Long time no write, very naughty!! Where shall I start?? Summer qualifiers I think. I went away with Angela, we got the boat & Angela brought her car, it was a lovely sailing & I got stuck into my book. Our first stop was Knutsford to try Pam Rigby's horse for the RDA qualifiers. It was a lovely day & we arrived at the livery yard in good time, I got changed into my jods & after watching Pam ride Pluto for a bit it was my turn. I found him quite difficult to start with & thought he didn't like me riding him, but eventually he let me in & was going nicely, he has a lovely trot but it took me a while to get used to it as it was quite big. We stayed at Pam's the night & I had another ride on Pluto in the morning, he was quicker to get into a nice shape, as I had a bit more of a feel for him. After my ride we were on the road again over to Market Rasen to have a ride on another horse, Polly. She is gorgeous & I'm hoping to ride her in some comps in the future. We stayed the night in a motel between Lincs & Leicstershire, before heading on down to Old Dalby the next day, for a couple of lessons at Vale View with Andrew Fletcher. I had a lesson on both George & Fernie & that put me in good stead for next days competition. It was an early start, I was first on at 8.30am on Fernie, the test went well & I had to jump off & get on George pretty much straight away to warm him up. I entered a warm up class on each of them & the qualifier on each of them, so I was seeing how I could handle 4 tests. I got 2nd on Fernie in the warm up & 3rd on George, the next class was George's time to shine & he won & Fernie was 3rd. It was nice to get my classes done at the beginning of the day as it gave me a chance to relax when it was all over. We didn't have to get the boat until the next morning so we stayed to watch until about 4pm then headed back up to Pam's to stay for the night before getting the boat home at 11.30am.
Last Thursday I was away again for some more training at Vale View, I went with my cousin, Simmy, for a few days. We weren't sure if we'd be flying as the airport had been shut the day before with the Volcanic ash, but all was hunky dorey & the airport was open again, so it was up at stupid o clock to catch the red eye at 7.05am. I had a lesson with Ian Woodhead on George & later on a lesson with Julie on Fernie. We had our tea at the B&B, I'm sure Christine's trying to fatten me up because she always gives us a lovely BIG pudding.....mmmmm!!! On the friday I had two more lessons with Julie & again on Saturday. I do actually need fattening up because I've got blisters on my bum from all this training so a bit of junk in my trunk wouldn't go a miss!! On Sunday I had training with Angela Weiss, it was really good & I learnt a lot, I hope I'll be able to have more training with her in the future. After training we went back to the cottage for a yummy BLT & pavlova, oh and scones, I was thinking I was going to have to be rolled home! We got the train to the airport where we ate some more & I got an Angus burger from Burger King for Jimmy & Shayne's tea (no BK on the Isle of Man) Safely home & back to work the next day, both work work & horse work as I had a lesson with Clive on Monday. Bernie was good & I've got stuff to work on at home. I was meant to be away this fri & sat at the RDA qualifiers where I was to ride Pluto, but due to unforseen circumstances it was off, so instead I had to video a test & send it off to be judged. I rode Buzz & it seemed to go well, he was really good, so I've to wait for the results of that. Yesterday I took George for a hack, I think he's forgetting who I am, he got a bit excited because he could hear music coming from the school fair, so he danced for a bit which was no good for my bum, but it was good to get back on him with his quirky ways.
