We have just returned from a manic few weeks away from home! It started with intensive training at Emile’s, followed by the Addington High Profile Show and finishing up with a couple of days at World Class Squad training. We took Feine Dame, Aristo and Chiara (a new ride for me this year). She is at Small Tour level and Owned by Emma Blundell and we are VERY excited about her for this season!
Last but not least we also took Show Boy, my stallion I mentioned a couple of blogs ago. I have owned him since he was three years old and he is my ‘dark horse’ for the coming years. He is so well suited to the Grand Prix work and I have concentrated on his training at home until now. But he is nine years old and nearly ready to rumble at the level and will start to go out and compete at some of the Premier Leagues for ring experience.
We had a fantastic week of training with Emile, the main focus being on my influence over each horse and staying stronger through my own core. I have learnt not to just accept the ‘pretty’ picture I can create when riding but to really ride for more expression and hind leg connection into the contact. This means that the tempi changes become much straighter, the canter pirouettes bouncier and with the piaffe/passage tour with Aristo, I have found him much lighter on his feet. Everything is generally becoming snappier and more finely tuned!
We headed on to Addington for the High Profile Show with all of them and I was excited to get my competition kit on for the first time this year and have some fun with the horses. As the classes were hotly contested, more like a National Championship atmosphere, I decided to take the pressure off and think about what I wanted to achieve with each horse in terms of their way of going, the feel through each test and I set a percentage target zone for what I wanted for each of them. I found this worked really well for me and kept me entirely focused when swapping from horse to horse – I rode nine different tests over two days!
Feine Dame was AMAZING! She hadn’t competed since the National Championships in September and I had in the back of my mind to prepare myself in case she came out a bit sharp. I needn’t have worried though, as she behaved like the seasoned International Small Tour horse that she has become. We ended up winning the HUGE Prix St George Class, which was a mega start to the season!
It was the first big show for Chiara and myself, so the aim was to get through a nice steady clear round in the Prix St George. She was beautifully behaved in the immaculately dressed indoor arena which bodes well for International competitions for us in the future, as it really is spooky in there! I was thrilled that our calm and slightly underpowered test, earned us 6th place.
Aristo was a little spooky in the Inter II. Like Feine Dame, he hadn’t competed since September so his first test was really just for a fun run through, meaning we would have been in the international arena before the Grand Prix. This worked a treat as when he came out for the main event the following evening, we did our best Grand Prix to date and ended up 10th in a huge class. I really couldn’t have been happier!
Show boy got the short straw – competing outside and in January! Thankfully the weather held up and although it was very cold, the sun did shine now and then! He really showed to me how much he has matured into an extremely promising Grand Prix Horse. He was just having a run through a couple of Advanced Mediums for this first show, so I could get a feel for how he would be in the ring. I now feel he is ready to move up the levels getting more competition experience on the road to Grand Prix.
We had a few days to relax before heading off to World Class Squad Training with Feine Dame and Aristo. I loved my sessions with them – all the training has really paid off for us and even resulted in me doing 11 one time tempi changes for the first time on Feine Dame! Grand Prix here she comes!
