July 2009 Archives

When I first told my boyfriend I was going to start doing para dressage he was made up for me.He's not into horses at all & me talking horses to him is like him talking about car engines to me, I wouldn't have a clue, but that aside he was very proud that I was going to start competing again, so he went to the pub & told his mates all about it, they thought it was cool too & they all decided I would be their para pin-up, I'm hardly Jordan but I found it highly amusing, so you never know I may have a calendar out soon :O)

I've mentioned my pet Ziggy before, well I have to feed him crickets, I feed him black ones & they look quite like beetles, anyway one day there was a knock at the door, when I answered it there was a man standing there with a little jar in his hand, it was pest control, he held up the jar & asked did I know what was in it, it was only one of my black crickets, he'd never seen them before & didn't know what it was so I had to own up. A couple had escaped & they must've made there way next door. My neighbour had found one crawling in her living room & she & her husband were looking through any book they could find with bugs in to try & identify it. They decided that they looked most like cockroaches, but because there was only one they weren't too worried, until a day or so later when she was getting out of the bath, she stood on one, because it made quite a crunch she came to the conclusion they were definately cockroaches, so she emptied her kitchen & bathroom worrying that she had an infestation & called pest control. Luckily when she found out I was the culprit she was just relieved that they were only crickets & not cockroaches so she did see the funny side, phew!!

I had a lesson today with Angela, she's lost her voice so it was going to be quite challenging, it turned out to be good though, as instead of me being told what to do, Angela could see how I could cope myself with correcting Bernie's way of going, she did have an interpretor (mum & Bev) but with the delay of Angela telling them what to say & them telling me, I had just about worked out how to correct him, we did some lovely canter work, but he really wasn't listening to my leg in trot, especially when we were doing shoulder in, eventually we got there & finished on a high.

I've got no competitions for a while, I have booked myself on a para training day at Clwyd in August, I will get training with Janet Horswill & also see a Physio & a sports Psychologist & I'll get to meet Nicola Tustain, so I'm really looking forward to that, I'm also going to arrange for more training in the UK, so lots of travelling & adventures are to be had & I'll keep you up to date more often than I have been, but if things are a bit scarce with the horses I'll have to keep you up to date with my family.

It was our para competition last Sunday (12th), I was worried because I had it in my head it was on the Saturday & there was a rally on, around the roads where the competition was being held, we were going to have to be up at stupid o clock on the saturday, getting B ready, as I'd heard our time was going to be early. As it happened Angela corrected us on the date, thank god, otherwise we'd have been sitting up there in our Sunday best thinking "ooo, it's a bit quiet isn't it?" & then have to do it all again on the correct day!!

My first test was on Bernie at 9.40am, again Angela worked him in for me, he was a bit difficult as we'd had to keep him in the night before, it had given rain & we didn't want him to be wet through. I got on about 30 mins before my test & tried to get him going nice, he wasn't playing ball & was nowhere near going as well as he was at the last para test. Once the bell rang he did respond to me a little better but he was still behind my leg, but once you've started you can't do a thing about it, if only you could throw an extra transition in here & there to get them in front of your leg, he did go better than when I was working in so I wasn't too disappointed, but I knew it was marks upon marks behind the last one we'd done, our judge was Jane Goldsmith & I really wanted to impress her & I knew it wasn't an impressive test, but at least I had another chance with Buzz in the afternoon. My test with Buzz wasn't until 4.20pm, after Sally had finished with him, so we took Bernie home & turned him out & I went back up to watch the other tests. My time came to ride Buzz & I worked him in, I didn't want to do too much as he'd already done two elementry tests with Sal, but I just love riding him so I got in a few canters to get him going forward (and to put a smile on my face) & then it was time for my test, I knew it was better than I'd done on Bernie as he's a lot more advanced & it felt like a lovely test, I could've improved here & there but that's dressage, always room for improvement.

I went to see if the results were up & I'd got 57.22% on Bernie, I'd hoped for better but Jane had marked me as she would mark in the UK, which I totally agree with, as I don't want preferential treatment for living on an island, I want to get there on my own merits. Then I got my percentage on Buzz, it was 66.6%, I was over the moon with that, especially as I haven't ridden him a lot & I'd got that good a mark with Jane judging, I'm so happy Sally let me ride him, thanks Sal :O)

Today I had a lesson after work with Janet on Bernie, it took me a while to get him going right, but at the end of the lesson he was a dream. I really enjoyed it, I haven't been on him since Thurs as I've been hacking George out, so I'm going to have to do a bit more with him.

I don't have any competitions for a while now, so my plans are to go away & get loads of training & maybe do competitions, if I can find horses in different areas around the UK to compete on, just to get a few more competitions under my belt.

I've had a busy week so far, it was bank holiday on Monday over here, Tynwald day, when new laws are passed by our government, so I thought I'd take advantage of that & take the whole week off work. Clive Halsall was over this week so on Tuesday Bernie went for some training & Angela rode him, they did lots of lateral work with him & he's really starting to get supple. I felt really proud of him when he was working, he tries really hard!

Tuesday evening I took George to a local dressage comp, we did the Intro A test, just walk & trot, he found it all way too exciting & did a lovely leg yield down the centre line, he was like he had space hoppers on his hooves he was so bouncy, we did what could've been a lovely medium trot across the diagnol & left the arena in a very elevated walk, my mum & Bev were in hysterics watching him as he thought he was so lovely. As the event wasn't far away from the farm we had ridden there so George did his best walk all the way home showing all the motorists how handsome he is!

On Wednesday it was my turn for a lesson with Clive, I was feeling a little stiff from being bounced everywhere by George the night before, but all that left my head once I was on board again. Bernie was really soft in my hands & felt really nice, his head has become so much more still lately, which makes life so much easier as he's not leaning on me like he used to, my neck & shoulders used to get really sore from fighting with him, it's also me as well, I have had to learn not to fight with him, which has been a big learning curve. We worked mainly on walk & trot, as I have my para test on Sunday, so we're trying to get canter out of his head, it's hard though as he needs to canter to create a more forward trot. I finished feeling really happy with him, we'd worked on our centre lines, which still need a lot more work & our halts, which also need more work. Today I had a half hr session on Buzz to go through my test as I'm also taking him on Sunday, he's such a great horse, we had a nice canter which always puts a big smile on my face, I just need to get him more in front of my leg, both him & Bernie take advantage of my weak right leg, I'll have to do some super secret exercises with it to strengthen it up & give them both a shock. I'm just going to hack Bernie out over the next few days & maybe just school him for 10 mins here & there practicing little bits of our test, so fingers crossed for Sunday, the pressure is on after our great score at our last para test, but I'm not going to think about that!!! 

I couldn't believe it the other week when the phone rang & it was Jo Preswich from the Horse & Hound on the other end. She was interested in my win in the para class at my last competition, I told her all about it & about me & I couldn't wait to get the magazine, my mum gets it posted every week, so when I got back from my weekly lesson it was there in the post box, I'd forgotten what I'd said to Jo on the phone and I was hoping I hadn't said really stupid stuff, I was really chuffed with it & made sure I told all my friends to get a copy.

I got up early on saturday to go to my competition, I was on at 9.38, so it was an early start for me, we have to be at the venue about an hr before the class to get B warmed up & working in nicely. When I got to the farm mum already had B in & plaited, so it was just a case of getting him booted & suited for the journey, & of course finishing getting myself ready. A good thing about living on the Isle of Man is we don't have far to drive to get anywhere, so it was only a 25 minute journey at the most. It'll be different when I'm competing away regularly, I won't know what's hit me. Angela started warming him up so I didn't get tired out, I can do an hr long lesson no problem, but when I get to a competition it's a totally different buzz & I tend to tire really easily. He worked in lovely & after about 30mins I got on him myself & did a few transitions, walk trot & canter & lots of stretching. I thought our test went a lot better than last time we were in the long arena, I knew we wouldn't get very good marks for our canter because B broke into trot way too early, but the rest seemed pretty good, unfortunately it wasn't reflected in my marks & I was pretty disappointed when my score came up as only 54%, it definately brought me off cloud 9 with a thump, but onwards & upwards, it's a bit like a red rag to a bull & I'm determined to do MUCH better next time. My next competition on Bernie is on the 13th, another para test put on by Gilbeys competitions, I'm also taking Buzz in that class too. I've decided to take George in a class at a local club on Tuesday, just in the intro as he's not ready for canter yet, so we'll see how that goes, it's all good practice.

Clive Halsall is over next week so I have a lesson with him on Weds, that should give me plenty to think about before my test on the 13th. I'll probably have another ride on Buzz too before then to practice my moves. I'm off work too for the week so plenty of riding on George, all though if the weather stays like this it'll be early morning or evening rides as the horse flies drive poor George mad!