Posts Written On May 2013

Having re-schooled (to varying levels) a few ex-racehorses now I thought it might be an idea if I wrote a few blog posts detailing some of the issues that I have come across during the process of recycling an ex-racer. This is by no means a ‘how to guide to re-schooling ex-racers’ it’s just a catalogue of my thoughts and discoveries which I hope might be able to help other people who are in the process of, or thinking about taking on an ex-racer to re-train. So I will start at the beginning….choosing your horse. For me there is always one main factor which influences my decision,…

This bank holiday weekend I planned a little ‘boot camp’ for Dustry, Friday we went for a lesson, Saturday he did his first combined training competition, Sunday he had a lesson at home, Monday he had off, and today I took him for his 2nd combined training outing. We boxed to Downlands Equestrian as they had a little low key combined training event on, perfect for a baby horse. This time though the dressage warm up AND test was on grass. Dustry has done no tests in a grass arena and so I thought this could be interesting! He was…

Having done lots of BD dressage outings, and a few small show jumping competitions I felt it was time to take Dustry to his first combined training competition. I found a little low key competition at Wickstead Farm Equestrian Center (base for Badminton Horse Trials winner Paul Tapner!) so I entered him for Class 2 which comprised of British Eventing BE90 Test 92 and a round of 2’3” show jumps. As luck would have it I also managed to bag myself a ‘personal pap’ for the day! Katie Mortimore Photography came with me and took some stunning shots, in return…

Jumping on grass, the ultimate test of nerve? 😉 Yesterday I took Dustry to Elmwood to do some show jumping and cross country practise on grass, it was his first ever session of jumping on grass in a big wide open space, and I was hoping it wouldn’t prove too exciting for him!!!! He was surprisingly underwhelmed by the whole situation I’m pleased to report. We warmed up over a couple of rustic show jumps and then went into the ring as if in a comp and straight round the course. He had 2 very genuine stops, one at fence…