Summer Update

It has been a pretty hectic Summer already. Dotty has been to many shows and lessons, I have been judging regularly, teaching until sometimes 9pm in the evenings, and even doing a spot of breaking in. In this instance it was a polo pony, and after 3 weeks we had gone from never sat on to cantering round with me waving a polo stick around. Great fun! I think I forget my age sometimes and the fact that I do actually need the use of my limbs to carry on with my other career also! An average Saturday might consist of six horses in six different places, whether to school or to ride. My two boys are often the last in the line and get missed out when I have so many other commitments, so here are some updates from them.
 



A soggy outing with Risby and another win at Medium

Risby has now qualified for the Area Festivals at Medium Level. He only needed 3 more points to qualify for the Regionals but as I was away at the end of June on a retreat I decided not to push ourselves for the sake of it.

We competed at the BD Inter Regional Team Event at Oldencraig and were in a very strong team with Joe Bright on Praxis, Tia Quinn on Fantasia and Tania Dahdi on Damara ZG. We were lucky that trainer June came to help us warm up. It was a very busy day with lots of competitors. We had upped Risby’s feed a couple of weeks before and he was a little tense in the test with a couple of random flying changes thrown in which was costly. But overall I was pleased with him and several competitors commented on how nice he looked. It was a fun day meeting so many other BD members from Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Our team came a respectable 6^th.

We had planned to go for a lesson with Markus Bauer but unfortunately Risby ended up having some time off after getting nail bind. Our farrier came and re-set his shoe and he seems fine now, but even a short amount of time off plays such a huge part when you have a horse working at a decent level. So it has been back to fittenning and strengthening work before we start tackling the movements again.

 

Charmeur has been out jumping and having a great time. He is jumping easily clear around 80cm and is definitely showing scope to BSJA, although not sure about me! For various reasons he seems to keep missing his “first dressage outing” so we need to put an end to that and get him out. We seem to have turned a corner and by riding him a bit more positively, but more or less in the same way, and upping the pressure a bit he seems to stay more through and straight. As he likes to play with his bit (an NS Team Up with a lozenge) I have put him in a hanging cheek French link which sits higher in the mouth and seems to suit him more. We now have a lovely foamy mouth.

 

  

I was also lucky to recently meet Anna Brown from Shropshire who passed the tough Meister exams in Germany and it was a real treat watching her ride and discussing pony training tips. I would love to take little Charmeur to her for some training, seeing as ponies she has produced have represented GB internationally.

 

A little trip to Dressage Deluxe and a few online stores meant I have updated my entire competition wardrobe at last!

 

I am just starting to revise for Trainer B in Germany next month. I don't think it has quite hit me yet the amount of work I am letting myself in for!! Oh well, no pain no gain :-)