I might have felt like I was about to die in the prize giving….but we unlocked another trot level! His medium was already good but HOLY COW! I don’t recon he is giving it 100% either 🤣
So this happened today!
This weekend is the Midway Championships at Hartpury - it’s my first time competing here and what a fabulous atmosphere it is - busy classes and happy people everywhere!
First was medium 5 - I don’t like this test but Boris did well and is currently sitting in 4th position with his final test tomorrow which will decide the overall result…
But we also had the music….
Now Tony and I sorted the music yesterday - I hadn’t had chance to ride it through….luckily I’m actually very quick at learning freestyle and watching my video a couple of times meant I knew where my music check points were…
This meant I knew straight away that I was behind my music - we’d filmed the floorplan originally on grass which can make the horse a little quicker …so I had to really ride him - not fast but for the bigger step and he absolutely rose to the occasion. He nailed it - absolutely smashed it! I was deliberately more conservative with my half pass and shoulder in as I can over ride these and ruin the flow but he actually nailed everything - 7.5 for simple change, 8’s for extended trot and 7.5’s for his medium canter - out lowest mark on the sheet was a 7.
We won the Medium freestyle on a whopping 74.3% - this is a personal best for me.
I know it sounds silly but I feel validated this evening - I’m sat drinking my cuppa feeling more confident at this level and excited to go and smash it again tomorrow.
I’m so proud of Boris - he was a gent all day and behaved impeccably - it’s easy to forget he is only 6. He struggled with the prize giving but inadvertently learned to passage both forwards and backwards 😂😂😂
I wanted to gallop around but they’d have needed an air ambulance as he a bit weirded out being ridden in a rug with a couple hundred people clapping in the gallery and I think he’d have totally lost his 💩😂
Huge thank you to my amazing Tony for sorting the music last minute - to Naomi Aguilar and Karen
Medium 5!
Ok I like the trot section of this new test but the canter is harder for us than medium 6 - he is training his changes on the same line as this test has its simple changes so they were messy today. This test really rewards a forward horse but will punish you if you can’t keep them on the hind leg and let them get long or strong - the old medium 73 was quite busy but the movements set the horse and rider up nicely - this new test is more sparse in its feel and you gotta have your horse ready as I discovered today 🤣
I’m pretty pleased with this first run through - trot felt consistent, but too much angle in the second shoulder in: it’s his stiffer side so I went for it and actually over cooked it a bit - half passes were deliberately conservative but consistent- happy with them - transition to walk was messy, walk pirrys pretty good 👍 happy with extended walk
He really bowled on in medium canter and was a little tricky to get back - first half pass was nice - second was bad from the start and didn’t improve 🤣 - both simple changes were poorly prepared by me
Happy with final centre line - left hind out behind in halt but not horrendous.
I’m really pleased with how forward and keen he was - just getting a little strong in the canter
We are riding this test on Friday at Midway champs so I’ve submitted this to Dressage Anywhere for some feedback
WOW Saddles
Millie Robinson Veterinary Physiotherapist
HorseBox Xchange
Sound up!!!
When you’ve just started running through some exercises in the field….and your mate randomly walks up the drive carrying one of your dogs after finding them on a ‘jolly’ down the road - my yellow dog knows Sue but my collie scarpered - she was about half a mile away but heard my whistle and was back before I’d managed to get Boris untacked and go and find her
Good boy Boris - I’ve never let this whistle loose whilst onboard before and it’s REALLY loud! 🤣🤣
Sorry for the sweary words 🤣🤣🤣
Thank you Sue Walkley for carrying my really heavy little dog back to me xx
So although Boris works really well in a double - I’m training him mainly in the snaffle. Why?
It’s easy to get drawn into the softness a double can help create and loose the thoroughness - I need him to be confident to move out to the bit - not to sit on it and be heavy but to step forwards into it - often riders spend hours trying to create softness through lightness and eventually it may bite them on the ass. Boris likes to come into quite a strong contact - not hard handed or backwards thinking but something he can really work into. It’s taken me a while to get used to this as I was one of those riders who kept seeking lightness above all else but I’ve had to learn quickly that the lightness comes from them not from my vague ‘wishy washy’ contact
For his mediums now, all I have to do is point and offer the hand forward - he already has the energy there….i just have to show him what direction to take it. I also have to remember to keep my leg on when I bring him back to a collected trot - you can see here that he looses that energy at the end of his medium line as I used too much hand and not enough leg and seat so I temporarily ruined the flow and then had to stoke up the fire again to get him back on point
If anyone is interested in what bit he uses - it’s a titanium Fager Maria loose ring
Well….today he did a thing!
I’ve not tried changes in the field and this is only his third or forth attempt of even playing with them - half a stride late behind but I’ll take it.
He was so honest - I hadnt even done any prep work for these - he had literally just ridden through his medium freestyle floorplan and I thought “Well, if I just try and ride those two simple change lines as a flying change then I can edit them into my medium and have my AdvMed too…..BOOM 💥
What an absolute dude! 💖🎉🦄🤣
Can you park your pony?
A horse being easy to mount is important to me - I believe it’s revealing for how relaxed they are for the session ahead.
It doesn’t matter where Boris is, home, show, anywhere - he will always park for me. I can stand him next to almost anything and clamber on him
Avalon will park 99% of the time now - she used to be really tricky to get on at shows but is loads better this year although I still have to be quick and not faff about as she likes to get moving.
Really knowing them, their similarities and differences, is essential to ensure they are trained individually and not generically.
Here is Boris parking by a gate so I can get on in a 10acre field 🤣
Ta da!!!
WOW Saddles have knocked it right out of the park with this….
Now I LOVE my Bates momentum jump saddle, I make no secret of that - it was perfect for me fine on Avalon but not great on Boris.
I am very particular about my jump saddles…
I like a flat seat (but not too flat)
I like a narrow twist (but not so narrow that I feel like it’s becoming part of my permentant anatomy)
I like a really soft, squishy knee roll (but it has to be supportive, not vague and needs to be where I need it)
I like a calf block that’s actually where my legs need it - I’m not tall and most saddles have this in the wrong place for me
I like it to give really good feedback through the seat because if Avalon is going to spook I feel it here first and I need to catch her with my leg before she whips round
I am blown away by the feel of this - I rode both horses in it! Boris has a merino half pad with it as his panels are actually designed differently to hers but it worked BRILLIANTLY!
I had a couple of sharp spooks on Avalon hacking today and I didn’t move - not because the saddle holds me in, it doesn’t do that, I’ve got full freedom in it - but everything was exactly where I needed it to be able to catch her with my thigh and keep her straight before she whipped round.
I can’t wait to jump in it
Anneliese Lewis you flipped nailed it 👍💖💥🦄
The best girl doing her thing!
Changes are coming
Big gears are fully installed and can be immediately deployed, anywhere, anytime 🤣
Collected trot cadence is coming - still a little clunky
Sit in the canter is getting there
Behaviour today 👌✔️🦄
I could not love her any more ❤️🦄
WOW Saddles
Developing a little more balance each and every day
Things his first time attempting canter poles on a curve and he found it tricky to keep the canter consistent but he did well.
He is very keen to be doing the ‘big legs’ all the time at the moment but with it comes the pay off of loosing some straightness and quality so we are keeping things minimal and making sure he keeps using his whole body for regionals next week and not just trying to high 5 the judges - consistent, calm and accurate is what I need next week - the really big legs can come out another day when he has more control
What I’m really loving right now is how quiet he is becoming in the mouth…not still and set, but quiet - unlike Avalon he was always quite gobby and in many of his previous videos you can often see daylight where there shouldn’t any 🤣 but I refuse to tighten his noseband. I could literally feed him an apple…it’s really loose and comfortable for him. Developing his confidence in the contact has been key to him not wanting to or needing to open his mouth to evade….even though he can
I’ve had a super morning with the one of my favourite humans - Catherine Boyd and the lovely Dante at the Bicton Arena Area Festival - Boyd and Dante did great today - he is a young horse at his first big show and she has produced him from scratch herself - I’m super proud of them both
❤️
So here is some of Boris’ canter work today - I had to focus on straightness….especially on the right rein where he likes to throw his bum in at me.
Usually my stock answer would put him into slight shoulder fore but for now I have been told to keep the straightness with my outside aids rather than over using my inside aids and creating new problems 🤣 I am not allowed too much inside flexion on the right rein, even keeping his nose a teeny bit to the outside to help him (and me) get the right feel.
I don’t have mirrors to help check my feeling so I have to literally think stride by stride and hope I have it right - this is why the Pivo is invaluable as I was really pleased watching this back today.
Huge thanks to Jonny at Collective Equestrian for literally teaching me how to ride a straight line and also to the legend that is Beth Bainbridge for teaching me on Avalon at 6.15 this morning and always being so incredibly patient whilst I fudge my way (in true amateur style) through cementing her changes….also for being endlessly patient with me and the near constant utter rubbish that I talk 🗣️🤣👏🌟🎉🦄😎
WOW Saddles
Dressage Anywhere
Equidance
HorseBox Xchange
Anna Ross - Elite Dressage
Boris is learning how to engage his back end….he is also very reactive to the schooling whip 🤣🤣🤣
Them: “So why is it called Scratchy Lane?”
Scratchy lane…..
Huge thankyou to Newton Stud for taking great care of my girl.
Also a shout out to Mark from Little Legs Horse Taxi Service - excellent price to bring her home to me and transported with thought and care - very professional service, I would definitely use him again and recommend
So why am I actually happy with this?
She gets the change but is late behind but I’m actually pleased….
1/ she was on cue….my aid was a fraction late (trust me I’ve watched it in slomo) - so she basically gave me a Xmas card on my birthday but it’s my fault for getting the date wrong 🤣
2/ she kept the counter canter - I’ve not had a counter canter since we started changes, I’ve had 2’s and 1’s behind and some minor paddy throwing but no counter canter - today she waited for me and then delivered
3/ temperament - she was spicy today but she stayed with me
It’s not about perfection - it’s about ‘better’ and seeing the good in what they are achieving - what we do with these horses is a huge privilege and I don’t want to miss a single win
Medium 75 run through!
This is the first time Boris has run through a test on grass so I’m pretty pleased with this.
Notes:
1/ I prefer to enter off the left rein with him but it’s like the Amazon rain forest on that side so I actually have to learn to ride him straighter
2/ Right half pass I am keeping straighter deliberately as I ask for too much bend and over ride the 1/4s and then it gets stuffy - I can put the bend back in once I consistently ride it better
3/ I am deliberately not putting so much bend in my shoulder in as I don’t ride this movement brilliantly - I over cook it and make it too hard for him to keep fluidity
4/ should finish my circle before travers and keep more bend in the body on the right
5/ happy with progress in pirrys
6/ very happy with simple changes and canter work
7/ be braver in extensions
8/ rein back ok, obedient but halt should have been ▪️ and id prefer to have diagonal pairs straight out of the halt
9/ final halt was terrible as I just didnt have him off my inside leg 😂
I’ve submitted this to Dressage Anywhere for some feedback ahead of my Regionals at the end of the month
WOW Saddles
Millie Robinson Veterinary Physiotherapist
Dressage Anywhere
HorseBox Xchange
Noodle came to watch me school in the field arena ❤️🫶
