Well what a joyful month to own horses! What with the snow storms, monsoon rain and freezing temperatures…I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’ve considered booking a ticket to a warmer country and leaving it all behind! The weather put a spanner in the works for our first show of the month – the BD Regionals at Summerhouse. Heavy snow meant that was postponed a week, frustrating but 100% the right call for everybody.
The change of date gave me a chance to have a last minute lesson with Richard (Davison). A perfect outing for Bertie to keep him in the swing of things and he was really good. We decided not to run through the test because ultimately with music you can freestyle anyway, and this is normally necessary with Bertie, so any practice would probably end up being pointless. We also decided not to do too many flying changes in case Bertie thought the regionals were the best place to show them off… Bertie’s sense of timing is pretty spot on after all! So instead we played with crisp simple changes (required in the freestyle) and canter pirouettes. Bertie finds simple changes infuriating – ultimately it slows things down which is the opposite to Bertie’s life plan! First few were atrocious, last few were spot-on – tick. The pirouettes I have played with at home but kept them a bit under wraps so it was good to show someone and get their verdict – cue showing a pirouette then waiting with racing heart and palms sweating for Richard’s response…fortunately he thought they were good! Phew. A few little pointers to progress them further and exercises to incorporate but all positive and agreed they’re nearly test ready. Apparently our next lesson will be focusing on Bertie’s tempi changes – well I know what we’ll be doing until then! Fortunately they are one of our favourite things to do so we’ll have lots of fun.
A few days later we finally got to the Regionals for the Medium Freestyle and Bertie was ace! He felt gorgeous in the warm up (in an unfamiliar arena so big pat) and then did a lovely test – he was definitely (for Bertie) the most chilled and relaxed he’s ever been and the handbrake wasn’t required for once! A little disappointed with the score but we still had some inevitable spooks and a few very expensive errors, e.g. 4s for jogging in the collected walk and leaping in the final halt… Bertie would tell you he was keeping in time with the music and it ends with a bang so he did too!! But thrilled to finish 7th in a big class and ultimately a top 10 result in your horse’s first Regional Championships – what more can you ask for?
It felt a bit anti-climatic after the Regionals; always the case when you have put so much planning and focus on a competition – once it’s over you’re left feeling a bit lost! With more snow and planned outings being cancelled, then me getting the flu (100% blaming the weather) it’s been a bit of a quieter month. Never mind; training at home continues and you just have to put your head down and crack on as and when you can. After initially giving myself a hard time when the horses had unplanned easy days I realised you just have to go with it; everyone’s in the same boat and as long as the horses are happy and their basic needs are met that’s the most important thing.
Despite only being March, thoughts are already moving towards the event season and making plans. I teach several eventers, both with their dressage and their jumping, and you have to begin preparations early in the year so you can peak at the right time. Fitness training should not be underestimated or left too late! I’ve evented at B.E. Novice level (and still have dreams of Badminton!) so it’s something I’m very familiar with. However the impact all that fitness work has on the dressage phase should not be overlooked as can be pretty catastrophic!! Imagine having a horse that is fit enough to be ridden three separate times in the space of a few hours, being expected to produce a scopey bouncy showjump round as well as zooming around a technical cross-country course, and not dying when coming through the final line, of course. A fit horse is a must. But which phase is first? The calm, relaxed and obedient dressage test!! With a buzzy fit horse… Who thought that up?! And nowadays you have to perform an extremely good dressage test to be in with a chance of a placing at a B.E. horse trials, so my work is cut out – a challenge I relish!
While Ruin isn’t going to event I enjoy jumping him, as well as all the horses. It’s good for him to have variety in his work and it’s really useful gymnastically as well. He loves it! Shame he has such an aversion to ditches (and getting his feet dirty in general) or he’d make quite a good eventer alongside his dressaging. Here he is demonstrating (a) how to do it, and (b) how to jump like Superman…
So after a challenging March here’s hoping April doesn’t continue the trend and bring too many ‘April showers’! April is the first month of Spring (I don’t know if this is true or not but I’m going with it regardless, argue with me at your peril) so things have to improve. We will continue to progress on up competition-wise and my next plan is doing a freestyle with Ruin… If we haven’t sailed away or drowned I’ll see you then!
