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Ascot-under-Wychwood Dustry’s 2nd ODE

5am alarm, plaiting in the lorry, 2x sets of tack and my favourite green and white xc gear it’s eventing time again! We set off to the BE80 at Crown Farm, Ascot under Wychwood for D’s 2nd ODE and what a mega day we had. Things didn’t start too well though we got there nice and early so we could walk the course and on my portaloo pit stop before setting off round the xc I managed to drop my apple (breakfast!) down the portaloo, I flushed it goodbye and off we set round the course. The course seemed very…

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Intense show jumping hit & no hanging about!

Love show jumping but hate hanging about for hours on end for your class to start? me too! We needed to get some show jumping practice in before our 2nd event on Sunday so instead of looking for a local competition and entering a few classes, I boxed off to Rectory Farm Arena for some fun and efficient show jump schooling instead. No hanging about for the class to start, no crowded warm up to contend with, no silly jacket required that would boil me to death, and no bank loan necessary to cover multiple entry fees, perfect! After initially…

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XC shooling and ‘GHE cam’

I booked some time off work to go and do some more winter regional point hunting at BD, but sadly missed the entry date so quick change of plan and off XC schooling we went instead. XC instead of dressage? I’m not complaining! I charged up my hat cam and strapped it on to my hat to see what I could capture, unfortunately I didn’t screw it in position quite tight enough and so it dropped down a little too low with all the jumping up and down. The gopro lens thankfully has a huge range of field so even…

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Adjustable gullets – the flexible and affordable solution for horses that change shape

For anyone retraining an ex-racer or bringing on a youngster one of my top tips would be buy a saddle that fits that has adjustable gullets, they will save you so much hassle and a small fortune. When I first bought Dustry I rode him in my Exselle Debut close contact saddle. I pretty much rode everything in this saddle! The front points on it were so short that it never impinged on shoulder movement and as a result it also had a massive potential range of width fittings. With a good numnah, half sheepskin or riser pad it would…

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3 is the magic number

Today we went in search of points! This year my dressage aim is to qualify for the British Dressage Winter Regional Finals, and for that at Prelim level we need to gain 19 ‘prelim points’ in winter qualifier classes. We arrived at the venue, tacked up and started to warm up in the indoor and IT WAS HOT!!! Thankfully we were allowed to compete without jackets which made it much more comfortable. The first test was a bit lack luster, Dustry sort of dried up on me in the arena which resulted in a trip into the walk as he…

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XC schooling at Rabson Manor

We boxed off to Rabson Manor today for a little XC schooling, the weather was glorious and both Dustry and his cobby companion were fab. The going was just perfect and as I hadn’t been to Rabson for quite a while I was pleasantly surprised by all the new jumps they had added. The XC now spans 3 large fields has 2x water complexes and lots of fences from beginners up to Pre Novice.   We warmed up and popped a few simple fences then went for a play in the water. Dustry wasn’t keen at first to go in…

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Combined training on grass at Elmwood – 11th!

Today after having our competition plans last weekend scuppered by Dustry’s love sickness we set off to Elmwood for some combined training on grass. This is a great venue and we’ve been here several times before for sj and xc schooling. You could choose between 2x tests a BD Prelim or a BE test so we plumped for BE90 test 95 with a round of SJ at 80cms. He was super to warm up, and did some of his best work to date. Having last been out eventing he kept locking on to the xc fences dotted about near the…

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Are you being trained or instructed?…

Terminology varies when referring to riding instructors, or coaches, or trainers, or teachers and we all probably believe that they (whatever you call them) do the same thing, but I’ve come to realise that this isn’t the case. For years and years before I found my current trainer I would seemingly make progress in my lessons and feel like I’d ‘got it’, then as I was left to my own devices to practise what I had been told (not taught, told) I could feel the sense of confidence and understanding in what I was supposed to be doing and why…

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Piecing together my event horse

When we started jumping Dustry my instructor Amanda Brewer said to me ‘we are going to have to build him Chloe, piece him together bit by bit’ and that really stuck with me. Unlike any unspoilt-un-raced-bred-for-the-job-horse Dustry has had to overcome a lot of physical and mental hang ups. Through his training my instructor and I are gradually irradiating the traces of his past career and way of going, and piecing together a more desirable picture. He has come such a long way, and the biggest change has been with his jumping. Where you could trot a lovely green, clean…

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Mr Lover Man – colty naughtiness is not acceptable!

So we had planned to go to combined training tomorrow but plans don’t always go…well…according to plan! This past week Dustry has been getting increasingly more and more badly behaved when ridden. He is a hot blooded creature at the best of times, but these past few days he’s been verging on dangerous. During one particular mid-week hack I got to the point where I thought, maybe I should get off and walk home for my own safety’s sake, and that is a very rare thought for me! I was initially baffled by this rapid and extreme change in behaviour…

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