January 2010 Archives

I've had a very busy few weeks, back & forth to the UK. I went to Vale View on the 20th to prepare for the para winter qualifiers, I had to leave mum with instructions for feeding Lupa, Rodders, George, Ziggy & Chunk, we've never been away & left Ziggy, but everything was fine as he was hibernating & didn't come out of his cave while we were away, so mum didn't have to worry about feeding him, she just had to make sure he was peeping & still alive. We had an hour to get from the plane to the equestrian centre for my lesson at 8.20pm. We got there just in time & I threw my jods on & climbed on board George. Julie had got some split reins for me to use as I find it a bit difficult holding the double reins, they were a great help & I had to get in touch with the RDA the next day so I could get my dispensation certificate changed to allow me to use them in the competition. Para riders are given a dispensation certificate from British Dressage or the RDA so we are able to use special aids to help us, for example I am allowed to use my voice & a whip in each hand if I need to, amongst other things. I got that all sorted & my certificate changed so that was all hunky dorey & I could use the new reins on both Fernie & George. I had a lesson on each horse on the 21st with Ian Woodhead, these were very helpful & I really enjoyed them, hopefully I'll be able to have a couple more next time I'm there. I had two more lessons in the morning of the 22nd to get more in tune with the horses & had the afternoon to chill out & think about my test the next day.

I wasn't on until the afternoon, so didn't have to get up at stupid o clock, I had time for some scrambled eggs for breakfast from our super B&B, then we went over to the equestrian centre to watch the other classes. Suddenly it was time to get on, George was thought to be lame in the morning so I just had Fernie to ride, or so I thought, the farrier came to check George out & couldn't find anything wrong & lucky for me he was trotting sound again so I was able to ride him. I took Fernie first, my belly doing flips, we got through it, with a couple of my mistakes but I was pleased. Then I had George to take, I remembered the mistakes I'd made on Fernie & made sure I didn't repeat them, unfortunately I didn't get a medium trot on either of them so that lost me a few marks. I was so pleased when I won on George with 64.29% & 2nd on Fernie with 60.95% I've now qualified for the Para winter championships in March which is ace!!

I've been away over the last couple of days too, having a ride on a horse that I'll hopefully be able to compete, she's a beautiful horse with lovely paces & she gave me a great medium trot, I'm really looking forward to getting on her again.

I'm home now for a couple of weeks without any travelling, I have a lesson on Bernie on Tuesday with Janet & I'm going to have a ride on Buzz at some point to practice medium trot, to really get the feel of it. I have a prelim competition on saturday, I hope it goes ok as I haven't been on Bernie much over the last couple of weeks. My next trip away is two weeks away, where I'l be travelling back down to Vale View for the Para talent spotting, we're going by boat this time so I'm hoping there won't be any gale force winds, bleugh!! I'm of work this week, so it's time to relax & recuperate after a hectic January, it was also 10 years yesterday since my accident so it's also time to celebrate life & how much I've recovered since that awful time. 

I never got to go away on the 7th due to all the snow closing the airport & my competition was cancelled on the 9th because of the snow & ice, I did, however, manage to go sledging on my feed bags though, which was lots of fun.

I got to go away last Wednesday instead, I was worried we'd have to cancel again because Birmingham airport had to shut in the morning, because of the snow covered runway, luckily for us it opened at midday & we got our flight at 6pm. We drove straight to our cosy B&B and settled in for the night, the roads in the village were a bit scary with the ice, but we got there safely, without any drama. I had a lesson in the morning on George, which was great, he's such a nice horse to ride, then in the afternoon I rode Fernie, who is also lovely. It was hard work because I hadn't done much for a couple of weeks as it's been to dangerous on the icy ground & also our paddock has been rock solid, so I haven't been able to do anything, it doesn't take long at all to lose your fitness, so when I'd fiished my lessons we went for a bite to eat & then back to the B&B for a soak in the bath to ease my muscles for my next couple of lessons. An early breakfast on friday, then out for my first lesson, I rode George for both my lessons on the fri, he takes a bit more getting used to as he's so sensitive to me & his surroundings, we finished on a good note though. Julie would've liked me to stay longer so I could get to know George better, but unfortunately I couldn't as I had to get back for work, it would've been great if I could have stayed but if I didn't work I wouldn't be able to do any of it. We caught the plane home on Friday night & I must've looked a right sight walking through the airport like I don't know what, with my aching legs. I'm back at Vale View this week, my plane leaves here at 6pm & I have a lesson booked for that evening, I'm planing to have two lessons on Thursday with Ian Woodhead, one on George & one on Fernie, then two more on Friday with Julie, on both horses, & then the competition is on Saturday. Wish me luck!!!

I had a lesson today with Clive on Bernie, he hasn't done any schooling for what feels like an age, so he was a little green. He's been hacking over the weekend but that's all he's done for a few weeks. The lesson was good, I need to learn to be less tense with him when he beggars off with me, the less I fight the easier he'll come back to me, it's easy when I say it!! My George is great, I hacked him out twice over the weekend & had a good canter, still not managed to get him to take a right lead though. Mum will have to keep him going for me whilst I'm away, the maybe I'll enter him in the next local dressage comp.

Happy new year everyone!!

I've had a lovely Christmas, nearly two weeks off work, lots of food, drink & chocolates, family fun, it's been great. Back to reality tomorrow, up for work, no more lie ins, never mind we all have to get back to normal at some point. I'm off to Vale View this week too, I'm a bit nervous beause of the weather at the moment. The snow has managed to miss the Isle of Man, we've had some frost & Ice, but we haven't had the feed bags out for makeshift sledges yet, maybe we'll get a bit next time there's a flurry!? I've got four lessons booked this time, three with Julie & one with Ian Woodhead, so I'll be working off all that turkey & Christmas pudding. I'll be home on Friday night & taking Bernie to a local comp on Saturday, a good active start to the year.

We had our Christmas day ride, it was cold but the sun was shining. I've had a few canters on George now when we've been out hacking, I forgot how comfy his canter was. He always seems to favour going on his left leg, so I'm going to try & push him into right canter some time to see how he copes. He's never really been great in right canter, he always used to put his head down as if to buck when I cantered him right, so it will be interesting to see if he still does that. If I get his canter back to normal I'll be able to compete him in the prelim, with a bit of calmer, he does get a bit too excited which ruins his test, especially in prelim where you aren't meant to half pass down the centre line. We'll see how he goes, it'd be nice to take him in a few things as he likes to show off & he's ever so handsome if I do say so myself!