Posts Written On December 2009

Several people I have asked recently to recommend a good equestrian book have suggested one called Celebrity Jumping Exercises compiled by Caroline Orme It is filled with SJ and XC jumping exercises submitted by professionals such as Pat Burgess, Matt Ryan, and Leslie Law. With the help of a few well timed hints I ended up unwraping this on Christmas day! (How on earth did Santa guess!?!) Today we attempted an exercise submitted by Yogi Breisner. To begin with you place 5 poles at bounce distances (10-12ft between each pole) in a straight line, and trot through them. These are…

Having missed out on our latest dressage competition due to the snow and ice on the steep hill from our yard making it too dangerous to drive on I was determined that it wasn’t going to stop me schooling at home aswell! I arrived at the yard on Thursday to find the menage full of even more lovely fluffy snow! The ground underneath wasn’t frozen so if I could clear the snow enough it would be fit to ride on. I car jacked my mother’s 4×4, attached the rake, attached a pallet to that for extra weight and got driving.…

Riding Jack over the past few weeks has been both uplifting and disappointing in equal measures, but yesterday we had a small breakthrough. Soap is very quick to react to light aids but Jack is the polar opposite. At present because he is not established in self carriage it takes A LOT of leg to get him to work properly. Despite going to the gym in an effort to get stronger and fitter I find that after 30mins schooling him I am pooped!…but then I found my spurs! I had totally forgotten I had a pair of spurs as wearing…

I couldn’t resist! It is Christmas after all!…

Jack is back in regular work now that the issues he had with his feet (which were a result of the long time he spent on box rest) have finally been sorted, so work has begun in ernest to turn him into an event horse! In prep for a dressage competition we have next week I hired the indoor school at the same venue and took him there for some schooling. The last time he went out was May and he came out the trailer at that show in a muck sweat and quivering like a leaf! It took about…