May 2009 Archives

  I had a great lesson on Thursday, I got a feel of the trot Bernie should do at all times, he was really swinging through his back & it felt ace, even if it did only last half a circle, but at least I know how he should feel. I just need him to do it in our tests instead of the hideous trot he really enjoys doing when he's meant to be looking lovely. I've posted a pic of him at one of our competitions in the warm up, it was taken by a young lad called Callum, he's only about 10 or 11 & he takes really good pictures at a lot of the horsie events.

I also bought myself a new saddle, well new to me anyway, I got it off ebay, I'm such an ebay queen I love it. When it came I must admit I was pretty disappointed, it was packaged in an old feed bag with duct tape around it & it was all stiff with bit's of poo on it. After half a tin of oil & a good saddle soaping it looked loads better & now I've sat on it I love it, it fits my bum like a glove, or should I say a good pair of knickers!

It's getting close to TT fortnight over here now, so with the invasion of motorbikes, we won't be able to do any riding on the road for the next three weeks. We'll be confined to the farm, so it'll be lots of schooling in the paddock, which will be good for me as it means I can get plenty of practice in, before my para competition in June, or we can go up over the hill behind the farm, it's great because we can still go for a good hack, and my dog Lupa loves it too because she can come with us.

Not too sure about this weather, I keep getting caught in the rain! I went for a ride last saturday, at first it was just spitting so we decided to carry on, it was our usual saturday hack with a nice big hill to get George's bum working, we rode for about an hr & a quarter until we got to a gate & cattle grid, some silly beggars had decided to park on both sides of it & as a result we couldn't get through, we were only about half an hr from home if we'd been able to carry on, but we had to turn around & go back the way we came, as if that wasn't bad enough it was blowing a gale, & not a nice summer breeze either, it was a cold winter wind, & then came the torrential rain & the hail stones, to say I wasn't best pleased is an understatement, we were so cold when we got home we could hardly untack & poor George had spent half the ride walking like a Harry crab trying to keep his bum to the elements!!

There aren't many Dressage competition's here at the moment, so it's all about the training. I had my lesson with Janet on Monday evening, it was really good, again we were trying to work on my position & Bernie's trot, it's really difficult for me to get the right trot out of him, as Clive says he has about seven different trot's so finding the right one is proving quite difficult, most of my comments on my dressage sheets are "could go forward more" so that's where I'm going to have to work hard, he can be quite strong for me so I'm going to have to transfer that energy into impulsion, easier said than done though. I have most of my lesson's on Bernie, he's such a character & really willing to learn, it would definately be easier for me to ride a horse that's been there & done it, but I'm really enjoying learning with Bernie & it's amazing to see how much he's changed shape in the last six months. As I've said before, I won't be able to take him in competitions away for a long while yet, but it's really good for me to learn how to get results from a real novice & it's very rewarding too. 

I've also been to physio this week to get a good massage, all this riding makes me really sore & knotty around the neck & shoulders, also my right calf & ankle get really tight. I've been given some exercises to do to work on my back muscles & bum muscles so I'm really going to get cracking at them & they should improve my trot, so hopefully my next test there will be improvements in both me & Bernie!

   I got up bright & early on Sunday to take George on our charity ride, I've had George for about 4yrs now, he's 16.3 by a thoroughbred & out of an Exmoor pony. I think I could've chosen a quieter horse but I must admit he's given me confidence. He pulled his stifle in summer 2007 & was rested until the winter, my mum started exercising him by leading him around the paddock for 30mins a day, as he got stronger she began leading him out from another horse to build up his muscle, eventually he was strong enough for me to get on him again & I rode him for 5mins a day & gradually built it up until I could take him for a hack. I've just begun trotting him & we've done our first walk trot dressage test, it wasn't great because he's qute excitable, but it was lovely to be able to take him, he's coming on leaps & bounds, literally, as he proved on Sunday.

The idea was to do two trips in the trailer as there were four of us doing the ride, the first two loaded their ponies in the trailer & that's where the trouble began, lots of banging & trailer wobbling!! One of the ponies had decided he didn't like to travel with company and leant so hard on the partition it broke, so we had no transport to get to the beginning of our ride. Instead we decided to start from the finish & ride until we met some of the other participants, then turn round & go back, again that didn't go to plan. We'd ridden for about an hr when we met the joggers, George thought that was way too exciting & that it was time to show us how much better he was feeling, he was bucking & prancing & dancing & generally being a show off! When I was in hospital my consultant had told me it wasn't advisable for me to ride again & if I did, he suggested I should be strapped to the saddle. I personally thought that was a silly idea, but sometimes I think maybe I should've taken his advice, George has a very big trot & when he gets excited he bounces & I can imagine him bouncing me so high one day I'll be sitting in a tree. We decided to go a different way to the joggers because I think George just wanted to chase them. I swapped horses with my mum who was on Bernie & she got her bones rattled all the way home (for about 2hrs) sorry mum!

Monday was a miserable day & we had Dressage, the first test was inside but we still had to warm up outside in the rain. I'm managing to get consistent scores of around 59% in prelim, it's frustrating because I get him going lovely whilst warming up, but when I get in the arena I tense up, which makes Bernie tense. Half the time I feel like my hands are in the air & my right knee is shooting up around my chin. I'm learning to relax by talking to him. I'm allowed to use my voice during my test, so when I get more confident chatting to him we should see better marks. One of my local equestrian centres has been kind enough to introduce a para dressage class, I only do walk & trot at grade 2, which is great because I can take George, but also a shame because canter seems to be Bernie's best gait, I'll have to work harder in trot & improve my position to help him. I had a lesson on Wednesday in my lunch hr with Clive Halsall & have another lesson on Monday with Janet Horswill, plus my regular weekly lessons with Angela, so I better start showing some improvements or I'll be giving myself a kick up the bum!