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A First Dressage Outing For Zeus
ZEUS went to his first dressage competition at the weekend and behaved really, really well.
I was so pleased with how he coped working in with all the other horses. He did a nice test and did everything I asked of hi.
His halt was super at the end… not one bit of fidgeting! His walk was really good, very settled and didn’t jog, all his transitions were good too, for a young horse who has only been in ridden work three weeks I was delighted especially as he finished fourth in his class.
Data was very good too he was third in his novice test and was second in the elementary. I was very pleased with him and as it was my first competition with him I learnt a lot about how best to warm him up and how he reacts in a competition environment.
Working horses at home is never the same as when they go to a competition so it was a great opportunity to have a ‘practice’ before the riding club team competition next weekend.
I have had a new girl start working for me part time, she is going to cover weekends and help Vikki in the yard when I am away competing. Rachel is currently doing her GCSEs and is going to be a great addition to the yard.
It was great to see some rain in the last few days and it was a very welcome sight as the grass was starting to look a little brown and the ground was getting very, very firm. Hopefully the grass will turn green again and the ground should soften up in time for my next competition.
We have started painting our stables which is a mammoth task and somehow there always seems to be more walls than you think! So the horses are playing musical stables at the moment while one by one we get each stable painted.
Happy Riding!
Harriet
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An Emotional Bramham
Well Bramham was an eventful week, I took my little chestnut horse, Sultao De Valada (Sultan to his friends!) to compete and Snowy came along 
partly to keep Sultan company and mainly to keep him working as five days off would make him very naughty!
The action began on Thursday. In the afternoon, we had a briefing where the ground jury introduced themselves to us, explained who they were and where to find them if we needed them. Then we were free to walk the cross country course – my first of three course walks!
Later that afternoon, the trot up got underway. They were held in front of Bramham House with a lot of spectators. The trot up is always a bit of a fashion show for the riders too! I wore white jeans and a t-shirt with a smart black jacket over the top with some nice posh shoes that thankfully I was able to run in.
On Friday I was last to do my dressage test. We managed a respectable 59 penalties and were lying in 12th place in the under 25’s section.
Saturday dawned and being drawn last to go, I was able to walk the course again with my trainer and also go and watch some of the other competitors in action to see what the course was riding like.
There were quite a few difficult questions which were causing problems, and the water was a real toughie. It was good to get an idea beforehand so I knew where to aim! Course designer Ian Stark brought his many years of experience to Bramham and really beefed up the course bringing in some old fashioned rider frightener type fences.
In the end, I had two run outs on the cross country course and we finished with 40 jumping penalties and 32 time penalties, which left us in 24th place after the cross country.
On the Sunday, we had a few fences down in the show jumping and remained in 24th place, completing our first CCI***.
It was disappointing not to have gone clear on the cross country but it was excellent experience for both myself and Sultan – we will be back!
I will be sitting down this week to plan my next lot of competitions, and also hope to take out new horse, Data, to compete very soon.
I am also visiting my sponsor, EquestrianClearance.com at their head office to catch up with the gang and also edit some of the ‘how to’ clips we are planning to put on You Tube – they are small practical guides giving advice on flatwork, jumping and stable management.
I will also be spending some of my sponsorship money on rugs and a few other bits and pieces – there are so many great bargains to be had!
The weather seems to have gone a bit typical of the English Summer! My holiday to South Africa in May seems a long time ago now – as you can see from the picture whilst I was there, I was able to practice my stickability on a banana boat!
Bye for now!
Harriet
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XC Schooling at Somerford Park
YEEEEE HAAAAAAAAA!!! Finally after a long winter of jumping nothing but coloured fences we were able to get the advanced horses out xc schooling! I’m not sure who was more excited them or me!! Both horses felt absolutely fantastic and really enjoyed themselves. I think the pictures say it all really!
After having a good trot and a canter round to warm up I started to jump some smaller more
straightforward fences like logs, rails, tables, houses etc. After that I jumped some slightly bigger fences
with ditches in front and started to incorporate some steps and drops, as well as some skinnies and corners.
From there I moved on to the coffin type fences, at Somerford you are very spoilt as there are five different coffins to choose from. Some with skinny single barrels on each side of the ditch, some with steep slopes down into the ditch and some with more inviting logs on either side. I did each one once or twice so that I can go to my fisrt event knowing that I practised everything I possibly could.!
Lastly I moved on to the water. Because they hadn’t been through a water jumped for a few months I just let them walk through first to ‘get their feet wet’.
It would be unfair to ask them to jump straight into water, even though they are both experinced horses. Agian I gradually built up the difficulty, starting by jumping down a little step, 
working my way up to a small bounce into water. I always made sure that I jumped something on the way out though as I think it trains them to always ‘look’ for a fence coming out of the water.
Both Sultan and Snowy felt on top form and I was really pleased with them!
After warming down, they were walked back to the lorry where Charlotte was waiting to wash them down and get them ready to travel home.
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Training, 1st March 2010
Had a great training session with Richard Waygood on Monday. I hired the show jumping arena at Port Royal EEC and took three horses, my two advanced horses Shannon Dales Skatman (Snowy) and Sultao De Valada (Sultan). I also took a young horse, Data, belonging to Judy xxxxx. It was really useful being able to use a course of fences especially for Sultan as I was trying a new bit, so it was a great opportunity to test it out.
