5* FRIEND GOES CROSS COUNTRY ON YOUNG HORSE! | SPOOKS, BANGS AND LAUNCHES || VLOG 147

Melissa is going to be cross-country-ing Errol today. It's the first time she's ever sat on Errol, so we hope Errol's a good boy for her. I'm just hoping that A, she likes him, because if she doesn't like him, then she's probably not going to invent him. Don't be an a**, Errol. He's going to go now. Head up. Going to whack your head now. Watch your heads! Well, I told you that was going to happen, didn't I? Hey guys, and welcome back to another video. So we've got Errol here today. By this point, you will all know that I am pregnant now, pregnant now. I am actually filming this before we do the announcement, but you will all know now. So today we are heading to Boomerang Cross Country with the lovely Errol, and we have my friend Melissa, who I'll introduce when we get there. She is going to be riding him today, because she is going to hopefully be taking Errol to a few events whilst I can't, just so he gets out, sees a little bit of the world, gets some experience ready for me to crack on next season, basically. So we're going to get him loaded now, and head on our way, and hope he's a good boy. Melissa has never ridden him before, but he is a very good boy now. So yeah, so it will be really good to introduce her, see how she gets on with Errol, and fingers crossed it all goes okay. Oh, Loady, we're going this way. Good boy. Feeling a little bit tired today, you have had a busy week, haven't you? You have the day off tomorrow, good lad. Come on. Come on, because you are absolutely fine with Loady. Errol, you don't have time. Errol. Head up. Going to whack your head now. Watch your head. Well, I just told you that was going to happen, didn't I? We've just arrived, Michaela's here as well, to watch the big boy. Are you a big boy, Errol? Cross-country for the... Well, we'll find out. Well, not the first time, but you're cross-country-ing at Boomerang for the first time, and the first time with Melissa. So we're going to get him out, get him tacked up, and hope you're a good boy, Errol, hey? Good boy. Oh, you like that shot, Michaela? And then I thought you should have stood on the other side, and got the other bit of it a bit flipped over. That's a bit Scott, though, isn't it? That's a bit too much for me, I feel. That's a bit too much Scott, not enough us. No, possibly you, just not me. I'm not creative. So I did brush you, but I didn't brush his tummy, but it's just got all these... You didn't brush him very well. ...little bits of shavings where he's had a sleep today. Lovely Devaku stud girth, which Errol loves. I love it too, I think it's really clever. Look at this, guys, look at this. Isn't that just satisfying, look. You don't see the buckle. Don't see it, they can't get their foot caught in it, stud caught in it. Love it. That is my beautiful, beautiful jump saddle, which we absolutely love, with the lovely pink piping detail there. It is just the best saddle, and it really, it just holds you in, makes you feel really secure, it's, yeah. So comfortable. Okay, hey guys, so Melissa has just arrived. So as I said earlier, Melissa is going to be cross-country Errol today. It's the first time she's ever sat on Errol, so we hope Errol's a good boy for her. So I met Melissa quite a few years ago now, wasn't it? Oh, it's probably nearly 10 years ago, to be fair. Melissa was riding Fionn, who I don't really think was on the channel, but he did used to be in the intro, was a little dun pony. No, he also did the team chase with us. Oh yeah, she did the team chase. Lucy did the team chase last time. Yeah, so the vlog have seen him. Okay, the vlog have seen him, yeah. So I used to own Fionn, but before I owned Fionn, Melissa used to ride him for his owner, so that's how I met Melissa. So Melissa, can you just tell the camera a little bit about what you do, what level you've competed at? Yeah, so I'm a professional rider. I'm now based in Wiltshire. I've ridden my top horses at four star. We've just done two four star longs. We've qualified for five star, which is the next step. Blimey! Very, very exciting. And have you entered the five star? Yeah, I have. You have, okay. Very exciting. Melissa has a lot of experience. It's also good because, as you can see, Melissa's very short. I think she's actually shorter than me. I think she is. I think you are actually shorter than me. I think you are shorter than her. Yeah, so it'll be nice because it won't be too much of a change for Errol between the two of us because we're both at similar size and have had similar experience. So we're going to get Melissa on and see what she thinks of Errol and hopefully she likes him. Exciting. Right, Ash, what are you hoping for from today? Well, I'm just hoping that A, she likes him because if she doesn't like him, then she's probably not going to invent him. So that A, she likes him. B, they get on. Yeah. It is very spooky here, which will be really good for him. Yeah, there's just a lot of bright colours. So I find they do go a little bit green here. But that'll be really good practice. And I've said to Melissa, I'm more than happy to bring him several times before she invents him. So it's not like he needs to be jumping around the 90s today. Who knows? He might do. But I just want them both to remain confident and Melissa to enjoy it and for Errol to be confident, basically. Yeah. It's good because, like she said, they've got two waters. So he can go in both waters. I like it here because there's a lot of like, with the banana and the bank, for instance. Yeah. Lots of banks and ditches and stuff like that. Where some places you go, you just jump a load of rustic fences, but not with like the undulation. It really is, I think, quite a playground here. It is. Colourful jumps. Yeah, it's a really good place to come schooling, actually. And it's good to get them ready for, because when you do go inventing often, they're dressed very nicely with lots of flowers. So they do have to get used to that. But she's trotting him round over there and he looks very happy. I think she's probably just trotting round all of the fences, letting him sort of have a look. I don't know if we can see. She's just over there. Just letting him look at everything, I think. Like that's gone up and down that bank. So that's really good. It's lovely seeing him with someone else on him, actually doing this sort of thing. Yeah. With me having, you know, produced him from a two-year-old, you know, from completely feral and unbacked. And now he's going round. It's just nice. I think I've always made sure that he's not just been used to me riding him because I want him to be fine with other people getting on him. You know, hence why Southerly helped me back him. Nick's ridden him. I had another friend and another girl who worked for me. She rode him. Izzy's ridden him. You've ridden him. Anna's ridden him. So he has been used to because he's got to be used to that. My horses do get ridden by other people for hacking and stuff like that. When things like that do happen, it means that they can still be, you know, ridden, still get going. Exactly. Good. Looks nice. You've got him going beautifully. Sounds good. It's got a huge canter, doesn't it? Yes. Do you see what I mean? Yes. It's huge. He just looks fab and I'm so jealous. She's doing it again. No, I was just saying he looks absolutely fab. Yeah. And I'm very jealous that I can't be doing it because I feel like he just looks, don't you think, even more confident than Tweezer Dan? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's just taken it all in his stride. So, yeah, I'm very jealous that it's not me. But she looked like she did a fab job. She did. He's lovely. He's super nice. Yeah. How did you think that went? Good. Yeah, pretty good. He's a lovely jump. Even, like, to the banana coming up there. Yeah, really good. Yeah. When he's nice and forward, he has a lovely jump. Probably quite good to go and have a go at the step. Yes, yeah. Step up first. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. And then I'll turn around and see if he'll come the other way down. Good boy. I said to Michaela he looks fab and I'm very jealous that I can't be doing it. He'll be flying by the time you get back on it. Exactly. Well, yeah, that's the pro. Once you've popped that little baby out, you'll be straight back on. Yeah. He'll be flying. He'll go, Mum, I know what to do. Yeah. He's really grown up, though, in the last... He has. It's taken him a while, but I would say the last sort of six months he's really come into his own and just took a while to get him, like, for him to be confident and him to trust whoever was riding him, but, no, he looks really good there, actually. You all right there, Bella? Lovely. She likes him. She just said she likes him a lot, so that's good. Oh, no, I'm pleased. He looks lovely. He is very nice, indeed. Melissa just says she might keep him. Down really nicely, yeah. What was with the fact he stepped over this log? I was watching it like, come on, Errol, pick your feet up. Right, shall we have a go at the water? Yeah. Don't be an a**, Errol. I suppose at this time of day there's all these reflections as well, isn't there? Come on, buddy. You're going, Errol. He's thinking about it. Actually, Nick did kind of say... Nick basically said that he thought when you came in like a trot or a canter, he, like, wasn't thinking about it so much. I would say come in a trot. Come in a trot. Yeah. Yeah, we have tried to do lots of going in water. That took his mind off a bit there. I love how she'll just be like, hey, off you go. Off we're jumping. I love that. Out we go, out we go. Until we get a footing. It almost looks a bit glassy, doesn't it? Yeah. It's all those reflections as well. You hold this. Should I, like, paddle in the edge? Maybe. I know, I could have put my wellies on, actually. Like why? He's going to go now. I could see him as soon as you went in, he was like, oh, OK. That's all right. Yeah. Oh, good boy. Trot ball. He's like, can't be bothered to even jump that now. Well, give him a sec. Yeah. Yeah, once he's in, then he's OK. I think once they realise it's water, when it's very still, it's quite easy. Yeah. Sometimes. Good boy. Good lad. See the ditches? I was just, he should be, when we've done ditches before, he's gone straight over them. Bunny hopped it. Oh, I think it's all an act, isn't it? He's got a good screen shot, though. He's coming again. Yeah, he's, the ditches and steps, really good. I'm actually really pleased he came off that pretty much straight away. I think now he's realised the water's moving, he's fine. Yeah. Good boy. I think that was good. Yeah. He's never done that. No, no. Oh, good boy. Oh, fab. That was really good. Pardon? Yeah, no, that was good. He finds it all a bit too easy otherwise and he does switch off a bit and I think it's probably not helped because I've been pregnant, I've only been keeping it. Yeah. I think he's very much a horse when he does things like a few times. Yeah, it gets better. He gets better. So now if we went a few times... If we went next week. Yeah, he would then be like, oh, OK. Yeah, and also, he doesn't know me either, to be fair. No, no, but he still didn't need to quite make the... Be quite so dramatic. He does just very occasionally, he did it when we were out hacking, didn't we? We were cantering along and then he just saw something. And he literally, he's like a polo pony, just stop. Just stop, he's very, yeah. Very abrupt. You have to also remember because I haven't ridden him before, but like, if it was one of my youngsters, just from hacking him and riding him at home, they'd kind of know who's the boss. Yeah. Because he doesn't know. No. Yeah, who's the boss. Yeah. And he's, you know, he's well bred, he's not too stupid. No. He's almost a bit too smart for his own good sometimes. Eh? Don't worry, I'm not going to make you go off that one today. No. Next time. But the way he went off the stuff and jumped the jump and he's not that worried, he's just, I think he's just when he doesn't know what it is the first time. I think, yes. And then he gets a bit stubborn. Yeah. To be fair, he now hasn't been out, he's not, he's not actually, he's only done cross country four times. I was going to say four or five times. Three times. Three times, once I went to his arm just went in the water. So he's really not done it. No. So actually, to come out and just, he's, you know, in terms of the jumps, he's jumped everything. Yeah, he jumps really good. Yeah, jumps really good. The ditch, the step up and down. So no, I'm, I'm chuffed with him today. I think he looked, well, like I said at the beginning, even at the beginning, I thought he was, looked really good. He looks much more grown up. Yeah, he's had a busy few days. He's going to have a day off tomorrow. Yeah, bless him. He's done a lot over the last couple of days. He felt right. He didn't feel tired to start with. No. Right then, Errol. Do you like him, Melissa? Yeah, he was very nice. Nice jump. Good. He is, yeah, he does have a very nice jump. Yeah, well, then I think we'll get another one in and then we get some events booked in. Good to go. Yeah. How exciting. It's a hard life being Bella. Hey, Belle. It's a hard life sleeping all day and eating everyone's leftovers. You've been a good boy. Have you? Yeah. You're a very good boy, Errol. He was a very good boy. I feel absolutely chuffed with him. I thought he was really good. I thought he really tried. Just need to get him out, get him used to the water and he'll be ready for the old event. Are you proud of him? Yeah. I was proud of him as well, actually. I thought he was really good. Yeah. He was really well behaved. He says me. I think he was very brave. Yeah, I think he was very brave. He really tried. Yeah. He could have been a little bit braver at the water because he has done that but he went in the end and he even went down the step into the water. He did, which, first time ever. Don't know if you've told the vlog that. First time he's ever done that. No, first time ever and then it was good because we then went back to the other water, went in that and then we went back to the other water and he was really good. Popped a few bigger ones at the end. Yep. Good boy. Good lad. Okay, so I'm really chuffed with Errol. How did you think that went? Yeah, it was great. It was lovely. Very nice jumper, isn't he? Yeah, he is very nice. Very pleased with himself. Yeah, no, I thought it was really, really good. He doesn't know me, does he? No, with you riding him, he was very well behaved. Just needs a bit of, oh yeah, good boy. He normally does that in the trailer. He's just having a wee. He's in the trailer normally. Because I couldn't wait any longer. We were cursing him yesterday because he did it in the trailer. He literally got in, didn't he, and then inside one minute he was weeing. We'll just finish the debrief when he's finished weeing. We'll just wait for the wee to finish. Right, now he's done. Thank you very much, Melissa, for riding him. I think you did a fab job, don't you, Michaela? I think you rode him beautifully. I think you really did. Thank you very much. Thank you, guys. Hope you enjoyed this vlog, guys. Hope you enjoyed meeting Melissa, who you will see more of because we're going to vlog the whole journey. the cameras, Ashley. Nah, you did well. Don't worry, you'll get some practice in. You'll be a natural. Yeah, by the end of it. exactly. Yeah, we're going to vlog all of it, keep you guys updated and see Errol's progress. We're just going to get him loaded and head on home.