCA Grand PRIX. Urgent appears now to be very comfortable at 1.40m and above. Having only just turned 8 years old, Urgent is now competing at a high level and Portia hopes to maintain their consistent form in the National Grand PRIX's. Portia also had Atlanta VII with her who has not done a great deal this year but clearly looks on the upgrade with a very nice 6th place in the B&C contest.

Portia brought a strong team to Weston Lawns, which featured the second rounds of both the Foxhunter and Newcomers events. Both Portia's young horses Atlanta VII and Witro put up excellent displays with Witro only just missing out of the HOYS qualifying placing's coming a very creditable 5th place. Atlanta VII was also in good form in the Newcomers 2nd round being very lucky to lower the last fence in round two after jumping a very smooth clear first round. Portia also jumped Elias II in the 1.15m open contest and was very pleased with the five year old geldings effort finishing in 5th place.

Macgarveys Choice was at his consistent best with two more 2nd place finishes in the 1.30m open contest and Urgent continued her fine form with an excellent 3rd place in the 1.40m Open class.

Portia in Great form at Addington manor

Portia continued her excellent form of late with another impressive show at the Addington Manor spring classic. Portia took her chestnut mare Urgent together with a few of the younger horses to this show that concentrates on age classes.

Portia started the show with a very nice clear round on Urgent in the 7/8 year old Championship event, and even though Urgent have a pole down in the jump off it was clear that the mare was in fine form. Portia also jumped the very promising Alison Claxton owned ZAFIRA-UTOPIA in the 5yr old Handicap and again this nice young horse jumped double clear to finish equal first. In the 6yr old Handicap Portia jumped another one of her promising youngsters in ATLANTA VII. This very nice 6yr old has shown a good deal of promise recently and again show what a nice prospect he is with a comfortable double clear to finish in joint first place.

The big 1.40m Open class on day two of the show gave Urgent the best result of her young career. With a whole host of experienced International horses in the field this was a very competitive class but Portia and Urgent were in tremendous form jumping double clear to win the class from Kalico Bay ridden by Tim Stockdale and Little Lefanie ridden by Geoff Luckett (both horses have a good deal of International experience). Portia was delighted with Urgent who really does seem to have benefited from her trip to Lummen last month.

The young horses again produced some excellent performances with Witro jumping two double clears to finish equal first in the 6yr old Handicap classes and then produced his best performance to finish 8th in the National 6yr old qualifier. Elias II, one of Portia's nice 5yr olds, also got in the act by jumping double clear in the newcomers and then jumping a very nice double clear in the 5yr old to finish equal first.

Not content with one class win, Portia decided to make it two with another polished win in the 1.25m Open class on board the frequent winner Macgarvey's Choice. 'Mac' has been in great form recently (two International class wins in Lummen) and is very hard to beat at this level. ATLANTA VII gave Portia another good placing in the 6yr Old Handicap and Portia finished the show just as she started with another eye catching performnace on Urgent in the 1.40m Open jumping double clear to finish in 5th place behind Ryan Prater on Otage.

Portia in tremendous form at Internatinal show

With the season starting to warm up, Portia made her intentions clear for the coming year with a fantastic performance at the International show in Lummen.

Portia took her two main lead horses Urgent and Macgarveys Choice together with some of her younger horses Zafira-Utopia, Elias II and Witro as she hoped to give them some international experience.

The star of the show was Alison Claxton owned Macgarveys Choice who was in fantastic form thoughout the show winning two International 1.25m Speed classes, finishing 2nd in the bigger 1.30m class and adding another 3rd place finish. Portia was delighted with Mac thoughout the show and is looking forward to competing him in some of the bigger speed classes back in the UK.

Portia's lovely mare Urgent also performed with great credit finishing 3rd in the 1.35m International class and also placed in two of the 1.40m International classes. With the tracks very demanding and technical it was was excellent experience for this very talented mare and Portia is very confident of an excellent summer with her lead horse.

Portia was also delighted with all the young horses with Zafira-Utopia/Elias II all having three =1st's in 5 year old classes and Witro had four =1st in the 6year old classes.

Portia will now be taking the string to the Addington Manor HOYS qualifiers in the first week of May.

Portia wins at Towerlands Park Premier Show

With Portia now getting the horses ready for her trip abroad to the Lentetour CSI International show in Lummen, she took her lovely mare Urgent and Alison Claxton owned Mcgarveys Choice to compete in the last Premier show of the winter at Towerlands Park. Portia and Mcgarveys Choice were in very good form in the 1.25m Open, jumping double clear to finish a solid ninth and later on the Friday Portia jumped Urgent in the 1.40m contest and although having one pole down, Urgent showed show is still in excellent form.

Portia targeted the EQUEST SMALL GRAND PRIX QUALIFIER for both Urgent and Mcgarveys Choice on the Sunday and this decision was quickly justified as Mcgarveys Choice yet again won the Small Grand PRIX Qualifier (has won this qualifier three times at various Premier Shows) and Urgent, who was just having a jump around, finishing a very good sixth. The tight jump off course was right up Mcgarveys Choice street and he was again very impressive in victory - see video. With both horses in such good form Portia is very hopeful both they will perform well in Lummen in April.

Portia in great form at Arena uk premier show

Portia continued her excellent start to 2009 with a very impressive show at the Arena UK Senior Premier Show. Portia brought her very promising mare Urgent and Macgarveys Choice to the show and both were in great form.

Portia started with an excellent third place on Urgent in the 1.25m Arena UK Open using the class as a warm up to the bigger classes at the show. The Alison Claxton owned Macgarveys Choice quickly got into his stride by winning the High Offley Stud National 1.30m Open Championship. Always very competitive, Macgarveys Choice is still on the upgrade and with Portia having improved the horse throughout last year it could be a very fruitful year for this very genuine horse.

After the disappointment of having to pull out of the 1.40m National Open on Urgent, who spread a plate in the warm up ring minutes before going into the ring, Portia more than made up on the Saturday with a very impressive double clear to finish in sixth place in the WINTER GRADES B&C QUALIFIER. Urgent is looking very impressive this early in the season and Portia has high hopes for this talented Heartbreaker mare.

Completing a superb weekend, Portia and Macgarveys Choice, not content with winning one class, decided to win another with an impressive display in the very competitive EQUEST SMALL GRAND PRIX QUALIFIER. Portia will now head to Towerlands Park in a couple of weeks time (13th - 15th March) where she hopes to maintain her excellent form.

Portia makes solid start to 2009 at Addington

Portia made a very promising start to 2009 with some very good performances at the Addington Manor Senior Premier Show on her talent heartbreaker mare Urgent and the ever dependable Macgarveys Choice.

After a very successful 2008 season, Portia started by jumping her star mare Urgent in the very competitive 1.40m Open event, and she looked right at home jumping double clear to take and excellent 5th place. Urgent has the look of a fast improving horse and Portia is very excited about her for the upcoming season. Urgent will jump in all the bigger classes at the Senior Premier Show winter events.

Alison Claxton owned MACGARVEYS CHOICE also got into the action at Addington with a good 6th place in the 1.30m open event. Portia will use the start of 2009 to build up Macgarveys Choice so she can get back to jumping him the 1.40m classes later in the year.

College Equestrian Center - November

Portia and Urgent continued their excellent form at the College Equestrian Center last weekend 21st - 23rd November finishing an excellent 2nd in the big 1.40m National Class. Portia has been very patient with Urgent and has produced this exciting mare with the long term in mind. This strategy has proved to be the right one as Urgent has progressed throughout 2008. After jumping an excellent double clear to finish 9th in the B & C contest, Urgent looked completely at home in her first 1.40m National class of the season to finish in 2nd place. With the Senior Premier show soon to be starting the winter does look very bright for this talented mare.

Not to be left out, Portia's other stable stars were also in great form. After finishing a good 4th in the National 1.30m Open Class on the first day, Alison Claxton owned Macgarveys Choice produced another top performance to win the Blue Chip Small Grand PRIX qualifier, Portia also came forth in the same class on the speedy mare Kartonne de L'Abbaye.

Portia now takes her inform string to the Addington Manor Christmas show in the first week of December.

October/November

Portia took her very exciting mare Urgent to the 2008 Horse Of The Year show at the NEC in Birmingham to compete in the Grade C Championship Final in October and both performed with great credit. This was the first time Urgent had been into a big championship arena and found the experience and little bit distracting, something Portia thought might happen. Urgent settled down after the first three fences and performed with great credit finishing on an unlucky four faults. Portia was delighted with Urgent and was really pleased to give her big arena experience. Portia will now aim to jump Urgent in the Senior Winter Premier shows over the next few months.

Portia jumped at Arena UK during the first week of November and had an excellent show winning three classes on Kartonne de L'abbaye. This mare is extremely quick and when she is in form she is very hard to beat to these classes, Portia is looking forward to further success on this talented mare who has now been upgraded to Grade A.

Portia's young horses have not come back from their winter rest and are ready to go to shows. Portia hopes to be able to take some young horses together with the rest of the string to Towerlands in late November and then to the Addington Christmas show. After that Portia will be competing at the Senior Premier shows thoughout the winter.

Arena UK - September

Portia brought three horses to the Arena UK summer festival and it was her youngster that stole the show. Witro, who had been in great form at the 2008 Scope festival, produced a very impressive performance to win the 5yr qualifier in great style. Portia has brought Witro on gently this year and her patience really does appear to be paying off. This could be a horse to watch in the future and will now have a rest for a few months along with Atlanta and Zafira. Portia completed another good show with good placing's on both Urgent and Macgarveys Choice in the 1.30m open contests.

2008 Scope Festival

Portia took the string to the 2008 Scope festival and again had a very solid show. Having qualified for the 7yr old final, Portia and Urgent were in excellent form finishing a very creditable sixth place. Urgent has jumped very well all through the summer and this exciting mare has gained invaluable experience jumping bigger circuits.

Portia stepped Macgarveys Choice down to the 1.30m contest and despite not engaging top gear still finished an excellent 6th place. Portia's younger horses were also in action at Scope and both were very impressive. Witro finished equal 1st in the 5 year old qualifier while Esprit de Noblesse, who has been impressive this summer, won the Blue Ribband qualifier in fine style. Portia also jumped Grand Cherie and had very good results finishing 3rd and 8th in the B and C qualifiers.

Portia qualifies for HOYS Grade C Final on Urgent

Portia will be competing at HOYS 2008 after a sensational performance on Urgent in the Castle Ashby HOYS Grade C qualifier on Sunday 6th July. This talented mare has shown huge promise this summer and with Portia riding at her very best looked a class apart by winning the Grand C contest. Portia and father Tim have alot of faith in this chestnut mare and now hope to use this as a springboard for the rest of the summer. There is little doubt that if Urgent continues to improve thoughout the rest of the summer she should stand an excellent chance at the prestigious Horse of the Year show later this year.

Portia in Great Form at Addington

Portia was again in excellent form at the summer Addington Classic this last weekend with several very good placings.

Kartonne De L'Abbaye has looked in good shape recently and continued her fine form with a 2nd place in the 1.25m Open. Portia is convinced she is close to winning a good speed class and is one to watch for the rest of the summer season. With the young horses now getting the show experience Portia had planned, they are all starting to get the hang of things and produce very promoising performances. Esprit De Noblesse was very impressive in coming third in the 1.10m Open on the first day of the show and although having one down in the 1.15m Open this talented newcomer again showed much promise. Hermano Marin jumped two of Portia's other newcomers Wiltro and Atlanta and both were just as impressive with Wiltro winning the newcomers events and Atlanta coming third. All Portia youngsters will be back at Addington in August for the summer age class show.

Portia brought her very talented mare Urgent to Addington to jump in the second round of the Foxhunters. After jumping a very impressive clear in the first round, Urgent slightly lost concentration in the second round and finished with two poles down. Far from being disappointed, Portia was still very pleased with Urgent and is sure she will bounce back very quickly.

Macgarveys Choice, who has been a stallwart recently, again showed that he is very competitive in 1.40m classes and finished an excellent second just behind Sophie Tobin - Orion in the National 1.40m contest.

East of England show update

Portia continued her fine form at the East of England show at the Peterborough showground. Portia used her very fast Kartonne De L'Abbaye in the first speed class of the show and was very close to winning having to settle for 2nd place. This very fast mare is hard to beat when she leaves the poles and looked in very good shape at this show. Portia hopes to be in the winners enclosure very soon with this talented and fast mare.

Margarveys Choice maintained his excellent form of late and was again impressive in the 1.40m big class on day two of the show finishing a fine fifth. This progressive individual is now starting to look very comfortable at this height and is a credit to Portia, who has been responsible for the huge improvement made by this horse over the last year.

Macgarveys Choice continues on upgrade

Portia took her front horses to the Unex Towerlands summer show, featuring the second round of the Foxhunters contest. Although having a fence down in the second round, Portia was delighted with Urgent who continues to show this talented mare is a very exciting prospect for the future. Alison Claxton owned Macgarveys Choice again gave Portia her highlights from the show. After an excellent 3rd in the 1.30m Open contest, Portia decided to jump this Macgarveys Choice in his first Grand PRIX. After a very impressive and convincing first round, Portia and Macgarveys Choice had a couple of polls in the jump off but finished an excellent ninth place. Portia has been delighted with the progress Macgarveys Choice has made all year and has been very careful to gradually step up this talented gelding. To complete a nice show, Portia and Macgarveys Choice again jumped the big class on the last day (1.40m Open) and finished a very good fifth place.

Portia welcomes two new horses

Portia has welcomed two new horses to the team adding to her already strong string of young horses. Wiltro, a 5yr old bay gelding (by Indoctro), will be aimed at newcomers contests and is a very nice prospect. Also added to the team is Zafira, a 4yr old chestnut mare, who is jointly owned by Alison Claxton and Portia. This nice mare will be ready to go to a show very soon and will be mainly aimed at age classes this year.

Addington Spring Classic

With Portia performing with great credit at the British Open PCA final on Macgarveys Choice, Portia took her horses to the Addington Manor spring classic in the last week of April. Portia was pleased to get the horses outside and KARTONNE DE L'ABBAYE wasted little time coming second in both 1.25m Open classes. Despite not jumping as Portia would have like in Birmingham, KARTONNE DE L'ABBAYE is always very competitive in these classes and Portia feels this mare needed to get outside to start showing her best.

Portia also jumped her very exciting new horse Urgent II in the 7 year old Championship. This was a very hot class with some of the very best and most experienced 7yr olds in the country. Despite Urgent being one of most inexperienced in the field, this lovely chestnut mare showed all her quality to finish an excellent 7th place. "She jumped fabulous" said Portia "She has so much scope I'm really pleased with her progress. We'll aim her for all the 7yr Old age classes and see how she progresses, we think she could develop into a very nice horse, and are very excited about the future" added Portia.

Portia finished the show with a very solid performance on Grand Cherie finishing an excellent 7th place in the High Offley Stud National 1.30m Open Championship qualifier.

Unex Towerlands - Premier Show

Portia continued her excellent recent form at the Unex Towerlands Senior Premier show. Portia had targeted this show to get Alison Claxton's Macgarveys Choice and Kartonne De L'Abbaye ready for their PCA Final at the British Open meeting in early April.

Portia decided to jump Kartonne De L'Abbaye in two classes at the show (1.30m Open & 1.35m Open) and this improving mare showed she is in fine form despite having the one pole in each class, Portia was more than happy with her performance "This should put her right, I thought she jumped very well and let's hope she continues in this form for Birmingham". However, Portia saved some very eye catching performances with Macgarveys Choice who went double clear to finish in sixth place in the 1.40m Open (only six double clears) and also went clear in the Young Riders contest to the delight of owner Alison Claxton. "Absolutely delighted for Alison" said Portia "Every time we have stepped him up he keeps responding, we're very pleased with him, he was only jumping 1.20m this time last year and he has continued to improve, lets hope the improvement continues" added Portia.

Portia again jumped her new chestnut mare Urgent and was particularly impressive going double clear to finish placed in the 1.35m Open. Both father Tim and Portia are very excited about their new charge and this mare certainly looks to have a very bright future.

Arena UK - Senior Premier Show

Portia took her string to the Arena UK Senior Premier Show and again produced some very good performances. Portia had an excellent first day with an good 2nd place on the consistent KARTONNE DE L'ABBAYE in the 1.30m Open and followed that with a fine 2nd on GRAND CHERIE in the BLUE CHIP DYNAMIC B & C QUALIFIER. In the same class Portia was also forth on her very promising new horse Urgent II. This Heartbreaker mare has already shown that she could well be the horse to take over from the recently departed Oscar as Portia's lead horse.

Portia had some very good placing's in the rest of the show with noteworthy performances from Alison Claxton's improving MACGARVEYS CHOICE who had only one pole in the big 1.40m Open class on the Saturday and then on Sunday rolled the top bar of the last fence to finish on 4 faults.

Portia next event will be the Towerlands Senior Premier Show 14th-16th March.

Portia makes solid start to 2008

Portia has had a fine start to 2008 by qualifying both Macgarveys Choice and Kartonne De L'Abbaye for the PCA final at the British Open meeting in April. Both horses were in excellent form at the end of 2007 and Portia is really pleased both horses have continued progressing into 2008.

PorTia in winning form at Addington

Portia started her Christmas program in impressive fashion with an excellent win and two placing's at the Addington Christmas show. Portia's impressive win came in the Country Equestrian 1.30m Open on her very speedy mare Kartonne de L'Abbaye (see video here......) Chasing the time from the very start Portia's kept her charge balanced all the way round this demanding Bob Ellis designed track and was a very deserved winner. This nice mare was also placed earlier in the week and has been in excellent form recently.

Portia was equally pleased with the performance of her new horse, the Alison Claxton owned Macgarveys Choice, who had jumped very well throughout the show and finished with a well deserved third place in the Accumulator contest. This is a horse that has continued to improve during 2007 and will be one to keep a close eye on during 2008.