Over the last few weeks some of our Sponsored Riders and Brand Ambassadors have been busy but not always with the horses. The eventing season is drawing to a close here in the UK, but the dressage and showjumping competitions carry on throughout the year. There have been some highs, lows and frustrations to contend with as well as some great photo shoots for Equetech's AW 15/16 apparel.

Amy Stovold and MacBrian (18 years old) had a fantastic result at the British Dressage Championships with a 5th placing in both the Grand Prix and Freestyle. This result was made all the more special as MacBrian was retired back in 2011 due to injury but came back in 2013 to win a Grand Prix at Hickstead before retiring for a second time. With MacBrian coming sound again, Amy started working on his fitness with lots of hacking and hill work, MacBrian proved to be "Up for" the challenge. His success at the British Dressage championships 68.72% and 68.88% is testament to both Amy and MacBrian's harmonious partnership, not to mention all the hard work and care to achieve this amazing result.

Adam Trew's event horses are currently enjoying a six week holiday so in turn he has recently been enjoying watching the Rugby World Cup. He has been lucky enough to find himself at Twickenham twice, one of those to watch the Australia v Argentina semis! Whilst the 2015 eventing season was in full swing, Adam spent quite a bit of time this year competing in Ireland with Camphire now on his list of favourite event venues to which he will definitely be returning. In preparation to the 2016 event season Adam intends on competing over the winter months in showjumping. He will also be taking a couple of horses away for training for two weeks to a top event yard. Despite his busy schedule Adam found time to be a fantastic model for Equetech and spent a day being photographed for Equetech's AW15/16 menswear range. Adam particularly likes his Equetech attire he says "My clothing from Equetech has been fantastic. The jackets are bespoke made for me and are comfortable and cool in the summer at competitions."

Natalie Povey competed in her first competition with Elton at Myerscough College. Elton is only 5 and Natalie is extremely pleased with his overall attitude to the day. Despite travelling well and warming up fantastically he did find the main arena (indoor), the red judges' car, the banners and the white boards a little spooky. This new partnership did produce very respectable scores of 62.59% and 64.80% so a good solid foundation to build upon.

Natalie was hoping to be out competing sooner in order to qualify for the British Para Dressage Winter Championship next year but unfortunately she has had "a nightmare with Elton's passport" as she had to apply for a duplicate. Thankfully a "non breeding" passport was issued allowing Natalie and Elton to travel and compete whilst his breed passport is being processed. The palaver over Elton's passport has meant the pair missed out on most of the winter qualifiers. They will however be aiming to qualify for British Dressage KBIS Gold National Championships and the Para-Equestrian Silver Summer Championships next year. All being well Natalie will also be aiming Elton towards the Para Dressage Home International and his first 2* international.

Spencer Sturmey will be taking a well earned Safari holiday in South Africa in what can only be described as breath taking Glamping amongst the "Big Five"! Upon his return though, Spencer will be getting ready to compete at the Lakes & Craters International Horse Trials in Melbourne which is taking place at the beginning of December. We will be hearing more about Spencer's preparation for this event over the next few weeks.

Jodie Amos, competed in her last international outing at Osberton and then ended the season at Broadway on 18th of October. So instead of preparing for competitions and before the "World Class Training Camps" begin in January, Jodie has decided on a serious clean out and possibly another yard makeover as well as planning her August 2016 wedding in Montenegro. Jodie says "I have literally done NOTHING and the looks are turning in to stares, the hints into statements … of well, I vaguely have a weekend in mind that works around the competitions which is always a start!"

However being an international event rider Jodie doesn't have much time away from the horses. Along with the everyday running of a busy yard she is always looking for her next international horse. With the sport having become so competitive and such a high standard being set by the Germans in all three phases, finding a talented young horse is proving very difficult. Jodie says that she has always subscribed to "the honesty approach" and her intention is certainly never to offend anyone but to simply get to the top. For this goal to be achieved all the horses have to continue to prove that they have what it takes to get there. Jodie is happy to put her hands up and say if she is not the right person to achieve that on a particular horse. Equally she is the first person to say that she "thinks it's important not to underestimate a horse that wants to do the job and we have to do our best as riders to improve what is offered by the horse".

Laurence Hunt has been competing at Les 4 Etoiles de Pau, Côte Saint Martin, Nay, France, CCI 4*. This event was Madges third 4 star event and she's only 12. Unfortunately a crossing of tracks created a 20 point penalty which wasn't quite the result Laurence was hoping for. However, the fantastic photographs of Madge out on the X Country show just how easy she finds this phase of the 3 day event.