Girlracer
Well-Known Member
... morning all!
Firstly, before we get into the nitty gritty of facing irrational demons some less scary and exciting news - I have bought myself a dressage saddle!
I am a very lucky girl, that on the flat my horse tolerates pretty much anything (so long as it's not being ridden properly by anyone other than me... obviously), therefore he has been very patient with my apparent inability to ride in a dressage saddle. It has highlighted some very obvious floors in my riding, so much so that this week I have joined the gym to try and give myself a helping hand.
Other than that, we are embracing our inner dressage diva, and are very determined to improve, improve and improve some more. And it is important too to remember where we have come from, and how vast an improvement this is already.
[video=youtube_share;QyoBXGb8R6c]https://youtu.be/QyoBXGb8R6c[/video]
So here comes the feel the fear and do it anyway... Yesterday we went for a little trip to Allenshill Equestrian for a spot of Show Jumping... now it would be very easy for me at this point to only share with you the good... but as my page description reads "our daily challenges and successes" I think it's only right that I bring the harsh reality of being a very average grassroots rider!
So in the absence of a 90cm class I chose to do the 80 and 85 today... (95 seems like 5 too many centimetres to me). The whole point being that both of us need to put into practice everything that our training has been working toward - slow and steady wins the race.
You would think by now, having spent the whole of 2016 running at 80 and surviving that I might by now have gotten over my irrational broken bone related fears... alas this is not the case, and I felt just as sick as usual before going in (is this just me, or does anyone suffer with irrational nerves too??!). Fence 1... phew we are over... fence 5... we are still in one piece... fence 6... by this point BOTH of us seem to be racing each other to the other side. I am going to call it stage freight, I don't know what it is, but it wasn't our finest moment.
Now I know full well that my horse is well capable of jumping 80cm, so the fact that there were four fences to rebuild is a very poor show (sorry to the person who had to run around picking up the pieces!).
So I left the arena, and went off to sulk for a little while, but being last to go in the 80 and third to go in the 85 didnt leave much time for sulking. So I cantered round the warm up, promptly had a big old argument with him and crashed into the oxer. Once I had finished apologising to the poor chap that had to rebuild the fence I tried to remember everything that Bill Levett has said to me over our past two sessions you need to breathe, relax dont panic and push, set up in the corner and sit still so thats basically everything I HADNT been doing up to this point. So I cantered round and round over a X pole with my new moto then went off to start my round I am sure the poor lady who was picking up poles grimaced as she saw us re-enter the ring, but she neednt have worried as this time I was actually going to ride my horse!
Another wise thing Bill said to me not that long ago was that (unfortunately for me) my horse punishes me for bad riding (and rightly so, I suppose!) but rewards me when I get it right. Basically he isnt going to do it for me! So I took a breath, slowed him down in the corners and sat still to the fence, I learnt to love the extra stride and I did not push for anything and hey guess what? We went clear! Funny that aye? Not only that, but we even managed to bring home a rossie, and qualify for the Trailblazers 2nd rounds!
So who knows, maybe that is a lesson learnt and in future I will remember to turn up!
[video=youtube_share;8dhvGCL-ENE]https://youtu.be/8dhvGCL-ENE[/video]
And just because he is insanely handsome, and my very talented friend has taken some beautiful photos, I can't help but share them with you.
And on a final, positive note, I am officially on the best yard ever... here we are on a yard trip to Cotswold farm Park Funride last weekend. Its been a long time coming, being on a positive, supportive yard that has my horses best interests at the forefront. We have never been happier.
Firstly, before we get into the nitty gritty of facing irrational demons some less scary and exciting news - I have bought myself a dressage saddle!
I am a very lucky girl, that on the flat my horse tolerates pretty much anything (so long as it's not being ridden properly by anyone other than me... obviously), therefore he has been very patient with my apparent inability to ride in a dressage saddle. It has highlighted some very obvious floors in my riding, so much so that this week I have joined the gym to try and give myself a helping hand.
Other than that, we are embracing our inner dressage diva, and are very determined to improve, improve and improve some more. And it is important too to remember where we have come from, and how vast an improvement this is already.
[video=youtube_share;QyoBXGb8R6c]https://youtu.be/QyoBXGb8R6c[/video]
So here comes the feel the fear and do it anyway... Yesterday we went for a little trip to Allenshill Equestrian for a spot of Show Jumping... now it would be very easy for me at this point to only share with you the good... but as my page description reads "our daily challenges and successes" I think it's only right that I bring the harsh reality of being a very average grassroots rider!
So in the absence of a 90cm class I chose to do the 80 and 85 today... (95 seems like 5 too many centimetres to me). The whole point being that both of us need to put into practice everything that our training has been working toward - slow and steady wins the race.
You would think by now, having spent the whole of 2016 running at 80 and surviving that I might by now have gotten over my irrational broken bone related fears... alas this is not the case, and I felt just as sick as usual before going in (is this just me, or does anyone suffer with irrational nerves too??!). Fence 1... phew we are over... fence 5... we are still in one piece... fence 6... by this point BOTH of us seem to be racing each other to the other side. I am going to call it stage freight, I don't know what it is, but it wasn't our finest moment.
Now I know full well that my horse is well capable of jumping 80cm, so the fact that there were four fences to rebuild is a very poor show (sorry to the person who had to run around picking up the pieces!).
So I left the arena, and went off to sulk for a little while, but being last to go in the 80 and third to go in the 85 didnt leave much time for sulking. So I cantered round the warm up, promptly had a big old argument with him and crashed into the oxer. Once I had finished apologising to the poor chap that had to rebuild the fence I tried to remember everything that Bill Levett has said to me over our past two sessions you need to breathe, relax dont panic and push, set up in the corner and sit still so thats basically everything I HADNT been doing up to this point. So I cantered round and round over a X pole with my new moto then went off to start my round I am sure the poor lady who was picking up poles grimaced as she saw us re-enter the ring, but she neednt have worried as this time I was actually going to ride my horse!
Another wise thing Bill said to me not that long ago was that (unfortunately for me) my horse punishes me for bad riding (and rightly so, I suppose!) but rewards me when I get it right. Basically he isnt going to do it for me! So I took a breath, slowed him down in the corners and sat still to the fence, I learnt to love the extra stride and I did not push for anything and hey guess what? We went clear! Funny that aye? Not only that, but we even managed to bring home a rossie, and qualify for the Trailblazers 2nd rounds!
So who knows, maybe that is a lesson learnt and in future I will remember to turn up!
[video=youtube_share;8dhvGCL-ENE]https://youtu.be/8dhvGCL-ENE[/video]
And just because he is insanely handsome, and my very talented friend has taken some beautiful photos, I can't help but share them with you.
And on a final, positive note, I am officially on the best yard ever... here we are on a yard trip to Cotswold farm Park Funride last weekend. Its been a long time coming, being on a positive, supportive yard that has my horses best interests at the forefront. We have never been happier.
