The first couple of Tuesdays this year brought good weather. Cold but with blue skies and some sun. Rio was on form and I do believe we are finally coming together as a partnership. He is much more responsive to me and seems to be understanding that my indications are not the usual kind. He is such a biddable pony and tries hard and in only 18 months we have done really well; two red rosettes and a blue being the latest. Not bad for a sixty something novice with a wonky spine and an even wonkier leg!

After all the razzmatazz of last year activities at the yard are a lot calmer. No magazine or film shoots in the offing but we did have one more exciting development and one which makes me feel very proud. Each year the RDA nominates one pony/horse as the pony or horse of the year. I nominated Rio and although he didn’t win he has gained what I consider a fabulous “consolation” prize. He has been chosen to be the “flagship” pony for the RDA with his own spot on the new RDA website representing all that is best about our RDA equines. What a star! He is still a young pony so hopefully has many years ahead but already he encompasses all those qualities that are considered essential in an RDA equine;

• intelligence
• adaptability
• obedience
• willingness
• non-reactive
• friendly and affectionate
• sensitive to emotional and behavioural issues
• patient and kind

Read all about him here:-

https://www.rda.org.uk/our-horses/

I couldn’t have a better pony with which to continue my riding journey.

When I began riding I didn’t have a plan – does anyone!  And so I never really considered that after a period of time I would want to do more than walk around an arena. Having done this and thus achieved my ambition to get on a horse I needed to be challenged a lot more. So my competition journey began.

Last year we did rather well achieving first place in both our away competitions. This year’s season is not far off and planning is already underway as to who will take part and which test they will complete. The youngsters often do the Countryside Challenge which I did for the first time last year. It’s a fun test which teaches balance and coordination. All those barrels to go round, arches to walk under and bridges to cross!  Rio was really on the ball and we did a good round but this year I want to concentrate on Dressage as I seem to be doing ok at it.  A Dressage Anywhere test a couple of weeks ago helped to get me back into the swing of it. As I am still having issues with my “good” leg and it’s taking time to get any sort of diagnosis I did the walk only Grade 1 Championship Test. Quite a lot of concentration needed as there are lots of curves and bends in the test so a bit of weight shifting needed to get the right amount of curve. Rio is getting much better at doing these now and has also finally cottoned on to what a free walk is. The last time we did one he was a bit bemused when I loosened the reins; as if mum had suddenly abandoned him in public!  Our halts also need a bit of improvement as Rio often wants to get going again too hastily but with patience these are improving so I am hopeful we will not get marked down again. Overall I was very happy with my result, scoring just over 70%. We are going in the right direction! Para grading is also part of this year’s plan but this is taking time so I am not hopeful it will be in place before the Regionals in April.

Of course each test is made up of different elements and so lessons are often built around one or more of these. Some weeks lessons are fantastic and things really go well. Other times lessons just don’t seem to work although Karen, my coach thinks this is just me being negative – and she’s probably right as I always want to get it right first time and anything less is failure! This week I thought was one of those that don’t really pan out although reflecting afterwards I realised that actually it went quite well. I was having one of my “slippy slidey” moments when I seem to slide off the saddle to the right. This causes a few balance issues when trying to do circles or turns particularly in the direction of the “slide” ie to the right so turns on the forehand are perhaps not the best element to be practising. But practice them we did, both 90 and 180 degrees. Going to the left was fine but going right was a bit more of a challenge. Doing a 180 I thought I would spin out of the right hand door!  I didn’t but it shows that I still need to work on my centre of balance and get this issue out of the way. That said Rio cooperated really well and did some nice turns but I think we probably did too many and he began to get a bit  bored and tried to shy away from the poles. It was one of those “do it three times only” and then move on moments. As the Spanish Riding School would say; if there is no improvement after three repetitions move on. Of course as my coach would say; a rider often needs more repetitions to “get it”, which is the conundrum.

So my journey is progressing well. We have welcomed one or two new riders recently and are alternating lessons on our simulator Lloyd and on our other lovely RDA pony, Fudge.  He is a real sweetie and a stalwart of the group. They all really seem to be enjoying their visits and their parents have been very complimentary about how they have really helped their children. It’s so satisfying to know this and its plain to see how effective being with or on a horse can be to a child’s intellectual and emotional development. We have also welcomed some new volunteers which will enable us to continue our summer programme the “Silver Hour” which hopefully will resume in May.

Kesteven RiDeAbility. Sue’s Blog. Feb. 2019. www.kestevenrda.co.uk