So the other night I was all settled in bed with my book rather relaxed and ready to go to bed. Then I get the message asking if anyone can fill in for the A BUCS team competition the next day! I was the only one available to do it and I was really nervous about saying yes as the A team is all of the best riders from the universities, and I know I am not quite up to that standard. So I then spent the remainder of my evening getting ready and running around my living room trying to learn the test, it was a little more complicated to the one I did last week for C team but thankfully I worked it out and decided to have it read to cover my own back just in case. I couldn’t bare the thought of forgetting a part of the test like last week!

The following morning I got up and ready and headed to meet the rest of the team. We then drove to Nottingham to Trent Valley Equestrian Centre, I have ridden there multiple times before and its used to be my local riding school before I had a horse of my own. We arrived around 9 am and then did the horse draw and rider draw. I was the first on my horse which was a cute little chestnut. I didn’t know his name sadly, but within the demo he looked as though he ran away a little in the trot, so my team mates gave me some tips to half-halt to stop him running away. When I got on I was pleasantly surprised. The horse moved nicely and I gave him a light rein which he seemed happy with. We went into the arena for the test and it went really smoothly and I was pretty calm. There weren’t any major hiccups but he could have been a little more forward and I didn’t get much difference in normal trot compared to the medium trot! It was a movement I had never done before.

At lunch I had a score of 61.25% in dressage which I was a little gutted about, the comments were about the smallest details so I didn’t know if it was a particularly harsh judge but I tried my best. By the time we came around to the jumping I was freezing! So it was certainly nice to get moving and to warm up. I was on a little coloured for the jumping and he popped the fences nicely but he had a tendency to refuse the fences. When I got on he was the strongest pony I had ever ridden and he had no brakes whatsoever! It made me a little nervous as I did not have much control at all and his jump was a little strange and I found that we just didn’t flow together like I did with Tess last week.

I made it round the course however and I had to push him before every fence as it felt as though he was going to refuse for all of them but we managed it! Teammate Laura filmed my round for me and the commentary was full of her telling me to kick on! The round itself felt pretty messy but looking at it it seems as though his canter felt very fast but he was moving at a normal pace, so it was definitely a strange ride.

Results time! So with it being against the best of the best teams across the universities #teamderby didn’t do that great. We got team 4th overall and Laura placed 2nd which was amazing. I was 15th! I tried not to let myself be too disappointed as the same kind of scores would have got me an individual placing at a C or B team competition, but it was still fun to do and we got some cute pictures, plus another ribbon for the collection even if it was just the one for today!

Today was competition day! Seeing as I joined the club late this year I was lucky enough to get a place onto C team. This morning we all got up early and headed to the yard as the competition was at home today. We got the horses ready pretty quickly as thankfully there was no need to plait!

The other teams arrived at around 9am to do a rider and horse draw. Thankfully I was placed on a 17hh grey called Jasper, he was really sweet looking although he was quite spooky! We warmed up indoors and then did the test outside, I was a little worried as Jasper changed a little by being outside. The test went okay however he threw a few tantrums going into canter which lost me quite a few marks, but in the other sections I made sure to get his head carried nicely and to try to make up for it! Looking at the scores I managed to get 63% which wasn’t my best but I was still pretty happy with it given Jasper’s head tossing.

Then we moved onto the jumping and I was pretty happy as it was super cold standing around all the time. Before jumping I had to demo a different horse to the one I was riding. His name was Rupert and I was a little worried about riding him as a couple of girls had told me they had fallen off of him when jumping! He was pretty slow and hard to get going so it was pretty hard work! We managed to get around the course nicely although he did refuse a fence, however that was my own fault as a rider and not being confident with him. We also had one of our team members Amelia fall off – very slowly – in the demo from a horse called Dinky, she was okay in the end but had to go to A&E and turned out to have a fractured rib! (She’s healing up nicely now though!)

Then when it came to the jumping round I was on a lovely chestnut called Tess who I had ridden in training a week ago. It was great as I knew to ride her with a light rein as some other girls I saw were yanking on her mouth. We went around the course beautifully with no fences down so I was pretty happy with that, although I was pretty tired by the end of it!

When it came to results I knew that my dressage score would have brought me down a little, however I managed to get individual 6th and team 2nd which I was really happy with! Looking at the scores it was clear that the rest of the team were really close to placing too however I was the only one who managed it, but I am still super happy with #teamderby can’t wait for the next one!

So over the past couple of months since going back to university for my third year it has been HETIC! I have had very little time to relax and sadly even less to ride! I have only hacked Jack out once since going back to uni which is pretty disappointing as I did so much work over the summer. However, here is the update:

1. So although I was planning to do my BHS exams and even had some training towards them I decided not to go ahead with it. It was way too much money (around £600) just for Stage 1 which is all the basics, plus I have been learning how to drive this year and so I needed to prioritise money towards that. I really disappointed Katie when I had to tell her but I hoped she would understand, alas I don’t think she did as we don’t talk anymore.
2. Since moving back I haven’t really been able to budget putting away some money for lessons at Ingestre. It is truly an amazing yard and I do want to ride there more often as they are the perfect step up for me from riding schools, however it is again a matter of time and money as I would have to find someone to drive me there and back as well which is a big favour! So in the meantime I have decided to hold back on going there but definitely plan to in the future!
3. At the start of the year I decided not to join the university’s equestrian club as the plan was that Katie and I were to regularly ride at Ingestre together. However seeing as this plan quickly revealed itself not to be happening I decided a couple of weeks ago to rejoin the club. I was really really lucky with this as even though I had not done team trials there was a free space on the C team which I could join. This was really fortunate as I am able to compete again which I love and have missed so much, so I’m glad that it was able to happen!

So last year I was on the B team – which is one below the BUCS (A) team – so this year by being on the C team it is again a step down, however I am hoping to bring confidence to my team and hopefully boost everyone’s scores! They have already had their first competition of the year which was sadly too late for me to join where they all came team fourth and one girl was one point off 6th place individually. We have our next competition next week (4th Dec) so I am really excited to get those scores up and for us as a team to do really well.

In the training session I was placed on a chestnut mare called Tess. She was around 16hh and was a nice ride. She was forward going however she did have the riding school trait of expecting to stop and go back to walk after she completed one fence, however this was simple to fix. She also tried to tug at the reins when you rested for a while and then never really seemed to want to leave to group and go, she would throw a little buck in protest but it was nothing compared to what Jack does! We practiced doing distances over some fences and I found that Tess jumps really high! From this I became a little unbalanced when approaching the second fence which means we didn’t get the correct stride, but with time I was able to work on that which was great.

Overall the team session went really well and it was also the first time I wore my new hat! I got the Charles Owen Pro II in gold – because gold is for winners!! I also treated myself to a silk from Foxy Equestrian: https://www.foxyequestrian.com/ and you actually get to chose the colour pom pom you want on the top so I was able to match it nicely with the gold. But yes overall I was super happy to be back in the saddle and to be doing something a little more exciting than hacking or dressage – although I do have to learn a new test by next week – and I am also so excited for next week’s competition as it is at home and therefore we can play to our strengths. I am going to be riding Tess in the jumping round like I did in the training and I am also being put on a 17hh horse called Jasper I think for the dressage, who is also nice and forward going.

So I better get to cleaning my boots, can’t wait for next week!

Keeping with the new plan of just having fun with Jack and hacking him out, today was a lovely day to do so. I got him tacked up and ready and ready on time for my friend Amy to pop round and get her pony Tilly ready too. Of course Jack didn’t seem impressed at being ridden however he was a lot easier to mount today which was an improvement, although my mount was pretty rocky!

When we were on and ready to go we headed out to the woods, it was a simple hack enough where we mostly walked but it gave Jack a chance to relax and to warm up his muscles. He mostly spent the time not listening to me as he would want to walk in the way of Tilly and Amy by going from one side of the track to the other. He also wasn’t very forward until we entered the wood itself, I was a little cautious of him being irritated by flies as they were often pretty bad in there but today he just had a march on as he knew which way was home.

We had a nice safe little trot in one field, however as soon as we got to the next Jack was desperate to canter and it felt as though he was doing these small half-canter strides underneath me as he was so desperate to go. I thought to be nice and let him have a small canter however this was a pretty bad idea, Jack bucked with every canter stride we did and it took a while for me to get him back under control and to a fast trot. I felt so silly by letting something like this get the best of me, but I knew that if I had let him go to canter he would have bucked even higher and probably had me off. I felt pretty bad for Amy as I knew she did want to canter, but given Jack I just knew it wasn’t safe for us and didn’t want anything major happening, as frankly I have never fallen off on a hack before and I don’t want to be doing anything to deliberately cause that.

By the time we got home Jack had worked himself up into a sweat to say we were mostly walking. We did manage a little trot on the way home and he was a lot calmer which was a relief, it might have been the excitement of the big open fields which got him so excited to canter, at least we were both safe and sound. I think what we learned today was maybe not to go out with company or canter anywhere whilst hacking, and hopefully we can still stay on!

Going to Burghley had been long awaited by myself and Katie and we were super exited when the day finally came! We got dressed up in tweed jackets and nice shirts ready for the occasion and got in for around 10am. The place was so huge I had trouble navigating it all, but once parked we found ourselves headed towards the shopping and so followed the crowd!

The shopping halls were jam packed with people it was really hard to move, it reminded me of the big warehouses of Your Horse Live with all their shopping halls, however here it was tailored to a higher price bracket. There were many fancy clothing brands and everyone seemed to be wearing the fancy hats with all the feathers, so our tweed jackets and shirts didn’t make us look overdressed.

I managed to get myself a pair of earmuffs that velcro onto your hat straps from Foxy Equestrian, they had lots of designs to choose from so it was pretty difficult to choose! We then walked around all the other shops taking note of what we might buy later and then walked around the XC course. We didn’t really know where it started or where it ended so we found the nearest fence we could and then walked in the same direction as we saw the horses. The fences of course were huge and it was amazing to see the riders go around. It made me all the more excited to get a horse of my own although I think I’m quite a lot of training away from Burghley level!

We even managed to get a glimpse of Ben Hobday riding around the course merely by chance! We heard his name on the tannoy and then had to jog up a big hill to the next fence to see him, it was great to see him in action and looked as though he was concentrating very hard as he went over, although this fence looked 3 metres wide, it was crazy to think the horses were capable of jumping that! But I was still happy that we got to see him again, I hope he does another clinic soon in the winter months.

After walking the course we headed back to the shopping again where I managed to get a couple more items for my grooming kit including a water brush and a mane and tail brush. I did want some sponges of different colours for the eyes, nose and dock however there weren’t any which was a shame. I managed to get a general sponge so it was progress. Although buying so little did mean I saved money so that’s a plus! I was looking out for the Charles Owen 4 star skull cap however no where was selling it for under £150, and some were selling it for as high as £189! My local tack store does it for £130 so I decided to wait until another day for me to get one as I’m certainly in the student frame of mind with saving money!

After our little purchases we headed home as we were super tired and it had been a long day. But it means that we are definitely going to see Badminton next year and I am also hoping to go to Your Horse Live this year as it’s actually on my birthday and is a lot better for horsey shopping!

Today Katie was visiting and I managed to get Jack to ride as well as another horse called Carling owned by Sarah on my yard. Carling is a 16hh coloured gelding and is looks like a sports horse although I’m not too sure what breed he is. Katie and I were excited to ride him as we had shared the school with him before and he was moving beautifully, so hopefully he was going to be something a little different from Jack, as Jack is sweet but he’s also an arse when he wants to be!

So we got Jack and Carling up from the paddocks and got them ready. We weren’t able to do a full groom completely as the owners didn’t have complete grooming kits however we did try our best to get the loose hair and grease out of their coats. We then tacked up and got in the school, I got on Carling first and Katie was on Jack. It was actually rather nice to get on a horse that would stand still, as Jack always moves around and tries to stop you from getting on, and I’ve gradually become used to it which has now put me in the bad habit of becoming nervous whenever I get on a horse, but I am hoping lessons at Ingestre shall sort that out.

Carling at first was rather slow to get going. I wanted to be able to achieve something together in our session and so began warming him in with lots of turns and transitions. The problem then arose that Carling is not all that flexible naturally, as he would turn his head but then wouldn’t follow through with the rest of his body and was not that responsive to the lower leg when you wrapped it around him to turn. I then began some trot work in order to get him more active which worked nicely, however all the energy gained in the trot we would then completely lose again in the walk which was hard work! Meanwhile Katie and Jack were also working on transitions and warming him up nicely doing lots of bend to get him loose as he has been rather stiff lately from all the galloping around stubble fields!

Carling and I then tried for a canter, which was difficult as we didn’t get it perfect the first time which then makes me wonder what I am doing as a rider to block the canter transition. Katie then told me to not let Carling just trot faster, and to use the whip as a backup to my aids. I did this and after a few goes we had a nice canter transition which was nice to sit to, although Carling did need some encouragement to keep going! It was also nice to know that I could use the whip without the risk of being bucked as I would normally on Jack, as not even Katie wanted to canter him as she could sense when he was about to buck.

After 30 mins we then swapped horses so Katie was on Carling and myself on Jack. I had a tricky time getting on as Jack wouldn’t stand still at all but after a battle we were okay. Then I just practiced a little more no-stirrup work to continue to work on myself as Katie had warmed him up nicely. I too decided not to try and canter as I could feel it in Jack’s trot a little the thought of him bucking, as I just have a feeling the next one will have me off. I know that falling off is not the worst thing in the world, however I would still like to try and avoid it, the only thing is that I am now putting Jack into bad habits as he now knows as soon as he bucks I won’t make him canter. But he is 22 now so I guess its not the worst thing in the world when it is only myself and Katie that school him.

Katie then found that Carling wasn’t going forward as he was too preoccupied with his bit. He was in a pelham and he was fighting against it instead of focusing on the work he was being asked to do. Katie then took off the chain from the pelham which improved him immensely as he was more relaxed and focusing on what he was doing, however it was clear it was hard to get him going as nicely as we saw him a few weeks ago.

As a result I have come to the conclusion that in the future I am just going to hack Jack now instead of schooling him. It has certainly been a blast doing all my dressage competitions on him last summer and using him to help with my position, but now I feel as though his habits and nature is only going to compromise my riding and put me into more bad habits as riding him has gradually made me more nervous. Carling’s owner said I could ride him whenever I liked so I might try him in a snaffle next time as that is what he is hacked in and see if there is a difference. But I am going back to university in just over a week so I won’t have as many chances to ride Jack once I’m back, so just hacking out and enjoying the countryside will be good to do with the time I have left here.

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!

Recently we have had some new additions at the yard being two grey horses called Splash (the smaller cob) and Ernie (taller flea-bitten grey). Jack hasn’t been too impressed at their arrival as he is usually rather territorial with other horses being next to him. On the first day they arrived he had trampled all of the grass up the long side of the paddock where he had clearly been pacing up and down the field trying to say hello to them. This made my job a little harder as he trampled all his poop into the ground as well! Then yesterday I found him and Splash trying to share the water trough together however Jack kept squealing at Splash and clearly warning him off, so he hasn’t been too impressed with his new neighbours so far! Then this morning when I went to go check on them there clearly had been some sort of fight over the water trough as it was overflowing so I had to call the farmer to come and fix it!

Jack’s owner Toni has been away again this week so I took the opportunity to ride again today as I want to try at least once a week until I go back to uni so I can make some steady progress as well as keep my confidence. I have been reading over the riding section in my BHS Stage One textbook today and decided to correctly ride some corners and transitions the BHS way. This meant instead of the usual pony-club kicking I simply applied pressure with my legs until the desired result was achieved. I also tried using the short whip behind my inside leg as a reinforcement of the leg aid if Jack didn’t get it after a few tries. This actually worked as I thought using the whip like that would get me an instant bucking, however it wasn’t until about 20 minutes into our session that he did – so I’m taking that as a plus.

So after some changes of rein we I took my stirrups out and began working on transitions as well as keeping my own position straight and working on my hands and elbows. I’m not sure what really happened but suddenly there was a spark within Jack and he was suddenly really forward and ended up trotting a little faster than I was ready for! He then began to anticipate canter in every corner which too was amazing, so of course I took advantage of this and we managed a much easier canter transition and I wasn’t bouncing on his back like I was last week which was a great improvement.

Also I don’t know whether its been because I’ve been working on a lot of no stirrup work lately but today I managed to feel a proper thigh muscle! It was amazing as I could just flex it and turn it on and off just like a switch, this helped me out when Jack was moving more forward in his trot as I was able to keep my deep seat and to hold on instead of being unsettled, however I was a little conscious of putting extra pressure throughout the rest of my leg and encouraging him forward hence his speediness, however this might be something that I have to look into at a later date.

Either way it was still amazing to feel the progress as well as the fact that there wasn’t any pain from riding today, so I’ve either made myself some new muscles or I didn’t work hard enough today! We finished off by lengthening Jack’s neck and making him stretch over his back which he looked rather pretty doing, although he knocked my phone off the fence so I had a five minute film of the sky as we were cooling off!

This past week Jack’s owner Toni has been away, providing a perfect chance for me to ride more often. Of course this happened to be the same week the lovely UK got a heatwave, reaching a high of 36 degrees last Thursday with some major thunderstorms. So not the most ideal riding weather. The increase in temperatures and this increasingly drastic weather had me more primarily concerned about the environment. I try to do my little bit by reducing any single use plastics, using bamboo toothbrushes and straws, and when I go back to uni I am planning on doing my food shopping at the local farmers market, it means you have to bring your own carrier bags and it’s not delivered to your door, but its often much cheaper in the long run. And as a horsey way of helping the environment, Black Heart Equestrian are working on making all their products eco friendly with less damage to the environment which is of course fantastic, and their leggings are amazing too and are the best fitting I have ever owned compared to Aztec Diamond and Bella Rose Equestrian, so its a no brainer really.

With this I decided it was better not riding Jack in the extreme heat after how he behaved last Monday, it would have been unfair and it was so warm I barely managed to get around my daily dog walk, but the cold shower afterwards was refreshing! Thankfully the weekend saw a turn of the weather as things began to cool down a little, Toni also came back from holiday but she was happy for me to ride Jack today whilst she rode his fieldmate Diamond.

Jack as usual was not impressed at the prospect of riding, and told me that he would have much preferred going on a walk with Diamond instead of having me bouncing around on his back. He was super tough to get going even into an active walk today, I knew some of it was partial laziness, but he must have been suffering from the weather slightly too as it was rather warm despite the breeze. But thankfully it was nothing compared to last week. I used the old pony club trick of using the excess of my reins as a temporary whip to try to get him going, this did work in places however I was then a little jostled around as he shot forward and that is hard to stick to without stirrups! It got me thinking that perhaps a Jumping Bat would be ideal for him. I saw Ben Hobday have one at his clinic way back in February, its super short compared to a schooling whip or a general purpose whip and is simply there for the sake of being there. This way if I manage to get one I can use that on Jack hopefully without him bucking, as he hates the schooling whip and the general purpose whip, and he gets a little difficult to sit to after a while. I know that if I asked for some more professional help with this that Jack would probably need a lot of training to get him out of it, but at the end of the day he is a hacking cob and is at least 22, so I’m just going to pick and choose my battles with this one.

When it came to the riding I did the whole session with no stirrups as I want it almost to become the norm for me so that when I do have stirrups I shall have a better seat as well as a better knowledge of where my legs are supposed to be. I tried to get out of my kicking habit as we warmed up, by simply applying pressure with the sides of my legs to Jack’s belly and releasing the pressure when he moved. This is actually how you are supposed to ask for movement from a horse, so all the ‘keep kicking’ that I was taught when I was younger was just giving me bad habits. I know that it is a difficult one, as instead of using your heels to ask for the aid you have to use the inside of your leg. This is a little more difficult on a horse you are rather large for (I can fit a 17hh rather happily), however it did begin to work on Jack, although his problem was that he will happily walk forward, but it was maintaining the energy in the gait that was the hard part.

After a while I did manage to keep Jack going, and we even made it into trot! From this I found it easier to keep my balance and to sit nice and deeply within the saddle. My muscles began to warm up after a while so I was then able to focus less on myself and more on Jack as I encouraged him to lower his head and neck forward as well as keeping his energy active. This was not Jack’s favourite thing to do, but at the same time I could have made him work a lot harder. We did have a little canter on each rein but seeing as the canter transition on Jack is difficult most of the time, today it was super difficult with the addition of no stirrups, the heat, and him being extremely lazy. I probably didn’t sit back enough in the transition but he just did the pony trick of trotting faster and faster. Eventually we did break into canter and I did manage to sit to it nicely as well as the transition back to trot. Now I just want to become as confident without stirrups as I am with stirrups, so then I can have the confidence to give Jack a bit of a boot when he isn’t wanting to do as asked.

This weekend was great as my horsey bestie Katie came to visit from Essex and she hadn’t ridden since the last time she has visited which was the end of May beginning of June? Either way we managed to get Jack for three days worth of riding which was very exciting, she had even signed herself up to Dressage4All in the hope of getting a test done so we could compete against each other on Jack!

So on Friday the weather had been a little all over the place and I was half expecting for us to be soaking wet when riding this evening, thankfully the weather held out for us and we were able to get most of our session in before it started to pour. Jack seemed to remember Katie from last time and did not seem impressed, I then got on to try and warm him up but we had forgotten to bring a whip which made it hard to get Jack to stop pretending he was old and lazy and show us the energy he really has! I used the reins as a whip to get him going but after about 20 minutes I was pooped! Although I hadn’t ridden for a while and I had done was hack I managed to make myself saddle sore, but decided again to work on my sitting trot to strengthen my thigh muscles and engage with the seat. This being the second time I had properly tried it it was easier, and I felt more comfortable in the seat and not as though I was going to fall off! Then Katie got on and began to work him a little more as I had only done trot on him really, Jack was then rather cheeky and began to buck in the canter, so she did lots of circles and transitions to keep him energetic.

Then on Saturday we learned the prelim 2 dressage test as that was the next competition for Dressage4All. Katie warmed him up today which was a bit of a struggle as given that we did bring a whip this time he still began to buck whenever you used it. However the threat of the whip and it being there seemed enough to give Jack that extra energy boost that I needed on Friday. Then Katie began to work her way through the test whilst I stood and filmed. It was a bit of a role reversal as I have never filmed for anyone before, usually they are filming for me! Watching Katie go through the test Jack seemed to lack power and she really had to push him to get into the canter. After the free walk movement he didn’t really seem interested in carrying on doing any more work, so when Katie asked for canter he bucked and then dropped back into trot halfway around the circle. It was so annoying as they were only a few moments away from finishing the test, but that is the beauty of online dressage as you can film your test as many times as you like before picking the one to submit! So Katie gave him a whirl round in the canter to prove he could keep it, then we began filming the test again. He seemed much better on this second go around and he extended his neck long and low in the free walk which always increases marks. Then coming to the same canter movement Jack bucked again and again dropped the canter, Katie managed to get him back into canter again but he carried on dropping it after a few strides. It was clear that today just wasn’t Jack’s day for a dressage test, and although we were in the mood for one he certainly wasn’t. After this it was clear he was just going to get worse and worse if we carried on trying to keep filming and get him through, for even if we did it would not be a high scoring test. After this I got on and simply carried on with my no stirrup work. I was pretty saddle sore after yesterday but found that after my muscles had warmed up I was feeling better, although Jack’s saddle isn’t very comfortable and my seat bones were killing! I then began to work his head a little bit seeing as I was confident in my seat, but Jack was super worn out already so we decided to give walk him around for a while whilst I did some leg exercises.

Monday was a really really hot day. I didn’t fully notice it seeing as it was quite windy but it wasn’t a cool wind. We shared the arena with a girl from the yard called Emma on her horse Carling, who was looking much prettier than Jack. I think Jack was just off from the start seeing as it was so humid, I trotted him around and began to try and work him and get him going forward without the whip using lots of changes of direction and transitions. I found that he starts the transition with plenty of energy but then his problem is maintaining that energy throughout the gait. He was puffing quite badly after we had trotted around a little and some some small canter circles, he was also really hard to get into canter as he really didn’t want to do it. With this I decided to take it up a notch with my no stirrup work and increased his trotting speed and gave it a go in the canter. I was a bit wobbly at first but it was easy enough to get in the correct position, the only tricky bit was going back to trot as that was pretty sore! Then Katie did some lighter work on him as there was no chance we were doing the test today which was a shame, but it really was too hot and he had worked hard given the heat. Katie also showed me how to encourage the horse to lengthen his neck and work over the back, for instead of placing the head in the position of the outline and keep it there, by keeping the neck as long as possible this is more difficult for them to maintain yet produces great results and could be pretty handy for the full neck extension wanted in free walk.

With these past couple of riding sessions I have decided to try and ride Jack more than I have been doing for the rest of the summer and to work on my no stirrup work. Given this, by the time it gets to September I shall be a pro in getting the correct riding position and my muscles shall be stronger making me a better rider. Working on myself then doesn’t add the pressure of making sure Jack looks perfect for the test every time, however as I increase my confidence and stability in the seat, I can then begin to focus on other things than not falling off from bouncing around!

So given the recent Prelim 1 tests I was super shocked and proud as Jack and I managed an amazing score of 70.2%, our highest score yet! Overall we placed fourth as somehow someone managed to get 72% but I was still happy enough and the ribbon is a really pretty mint colour which is always nice. With these results I have wanted to carry on doing more online competitions to get myself as many ribbons as possible over the summer whilst I have the time for it, as once I’m back at uni it will mostly be training instead of competing.

However there have been a few things bothering me lately which have resulted in not entering any dressage competitions this month sadly, things such as Jack’s availability as he is not my horse and I have to ask the owner a couple days in advance of when I want to ride, which doesn’t include weekends. Then there is the matter of having someone around to help me film, sometimes this is my mum or my sister however they are often so so busy they don’t have the time, then there is the boyfriend but he is always working and only visits on weekends being the days I can’t ride. Then there is my friend Katie and I know she will help when she comes to visit however we do live rather far apart so basically I do not get to film as often as I like. There is also the matter of Jack himself as although he is a really good boy and does try his best for you, he can also be a complete arsehole, and when he is not in the mood to do a test, that test ends up getting a score of 60% instead of the average 67% he is capable of.

As a result of all this I have found myself only hacking when I do ride, thinking of my position as well as trying to engage my core so much so that I am saddle sore the next day, but at least it means something is working! I know that Jack also isn’t the best horse for dressage and although we have had a few really good days where he works beautifully, more the case than others he just continually bucks when you go into canter, and then bucks again whenever you use a whip near him.

In the meantime I have had a lot of reading to do for university which is keeping me occupied and I have been making notes from the BHS Stage one book as I have almost finished going through that and it turns out I have been getting on a horse wrong this whole time! Well not competely wrong but when you are getting on the horse from the mounting block, you’re supposed to place your left hand on the pommel of the saddle holding the reins, then your right hand on the far side of the pommel, and then use your right leg to push up from the block onto the horse, rather than using your left leg to pull yourself up onto the horse. Seems simple enough but it felt weird putting both my hands on the pommel, I have always put my right hand on cantle.

So that is pretty much an update on what has been going on so far this month, still loving the sunshine as always! Katie is coming to visit soon so I am sure will have a few things to write about as we always do something horsey!

Recently at home the weather has been terrible and it has always rained on the days I’ve wanted to ride and then been super sunny whilst I was away. Today it was looking pretty miserable too and so I wasn’t optimistic about getting a session in as its now been about three weeks since I rode last. However I went and checked on Jack and he was dry enough despite the light rain and so that was good enough for me!

I was very undecided as to what to do with Jack now that I actually had the chance to ride, I don’t know the latest dressage test and had no one around to film it, and then I didn’t want the added pressure on myself of riding the perfect test to submit. Instead I tried to practice what Katie taught me a couple of weeks ago in terms of making him work hard and become more supple over the back. Half the time I had completely forgotten what Katie had told me and wished she was there to boss me around from the ground! In the end I got him forward which was easy enough, and I gradually tried to focus on little things to make the bend happen. After around half an hour of working him in circles and changing the rein he did begin to show some really nice bend, and I kept pushing him into all the corners and he was working lovely.

I then decided to give Jack a break and allow him to have his head wherever he liked as I focused on myself. I don’t know why I submitted myself to such torture but they say its good for you! I simply just trotted around with no stirrups for 15 minutes or so, trying to keep my legs in position engaging the muscles around the groin area as well as engaging my core. At first it was difficult and I felt pretty sorry for Jack as I was bouncing around on his back, but he kept a nice slow and steady trot for me the whole time – I think I would have come off if he were any faster! We went around on both reins and I managed to feel my muscles warming up and working hard, it was so painful at first I had to take mini breaks and go back to walk.

So now I am home and exhausted and I can’t walk that fast as my thighs hurt too much, but hey if it’s going to gradually improve my position it will all be worth it!

As I enter online competitions both from The Mane Show http://www.themaneshow.co.uk/ and from Dressage4All https://www.dressage4all.co.uk/ for some reason this month they both decided to do Prelim 1, however this was helpful as I meant I didn’t need to memorise a new test as I practiced Prelim 1 again. In the past I have sometimes entered the same video to both institutions, however given mine and Jack’s recent training from Katie I thought it was better to get some more practice in, as well as to see how Jack and I would do on our own without Katie’s help.

Last time we did Prelim 1 I found that Jack’s head was bending beautifully over his back but I then forgot the basics in that my circles looked like squares. Interestingly, the judges didn’t seem to find this too much of an error to point out in the comments, but for my own personal gratification I wanted to practice it. I gave Jack a good warm up and remembered to sit back in the saddle whenever we went into canter. Jack often spends the first 20 minutes of any session trying to convince you that he is too old to be doing this kind of work, however he is only 20, I’m sure he can manage a couple of canter circles!

After the warm up I found that both myself and Jack were working super hard, but it all paid off as he began to work nicely which was great as I didn’t have any help from the ground, proving that every now and again I can ride! I then kept checking on my hands to keep them steady and bent at the elbow and used my inside leg to push him into the corners. Some corners were better than others, and one rein was slightly better than the other, I think it was the right? I can’t really remember which! In the end we were able to produce a nice test which I have since sent to the judges at Dressage4All, and we will receive our results towards the end of the month, so now we can move onto the next one from The Mane Show!

To see our entry click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68_4Q-IgNtM

So I am finally back home for the summer and have been so for a month now! I can’t believe how quickly it is going however I also have 30 books to read for my course, so I have been a little preoccupied!

A couple of weeks ago my horsey bestie came all the way from Essex to visit me in Nottingham, and she sure put me to work! Recently when I have been riding Jack I find that every time we go into the canter transition he decides to buck, I thought seeing Jack it would just be his naughty behaviour being a grumpy old man and all, however it turns out it was me, (and a bit of him too now thinking about it)! My canter transition has never been amazing, and so from the ground Katie could see that I bent forwards slightly, and so made it easier for him to buck me off if I was already half way out of the saddle, hence why he decided to buck in an effort to get me off. To correct this, I simply had to sit deep within the saddle and glue myself to it, keeping my back straight and shoulders back, as well as keeping my chest forwards so then it was harder for him to get me off.

After this, I found it a lot easier to work with Jack, we were able to get him working with a great energy and then allowed him to work over his back – which he was not happy about at all! In the end we had all worked really hard, as Katie warmed him up and got him going, something which I found much harder to do myself later on! We then gave the prelim 1 test a go, and Katie said it was obvious that when I knew I was doing the test I came to stiffen up immediately and that caused Jack to not work as well as he had been doing. We kept going through the test though and there were amazingly no bucks as we went into canter, or at all for that matter! Katie also told me to get into the mindset that when filming the test that this might not be the video that I submit to the judges, and so with that thought in mind I should relax more and have a better test.

Clearly all our hard work paid off as when the results came Jack and I placed nicely in second with out highest ever score together of 68.95%, it was such a shame that someone else got 69% otherwise we would have won our first class! Oh well, I am still pleased with the progress we have made compared to our shocking results of last month being a mere 60%, which was our worst score together…

To see the video entry click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6UHwR34kiM&t=14s

Will be back with more content soon!

It’s the night that everyone has been waiting for, that being Sports Awards! By being on one of the competing teams I managed to get myself a ticket for the second year running and I was super excited as its always a lovely evening.

We all got dolled up and met at Revolution where we has a quick drink before getting in the taxis to go to Derbyshire country Cricket Ground. Inside it was so pretty with the walls all blacked out and a massive buffet ready and waiting, although it was £19 for a bottle of rosé at the bar! We all sat down and split some bottles between us as they did the initial speeches and announced a couple of awards. Then we went for food which was super nice, I had a chicken curry of some sort and it came with the smallest little garlic naan bread it was so cute! However one sad part of the evening was that they only had one chocolate cake and it ran out very quickly with no replacement!

After food and getting more drinks from the bar, the rest of the awards were handed out, we won a Gold award for Club Achievement as we fulfilled an amazing 90% of the goals we set out to do this year. We were also nominated for Most Charitable Club of the Year and Club of the Year which was amazing to gain such a recognition, however sadly we didn’t win either this year. Alas it was still a great night with the girls and it was lovely to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in ages as well as chat to some people who I had never really met before. Thankfully the boyfriend was acting as chauffeur tonight and so I had a quick ride home, I was not drunk enough to make it out tonight! Just hope I get to go next year as well, it’s events like these which make me so excited to join the club next year and be more immersive within the club’s activities and hopefully get onto a BUCS team!

Recently over the Easter break I have had terrible luck with riding. The times I have asked Toni to ride it was either super hot (which made a great bank holiday) or it was thunderstorms! I popped home for the night to look after the puppy – what better reason to come home? – and asked Toni if the weather was good if I could pop out with good old Jack.

Thankfully this morning the sun was shining and we were tacked up and ready to go for 8:30! Although I forgot the joys of this time of year when they’re all shedding, I got so much out of Jack’s coat and it was blowing all over the yard, I was a fluffy blob by the end of it but Jack did look a little better, even if he didn’t look so impressed by being tacked up.

I didn’t really have the energy to go in the school and do any proper work so we just headed out on a hack just for a bit of fun. I don’t know why but I felt so strange in the saddle today, it might have been because I haven’t ridden in so long, so the fact that I was wearing my mum’s wellies and some new Aztec Diamond breeches, but I just seemed to be all over the place in the saddle, it was probably a factor of all three.

As we went around the fields though I only did walk and trot, mostly because I knew Jack was full of energy and super excited, he kept going faster and faster in the trot like ponies do which was super cute, but I didn’t want to canter seeing as I wasn’t feeling very secure in the saddle and if he spooked I would definitely be off! Instead I tried to focus on my position with my hands and legs when trotting and that worked a little, but really I needed a session in the school to focus on that. But it’s only a week until I move home for the summer and hopefully I’ll be riding Jack all the time as well as doing more dressage competitions over the summer!

Despite my recent loss of Bella, I am of course still in love with horses and somehow my boyfriend has wanted to get that same horsey addiction! So today I managed to get the trusted Jack and let Luke have a go at riding and let myself have a go at teaching.

It was a little daunting at first, like those moments when you read or use a certain word so much that it no longer begins to make sense as a word. As a literature student I have experienced this a few times. So Luke got on and I showed him where to have his hands and feet, as well as reminding him to have a straight back – he has such bad posture from sitting at an office desk all day! Then I told him to kick Jack on to make him walk, which was quite funny as of course Jack didn’t walk, he was looking at me as though asking if I was serious about placing a beginner on his back.

After a few goes Luke got Jack walking which was great, but Luke of course was a little wobbly and got a little frustrated in the lack of control he had over Jack. Instead of putting him on the lunge or anything, I placed out four poles to mark out the four points of the circle. This way I gave Luke something to aim towards as he went around all of the poles, and over alternate poles. This way I was able to help him with his turns as he made them very sharp, this way I tried to encourage him to take nice and big loops to make the turn smoother. He did get the hang of it eventually however he kept letting the reins slide through his fingers, I had to tell him so many times to shorten the reins!

Then Luke wanted to be adventurous and try out trotting. So at first I ran with him (a great reminder that I am terrible at running) and so told him to rise and fall in his seat counting the beats out for him, Jack was so done! Luke didn’t get the hang of it the first time so instead I got him to practice rising and falling in his seat whilst standing, and then progressed to walking. With this Jack was being a little slow and so made this difficult for Luke to keep him going as well on focusing how to trot. So I grabbed a whip and just made Jack aware it was there, this way he kept up the pace and so Luke was able to focus on his trot more. Eventually he did really well and got the hang of the rise and fall which was really good for his first lesson. However I couldn’t stop laughing because as he was trotting he started rolling his shoulders and elbows which looked so funny! So that’s a habit we have to nip in the bud!

Either way despite me moaning at him a load he felt like he accomplished something and we ended on a good note which is how it should always be done. He wants to ride again in a week or so where I shall be on Jack’s fieldmate, Diamond, who must be about 14hh and seems so tiny! But I have never ridden Diamond before so it will be fun to try him out as well as trying to teach Luke at the same time!

Well today was the end of an era. As sadly I have come to no longer loan Bella. I had plans to ride with my boyfriend, teaching him on Jack whilst I rode Bella. I went and caught Jack fine and set my boyfriend up with some brushes whilst I caught Bella. However the thing was I wasn’t able to actually catch her. I went into the paddock and instantly she wouldn’t come near me, and the other horses were getting in the way which didn’t help either. Bella would come near me for a treat which I gave her to try and earn her trust, yet as soon as I went to go near her neck she ran off. After bringing in one of her field-mates she still wouldn’t come near me. At one point I did manage to get the lead-rope around her neck but she instantly got defensive and began to struggle against me, I tried to control her as much as I could but in the end she was stronger than I was, and so she ran off with the lead-rope dangling about her neck.

It got to the point where all three horses were galloping around the field and I just really didn’t feel safe being in there. Plus she shouldn’t be that hard to catch. I don’t know whether it’s a problem with her tack or maybe if she needs getting check out by the vet to rule out any pain issues, but Bella clearly doesn’t enjoy being ridden or being brought in to ride, however I can’t really do anything about it. It also brought up some really bad memories for me as my old pony Star would be annoying to catch sometimes, however I always brought a bucket of feed and that always did the trick, plus she was in a field on her own. The situation with Bella is a lot harder as with two other horses in the field they all come to crowd around the bucket and to shooing them away made Bella more cautious. This is why I always consider placing more than one horse in a paddock together, as it creates a lot of problems.

So I messaged her owner and explained the situation. I tried to schedule a day over Easter break when I could meet her and show her what’s going on. However she then decided to pull the plug on the agreement as she didn’t want me getting hurt as it never happens to her. I’m not sure why it happens to me but I’m pretty gutted overall. I also spoke to another girl who looked after Bella and her field-mates and told me she struggled catching her too.

So yes this is an end of an era, as I started this blog when I got Bella and even named it after the show name I thought of for her, however I might have to change things up now. I’m pretty sad still as the owner didn’t seem like she wanted to help me out with the problem even though she needed my help really. Plus now I have to re-think my summer plans a little as I was hoping to ride her more often. It’s just a big shame as I was just starting to get to know her too, but I really shouldn’t have to struggle that much to catch a horse. I know that at least I will have Jack to ride over the summer so at least I have someone to ride and I can continue doing my dressage competitions on him too which is great, plus I get to ride Jack for the cost of one barrow of poo picking so it’s much easier for me!

Today I headed off on another hack on Bella seeing as it was such a sunny day again, it’s truly beginning to feel like summer which I’m so looking forward to. I found that she was pretty hard to catch again as she genuinely seemed scared when I put the headcollar over her head as she was trembling in her neck. I managed to catch her using the leadrope tied around her head and neck but I am concerned as to why she doesn’t want to be caught, plus the fact she is also reluctant to have the bridle put on as well. It might be something to do with her tack but none of it seemed ill-fitting, so maybe it is a behavioural problem. However this will be pretty hard to solve seeing as I only see her once a week.

When riding she seemed a lot calmer and a lot less spooky today which was great. She also did not rush as much and I made use of my seat the whole way around which was good for my muscles, although I bet I’ll be saddle sore tomorrow!

We went around the local XC course which was really nice as I hadn’t been up there in years. There are a few gates to work through as well but they’re quite advanced with long handles which you can use from when on top of the horse. Bella was pretty good with these too and she seemed very eager to get through. I didn’t try cantering today as the ground was already pretty hard from all the sun recently, but seeing as she was so strong last time I didn’t really want to risk it until we get to know each other better. We went down the same hill as we did last week and this time she didn’t work herself into nearly as much of a stress! In order to counter her wanting to go to the right, this time instead of using my leg to move her over, I blocked the right rein and opened up the left, this was much more effective in lacing her toward the middle of the hill. She did again try to rush, however I half-halted and used my seat which did manage to slow her down, killing my thighs in the process.

We got to the same field which we cantered in last week, and Bella clearly remembered us cantering around in there last time as she was bouncing on the toes rearing to go. Instead we kept to a steady trot which we had been achieving all throughout the hack which was great as I felt I had more control.

Overall this week was a much better improvement from last week and I am looking forward to getting to know her better, next week we are doing something a little different as I’m riding her in the school as well as teaching my boyfriend how to ride on my friend’s horse Jack; 22 year-old piebald cob who is just like a grumpy old man but is good as gold really, so it should be a fun ride.

Tonight I headed back to Hartbury’s beautiful arena to see the legendary William Fox-Pitt running his own clinic. He first went over some aspects of dressage and pointed out what many riders do wrong regarding centre lines and circles. With the centre line he said you have to look the judge straight in the eye and dare them not to give you anything less than an 8! You also have to make sure that not only is the horse straight but that your own body is straight too, as if you’re crooked or bending to one side it makes it more difficult for the horse to follow through.

Regarding circles, William demonstrated how people usually put in a bit of a bend, then go straight, often staying at the markers for too long, or if the circle is at C or A, then people again fall into the corners and causes the circle to appear more like a square. With the circle, it can be good to place out some ground poles so that they hit each point of the circle. If you imagine the circle has four points, so one at X, one at C, (if we’re doing a circle at C), then you want to just touch the track at either side. Ride around the poles so that you touch the track at the points and then immediately come off the track again, and don’t go deep into the corners of the arena as it appears that you’re going large. This way the horse is bending more throughout the movement and you ride an actual circle instead of a curved square.

William also said that the art to dressage is to treat it like a conversation with your horse. Each movement needs to be thought of like a sentence. Beginning with a capital letter, then the words, and a full stop. So with each movement you need to initially prepare for the movement (the capital letter) then follow through with the movement, and finish the movement (full stop). However in turn by finishing one movement you always need to be preparing for the next, and in turn with all dressage tests you need to keep the horse distracted and busy so that he doesn’t begin to get distracted.

Another tip was to always film yourself if you can when you do a dressage test, being able to see what you’re doing from the ground can really help and you can see as to why something went wrong or where you could improve. Personally I hate going through my videos as something like my legs or hands are behaving terribly! However even if you go through it once you are aware of the problem and so can take action against it next time.

Onto the jumping part William showed us some XC tips. For when introducing strange fences to the horse just make sure that it is really obvious to them as to what they need to do. This can be helped by making a wide skinny, and then gradually decreasing the width, or placing poles on the ground in a ‘V’ shape to guide them into the fence. This way the horse becomes more accustomed to jumping strange objects and so builds up his confidence.

He also did a little showing off towards the end by throwing himself round these crazy angles, but this too is something good to practice at home ready for the complicated combinations on XC courses, although I don’t see myself at Badminton any time soon! Overall it was a great night, it was probably a little less exciting that Ben Hobday but I still learned just as much, I even treated myself to a signed copy of William’s autobiography, so I’m looking forward to reading that and learning more.

Today it was super warm weather and I couldn’t pass up to opportunity to go out hacking in the fields. Bella was actually okay to catch today, although she didn’t seem happy about it. I also mounted on her in a different place to which she was much better at rather than messing about the mounting block in the school.

Once on I found that she was pretty wary of everything and jumping at every noise. I didn’t know whether this was because she was nervous, or if she was sensing my nerves as I still don’t have complete trust in her yet as I’ve only ridden her a few times on my own now. However I still was going to try and get a little work in and so began to use my thigh muscles and occasionally made her halt just using my seat like we did in my lesson which worked, however she did seem a little distracted.

After our little canter she was quite buzzed and was rushing a lot in the walk, we came down this big concrete hill and she wasn’t too happy about that either. Instantly her body went crooked and she veered to the right trying to get to the grass verge. To push her back over I used my right leg and just pushed her bum over a little bit to straighten her up which worked but only temporarily, I pretty much had to have my leg on the entire way down the hill. Another thing she didn’t like was going slow, because I was making her go slow. In the past her owner has just allowed her to march in the walk, and its so fast sometimes it might as well be a little trot. To try and make her slow down I used my seat and clenched all my tummy muscles – I think! – and stopped allowing my body to move with her and blocking the movement. This did work to a point but she was pretty frustrated. So you can imagine how worked up she was getting going down this hill with me forcing her bum over and slowing her down. We finally got to the bottom but it took what felt like forever! There were some moments when I thought all the aids were a little too much or she wanted a longer rein as she stopped and began to go backwards at some moments. Clearly we need to go down more hills in the summer!

I felt really bad when we got home as she had worked herself into such a sweat just from mostly walking, but it was still a nice change that to being in the school, worrying less about my position and hers and trying to relax a little and get to know her better. I can’t wait for our bond to grow so that I can gallop her comfortably, and so it just gives me more to look forward to this summer as today seemed liked a taste of what is to come. Just need to get all this uni work done and out the way!

Today I had my second lesson on Bella, it was super windy and kept frequently showing with rain, I had already previously got caught in it with the dogs, so I was worried about getting soaked again!

Unlike last week, I actually managed to catch Bella this time, for last week she bolted when I placed the headcollar over her nose resulting with my arse hitting the floor… I then used treats as bribery which fascinated the other two horses in the paddock, however Bella was having none of it, and wouldn’t let me near her even when I had just the leadrope. So after my failed attempt last week, this week I brought in one of the other horses she was in the paddock with in order to tempt her in. I then brought a bucket full of treats as she was still weary of me, however she let me get close enough that I could wrap the leadrope around her neck, which I then twisted over her nose and made a temporary headcollar.

Although I was happy I managed to catch her, I was a little worried as if this behaviour is to continue, it made me think of any reasons why she clearly does not want to be brought in. This may be because she doesn’t enjoy her work, however she really does try when you ask her to do anything, so I’m thinking there may be another cause. I mentioned this to her owner, and she found this surprising as she had never had a problem, so it might be something that we have to work on together.

With the lesson we began working on doing some turn off the fore-hand, where there were had four cones set out in a square, and then we went straight up to each cone, halted, I then turned her head to the inside by opening up the inside rein, using the outside rein to stop her forelegs moving away and pushing with the inside leg to swing her back end around. We did this on both reins, shortening the amount of time I spent in halt and making her swing around in the turn.

Then came the hard part, doing it all over again in trot. When we went into trot I found myself tipping forward and she began rushing and becoming faster and faster in the trot. With this I became a little panicked and found it difficult to slow her down. This was also made increasingly difficult as I began to lose focus with the aids I was giving became inconsistent and in turn made Bella confused as to what I wanted her to do. From this we slowed down and began talking about how to slow her down without using the reins and using my seat. We started with this in walk and when I wanted her to halt I simply squeezed with my thighs and stopped allowing the movement of the walk pass through my body. This was engagement with my core and those inner thigh muscles again which I need to majorly strengthen!

Stepping it up a notch I then did rising trot with no stirrups, which frankly, is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done! Basically I had to squeeze with my thighs again and lift myself off of the saddle. I wasn’t able to lift off the saddle much but there was enough. Then we trotted around as I tried to do this, it was really difficult as I didn’t really know if I was doing it right, and found myself holding onto the pommel of the saddle to steady myself.

Thankfully after this I was allowed my stirrups back, with this we then began trotting and I focused on slowing down the trot using just my seat as before, and by clenching my thighs and using my core muscles as well, I managed to slow my rise and get Bella very close to a walk without even using the reins. From this I again found that to slow her down I simply blocked her movement from my body which caused her to slow down.

Overall, I think it is very clear that I need to work on those inner thigh muscles to engage my core as well to produce a better seat and help with my overall position, so from this I’m going to make sure to use my legs and core every time I ride. I’m also thinking of trying out equestrian pilates will be a good idea to strengthen my core, so lets hope this helps!

Being the amazing friend that I am, I accompanied my bestie in visiting Writtle University College for an open day. Besides being surrounded by 18 year olds and remembering what it was like to be at that age, it was great with lots to learn.

We first got to see the equine course campus which was rather fancy with brand new stable blocks, their own stud yard and several indoor arenas. Our first task was fun and simple, as we had to get chalk to outline certain points of the horses’ body. This began with an amazing start as we had a bay horse which none of the chalk would show up on her fur, then add the fact that she was molting loads made it trickier.

The points we had to outline were:

1. The point of the shoulder and down the shoulder muscle to the withers and long the leg
2. Along the spine
3. The last rib

Looking at all these points we learned helps you to know what to look for when trying on a saddle. We also learned that you don’t want the saddle seat to come after the final rib, as being so far along the back the added pressure after the final rib is usually directly above the kidneys. The spine too is more fragile here and does not give as much support, in turn pressure is applied to the kidneys which can lead to all sorts of problems in the future, and particularly in mares this is also where the ovaries are situated, and so pressure can cause them damage.

After learning about the saddle and having a look at horse which did have good fitting or ill-fitting saddles, we then had a demonstration with another one of the lecturers at the university in the beautiful indoor arena. The lecturer began to explain what she had been working on with three current students – all on their own beautiful looking horses. Then we were shown a horse with all his muscles drawn on him (like the image above) and then she started talking us through the differences in one horse’s muscles to another. What was then amazing was that she could draw the same muscle as already drawn on one horse, and then do the same on another horse, but even though it was the same muscle, each horse had completely different shapes for it. At this point I started to feel very confused as I couldn’t really see what the lecturer was seeing when she began working with these horses and talking about their muscles and behaviours – it certainly made me want to begin studying.

However it was a fun day out and something different but still horsey related, so if you’re looking to go to a horsey university it is worth checking out! (Although be warned – there are no ovens in their student accommodation!)

So for the first time in this academic year I finally managed to get a lesson at my local riding school, in the past I have been too busy with team training or too skint living off as little as I could, so it was nice to go back as I think its been at least a year since I last went.

I was given a horse called Flossy (on the right) who was quite stocky but still very pretty. She was really nice off the leg and not lazy at all which was a nice surprise – as most of the horses there are the typical riding school horse. We didn’t really have a lesson today but the instructor Lucy just let us run around and work on our own thing which was nice, and then she gave us guidance when we asked for it which was a big help too. So with everything I have discovered about my position recently I decided it would be good to work on my legs today as I was on a more quiet horse who would be happy to trot around as I worked and not having to pay too much attention to them.

For this of course we had to do no stirrup work, which I had never really found too much of a pain until today! I tried to keep my legs still whilst trotting around – Flossy I also discovered was very bouncy! – but then in keeping my legs wrapped around her I started to tense in my knee and lower leg as though to try and keep myself balanced.

I was doing this for a good 40 minutes I think and everything really began to hurt! My thigh muscles were killing and then I also found myself trying to engage my core by sitting up straight and sucking my stomach in to keep myself balanced doing that instead of using my legs. From this my stomach began to hurt too and I wished that someone had told me to ride like this about 10 years ago, as it was like learning everything from scratch all over again.

I did find riding Flossy for this a lot easier than Bella as I just didn’t worry about her head or position or anything and just used the time to focus on myself. For the last 20 minutes or so I gave myself the stirrups back which felt very short after that, and continued to try to keep the position whilst doing sitting trot. I felt a massive difference in my hips as I was sitting deeper in the saddle and felt more confident in my position. From this I began to focus on Flossy a little more as she was quite like Bella in wanting to turn her head to the outside when on the left rein – it always has to be my weakest rein! – and so I managed to get her going straighter and it was also very nice and easy to get her working over her back and she was looking gorgeous by the end!

From this I was also thinking of doing some pilates in order to build up my core strength as that was pretty difficult to engage today, so that is another thing for the horse amazon wishlist! But at least there was some good progress made today and I’m already dreading the pain in my legs tomorrow!

Today I was super excited to get on someone different and familiar that being 22 year old cob Jack! He is such a funny horse as he takes the mic out of you half the time and mostly does what he wants. He also spends the first 20 minutes trying to convince you that he is very old and delicate and would rather not be ridden today. However when you catch him in a good mood he is brilliant, and I’m hoping to take him XC in the warmer months.

Recently it’s been unusually warm for February and when I took Jack’s rug off he was covered in sweat underneath it. At first I was pretty worried about him and gave him a good brush down trying to cool him a little, and decided to not work him too hard today but to simply do a little test and see how it went.

On warming up Jack seemed a little slow however after a few transitions he perked up a little and began to understand what we were up to. Throughout I didn’t really concentrate on my legs too much however I did notice that I was pretty much constantly nudging him with my leg in order to keep him going at times. I tried to keep control of this as well as place my hands in the right position so that my elbows were continuously bent. This I found pretty useful as in one part of the test you have to give and retake the reins, in the past when I have done this test I found that I did not get a very high mark for the movement and it probably was because of my hands!

When it came to filming the test I felt very sorry for my cameraman Luke as out of four attempts we only managed to complete the test once! I found that when warming up Jack was fine with transitions and wasn’t looking at anything down the long side, however when it came to filming it was though he knew and decided to look and swerve bending his head to the outside. Thank goodness it wasn’t a real competition as we would not have got very far! On another attempt at filming Jack decided to buck into the canter transition – it’s one of his qwerks – this has happened before when competing and the judge noticed and gave me a rather disappointing score of 4 for the movement. So I gave him a quick whiz around the school once more and practiced the transition and the movement, however when it came to filming again he did an even bigger buck!

At this point I could tell he was really hot and bothered and not in the mood for any more dressage. So instead I took him on a little hack and gave him a good long walk round to cool him off whilst Luke walked the dogs as well. It was a great way to end and to give Jack a chance to cool down after sweating under his rug all day. When we got back I gave him a little wash down and tried to even his fur out a little and turned him back out naked as the sun was still shining.

When looking at the test though it isn’t actually too bad, there are some moments where he was even working over his back nicely and getting his head down – as he has to be in a really good mood for you to ask that – and the buck that I worried about before was barely noticeable, so hopefully the judges won’t be too harsh about that!

If you want to see my video please click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_LLKq-4dUE&t=16s

And if you’re interested in entering online dressage competitions, read more on my ‘Competing’ tab where you can find out how to enter, and who I compete with.

20th February 2019

After last week’s riding lesson on Bella I felt pretty confident today in trying out some of the things we learned. I let my friend Katie get on first to warm her up, as both myself and Bella’s owner have a bad left side, whereas Katie had a strong left side, and so I wanted her to help counter that.

Watching Katie it was clear that Bella is simply a very difficult horse to ride. She really resists in working over her back as she has not yet developed the muscles in her neck needed for that kind of work, and it is pretty hard bless her! However Bella really did try her best which you could clearly see happening, as although it was not consistent, there were many fleeting moments where her body position would be perfect and she was working over the back nicely.

When doing canter work Katie tried ‘going through the gears’ like Ben Hobday did at his clinic, just to see how she would react. The reaction was: gallop! As Bella flung herself as fast as she could down the long side of the arena, when it came to collecting her again in the corner it took a long time for Bella to slow down, as it appears that in the past whoever has trained her made sure she was nice and forward, however this now means that whenever you put your leg on she goes even faster. This was the case when working on circles to try and get a little inside bend, by asking her to work over her back we did halt halts in the outside rein, opened up the inside rein, and then squeezed with the inside leg. However, it often happened that as soon as you put on the inside leg Bella would pounce into a trot, and so is not clear on what we were asking of her.

Furthermore her canter was super unbalanced, as she tended to just run around the arena not really knowing what she was doing. It took a while for Katie to balance her canter a little by lengthening and shortening the stride and working on a circle. However it was clear she also needs a lot of practice in the canter too.

By the time I got on Katie has worked Bella so hard she was super sweaty! And so when I came to try and ask for a little bend I found that she was listening, and her back end was really powerful which is good, however she wasn’t fully capable to lower her head and neck. I also found that she began doing her bad habit again by trying to snatch at the reins which made her lose concentration slightly in what I was asking her to do. However I found that by rewarding her with a long rein letting her neck stretch she was very grateful for that!

Katie also put me through my paces in terms of my position, turns out that my left leg sticks out away from the saddle instead of pointing forwards. From this I did some of the exercises that I learned last week in order to get my leg in the correct position, Katie also tied my stirrup to my girth to further implement this. However I found that this was very difficult to practice on a horse like Bella as all of your attention has to be on her, so to focus on my position as well as her proved to be a little mind boggling as I felt so alienated in the saddle!

It was clear today that because Bella is so young that she needs regular schooling pretty much every day in order to learn and develop as a horse. The only frustrating thing is though that I live a 2 hours bus commute away from her whilst at university, so I only can ride her one day a week. I don’t think she is schooled very often by her owner either, so I know that the only way I’m going to make progress with her is over the summer when I am home and can ride her more frequently. It’s just a matter of waiting and fixing my position and bad habits until then!

16th February 2019 – As the best Christmas present ever – my friends and I made the drive down to Gloucester to see the one and only Ben Hobday! The clinic was amazing in a word. We saw Ben make a grand entrance himself to the classic ‘We Will Rock you’ getting us all the chat and clap as he came in which was fantastic from the beginning. He worked on horses Shadow Man, Wiz Kid, and Dillion.

He showed us several demonstrations of how to encourage horses to do something that they have never tried before, by just keeping the contact there and ‘holding their hand’ through the process. Another thing was to keep the question the same of what you are asking the horse to do, this way even though they may not fully understand the first time, they will come to understand in time.

With jumping Ben talked about how you must be able to ‘change through the gears’ of your horse before beginning jumping. By this he meant being able to change the pace in canter, still keeping the power and control. This way you can adjust the number of strides between fences by either lengthening or shortening the stride, allowing yourself room for the fence so that you don’t end up a stride too far out or too close.

He also mentioned when when approaching the fence you must look at the take off point, this way you will be able to train your eye to see the number of canter strides you have left before the fence. When you can see the strides, you can work out whether you need to hold back for half of a stride, or push forward. This way you can adjust the stride as you approach the fence. When I first heard all this I was really confused as I have never really been able to see a stride, and recently having been on multiple numbers of different horses it is difficult when they all have differing stride lengths. However, I did come up with a way of learning to ‘see’ the stride:

1. Set up your fence.
2. Make a line in the surface with your shoe two steps away from the fence, this is the takeoff point.
3. Walk four more steps away from this line, and draw another line. This is a canter stride.
4. Do the same again.

By doing this, when approaching the fence these lines in the surface shall become your targets. You can see the takeoff line and so make sure that you do aim to take off at that point. Ben says it’s the rider’s job to get the approach to the fence correctly, it is the horse’s job to jump it, you just have to make everything as easy as you can for them to do their bit properly. From this exercise, over time you will come to train your eye to see where the strides are, and this then allows you to know when to adjust the stride. I haven’t tried this out myself yet, but I plan too soon.

Ben then demonstrated the differences between his young horses and the older ones, showing how the training process comes to take effect, as with the younger horse Dillon it was a little trickier to quicken and slow down the canter than with expert Shadow Man. He also emphasised that the canter must be powerful, and that this must not be mistaken with speed. A horse needs power to get over the fence, often the harder the fence, the more power needed, and the important part is to maintain the power throughout all different paces of the canter.

At the end of the night Ben was even kind enough to stay behind and meet us all, the clinic didn’t finish until 10pm and we didn’t meet him until 11! He looked super tired yet still put the effort in to have a chat with us and have a photo – it is the most awkward looking photo ever – but it was still amazing to meet the man. According to his instagram story he didn’t get to bed until 6am but it was still an amazing night!