The way to heaven is on horseback

Well I got reminded last night that I don't think I ever posted on here the results from my dressage competition, I didn't manage to place in either of the tests but the good news is that in both of them I was one place of placing. I got 7th in both and even managed to get a '9' score on my first test. My riding was better in the walk trot test because I had a bit of a melt down in the second test because instead of focusing on what I was doing I was stressing about who was judging me however I didn't come last on either of them so I was quite happy. Gatsby was a star that day, I still need to put the videos on youtube but as soon as I have put them up I will post them here and you can let me know what you guys think.  These are just a couple of photographs that were taken at the show, these are my two favourites and the one at the top is even my laptop screensaver, after having done one show I have realised that I would love to do another one. But first I wa...

The title says it all, yesterday during my last saturday lesson of the year I spoke to Fiona and we have decided that we are going to go for it on the 8th March I am going to be doing two dressage tests at Broomfield. We think the tests are going to be British Dressage Intro A (walk and trot test) and British Dressage Prelim 7 (walk, trot, canter test).  Yesterday in our lesson we worked mainly on getting the outline constantly, I was getting Gatsby to work really well long and low in both the walk and the trot before asking him to pick himself up while in the trot. However this did not go quite as planned, as I think i mentioned in an early post this week I have been having problems with my left knee, when I moved on to asking him to pick up and go in to the outline I discovered that I was bracing my left leg and trying to stop getting any impact on it and by doing this while I thought I was protecting my leg, I was unbalancing myself and making my position slightly off. So F...

I rode Gatsby yesterday (Saturday) and we had a really really good lesson! It would appear that last weeks riding wasn't just a fluke and that I can actually ride in an outline for an hour twice in a row! Can I make it three times though? It has taken me 3 years (roughly) riding at this stables that I am at now to get the feel of the outline and now that I have got the feeling it just makes so much more sense!  We started up warming up in the walk, making sure to move long and low, making sure that I rode off the track and making sure that I was riding straight. I had to make sure that Gatsby's neck was not overly bent to the inside because he was trying to pull on my right rein to block my contact with it. I have to give him credit that once I got him listening he was very good and very responsive. We moved up in to the walk work quite early as Gatsby felt really nice supple and loose through his back, he was responsive, forward and listening to what I wanted! Straight a...

Hiya Everyone,  Well it's been a while since I post but things have been really hectic, between Uni and Riding there is not much time for anything else. So first of all I thought I would tell you all about riding Gatsby and a special surprise ;).  Well i started off my lesson riding my all time favourite Gatsby, we decided that we were going to work on riding without stirrups as this is something that I was doing a lot of but haven't done in a while and seen as I'm feeling a lot more confident I decided that it was time to do it again and I have video's for you all :). We warmed up in walk and trot, doing small amounts of leg yield and working on keeping both Gatsby and I straight. The outline came a lot easier this time, and we managed to get it in walk and trot and best of all we were maintaining it through transitions and for the majority of the hour. (See the video's below),  Then after riding Gatsby I got a ride on the lovely hors...

Hiya guys,  Saturday I got back on Gatsby. It was the first time that I had rode him since I fell off so even though it was Gatsby I was feeling nervous. Oh and to make matters worse Gatsby's owner Jenny was there and was watching, while I never mind her being there I was starting to feel really nervous that I had to ride Gatsby well to impress her. I know mad logic right?  We decided that we were going to do some work without Stirrups as Fiona said that we wouldn't be doing any jumping and while I was kind of gutted I was also relieved to have some time away form that and focus on what I know I CAN do well. For ages you've all heard me say I wouldn't do canter without stirrups, well I've got over that mind block and now really enjoy cantering without stirrups all though the transitions down are bouncy as hell. It does really help me to improve my position and balance and work on me keeping myself where I need to be. I got some really nice outline work in t...

Apologies for it being a while guys but I am now back and fully updating again! I've missed writing a blog and getting to know about all your lives to. So I am back and will be posting everyday no matter how short the post is. As quite a lot is going on I'm going to use bullet points to highlight the main things that are going on in both my personal life and my riding life so here goes guys enjoy :). Lots of pictures too!  Well the most recent update in my riding Career is that I fell off Gatsby. Yep you read that right after 3-4 years of riding the wonderful Gatsby I finally came off him. We got a bit over excited coming up to a jump and he over jumped it and took off way to early. Because of this I lost my balance (so it wasn't his fault) and ended up landing on the floor but hey at least it was dry!  I've started doing a lot more work with out stirrups, it took me a big leap of faith and of course riding Gatsby to be able to get the courage to be able to cant...

On saturday I got to ride Gatsby again for the first time in a while. I was looking forward to it and knew that I wanted to do either some canter work or some jump work, however Fiona said no to jumping because of my shoulder.  Because Gatsby had been rode before my lesson he was already warmed up when I got on him. We quickly decided that I was going to do some work without stirrups. As this is something that I haven't done in quite a while. I was looking forward to doing it and it felt great because I wasn't worrying about falling off I was just relaxed and got on with doing it.  After we had spent a good 20/30 minutes we the moved on to doing some canter work. I was able to get some nice lively transitions in to the canter but I was struggling to maintain the canter this week. I am still however happy with the work that I got out of him. I got a video of some of our canter work and some photographs as well. When i was riding without stirrups I got some of the best ...

Today has been a busy day. when I woke up this morning I didn't think that I was going to stay at my stables for the afternoon because my stomach wasn't great but as soon as I got there I decided I would do. I am glad I did!  We started off when I got there with me and JaimieLeigh giving Rascal and Sam a good groom as both of them were absolutely ditched! It was horrible. Then we switched horses to tack them up. I was riding Gatsby who was already being used in a lesson so I didn't have him to tack up and get ready but thats cool. Steph was here this week so that meant that she would be taking the lesson. She asked what we wanted to work on and I said I'd like to get him going in an outline again and also that I'd like to do some more work without stirrups. From the minute I got on I could tell he was going to be responsive. He was ready to go and I was ready to go with him. From the get go I didn't have to worry about forwardness I focused on my straightne...

Gatsby and I warming up :")  Love this photograph of JaimieLeigh and I, think it's really cute :)  Think these pictures show that I'm losing weight but also NO STIRRUPS and loving it!  This photo and the one below it are my two favourite photo's oh and the one with JaimieLeigh Love this feeling so much more confident and this horse has helped with that! He's proved to me that when I set my mind to it I can do it!  Until Next Time A Girl With A Dream