Monday, March 31, 2008

Hannah is now at boot camp!

Hannah has been quite difficult to get forwards the past week, and seems to be blocking through her right side. So I made the decision to send her over to my trainer for a week of ‘boot camp!’

She seems to have settled in very well and Jo said she is really trying.

I nipped up with a cooler for her over the weekend and she looked completely exhausted! That shows I do not work her hard enough at home because she never looks like that when I have ridden... It was nice to see how relaxed she was in her new surroundings though; at one time she would have been very stressed out about the whole ordeal!

I am going to watch Jo work her tomorrow morning which should be interesting... and I will try to remember my camera!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Crow Wood Report

We set off at 11am yesterday morning looking very scruffy. I had intended to plait her up in the morning, but time ran away with me and I ended up having to just give her a quick brush and set off.

Once again, Hannah travelled perfectly, I still find it hard to believe it is the same horse who used to look as though she had just been through a carwash whenever we got anywhere. I had to tack her up quickly as it had taken slightly longer to get there then I had initially thought it would do, and the warm up was quite busy. She just would not settle, was fighting me like she has been doing and would not listen. We ended up 3rd with 63% which was generous really seeing how she felt.

Rather than putting her back in the box, I took her straight back into the warm up area and just walked her for 20 minutes until she felt as though she was actually listening. By the time we went in for the Novice she felt so much better. It is the first time I have really felt her work in the medium trot and canter which is such an improvement, and she came out with 65.8%. I was really pleased with her Novice test, and now look forwards to Richmond next weekend.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

A different horse!




Hannah and I have been having a few disagreements, in that I want her to do something and she wants to do something quite different. She has been getting really worked up in the training sessions once she has cantered, and we have had a few competitions which have been interesting to say the least!

However, last week I took a good friend’s advice and booked a lesson with Jo Wright-Graham of Dressage Horse International. The first lesson was a little nerve wracking, as it always is the first time you ride in front of a new trainer, but I came away feeling really inspired and with a horse I did not recognise! I rode her first and Jo could see she was leaning on the left rein because she was not straight. We got her straight and she immediately softened in her jaw and also her topline. Then Jo got on her and I have never seen Hannah go as beautifully as she did! She looked like a completely different horse as she was using her hind legs much more, loosening her shoulder and really trying.

With this is mind, I took her to a competition at Croft Top on Saturday. The moment I got on her to warm up for the Preliminary, I could feel how easy she felt. I worked her in as Jo had suggested, and the test was the most fluid test I have ridden on her. She made a small mistake and changed legs in one of the canters which left her on a 4, but she ended up with 65% and 3rd place which I was thrilled about.

As I warmed up for the Novice, she once again felt soft and supple. The test itself felt straight forwards, there was no time in which I felt she was unbalanced or fighting me, and yet we ended up on just 60% which I was a little disappointed with because I felt it was the best Novice she had ridden.

In our second lesson today, she once again came out feeling soft in the mouth and supple through the poll! Jo commented on how much she had improved since the last lesson, and we did more work on getting her up in the shoulder and really powering from behind. By the end of the lesson she was cantering a shoulder in with lots of jump in her hind legs, and we ended on some medium trot which felt fantastic!

We have the Preliminary and Novice classes at Crow Wood on Friday, and then I will have to book some more in as I would very much like her to qualify for the Regionals this year! This is not something I would have envisaged saying a few weeks ago, but Jo seems to have real faith in us!