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Hi again! If you’re new to Horseball please don’t forgot to check out my first blog where I explained it all!

With only four weeks left to go until the first league weekend competition that means final preparations are fully under way! For me I’ve found the best way to prepare is lots of cross training. Some riders tend to focus more on just Horseball training but I find with my horses they need to keep their minds more occupied or they get sour.

Through the winter Orders had a good holiday from Horseball while Casper was off from September with an unknown injury that he’s since recovered from. The winter gave us all time to recover from the busy season get any aches and pains sorted. I’m fortunate enough to have wonderful sponsors in Alicorne Sports Massage for the horses and The Balanced Rider for me. While the horses were relaxing I’ve been working hard with Kim and Cara to get more strength and power in my body – (I was hindered last year with some niggly injuries). They are both great at coming up with new inventive exercises to improve you. I think my favourite (easiest) exercise is trying to keep a hula hoop going as long as possible – I don’t get away with using that one lots!

Some of the other exercises we’ve come up with have included side using wobble boards to pass and catch the ball, practice pick ups with the wobble boards and some general side planking, but I think the exercise I most want to crack and struggle with is Cara’s newest forms of “torture” is trying to kneel up on a ball and the second is trying to juggle while on two wobble boards! Turns out juggling is not my forte! (check them out guys for anyone wanting to improve or general aches! http://thebalancedrider.co.uk/index.html)

 

During a previous discussion with Kim, we realised how many skills are needed in dressage and horseball which was where I was introduced to Olivia Oakley, now my dressage coach! Needing something to occupy my brain and competitive streaks through the winter we took up dressage! A lot of what we worked on with Olivia for dressage has improved Orders for Horseball too, all the transition work has increased his ability to listen and his reactivity. With the groundwork in place it was time to start thinking competition before we both got distracted.

Our aims were low to start with and my first competition with Orders not going too well! He got very excited and wound up, adding in a little too much canter to our test! We went back to the drawing board on how to chill him out and for him the best thing to do we’ve found is to let him get it out of his system and spend a good five minutes working on his canter as opposed to trying to stop him. It definitely paid off in our second attempt with him coming away with a 2nd place. With our new found love for dressage I won’t be waiting too long to get back into the dressage arena when we have a quiet weekend. While we’re keeping up with our lessons at home we’re spending more time on Horseball based flatwork, such as leg yielding and transitions as well as quick balanced turns.

February also brought around the start of Horseball clinics for the year, we attended a clinic open to players at Brooksby Equestrian Centre, in Melton Mowbray with GB coach Christophe Desormeaux. As well as the chance to socialise with friends it’s a great opportunity to ride with other players who aren’t in your team. Day 1 was focused on horse control and ball control. The main aim being the control of the canter, a lot of the horses tend to rush off when the ball starts being passed so we did lots of exercises based on keeping the canter rhythm and passing the ball. When there are eight of you in an arena 50m, by 20m it gets a little tricky! But we did manage to complete the exercise three times in a row beating the boys! Woohoo!

Day two again focused on horse control and personal control – making sure we are aware as players of the others on the pitch. An exercise we used was to ride in a diamond shape with a defending player in the middle of the group. The key to the exercise was to keep the ball moving so the defender couldn’t stick in one place. While it sounded quiet simple at the time it proved to be quite difficult, trying to keep four horses at the same speed in a shape and not feel pressured from the defender.

To finish the weekend when you’re already nice and tired we had a competitive canter pick up exercise in small groups before getting to finish with a game.

Being able to attend the clinics and play with different players is highly valuable being able to adapt techniques to each new play. The other benefits for me personally is being able to take and adapt as needed to my own teams that I’m coaching during the week. More ideas means better players and easier coaching nights when I’ve got some hardcore Southampton university riders training in -3c!

While Orders has been taking centre stage Casper has quietly been coming back into work – after a few false starts with him before when my vet Nikki came out and gave us the all clear I kept to very secret just in case. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has had issues with a horse and not wanted to share just in case something goes wrong again. But after two weeks in work I couldn’t keep it in anymore and he’s back at the fore front again. As much as I love Orders, Casper holds a special place for me and the fact my vets have worked so hard to get him back to where he is and the fact we can play again this year is just amazing! Casper celebrated being back to full work by galloping off through our local woods! He’s definitely back to his cheeky ways.

 

So our countdown has begun 4 weeks to go ..! Our next update will be after our first competition (and a good night’s sleep!)  Orders will be playing for North London Ladies and Casper for World’s End 2nd Division team and I’ll be coaching our brand new Southern Horseball team at their first full competition! Lots to do but always worth it!

Hope everyone’s’ Easter plans are fun we’ll all be enjoying some chocolate for you!

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