Ellie Mansbridge Dressage

Ebony

Finally got out to our first medium today! We had one very happy ebony which also meant she got a bit sassy at times 🙈 however we’ve set a good starting point and ready to get out again and get going on what we need to improve 😁

Ebony

I’ve missed being between these ears, even though it’s been less than a week 🙈 we had our first practice run through of a medium test. We’ve picked up where we need to practice ready for our comp the week after next 😁🤩

Darcy had her best dancing shoes on today and produced a lovely test 🥰🐎🏆 We survived the winds now let’s get the wet suit ready for the torrential rain tomorrow 🤦‍♀️ ☔️

It’s been a long tough winter with ebony but I’m so glad we’re finally out the other end 🤞🏼 ready for a summer of hard work and fun!

Darcy

And that’s Darcy all qualified for the summer area festivals! Love this little mare and we even got to dance in the sun today! ☀️

I think we can all agree it’s been a very long and HARD winter. It’s moments like these that I keep going for! Our second competition of the year and we smashed out a 73% 😁 we also got the kindest comment from the judge! Couldn’t be happier with Darcy’s progress and so excited for what’s next ❤️ thank you Amanda Mansbridge and Bethany Cameron for being the best team🥰

We finally got to our first competition of the year! So pleased with how Darcy went today, she did have a little too much fun in our first test which knocked our percentage down but made up for it in our second test which led to us winning our section with 67% 😁 onto the next! 🥰

Darcy

Practise, practise, practise! 😁

Darcy

We finally managed to get Darcy out to a long overdue lesson today! I’m pleased to say we kept all four feet where they should be the whole time and she tried her heart out for me ❤️ even in the horrid rain ☔️ now to get some comps booked in!

Darcy

Darcy having a school today in between all the rain showers ☔️ she started off wild 🙈 but after a quick run on the lunge she decided to eventually behave! 😂

Darcy

Darcys been in a bit of a spicy mood for the last few weeks, I think lots of people have been through this it’s just that time of year! 🙈 luckily I think we’re finally over it! The first video is a small taster of how she’s been and the other two videos are from our ride in the sunshine today! ☀️ time to crack on now she’s keeping all four feet where they’re supposed to be!

Darcy

Another great lesson today. Little by little Darcy is getting better. She’s slowly but surely getting stronger and producing little bits of really exciting work 😊😍 big thank you to Sondra Rutter Equestrian for helping us with our journey 😊

Darcy

One of the things I have been trying to crack with darcy is our walk/trot transitions. She gets tense and throws her head up both going from walk to trot and trot to walk. Today I decided we would focus on that by doing a serpentine with transitions over the centre line each time. At the beginning we weren’t getting anywhere and I could feel myself gripping with my legs and it was an argument between us each time. So I took a breather to regather and decided I would ditch the stirrups so I couldn’t grip… this is the aftermath! It’s not perfect but it’s 100x better. I just wish I got a before video!

Clipping

I’m not going to lie, clipping is up there with one of my least favourite jobs but my god is it so much easier when your horse is this easy! Ebs stood like an angel while I shaved off all her fluff today! We didn’t even need a head collar! 😂🥰

ICC

A slightly late post but I can’t even explain how manic our weekend was! Darcy competed in the inter county challenge for the bucks team at Bury farm. It was a lot for her to take in. It was her first stay away, there were flags and decorations everywhere, it was very very busy and she’s never been in an indoor arena like the one at bury farm! Unfortunately her young side did show in the test and she was a bit green and very tense so we didn’t get our usual marks on paper but when she settled she really did feel amazing! She makes me so excited for the future with all the great comments she gets off people and judges!