So as crazy as this sounds I have decided to finally take my BHS Stage one exams at the end of October this year. As daunting it is with everything I need to learn, I am also pretty excited for the exams in being confident and being able to show off my skills to the examiner.

This decision was of course a joint one with Katie. She was very generous in getting me the BHS gold membership for my birthday this year, meaning I could book myself into the exams. I also went to go and stay with her last week so we could have some exclusive training at her yard as well as to buckle down on the beginning of revision!

The day before I was pretty nervous as I didn’t know what would be expected of us and what we would have to learn, I managed to write up notes on the grooming and rug chapters beforehand, hoping that was enough to get me a good start.

On the day we woke up nice and early at 7am, I didn’t sleep well the night before as my mind was spinning with footfall sequences and how to put a rug on correctly. When we got there it was this tiny little yard but all the horses were so beautiful – it was clear there were no traditional riding school horses here!

The owner of the place was Lisa, and she was a confident and stern woman, taking no nonsense and not faffing around wasting time which I liked. As we walked onto the yard I was given this beautiful 17.2hh chestnut gelding called Steady Eddie. I then had to mount him myself (which was strange as I have come to get used to supervision at riding schools, but my confidence in getting on has also been knocked recently by Jack as he always tries to run off from the mounting block) which was a little rocky. Then we went into the arena and warmed up.

I found that Steady Eddie was so-called because without a whip he didn’t seem to want to do much, however as soon as I had a schooling whip he was fully of energy and eager to please. It was so nice riding a horse that I actually fitted as I didn’t have to lift my legs up to give the aids. Katie was on a smaller and fiery 15hh mare, she was very bouncy and lively when she got on but Katie got her walking around and calmed her down. She was very much like another horse there called Lara, who never wants to do any work in the school and would much rather go out hunting!

After warming up in walk we began some trot work, I was so impressed by Eddie as the transitions were easy and his rhythm was like a rocking horse. Lisa then has us both trotting in a 20m circle around her at C, where she then asked us questions about the footfalls of the different gaits of the horse, I happily was able to answer all these correctly, and even managed to remember that there is a moment of suspension between the diagonal pairs in the trot, I will admit I was pleased with myself when Lisa said I could come back again!

We then focused on our position and it turns out my legs move hell of a lot and sit way too far forward. I noticed this before when I was riding Jack however Katie and I couldn’t work out whether that was my fault or his or his saddle’s, however now we definitely know it is me! So I thought of putting my legs directly underneath me and to hug Eddie with them as I rode, this was easy enough in walk but began to become a little more difficult in trot.

I also then had to work on my canter transitions as riding Jack hasn’t been the best practice for them with all the bucking! Eddie was a little difficult to get into canter and I was hesitant to use the whip at first as I am now used to preparing for a massive buck from Jack. After a couple of times however I made a big improvement to the transition and had it going smoothly instead of sitting there bouncing around waiting for the transition to happen to put me out of my misery! My leg position still wasn’t perfect however I do have time to practice so I have faith.

We then did some fun stuff which was the light seat and sitting trot. Turns out as steady as Steady Eddie was in the trot, it was extremely bouncy when I took the stirrups away! Thank goodness I have been building up my thigh muscles over these past few weeks or I don’t think I would have survived it! I managed to sit there and stay on and Lisa had no complaints so I was happy with that. Then in terms of the light seat I then practiced the balancing of my toe, as by having all the weight coming through the heel your leg then has a chance of slipping forward. To counter this, I had a little weight in my toes and then slightly more in the heel, with the knee being used as balance. Interestingly Eddie began to fall into canter whilst I was in the light seat, meaning that somehow my body was blocking him from doing so before, however we didn’t really cover how I to do this, so for the time being I’m just going to focus on keeping my legs still and wrapped around the horse as well as my chest up and out so I’m not leaning forward.

After the riding session, we then untacked the horses and tried practicing how we would have to do it on exam day. This was an incredibly weird experience as I have untacked horses loads of times but then when you know you’re being watched it suddenly leaves your mind completely of how you should do it. I managed to take the saddle off fine, however when it came to the bridle I was unsure of how to do it without the horse being able to wander off freely in the stable. Lisa then came and showed us how she would do it, first untying the headcollar and placing the leadrope over the horse’s neck. Then she slid off the bridle but had her right arm wrapped around the horse’s head to keep him in control whilst she then slid on the head collar. It was simple enough really, it’s just remembering how to do it in the safest way possible.

We then went over washing off a horse after work, we both had to skip out our stables and then wash the sweat off the horses and explain why we were doing so. Thankfully having gone over the grooming chapter yesterday it was easy enough for me to remember, however I still felt a lack of confidence from being watched, so I know I have to get over that before the exam.

Then we went over the grooming kit and all the brushes and how we would use them, thankfully we both knew all this quite well, however it was a little difficult to recognise some of the brushes as some were a little worse for wear! I also had difficulty in telling the difference between a dandy brush and a water brush, as the water brush is only slightly softer than the dandy brush, it is something that I want to add to my own grooming kit soon.

After this we left the horses and went into the office where we covered all of the first assessment points in the exam. Now this was Katie’s time to shine as we discussed data protection, reporting, safeguarding, equality and diversity and animal welfare. I had no idea about any of these things as annoyingly they weren’t included within the BHS textbook. Katie knew from having studied a law module at university, and so I was making frantic notes trying to get it all down so I could learn it for the exam, I’m just glad we found out about this now rather than a week before! But I guess that is also why BHS strongly recommends the training so you are prepared for what the exam is going to be like on the day.

Before we left Lisa then gave us the most useful piece of information I have come across, and that is to study the BHS syllabus as this is exactly what they will mark us on in the exam. It also means you can get rid of a lit of the information provided in the textbook, as my lecturers’ would say, is very woolly and the point is embedded in there somewhere, you just have to find it. After this we went to the Range to buy ourselves some more revision supplies, had a well needed shower and a big chillout on the sofa! It was a lot for the brain to take in in one day, however it was worth every penny, and we shall be going back there soon enough before the exam to have another training session and to go over the care side of the exam more again which I am really looking forward to.

So in the next coming months, please be prepared for everything on here to discuss the BHS exams! I might event try writing up on here about certain methods to do things as a way of revision, as I can only write out so many prompt cards!