PetPlan Equine Area Festival at Northallerton

After being incredibly disappointed that we missed our opportunity to compete in the PetPlan Area Festivals at Alnwick Ford Equestrian during June due to Louie’s fractured humerus, I had decided to enter the Prelim Silver at Northallerton instead. I knew Louie would only be back in work a couple of weeks, he wouldn’t be fit, wouldn’t have had any competition practice, but I wanted to go to give him the experience of going in a bigger arena, with more atmosphere and more going on.

Preparation

We were fortunate that our monthly flatwork training session with Cathy fell on the Monday leading up to the competition, where, due to the rain, we made good use of the indoor arena mirrors to encourage a higher frame from Louie, as well as working on some shoulder in to straighten the canter. His shoulders were starting to hug the wall or outside track making it appear as if he was bringing his quarters in.