Happy Days at Solitaire Dressage

Jack and the team are well rested after our weekend at Your Horse Live. We had a brilliant time sharing a behind the scenes look at creating dressage to music floor plans and music soundtracks. We also showed how helpful it can be to introduce riding to music to every horse and rider's schooling routine.
The whole demonstration was made possible thanks to Nick Reeve, a professional music producer with an interest in dressage and the impact (and fun) of adding music to create a performance the audience (&Judges) will remember. Nick produces music to ride to as well as creating scores for Grand Prix to Prelim routines that receive high marks and excellent feedback.
I rode my medium routine on Saturday and by Sunday Jack was adding in his super moves and offering flying changes which appear in his advanced medium routines. Space was at a premium and the shorter arena meant he offered some excellent and acute angled half passes. Well done Jack! I particularly enjoyed the live coaching segments with my regular pupils, Francesca, Nicola, Alasdair, Hayley and Amanda - well done team, I was delighted that we were able to give an insight into our training sessions. The Audience asked me some good questions and I was able to discuss introducing music to horses, working with tempo and different musical styles and to share the audience feedback on the process of matching music to combinations.

My thoughts are now with the approaching British Dressage Summer Season which officially begins on December 1st, my last few 2014 music competitions and the preparation for the 2015 regionals. Training at home and with Emile Faurie is going well and Jack and I continue to enjoy ourselves. Christmas is on the horizon and we have some team parties as well as training clinics to look forward to.

It's been a busy month so far with a clear round at the Area Festival at Moreton Morrell and a Coach CPD day with BD Central at my favourite venue Brampton Stables. I've also welcomed new team supporters KitBrix who have helped me organise all my kit for training and competition with their brilliantly designed modular kit bag system. Jack has been testing a few new products too; at Your Horse Live we discovered the brilliant Caviera bedding which is warm, dust free and doesn't contain any of the additives that he is allergic to. Jack has had a long career and I'm always looking at ways to support him, in the same way that I take extra supplements I am always pleased to try new products for Jack when they are from a company I've used before. Protexin have always been a trusted brand and I was pleased to review their Recover Aid. Jack has always used Equine America Applelytes and recently began to trial their new Cortaflex with added Supafen. I have been very pleased with the results.

I am always very careful with Jack's diet because of his allergies and sensitivity to starch. I feed Baileys No4, Stud Balancer and Speedibeet. This has been his staple diet since 2008 and the only thing we change is the ration in consultation with the Baileys Team. Together with good quality forage, a joint supplement and occasional digestive support this has been the winning formula for Jack's high performance career . Along with good grazing and lots of winter layers he is content. Jack is a fun if demanding horse to look after!

I'm really looking forward to the next round of clinics at Solitaire and away from home in Bucks and Northants. For those who would like a freestyle routine our next date with Nick Reeve is February 7th. I'm also looking forward to working with my partners at Elonex to promote Equestrian Sport- look out for new digital advertising campaigns at events and venues near you - tweet me SolitaireDTM if you would like to see your brand on the big screen !

Stable Makeover for Jack

Jack has a wonderful stable with excellent ventilation, rubber matting and a great view from his stable door onto the yard as well as a window overlooking the arena. He can even chat to Marmalade through the dividing bars of his stable. Horse heaven and yet still missing the extra finishing touch that would bring more light to the corners and give him a sense of peace and tranquility. I drew the line at a water feature though he does his best to upset the drinker and dunk hay in his buckets. I read about the calming effects of stable mirrors and was delighted to be asked to test a Stable Mirror and review the impact on Jack's attitude.

The mirror was an instant success with Jack who is always trying to gaze at himself in the arena mirrors at Emile Faurie's yard! Jack seemed delighted to have his very own mirror that is safe enough for him to nuzzle and chat to and gaze at himself! I think he knows it's his reflection because he still goes to chat to Marmalade!

As for the energy flow in the stable I think the mirror has created a stillness, it has certainly created an extra sense of space and lightness and I would recommend treating your horse to a mirror- easy to order and install contact Mirrors For Training for more information.

My Flexible Horse

Roughway Jack is 22 and is still enjoying work and training. Emile Faurie has been instrumental in helping me improve our dressage scores at medium. We start with a careful warm up and let Jack begin to relax and start to connect. The secret is to ask Jack to work with me and not take charge and to allow me to ride his paces in a regular rhythm so that he works in a soft,supple, swinging frame. I believe that there are lots of factors which contribute to Jack's current high performance. First it's crucial that he's happy and for this he needs a regular routine, the company of his friends, well fitting tack, a balanced diet, regular turnout and varied workloads and lots of pampering !
I think it's very important to feed a joint supplement and I was delighted to review Equine Science Supplements Flexibility for Haynet Blog. Jack was initially sceptical about eating a new supplement particularly as the loading dose is 6 measures for his body weight. I got around this by adding in a scoop at each feed and gradually increasing it and once he discovered he liked the taste there were no more dramas.
Jack is certainly on top form, we have started to improve his lateral work and develop even greater collection in our lessons with Emile and these are taxing sessions for any horse let alone a veteran. I am pleased to report that Jack is demonstrating a great desire to work and perform at competitions and giving me a feeling of cadence and expression in his paces that I never dreamt possible.

Fun times in July

Jack and I continue to work happily together - I'm sure it's the support team we have that keeps him content and interested in his ridden work and training. The storms have passed at last and we enjoyed the summer sunshine this evening. With our elementary music regionals qualification achieved and our area festival medium notifications arriving today there is a lot to look forward to. Not least designing new music routines for the next levels and Your Horse Live.
This week we have had special guests from Your Horse Magazine who came to report on a couple of lessons, Nicola and Laura rode really well and I'm looking forward to seeing the articles and iPad edition when they are published.