Time has just flown by this Spring and my feet have hardly touched the ground. At the beginning of February, I was all set to get the horses back in competition mode after 2 months of pure training, leading up to the Regionals at the end of February. Having made all the plans and sent off all the entries, we were hit, like everyone else, by the worst snowfall for 30 years. It seemed like the whole country came to a standstill. So the planned competition build up never happened, but worse than that, the poor boys were stuck in their hutches for six days. I didn’t dare turn them out for fear of injury, and the school was unrideable. Most frustrating of all was that there is an indoor school belonging to my neighbour about 300 yards away, but the ice was so bad it would have been lethal to attempt to get the horses round there.
After six days, my patience snapped and I started to dig. It took me 5 hours to dig a path from the stables to my school, and a metre wide track round the perimeter. Block by block I piled the ice up, and finally it was done. I was exhausted, but after all that I was determined to get on those horses!! I just started slowly the first few days, they were fresh but glad to be out and after two or three days the thaw had set in and we were back to normal.
By this time we were only a week away from the Regionals, so I got them all out for one competition that weekend, and all were placed so that helped the confidence.
BD South West Winter Regionals
Getting all four horses to the competition was a slight logistical problem, as my lorry only takes three horses and with all the kit for four days away, we would have been overweight. So my friend Marie, who has just bought a really swish new lorry and was dying to take it out, offered to help. The plan was that she would take two horses and half the kit, and I would take the other two and the rest of the stuff. Then disaster struck. Thieves broke into her yard and took the entire front off her lorry, all the lights, bumper, everything. It was recovered to the repairer, and we were on tenterhooks waiting for its return. It came back just in time the night before we left. So we had to load up everything at the last minute. I had worked out I needed 10 bales of hay and had made up all the individual feeds in plastic bags, I didn’t realise how much room that would all take up! And there was still everything else to squeeze on! But eventually we got it all in, plus the horses, groom, daughter, and most importantly, the essential Jack Russell......
Now why was the Jack Russell so important? Smartie comes everywhere with us, the archetypal lorry dog. (He has a penchant for clean shoes, as Brian Westlake knows, but that is another story). When staying away in the lorry in the winter, a small dog is essential as a bed warmer, and Smartie snuggles down in the duvet, and keeps us lovely and cosy.
So how did they all do? Jugador was first to go on Thursday in the novice open. He did a consistent test, very fluent and I was pleased. He was just out of the placings in the end, but to have got there in his first year of training was a huge achievement and he kept his cool in the tense atmosphere. On the Friday he did a lovely freestyle, and was placed 9th, I was thrilled for him as he tried so hard. He showed that he has the right temperament to cope with big shows and just needs more mileage.
Fulminante-Cen was never firing on all cylinders the entire week, he seemed to find it all very hard work. Whether he was under the weather or just overwhelmed by the occasion, I don’t know but he just didn’t perform well. Since then he has been very successful (see below) so perhaps he was just not on top form. I had him checked out when we got home and his blood count was normal, but he did have a slight cough so I just put it down to being a little under par.
Centauro had to do his Medium freestyle in the evening. Warming up outside in the cold under lights was never going to be easy on a hot horse but he coped really well. He was just out of the ribbons on a good score and the judges were very appreciative of him.
On the Sunday morning I thought hard about my strategy with Orfebre. The competition was fierce, the best horses in the South West, and he was in three classes. I decided to try to achieve good percentages, and knowing that at a Regional Final the scores are always a few percent lower than usual, I wished for about 63% in the Advanced Medium Open, 66% in the Advanced Medium freestyle and 63% in the PSG freestyle. And that is exactly how it worked out! But the icing on the cake was that we were placed 10th in the PSG freestyle, so we FINALLY got in the line up, I was so proud of him and our lovely rosette.
So all went well, we got into two prizegivings and apart from Fulminante, they all achieved good results .
After six days, my patience snapped and I started to dig. It took me 5 hours to dig a path from the stables to my school, and a metre wide track round the perimeter. Block by block I piled the ice up, and finally it was done. I was exhausted, but after all that I was determined to get on those horses!! I just started slowly the first few days, they were fresh but glad to be out and after two or three days the thaw had set in and we were back to normal.
By this time we were only a week away from the Regionals, so I got them all out for one competition that weekend, and all were placed so that helped the confidence.
BD South West Winter Regionals
Getting all four horses to the competition was a slight logistical problem, as my lorry only takes three horses and with all the kit for four days away, we would have been overweight. So my friend Marie, who has just bought a really swish new lorry and was dying to take it out, offered to help. The plan was that she would take two horses and half the kit, and I would take the other two and the rest of the stuff. Then disaster struck. Thieves broke into her yard and took the entire front off her lorry, all the lights, bumper, everything. It was recovered to the repairer, and we were on tenterhooks waiting for its return. It came back just in time the night before we left. So we had to load up everything at the last minute. I had worked out I needed 10 bales of hay and had made up all the individual feeds in plastic bags, I didn’t realise how much room that would all take up! And there was still everything else to squeeze on! But eventually we got it all in, plus the horses, groom, daughter, and most importantly, the essential Jack Russell......
Now why was the Jack Russell so important? Smartie comes everywhere with us, the archetypal lorry dog. (He has a penchant for clean shoes, as Brian Westlake knows, but that is another story). When staying away in the lorry in the winter, a small dog is essential as a bed warmer, and Smartie snuggles down in the duvet, and keeps us lovely and cosy.
So how did they all do? Jugador was first to go on Thursday in the novice open. He did a consistent test, very fluent and I was pleased. He was just out of the placings in the end, but to have got there in his first year of training was a huge achievement and he kept his cool in the tense atmosphere. On the Friday he did a lovely freestyle, and was placed 9th, I was thrilled for him as he tried so hard. He showed that he has the right temperament to cope with big shows and just needs more mileage.
Fulminante-Cen was never firing on all cylinders the entire week, he seemed to find it all very hard work. Whether he was under the weather or just overwhelmed by the occasion, I don’t know but he just didn’t perform well. Since then he has been very successful (see below) so perhaps he was just not on top form. I had him checked out when we got home and his blood count was normal, but he did have a slight cough so I just put it down to being a little under par.
Centauro had to do his Medium freestyle in the evening. Warming up outside in the cold under lights was never going to be easy on a hot horse but he coped really well. He was just out of the ribbons on a good score and the judges were very appreciative of him.
On the Sunday morning I thought hard about my strategy with Orfebre. The competition was fierce, the best horses in the South West, and he was in three classes. I decided to try to achieve good percentages, and knowing that at a Regional Final the scores are always a few percent lower than usual, I wished for about 63% in the Advanced Medium Open, 66% in the Advanced Medium freestyle and 63% in the PSG freestyle. And that is exactly how it worked out! But the icing on the cake was that we were placed 10th in the PSG freestyle, so we FINALLY got in the line up, I was so proud of him and our lovely rosette.
So all went well, we got into two prizegivings and apart from Fulminante, they all achieved good results .
February and March Training
At the end of January, thanks to the incedible generosity of Anastasia Al-Turki, who owns Hugo, we were accepted onto a three day training clinic with Ulla Salzgeber, German National Champion and Olympic Champion rider, top International Trainer. I was rather nervous, but although demanding, she was fair and very clear in her training. On the first day she wanted us to work in steep leg yields to loosen the neck and body and gain a soft submissive bend. Having achieved this, we then worked Hugo in cadenced trot to develop expression and lightness. We had to go through a bit of resistance at first and Ulla recommended that after the lesson I should go home and do another session at home to reinforce the lesson. This made a lot of sense and by day 2 he had the leg yielding exercise well understood.
On day 2 we worked on the same steep leg yielding but this time Ulla wanted us to be able to demonstrate that we could do both inside and outside bend, this did cause a few tantrums, but again quiet persistence paid off and we enjoyed amazing trot and canter work afterwards.
On the third day we worked on the cadence in the trot and also the canter simple changes. Timing is so important in the simple changes and Ulla was very specific that we should ask at the right moment but not be afraid to make a mistake.
By the end of the third day Hugo and I were mentally and physically tired but I felt we had achieved a great deal and had an important addition to our toolkit to enable us to progress.
Her approach and methodology was very different to our current training and it was helpful to experience fresh ideas. Working with such a genius was wonderful for my mental approach and confidence and her inspiration rubbed off me with clear results on all of my horses.
It was great to have the opportunity to do the clinic with Ulla, but the regular training with Adam is essential in order to continue to make steady improvement.
With Hugo, at novice level, we have continued to work on the contact, he is rather strong and therefore acceptance of the half halt has been important. The work with Ulla showed me that I need to get him submissive through leg yields, and we also continue with endless transitions. He has a huge and powerful neck and it is a case of getting him to give me his neck rather than try to control it.
Anthony had a disappointing Regionals, and I got very worried about him. How could I motivate him? By chance, I have recently employed a young and very keen event rider and it seemed a good idea to try jumping him. He LOVED it!! Never once saying no, he found his enthusiasm for going forward again, and has not looked back since. In our training sessions we have also started work on his changes again and he has cheered up no end. I have realised that he is a horse that needs variety so we will keep him doing fun things to help him stay motivated.
In the schooling sessions we have been working on transitions from working to collected trot and onward again, to develop cadence and better self carriage. We continue with the work on the ground to encourage him to find a few steps of baby piaffe, and he is developing much more strength behind, which is showing in a better ground covering medium trot.
He has rewarded our efforts by winning in his last two outings, he has now won a qualifier and a non qualifier at elementary, he now needs one more win and he is qualified for the Summer Regionals. He is ready to go out at Medium any day now, his half passes are much more fluent, although still need more bend, and his simple changes are really good. I am very excited about him now, he is just coming into maturity and is definitely going to be one to watch. His first foal is due this May too, how exciting is that?
Toro is in serious hard work to get him to PSG this year. He has really blossomed since the Regionals, and has won two Medium qualifiers and therefore qualified for the Summer Regionals. We worked so hard on his neck over the winter, he is now so much more through, and not so short anymore. His changes are now more secure and we have been working on the tempi changes. For these I started in a collected canter so we could stick to a rhythm and small but clean changes. He finds it all very exciting, and so we have to tone it down but he can now do a line of 4’s and a line of 3’s without exploding so is on target to do his first advanced at the end of May. When I can trust him to keep it all under control, I will try to ride them more forward to add expression. Now that he has qualified at Medium level, I am keen that he should get an Advanced Medium qualification under his belt. He is being placed highly so we shall keep trying to up his percentage. The thing that pulls us down is the walk pirouettes, we either stick if it is small, or get too large. So it is Operation Pirouette for the next month, hopefully I will have some tips for you next time!
Chico keeps soldiering on. He has now just about mastered the one time changes, I have got up to about 5, and one day managed 13!!! That was an amazing feeling!! Recently we have been introducing more half steps and work on piaffe from the ground. He has the technique now but the rhythm still eludes him so we keep practising. He knows he is supposed to do something but he is such a busy little horse, he does too much and often ends up in levade!
Most days I just work him in simple exercises to keep him supple and always aiming for lightness, he is very strong and loves to tempt me to pull, but I know his little games and try to keep him on my seat and off my hand. I use a lot of trot – halt- rein back- trot to get him lighter and also often halt in the middle of a half pass or shoulder-in.
We are still working on his canter pirouettes, he has a habit of spinning so we have tried riding on the three quarter line, collecting and then making the pirouette into the wall, to help with the half halt. It is the quality of the canter that determines the quality of the pirouette though, and he still needs to sit more, and this takes time.
He is in the Pet Plan Area Festival Championships at PSG at the end of this month, so I hope he does well. Will let you know next time.
