London was truly incredible. To compete at a Paralympic Games is amazing but to do it at home in front of the London crowds was mind blowing. I went into the Games hoping that firstly, JP was in top form and would try his best and secondly that if he did, I would come home with a medal of some colour.

Jp was awesome. He seemed to love the crowds, I think he thought that they had all come to watch him; he was really showing off!! I would say that we rode our three best tests ever – and what a week to do that! The audience made the whole experience, cheering as I entered the arena gave me goosebumps. When I had finished, I punched the air and looked around to see thousands of people cheering and waving their flags for me! It was very emotional.

I would say the best part was standing on the podium, with the gold medal around my neck after singing to the National Anthem and the whole arena chanting “JP, JP” and “Natasha, Natasha” cheering and clapping at full volume!

My thanks have to go out to all of the amazing Games Makers and volunteers from London. Every single one I saw had a permanent smile on their face, were incredibly helpful and enthusiastic. They really did make the Games so special.

Life after the Games

My life after the games has been incredible! I have had the most amazing invites, including a reception at Buckingham Palace, dinner at Windsor Castle, Pride of Britain and Sports Personality of the Year. It is so nice to be stopped shopping and have people ask for autographs and pictures; people are still so excited even all these months after the Games. So if you see me out; please come over and say hi

MBE

Also to receive an MBE is a huge honour. See the video here:

Christmas

Christmas this year was brilliant fun. I got invited to take part in Gordon Ramsey’s cook along show live on Christmas Day. Lee Pearson and I went a long with lots of other celebrities to help Gordon with his Christmas Dinner. It was a brilliant morning with plenty of laughter. I then went home to depend the rest of my day with my family and friends, naturally I ate too much!

Birthday

My birthday was also just after Christmas. It is the same day as Chritians so I spent it with my parents, Christian and friends at Whatley Manor. I had such a brilliant, chilled out day in the spa and having dinner. I was totally spoilt! It was the perfect way to finish the most perfect year.

JP and Bam Bam

I am very pleased with Bam Bams progress. He had to take a bit of a back seat in the summer of 2012 as I was so busy with JP at the Games. He is getting a lot stronger now and I cannot wait to take him to his first International Competition this year.

JP went on his holiday straight after the Games and is just coming back into work. We have the European Championships this year so I will be taking JP forward for selection in the hope we will be selected and then to compete to keep our European title.

I hope that 2013 will be another good year for ‘Team Baker’ but I don’t think any year will quite become close to 2012…

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help our dreams come true and tell all of your friends and family to download it now from iTunes.

Here is the video, enjoy!

Buy it here:

On the weekend of the 14/15th July we had the Paralympics GB Team Launch in London where all of the teams got together. It was a great chance to meet everybody from the different disciplines; with over 600 people there was such a great atmosphere almost like what it will be like at the Paralympic village. It was so lovely meeting lots of new faces and also catching up with people I haven’t seen for years! It was an action packed weekend with lots to squeeze in including kitting out, press interviews, individual photos, a group picture and the official launch celebration dinner.

Kitting Out

The opening ceremony, closing ceremony and formal wear was all sponsored by Next who were at the launch with numerous seamstresses to make sure everything fitted us perfectly! Unfortunately I can’t tell you about the clothes for the ceremony as its top secret; tune into Channel 4 on the 29th August & 9th September to find out!! The formal wear however I can! It’s navy blue and we had the option of a dress or trousers and a top both of which came with a jacket. The top of the dress and the top itself had a gold underlay so you could see a union flag, it looked amazing when the sun hit it (you can see it in the pic with me and Sophie Christiansen)

Press Interviews

I was a very busy bee with interviews with BBC Radio 5 Live, The Times and The Sun being just of the few people who requested an interview with me. At one point I had a que; I felt very popular!! It was so nice to see that all the media were so excited about the Paralympic Games and they all wanted to know about our stories and thoughts on the Games themselves.

The Dinner

We were all taken to dinner at Old Billingsgate. It was absolutely stunning; Paralympics GB did an amazing job with the decoration! Rick Edwards from C4 hosted the evening and I was lucky enough to be sitting right next to the stage so I could see all the action! I was sitting with Lee and his career Daniel, my mum, David (our manager) and cyclist Sarah Storey and her team.

It was such a fantastic evening with a lovely meal deigned by the ‘Baker Brothers’ (no they are not related to me!!) There was also a fashion show where we saw the kit from the first Paralympics up to now and then each sports competition kit! Sophie W and Lee took to the stage to show off our kit and I have to say they obviously looked the best

Lots of Paralympics GB supports made videos with some fantastic messages of support; David Beckham, Jensen Button, Jimmy Carr, David Cameron just to name a few. My favourite however was one that the team at Paralympics GB put together with a mime to Queens “Don’t stop me now” over different locations in London; the effort that they put into it just shows how much faith they have in us to do well and how passionate they are.

Team Photo

On Sunday morning the whole team went down to Parliament Square for a team photo in our new Stella McCartney track suit. Everybody looked amazing and I cannot wait to see the photo in the press just before the Paralympics start.

Training

JP is just coming back into work after a quiet week after Hartpury International. He was rather stiff on my first ride which I expected however he soon got back into it and is feeling as great as usual!

Bambam has had a very quiet few weeks as I have been so busy with JP, I am desperate to fit in a competition before the Paralympics as he is going brilliantly however time is so restricting and JP is my main priority.

I have lots coming up and am so excited to tell you all about it

Want to say a huge thank you to the people that have made it possible; my mum and dad who have been there for me from the start and have put their everything into helping me achieve my dream. Sam, my boyfriend has been unbelievably supportive, coming to my competitions and of course building me this amazing website!! Sacha and Emile who I have been training with for many years with whom I really couldn’t do it without. And then of course Christian; not only does he own JP, he is such a brilliant friend and supporter, huge thanks to him for everything he has done for me.

Hartpury International

Hartpury was a great competition for me; not only because it was when I found out I was going to London but because JP was just so amazing!!! We tried out a Cyclo-ssage (http://www.cyclo-ssage.com/) horse rug, JP was in his element. We used it on the morning of my second test, after the test and before my freestyle and after. It made such a massive difference to his suppleness only after a few goes; so Sean has sponsored me the rug – I cannot thank him enough. He has also offered me a massage bed on the lead up to the Paralympics so I can be supple like JP!

Day one was good; it was a ‘nice’ test. It could have been a lot more supple and I made a few small mistakes. I was however happy to gain 72.3% and won the Team Test.

Day two was brilliant; after using my Cyclo-ssage rug in the morning, JP warmed up brilliantly, the best ever! I was so happy with my test. It was very fluent and harmonious and had some brilliant trot work. In hindsight the walk work could have been more forward however there was a nice over track and the free walk was super! I thought it was a lot better than the test I did at Hickstead when I got 76+% so I was expecting the same, if not slightly higher. I ended up with 74.6% in 2nd. To be honest I was slightly disappointed; like I said I thought it was a good test and I thought one of the best I had done. 3 judges had me in 1st place however the other two had me in 2nd and 3rd which was what pulled me down 0.7%. I was happy though that JP went so well, therefore I couldn’t ask for much more than that!

Day 3 was outstanding; JP felt even better than day 2 and I was well prepared for my freestyle. I thought it went well, I was slightly in front of the music but I covered it up well. JP felt outstanding, I was so excited! All of my friends and family came to watch and I don’t think there was a dry eye! I couldn’t believe it when Sam, my boyfriend came over to the horse box and told me I had won the class on 81.35%!!! A whole 7% ahead of the rest of the class! Mum, dad, Christian, Sacha and friends were ecstatic; everyone was crying again!!

Celebration & Messages

I have had the most amazing weekend celebrating! MASSIVE thank you to all of you that have sent me congratulatory messages on Twitter, Facebook and txts. It has meant so much to me reading them all and knowing that you are all behind me.

Buying Paralympic Tickets!

There are still tickets available to see me in Greenwich at the Paralympics. Remember it is a once in a lifetime opportunity!! Tickets are £10 each with a travel card or £5 for children and OAPs. I will be competing on the 30th August, 1st September and 3rd September in the morning sessions, look for Grade II and that’s me!!! Come along, I would absolutely love to see you there cheering me on this is the ticketing website: http://www.tickets.london2012.com/ See you in Greenwich!!!

British Dressage had announced that they were not charging for tickets so it was a fantastic opportunity for people to come and watch us in action; especially if they couldn’t make the Paralympic Games. Hickstead did a brilliant job of decorating the arena and having a buzzy ‘Games like’ atmosphere!

I stretched JP in the morning as it was going to be a long day before competing in the afternoon. He was so relaxed and felt brilliant so I kept it short as to not ware him out! It was fantastic having the opportunity to sit and watch the restricted riders; we are so lucky to have so many fantastic up-and-coming riders in the UK with brilliant horses, I spotted some real talent for the future so I better watch out!!

When it came to warming up JP we realised quickly that he was on edge; he was jumping a lot and wouldn’t settle. He got a lot better the more work we did and went in feeling on fire (in a good way!) We had a great entry however on our two 10m circles he tripped then spooked at himself tripping!! The rest of the test was ‘nice’ but we had elements of tension because if the trip! However; we managed to pull into the lead with a very respectable score of 72+%. I was so pleased that I was able to get such a great score with some major mistakes, I was excited to see what we could get on day 2!

JP slept well and came out feeling more settled; I knew a good test was on the cards! The test was so much better than the previous days, he was so soft yet had lots of activity! The judges seemed to love it and we got 76+%; 4% in the lead! I was over the moon  I even got a standing ovation from the selectors!!!

Winning both classes meant that I went forward to the ultimate championships to music. I love performing my freestyle so aww as very excited! When I got back on JP however he felt extremely tired after two days of competition; so I wasn’t expecting a brilliant result. He was good however just completely lacked vavavoom. We ended up 5th with 77+% which is better than I expected! We had a blood test done as its not like him to be so tired and we found out that JP was actually anemic! He is being treated at the moment and feels even better than before

Jane was the heart and soul of para dressage and she will be greatly missed. Without the help and support of Jane I would not be in the position I am today. Jane talent spotted me when I was just 10 years old and put me forward for the World Class Programme; I know I am not the only one that was blessed with her support and belief. Jane really has made dreams come true.

Vale View Disaster but Elementary Success

On 3rd of June I headed up to Vale View to do a National qualifier on JP. He warmed up very well however went into the arena and got very tense, taking a disliking to something down the ‘C’ end of the arena. It was not a good test at all however got better as it went on.

I ended up in 2nd place with 73.2% only 1 mark behind the leader. It must have looked a lot better than it felt to get such a good percentage to what felt horrible! Looking at the test sheets I got plenty of 5′s and 6′s at the beginning and 8′s and 9′s at the end. On a positive note, at least I know the good bits were very good and if it had of gone well the whole way through I would of been onto a very good score!!

On Sunday 10th June I took JP to Patchetts to compete in two elementary tests, I thought he needed another outing after the disaster the week before. He was an angel! He obviously needed to get something out of his system!! It’s so nice to ride other tests, it gave me the opportunity to make corrections if he anticipated any movements, he definitely wasn’t expecting canter!

We did two nice clean tests and came away with two wins and 69% in both. I am so pleased with my boy! I have now also qualified him for the elementary restricted at the regionals (for non-horsey people that’s against able-bodied riders)!

Hickstead and Hartpury