Well, it’s going to be a MEGA summer update coming to you
today… I can’t believe I skipped writing a monthly round up for more than ONE
THIRD of the year.
Throughout the summer, we’ve enjoyed plenty of highs, but
also some lows. We’ve headed out hacking, got a few more competitions under our
belt, took part in many training sessions, and completed two Area Festivals. We’ve
been had cross country fun in the sun, using a new GoPro to capture it all from
in the saddle, discovered the amazing improvement from equine sports massage, invested
in a brand dressage Voltaire dressage saddle, and transformed the way we’re
riding to find new success.
We’ve had a blast this summer, with never a quiet moment
& plenty of happy times with friends & family! That’s right, sit back,
relax and enjoy a read through all we’ve been up to from May through to the end
of August!
May
It was our first showjumping lesson in a few months, working
getting the feeling for our rhythm back with some accurate dog leg polework and
remembering to ride around the corner. It felt great to be back out jumping and
we left with some homework to ride around the corners in a tighter 20x40 with a
simple but effective exercise. We also hired an arena to keep working on our rhythm
in a bigger space in between our training sessions with Philippa.
Louie had a trip to the vets for his final scoping – all clear! Such great news, and now armed with a heap of knowledge, I really hope that the future will be all about prevention management and that we won’t have to take time out to treat equine gastric ulcers again.
We finally got hold of a correctly-sized Micklem bridle
following our Bit to Perfection session back in May, and Louie seemed much more
relaxed than in his grackle for the flatwork and I was pleased (&
surprised) at how much of an instant impact it made to his way of going!
We headed out to a British Dressage competition in the
middle of the month, and while it was obedient, it wasn’t our prettiest dressage
display. Working back at home, Louie just felt uncomfortable. I led myself into
a fast downward spiral that everything and anything had gone wrong with Louie…
So I got the vet out to confirm my absolute sure feeling that he would need to
go to retirement (I know, ridiculous…) only to discover he had a fine bill of
health and soundness, but that the saddle didn’t fit. Cue the saddle fitted one
week later.
We were unexpectedly without saddle for three and a half weeks,
having meant to only be one. So as the spring grass really sprung, Louie only
had lunging word to keep him in shape for almost a month. It didn’t keep him in
shape. He’s great to lunge, but both he and I were bored after 10 days literally
going round in circles and me watching his tummy also become increasingly more
round!
June
A month with two of my absolute favourite events on the
calendar (well, except Floors Castle). Our local Belsay Horse trials – a fantastic
event running from BE90 to Intermediate and one which I was very lucky to experience
a day behind
the scene with in 2018.
A week later, it was my favourite of the biggies – Bramham.
Based in the heartland of where I grew up, I have many fond memories of hacking
around the Bramham estate when younger, having all sorts of fun on various
ponies along the way.
Having found out Louie’s saddle wasn’t quite right in May, I’d
booked his first ever session with an equine sports massage therapist. Certified
with the FEI, Kelly from Hands On Massage, was able to work literally from head
to toe with Louie to relieve any sore spots that she came across.
Mid-June we finally got our saddle back. The flocking had
been done, but it wasn’t checked against Louie, so I stuck to flatwork and
hacking in it just in case it wasn’t quite right. He soon let’s you know, but I
wanted to get rid of any discomfort that it had been causing for Louie. We booked
a session with another fitter to come and take a look, but had a bit of a wait
until towards the end of July!
At Bramham we had one of the best pieces of news all year –
we became a sponsored rider and welcomed into the Voltaire Design family. I purchased
a new dressage saddle, something that I’d wanted for a VERY long time, and
while it was much more than my budget was set at, the technology and innovation
that is built into them, really impressed me. I wrote a blog post about what
helped me to decide to buy a dressage saddle with Voltaire – it’s well
worth a read if you’re interested in the different points that I took into
consideration (beyond the beauty of the saddle!).
Around 10 days later, we had our confirmation fitting and
our order was placed. I’ve never wanted to wish summer away, but I couldn’t
wait for the time to pass and have my lovely new saddle to start training in.
Right at the end of June, we took part in our first Area
Festival at Alnwick Ford. Since having my saddle back, I’d been working on
a totally new way of riding AND taken off my spurs and replaced it for a long
whip. We had two training session before the Festival, so I was super pleased
with how much more forward Louie was and obedient, although unfortunately we
were a bit unsettled by the large banner down the side of the arena, leaving
Louie much more tense in his test that during the warm up and me so
concentrating that I managed to miss a circle out! I was still pleased, and
rather than becoming very downhearted about our results, I took plenty of
positives away and set myself mini goals to improve on based on how things had
gone.
July
July started off with a full week away in the sunny and
beautiful city of Copenhagen and a week off work for Louie. Quite the opposites
weeks really… But at the end of that week, guess which one of us enjoy a sport
massage?! Yes, Louie! Kelly came out to see how Louie was doing since our
saddle had been back and make sure it wasn’t causing him any sore spots. All
was good.
We launched straight back into training with great dressage session
with Cathy, where we really worked on getting Louie to take the contact. It’s
something we’ve always worked on and struggled with, but slow and surely, it now
really felt it was coming into force! Hooray! Filled with inspiration and
motivation we headed to North Yorkshire to enjoy a lovely sunny day at the
dressage at Richmond Equestrian Centre. I didn’t look at the tests until the
Friday evening, so had to do an “emergency” training session in the school on
Saturday afternoon to have a go at counter canter along the long sides
following a 15m turn back. It was OK, nice, and wasn’t going to interrupt our
test, but equally, it wasn’t going to give us great marks.
One test was short, one was long. He was tense in the first
and broke into trot as he reached the track and could have had much more swing
to his trot work, but overall I was pleased. The long arena test was a quick-fire,
rapid test with movement after movement. I’d no idea how I was going to remember
it! Thankfully, I did, and I was MEGA impressed with how Louie performed! Sure,
there was a heap of stuff we could sharpen up and tidy up, but he’d done the
test, including a longer stretch of counter canter. I was chuffed with him.
Both tests, but especially the second long arena test, were
very competitive as it was the week before the same venue hosted the Summer
Regionals. So I was over the moon to discover Louie had brought home a 5th
in the first test and 1st place in the second one! Even better about
the day was a surprise visit from my Mum and my friend who came for an
afternoon to watch us!
It was my birthday on the 19th and I was so
excited that Andrew bought us a GoPro to start filming our adventures from in
the saddle. I couldn’t wait to use it. I enjoyed a birthday breakfast out with Andrew,
before an afternoon stroll with Louie. I’d taken the Friday and Monday off
work, and put the extra long weekend to good use, hiring a local cross county
training facility to enjoy AND put our new GoPro to good use in! Make sure you’re
following us on Facebook,
Twitter or Instagram to see more footage from
in the saddle!
We finished up the month with another dressage competition
at Holmside Hall and enjoyed a showjumping training session with Philippa the
day after. We’d had our saddle check by another fitter so I was now confident
to be back out jumping.
Dressage was great and we achieved two personal best scores
at Novice level, and I was even giddy about both counting towards Regional qualification…until
I realised we were in the Bronze section. Summer dressage really is lovely…enjoying
your horse in the sunshine with hopefully a cool summer breeze. Well no. It was
pouring with rain, and while our test was inside, the warm up was outside and
resembled a scene from a mid-December training session… Still, great practice
for winter competitions!
The next day we headed for our showjumping training session –
the first one since before our saddle went away in the middle of May. Continuing
to ride around my turns has always been a weakness for me, so we started out
with a good exercise on a figure of eight to turn back to jumps and come off
the track to them. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and couldn’t wait for the next
one so decided to book a couple of sessions to hire the arena throughout
August.
August
August started off with a fantastic training session in a
completely new arena. I really wanted to start to get 0.5 marks more for my
medium trots as almost all other competitors seemed to be more established so
throughout the session, we worked on activating the shoulders upwards and
outwards, while continuing to drive the engine from behind. Louie (&I!)
made some great progress throughout the session, and even when not asking for medium,
I could feel a big difference to his shoulder movement throughout. It was a
lovely feeling!
Louie enjoyed a couple of days off while I enjoyed a family
weekend with my Mum and step Dad. We visited lots of beautiful places along the
Northumberland coastline, enjoy plenty of nice food and of course a refreshing drink
or two!
Following on from the successes of our dressage training
session at the start of the month, I’d hired our usual venue for flatwork to
make good use of their mirrors in their indoor arena. I wanted to work on
activating the shoulders while maintaining a test style rhythm and way of
going. It was a great productive session, and although Louie was super spooky,
he worked hard and seemed to be learning our new tips and tricks quickly. I
love it during times like this of training.
Next up was our second run at Area Festivals, this time at Northallerton
Equestrian Centre. We seem to have the luck of late tests – this will be
our third out of three Area Festival that had a time close to 8pm! We were very
lucky to have Cathy, our flatwork trainer, help us warm up. And for the first
time ever we learnt something new and what felt exceptional during that warm up
– it was a real break through moment. Making Louie true react off the thought
of using your leg. WOW! The boy can shift! Both in trot and canter!
Unfortunately a bit of tension at the end of the centre line
led to our medium trots being a little tense and therefore quick as opposed to
lengthened, but we still got the reaction. But in the medium canters…WOW! He flew
and I really felt the transition from medium canter back down to working canter
before the trot transition. We even got some 7’s for our medium canters! Sure,
the test was a bit unbalanced and I overshot some movements, but the overall
way of going was SO much better. I was thrilled to get 65.49% - it was one of
our highest scores and at a championship! Even though we didn’t qualify for the
Finals I was beaming ear to ear all the way home!
I enjoyed our showjumping too, with couple more arena hires
and another training session from Philippa, working on a variety of areas, but
crucially sitting taller and holding my position into the fence better. This,
combined with the change to our flatwork riding, has transformed how much more
effective I am in the saddle when it comes to our jumping session. We’re
heading into the following few months full of positivity and excitement for
what they’ll bring.
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