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After 6 months of bad luck for me and Robbie with injury and illness we are finally getting back on track (fingers crossed). Luckily Robbie coped amazing whilst out of work and bringing him back into work. We started coming back into work with some light hacking, some horses would have really struggled starting with hacking but knowing Robbie this was the right thing for him. Schooling, pole work building up to jumping again. Building up Robbie’s fitness again we did lots of hacking with hills and canter work.
Since getting back on track (well Robbie anyway) Robbie went to somerford camp for several days, Robbie had some fantastic lessons with brilliant instructors over the weekend to kick-start the season. Somerford is every equestrians dream; it’s like Disney land for horses! There is every cross country jump you and your horse can dream of and for all levels from baby jumps to the big scary fences. The most amazing schooling area’s for anything from show jumping, flatwork to grid work. And finally if like me you LOVE hacking, the farm rides at somerford are miles of off road hacking through fields, tracks and woodland areas with water, steps and a range of cross country jumps for all different levels around the farm ride. I take the horses every year for their holiday, and safe to say it’s just as exciting every time.
Trips out for lessons were definitely valuable for us getting back on track. I am a strong believer that you are never too old or too good for lessons. Having a set of eyes on the ground with lots of knowledge is so helpful and key to improvement. Lesson’s away from the yard also is great training without the pressure of competition. Training I love wearing my Natalie Women’s Riding Tights Black they are so comfortable for every day training, I also love wearing my Tottie gilet when training it’s super flattering and comfy.
Our first competition getting back on track we decided to enter a low key dressage competition for practice before the area four riding club combined training competition. We were faced with horrendous rain (no surprise) and an extremely busy competition. Robbie coped really well and only got cross when rain drops landed on his nose in the indoor arena, does anyone else’s horse do this? Both tests felt very tense and not his best but pleased anyway since it was our first competition in six months, we came away with a 2nd and 5th and some really useful comments from the judges.
The area four combined training competition Robbie felt super relaxed and dare I say it actually felt the best dressage test we have done (unfortunately the mark didn’t reflect how the test felt )the practice competition a few days before definitely helped Robbie relax and allow him to do the best test he could have done for the area competition. Show jumping he jumped really well, if you have ever jumped at bishop burton collage in the indoor arena you will know it is definitely a lot to take in. We had 8 faults (rider error) sack the jockey! We have several training and competitions lined up to work towards and motivate us, fingers crossed we are back on track now. Love to hear what you have done to get back on track!
Love,
Hannah x