Spring at last

Double Win for Sebastian and Celebrations at the CHN Performance Awards.

MKEC- Sebastian wins Novice and Elementary.

Rachel and I travelled through rain and sleet yesterday both wondering if this was a good idea but the Sunshine joined the party and the gusts of wind gave me a rather forward Sebastian to ride. In the work in he was more than happy with the loosening phase and was soon swinging along. As I began to ask for more engagement he grew another couple of hands! Counter canter became my new best friend and worked wonders keeping his attention on me.

The tests themselves felt a little fast forward though the shapes were accurate and we created a good impression though perhaps our centre lines and halts need a little more work!
Winning means we have qualified for the Trailblazers Second round in April and I am looking forward to ironing out the halt transitions and hopefully qualifying for Stoneleigh.

Elegance at The Holt

On Saturday evening we attended the CHN 100 issue celebration and performance awards. Editor Barbara wore a beautiful dress the colour was stunning and she looked so elegant. Throughout the evening a slide show of the CHN wall of fame played CHN horses and Jack and I were featured. The photo of us at Hartpury looks fantastic on the big screen!
We came fourth in the Dressage rankings this is two places up on last year and I am pleased with this as Jack had a short competition season in 2008. Perhaps 2009 will promote us to the "medal zone" as Phil suggested to me on Friday? Jack is now back in work and I am aiming to compete before the Central Training Camp in May. Watch this space!

Schoolmaster Fun.

I have had a lot of fun this week riding Dillan owned by Sabrina Jones FBHS. I really enjoyed my lessons and it was great to find purpose in my riding again. Dillan not only looked after me he did exactly what I asked and this made me giggle as sometimes I hadn't intended to ask for wiggly lines just a canter transition ... Once I relaxed and focused on feel and stopped being intimidated by riding such a superstar I had a wonderful time. Thank you Dillan for helping me get my confidence back ( thank you to Sebastian too who nursed me through my first enjoyable canter since my falls earlier in the year ) and thank you to Sabrina for understanding what I needed to do to find joy in riding again.

Good News from Jack HQ!

We now know what Jack is allergic to- midges, dust mites and stable flies. Three things I cannot eradicate from his environment!! Jack will now have a course of immunotherapy to calm down his system. Even better news the spots on his back and tummy have gone so he is coming back into work. He is also behaving much better whilst being walked in hand. I am very relieved as I was getting a bit fed up with him standing on two legs and being a diva... Ginty and Jack are very attached to each other at the moment which poses a problem in terms of doing anything where they lose site of each other. In the end yesterday I walked both of them in hand together. Felt like I was back working on a polo yard. I am looking forward to Grace coming to stay for a short holiday so that I won't have to keep borrowing Arista and Dillan to act as substitute friend every time I want to exercise one of the divas :) .

2009 CTR Rider Representatives

Team mates Alison Kenward and Jen Englishby have been shortlisted for the CTR 2009 Rider Representatives scheme. Please vote for the duo who are in different sections. See CTR issue 201 for more details.

Eagle eye readers will note that Alison's profile mentions that Alison is a voluntary committee member. Alison would like to make it clear that she stood down from the Aspley Guise committee last October. Alison's original application mentions that she HAD been a committee member and Alison would like to apologise to the current committee for the misunderstanding.

Great Day at BETA with RB Equestrain

I managed to escape from the snow yesterday and enjoyed a day at the BETA International Trade fair with RB Equestrian. I met up with several people I knew and enjoyed learning about whats new for 2009/10.

I was intrigued by the Racewood stand where they were demonstrating a dressage simulator together with interactive rider position assessment and virtual dressage test riding. I really wanted to have a go so maybe I will book a lesson at one of the BHS centres in my area.

The Fashion Show provided some light entertainment and I enjoyed viewing the new clothing collections as well as the new seasons rugs of course!

I came home and gathered my thoughts for a freestyle meeting with John and Joanna. We had a long agenda and by 1am I was feeling a little sleepy. We are all feeling very positive about freestyle dressage and looking forward to the clinics and demos in 2009. I'll admit to a lie in this morning and I was very pleased when I checked my messages and found that RB had WON Retailer of the Year. Fantastic and very well deserved!

Sunshine at Church Farm

Two difficult decisions made, BUT an opportunity to refocus!
Its been quite a week and what a relief that the horses have settled in so well at Sabrina's yard. I rode Jack in the sunshine this morning and I felt relaxed with the choices I have made.

First is that I have sold Anjuli to the Mears family. I was finding Anjuli a bit of a handful and she just keeps growing! After a couple of nasty falls before Christmas I realised I was never going to completely trust her and that she is still a real baby who needs time to grow into herself. Anjuli needs to be turned away for a while and then introduced back to work away from the arena. I was surprised and very relieved when I got a phone call from Joanna to ask if they could buy her and once the decision was made I started sleeping at night again. I know the whole family loves her and I couldn't wish for a better home for her.

The second decision was to withdraw Jack from the music regionals. We are not prepared properly and it wouldn't be fair to him to place the pressure on him or myself. I have a policy of not taking Jack out to competitions unless he is ready and though I have struggled to let the regionals go it is the sensible option. Jack is so special I owe it to him to be sensible and to give him longer to come back into full work. So I have set myself a new challenge. I would like to be selected for the Central Region Team to go to the Inter Regional Championships in May.

Celebrating 2009 with new setting.

I am about to enter a new phase in my competition training as I am moving the horses to Sabrina Jones FBHS yard. I am very excited to have the opportunity to base with Sabrina and feel her guidance and mentoring will help me progress to the advanced levels. 2009 is a year for fresh challenges!