Looking back on the start of the season: elimination; stops cross country; a horrendous dressage score; two withdrawals and endless frustrations and changes of plan… Finally we have had three really successful runs in a row including 2 rosettes!
I have really, in the past month or so, discovered that there is nothing quite like a double clear. By this I mean that regardless of the dressage there I such a thrill to be had from jumping double clear in both jumping phases unlike any joy brought from this sport (and there really is a lot). It is so nice to be able to have some reward for the work that we all put in. I work every weekend to fund my addiction and from March to July the reward had been minimal, but it is times like this when we all realise why we carry on through those tougher, more frustrating times.
I also have really appreciated this time, now, doing well and being in the top 10 places a couple of times because of how much of an achievement it really is. When you are at an event you see horses flying around the cross country, warming up for dressage, being prepared by lovely mothers, riders and grooms beside lorries and some as you’d expect do well and some have bad days… We all know how this feels. But if you think about what time, energy and money goes into each horse at each event every weekend it is an enormous amount. Just this makes each individual achievement so great and to get something back from all of this makes such a huge difference.
In our last couple of events Theo’s dressage has been really nice. He has the tendency to get a little excited and tense and I sometimes find this hard to control so at our last event I warmed up for even less time (I normally warm up for about 10 minutes because at his age he doesn’t need much and can get tired and lazy or go the other way and get tense and excited) which seemed to pay off. I had to kick pretty hard in the first canter to really get the energy that shows off his lovely way of going but luckily this didn’t make his trot rushed but it was nice, rhythmic and correct without being slow or lazy. I love working on elements that were wrong in the last test and improving them in the next and seeing marked improvement both physically and in our score. As he’s so happy and comfortable jumping at 90 as long as I set him up and make him forward and straight it means that to really get placed and do well he has to do a lovely test which I feel I have managed to achieve recently but equally there are things still to work on that can take the few 6’s up to 7’s for a more consistent test.
I’m so lucky to have Theo because as long as he’s comfortable and I do it right he is so rewarding!
