Solitaire Dressage goes from strength to strength!

The excitement is building this week!

Jack recruited some more members for his fan club at regional training.

The Freestyle Dressage Productions team has been put under the spotlight in a tried and tested review for Equine Affairs members.

RB Equestrian have pledged further support for Solitaire dressage with a new sponsorship deal and as part of an exciting partnership between Freestyle Dressage and Equine Affairs, Roughway Jack will have a new competition name: Equine Affairs Roughway Jack.

Regional Training : A lesson with Jennie Lorriston-Clark

I enjoyed a very positive training session with Jennie. Jennie put me at my ease and then gradually asked more from me so that I had the confidence to work with her and to learn. Jennie is a first rate coach and I trusted her. Her system was familiar to me and thanks to the wonderful job Sabrina has done I was able to cope with the exercises we worked through and to make the most of the session. I felt privileged to work with Jennie whose love of horses and experience gave me the confidence to ask questions. I was very proud of Jack for looking after me and giving me the chance to play as Jennie put it. Jennie improved my feel and my confidence so I really enjoyed myself!
I owe the fun I had to Sabrina (and Jack!) as without her guidance and training I would not have been able to present myself so happily or to ride the exercises. I am grateful too that Jennie recognised early on that I can get lost in the arena when riding a new exercise and was quick to point to the marker she wanted me to ride to!! I did wonder if she had some inside info from Sabrina who has had to put up with my unique sense of space for some time now! I came away very happy that I had ridden advanced medium movements in front of a lady I admire greatly and not disgraced myself with any exam condition nerves.

I am looking forward to training with Sabrina on Wednesday with my last session before the Hickstead Semi finals on Thursday.

Winning Medium Freestyle at Manor Farm.

I made my medium level debut with Jack at Manor Farm. I warmed in the training section of M73 and was generally pleased- Jack was helpful and gave me some good medium trot across the diagonals in fact most of the trot tour was OK! Then the moment all dressage riders dread my mind went blank and I couldn't remember the walk pattern! I think my head was stuck in elementary mode as I could remember where the canter started but not how I got there... Oh dear. Two course errors later I picked myself up and enjoyed the rest of the test. Jack was a little tense though as I ended up doing about four walk pirouettes before I got the pattern correct.

So I was detemined to perform better for the freestyle! Jack warmed up well in fairly spooky circumstances with a new arena being put down next to the work in there was quite a lot of scary flapping plastic and heavy plant machinery limbering up alongside. Jack was not convinced it was a safe place to be whilst they moved large quantities of stone. However it did give more lift to his paces!

I let him have some quite time by the arena entrance and he relaxed until the sound check and the opening bars of The Entertainer when his pulse surged and his head came up and he looked over to the arena. From then on he knew it was show time. I rode a few more transitions and in we went.

I was nervous as though I had ridden the floorplan I hadn't ridden the floorplan to the updated music edit and I wasn't sure how Jack would react to the change. He reacted very well and the test flowed well. Jack was confident. I remembered the test. My favourite bit was the last canter circle- I was worried I would run out of music to show my medium canter and I was not at my mark. I gave Jack a lets go message and we went up several gears in one leap to get some impressive ground cover. My lack of subtlety and the panic lead to a little hollowness in the transition that I instantly regretted however Jack was not upset and allowed me to ride him forwards and accepted the rein again. The music helped as Jack recognised the phrase and we had caught up to hit the mark for the trot transition on cue. Clever Jack!

By now it was late in the day and John and Joanna really needed to be back to collect Hannah so we collected my music cds and my score . I was delighted to collect 67.8%.

When we got back to the yard curiosity overwhelmed me and I phoned Eddie to ask if I had placed- Great News- we had won the class. I hugged Jack who was busy investigating the food supply in his stable and told him he had won again. Jack was quite indulgent of my good mood. I put his equissage on and he settled for a snooze with one ear flicked in the direction of the lorry as we unpacked. By the time his equissage had finished we had the yard back to normal and I was ready to feed. An excellent day with qualification for the medium freestyle 2009 regionals secured at our first attempt. John posted great results with Rio too- 2nd in the novice qualifier and a convincing win in the Novice Freestyle. Thank you to John and Joanna for taking the whole day so we could compete. We started with John's test at 10.36 and my last one was at 17.25. Jack and Rio made the lorry their home and munched their way through each others haynets. A happy day!

In Hand Riding Horse at Caddington

Anjuli was a superstar today! It was her first public outing and she coped exceptionally well. I was very proud of her for behaving so well. It was a pleasure to take her to a competition. She was placed third in the In Hand Riding Horse and I am a very proud Mummy!

Summer Qualification Completed

Jack arrived at Addington looking like he owned the place and attracted some admiring glances because he looked stunning. He worked well too. We have been working on improving my ability to sustain Jack's suppleness and engagement throughout the test. I find that E58 is a tough pattern to ride and maintain the quality when a little out of practice. This outing was Jack's 5th since he came back into work and I haven't ridden E58 since the Hickstead semis last year.

Jack is now an established elementary horse and the challenge I face is making sure I present the test to gain the maximum marks. Yesterday I got a 7 for walk pirouette right which has been a weakness. I also presented the simple change right to left well to score an 8. Best of all though I was awarded good marks for the transitions within the paces which was a target.

So we have our ticket to Addington Hickstead Masters Semis. I have set a goal to qualify for the Masters Finals this year.

We also have our ticket for the Summer Regionals. I have this as an important target too as I really want to compete at Nationals.

My focus for the next few weeks is to prepare a freestyle test for Medium level and to ride Jack to his potential. I need to ride with the mindset that he is a PSG horse and that I can produce him as such.

Jack meanwhile is planning on sunbathing and exploring the tasty hedgerows.

Moulton Magic!

Jack and I did the double on Sunday and won the Elementary Qualifier with 70 % and the Elementary Freestyle Qualifier with 73.57%. Jack gave me a lovely ride - he seems to get better every time out and yesterday he had his dancing shoes on. Both Judges thought he was a lovely horse and marked us well all round.

Jack spent today in the field eating and snoozing- we didn't get home until 8.30 last night and I think we were all rather tired...

Next planned outing is our home ground at Addington where I will be trying to match my PB in Elementary 58.

Winter National Championships

I love my horse! He is such a good competitor, always ready to go to work. We woke him up at 3.45am and loaded him for the journey to Hartpury. We arrived at 6.30am, tacked him up and made our way to the arena walk where he behaved well and had a good look around. I was pleased we had made the effort to get up early and make use of the arena walk because it was quite spooky.

Jack was last at Hartpury in 2001 for a 3DE and he sensed this was a big occasion too. The lorry park overlooked the Pet Plan arena and he was kept entertained all day by the Festival Finals. That and hob nob biscuits which he quickly acquired a taste for.

Alex spent the morning making Jack look gorgeous and her attention to detail is exceptional. Jack looked a superstar and behaved like one too. In honour of the occasion Alex made quarter marks in the shape of musical notes. I was very proud to ride such a well turned out horse. Jack lived up to his looks in the test and gave me a great ride- I was happy to be judged by Jennie Lorriston- Clarke and thrilled to have the chance to compete in the class.

We made it to Nationals! I had a great ride and we placed 6th. My overall score was 67.8% but what really made my day was that Jennie gave me over 70% a score which in her mind made me third.

Central Horse News Report

Central Horse News Magazine feature my Regionals report this issue and next issue cover a training session with Sabrina.