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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…

If you want to win a lovely down filled 3/4 length Mountain Horse jacket then click your self over to e-Venting.co.uk as I have donated one of the lovely jackets Mountain Horse sponsor me with as a prize in their Badminton 2013 competition! All you have to do to enter is submit your best guess for the winner and winning score of this year’s Badders! If you’re correct this gorgeous jacket and socks (don’t forget the socks!) could be yours!

Today was one of those brilliant days where you feel that your horse has learnt a big lesson and things are really starting to makes sense for them. Dustry and I have been hacking out more recently now that the weather and ground is better and it’s really beneficial for him. We’ve been cantering in 2 point position in wide open spaces (this doesn’t seem to excite him) and we’ve been walking calming out with company (this is most exciting! go figure?!) With the exception of a few ‘squeaky moments’ from him and his weird kung fu kicking of a…

One of the most frustrating things about horses is when you know something is not quiet right with them, but you can’t tell what. If only they could talk, right?… In these situations I usually reach for my thermometer. Taking your horse’s temperature is one of the fastest ways to identify if those early warning signs you think you are picking up on really are correct, or if they are simple faking 😉 You can buy an ‘equine friendly’ digital thermometer online for under £10. I have this Nettex model. This plastic digital thermometer is really useful because it stores the last temperature reading…

Dustry’s jumping education has not progressed as fast as a typical (issue free, non raced) horse, and we (my instructor Amanda Brewer and I) have spent a long time re-schooling and developing his way of going on the flat in order to lay strong foundations for his jumping training. Now that he has successfully been out and about to a few little show-jumping events and taken that all in his stride we are beginning to work on improving his technique with more technical questions, such as grid work. I packed in 2 lessons over the Easter weekend and the 2nd one we…

2 weeks ago we went to Sparsholt for some BD action, but sadly things did not go very well! The great British weather decided that Saturday 16th March was probably the best day to unleash as much weather as possible on the south west! We arrived and it was one of those moments where you think ‘this could well be cancelled, I’ll just go to the secretary to check….’ but nope! it was going ahead. To cut a long story short we were both drowned within moments of getting out of the lorry, had a horrid warm up in torrential…

Getting up at 5.45am to go and ride a dressage test in torrential rain, get a dismal mark, become soaked from head to toe in the process, then have an hours drive back home, sort the horse out, clean the lorry, finally get back into the warm and dry only to realise that your previously Daz white competition breeches are now filthy!….is all part of the fun right?…. 😉 Wet horse, rider and gear I can deal with but trying to keep my competition breeches whiter than white in these conditions is near enough impossible. It rained so hard that…

All the time whilst training and trying to develop a blank canvas of a horse into a competition animal it seems like you are always searching for the next step, always aiming for more, and better. Then one day it’s like *click* and another piece of the puzzle falls into place. That raw and un-ready creature you were riding a few weeks ago suddenly grows up over night and is more educated and knowledgeable than before. It’s not magic though, it’s not to do with the phases of the moon, or the feng shui of your stable it’s down to hours in the saddle and darned hard work! I…