The summer season is just about kicking off and we have just had our winter semi-finals in preparation for the winter championships to be held at Solihull.

Unfortunately, my luck has been a bit lacking in the last few weeks and poor old Sam has a big leg which is proving stubborn to get rid of and one of the others went out and won his second advanced medium test with 69% and then proceeded to go lame with a suspensory ligament strain the next day so was unable to compete and the semi finals. Poor chap will now be off for some months although we are exploring the new treatments of shock wave and ultra sound etc to try and speed up recovery time.

I did take one horse, Flyaways Mathere owned by Sara Jago, to do the elementary open class and he went well and ended up 11th out of about 37 which was respectable if not exciting! The standard continues to rise and the calibre of horse is getting better and better. However, there were far too many in the classes and to expect judges to do their bit for 6 hours in the cold is unfair both on them and the competitors they have to concentrate on - nobody can stay objective for that length of time especially when the temperature is that low. How one makes it fairer I don't know but it would seem to be sensible to raise the qualifying percentage to lessen the numbers. That is my grouse over although I can say that my horse was judged both fairly and accurately, no complaints there - but that couldn't be said for all.....

So now we are looking forward to longer days and warmer ones I hope. My remaining charges are building up now to their summer aims of qualifying for the medium, advanced medium and prix st. georges championships, although nothing is really different in that the priority is always to get them soft and working well from behind over their backs. I don't spend much time actually practicing movements - they will do those if the rest is right. Time is never wasted in getting horses soft - so many people make them sour by going on and on with specific movements - half-pass, flying changes or shoulder-in . They would be far better employed checking that the horse was really accepting the contact and going in self-carriage with a soft swinging pace. Also checking that he moves of the leg correctly and that he stops and starts with no hitches! Transitions - hundreds of them - are the order of the day really. They encourage the hind quarters to come under and create more impulsion.

So, I would advise plenty of variety - now the ground might begin to dry out, plenty of hacking to keep them interested combined with suppling work and time spent on the basic way of going will reap rewards in your forthcoming tests!

 

The Winter dressage season is upon us and we are frantically trying to qualify all horses for the Winter Dressage Championships which are held in April in Solihull. There are Regional ones first so one cannot rest on ones laurels having qualified as it is a tough job to get through the Regionals. Both horses that I am riding have done really well in a short burst of activity! They were kept ticking over beautifully whilst I was away and were far fitter than their jockey to start their Winter competitions.... Both are relatively young and are short on competiton mileage, hence the importance of getting them out and about experiencing all that life can throw at them whilst trying to concentrate during a dressage test. They have both qualified for the Regionals at Elementary level and one has managed to get through at Medium too. All this in four outings so they have been very good boys!

At Elementary level we ask for 'collection' for the first time. People often get confused as to what the difference between working and collection is. What you need to remember is that collection at this level is only required sufficient to show all the movements in a balanced fashion - i.e. the levels of collection are nothing like as advanced as you would be expected to show at advanced standard. What you need to do is to ride the trot and canter exactly as you would normally do and if you are expected to show 'working' trot aswell, then move up a gear to get the working pace - don't go slower to get the 'collection'. The main thing is to show a difference in the pace - so always start at a base of your normal good active trot and increase the strides for working and medium paces.

Also we are required to perform these tests in sitting trot for the first time. This can be a problem if you haven't grasped the nettle and practiced without your stirrups to gain as deep a seat as possible! We all have to work on this constantly and there is no substitute for taking those pedals away! If you are bouncing around on top then you cannot expect your steed to perform a soft and supply medium trot across a 20mx 60m diagonal!

Try stretching you legs away from the saddle pointing your toes down to the ground as if you were stretching down to touch something on the ground which was 5 foot away from the horse. Then relax your legs and repeat as often as you can. Lift your legs up slightly in the saddle (so that your knees are up into the knee rolls) and gently 'kick' your legs down with the weight in your heels. Twiddle your toes in both directions to rotate your ankle joint aswell as stretching the legs and this will all help to get you deeper into the saddle.

If your horse is finding the smaller circles required at elementary level rather hard, then there is nothing better than as many transitions between paces as you can do - walk-trot, trot-canter, trot-halt, halt-trot etc etc. All these will help engage his hind quarters and therefore make the tighter turns and circles easier for him.

Christmas is coming and no doubt there will be a few days on the trot when you are not able to work your horse - just a reminder that if he is having hard food - watch that you cut it down a bit if you are not riding him as often as usual - a build-up of protein is not good news and supplementing hay is a better policy.

I do hope that everying has a great Christmas and that the New Year brings a great deal of fun and success in the dressage arena!!

P.S. These pictures are of your's truly trying her hand at elephant back riding!!

Please click on the photos to see a larger image