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Welcome to my final blog of 2018! I hope everyone has had an amazing Christmas and got everything you wanted, for both yourselves and your horse(s)! I spent Christmas with a nasty cold and then trapped a nerve so that’s been great but I LOVE Christmas so things will have to be a lot worse than that to dampen my spirits.

 

December brought Ruin’s first Advanced, which was really exciting! The aim was to get over 62% and qualify him for PSG. The test had large canter pirouettes as well as 4- and 3- tempi changes so was a big challenge for Ruin but I was determined to get on my tailcoat before the end of the year!! I’ve gotten to this point a number of times with other horses so I wasn’t counting my chickens until I rode down that centre line. And we did! Ruin was fab. He warmed up beautifully and if we’d been marked for that… However when we went in to the arena he went a bit introverted; it was his first time at Allens Hill and this seems to be his reaction at a new venue. I thought the set up and layout of the arena would be familiar enough to Summerhouse, a regular venue for Ruin, that it wouldn’t affect him but I thought wrong. So our test wasn’t the best…felt very messy and literally didn’t get any of our tempi changes, which are his party piece! So that was really disappointing and I came out feeling very deflated. I prepared myself for the worst and expected a sub-60% score, maybe around 56%. So I was amazed to see that we got 64% and had some great marks including an 8, just mixed in with 4s and 5s!

 

Time and hindsight is a wonderful thing and I have learned over the years not to let my gut reaction take over – when you first come out of a jump round or dressage test and you feel exasperated as your emotions are running super high. It’s taken time to learn to keep my cool and not respond, just pat the horse and quietly go about my business until I’m in a better headspace. It’s amazing what 30 minutes can change! On reflection I’m really chuffed, Ruin tried his heart out (really). For example he got 7.5 for his extended trot, which really shows how hard he tried to flick his toes! We got 3 square halts which would be the first time in his life – what a time to pull them out! He even did a lovely reinback, despite only learning how to reverse on command a few days before (be more organised and look through your test ahead of time Holly!) I managed to do our medium trot between two wrong markers and got a 5 for that…so to get 64% on a bad day is a pretty good place to be. The Judge was a List 1 Judge and referred to Ruin as a ‘super horse’ so I can’t complain at that! Plus it means he has qualified for PSG which is just huge!! I have been working towards this for so many years that I really started to think it would never happen. Having actually entered the test before on previous horses and then had disaster strike and never been able to go has been the story of my life. My tailcoat has been sitting there ready and waiting for years! This may seem like a small milestone for lots of people but for me it’s really significant and I can retire happy now!! It also feels very appropriate that I’ve done it on a horse that I have produced myself from the start, having purchased Ruin before he was 2 years old and then slogging away on my own. He hasn’t been the easiest horse because he’s been so slow to mature and develop and isn’t an ‘offerer’- you have to eke out every little thing and he doesn’t give you the impression of immense power and scope! We have forged a really strong relationship over the years though and it makes me really proud to see what we have achieved together. Plus he is only 8 years old so it’s not bad for a horse that did his first ever test, a Prelim, 18 months ago!

 

Looking back at my first blog it’s been fun to see what I had planned for 2018. I hoped for Bertie and Ruin to step up to PSG and we had a quiet bet on who would get there first. Well Bertie getting injured in April put a spanner in that friendly competition! He’s not out of the woods yet but hopefully 2019 will be his year. Instead all the focus for the tailcoat mission went on to Ruin’s shoulders and while he didn’t get to do the PSG he really stepped up to the mark, rocked an Advanced with me in my tailcoat, and I couldn’t have asked for any more from him. Just goes to show horses are a real leveller and you can never make too many plans, you can guarantee they’ll all go to pot if the horses have anything to do with it!!

 

So overall 2018 has been a real mix of a year. Love, loss and change – could never have predicted it all. Some big highlights but some very painful times losing some very special horses, which makes me glad to leave 2018 behind. Fortunately I think there is a lot to look forward to in 2019 and I can’t wait to begin! Foal-face Friday will begin her job as an eventer (hopefully), Bertie will (hopefully) come back in to work, and Sid and G will begin their dressage careers (hopefully). I am touching lots of wood!

 

A massive thank you to all my amazing friends and family and supporters who do so much for me – I am endlessly thankful. Plus a huge congratulations to all my pupils and clients who are very important to me and make me so proud, their progress and success this year has been inspiring and makes 2019 look very exciting! So goodbye to 2018 and welcome to 2019. Thank you for those that have read my blogs and followed my journey; Happy New Year and see you next month!

 

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