Sitting down to write this blog, Badminton still feels like a very long time away, and yet we’re in the middle of the festive season and I know that the start of the event season in March will be here in no time at all!
Splash and I have had a busy couple of weeks. Ian Woodhead (aka GOD!) was at Dunbog for four days teaching and we had a couple of awesome lessons with him. It’s really starting to feel like we are making progress with our flatwork now. What would have taken me a whole lesson to sort, I’m now feeling and sorting it in the first five minutes without either of us getting stressed or tight about it. Splash was just incredible and it’s so nice to get positive feedback and feel confident that I can carry on working away at home on my own.
I don’t know about anyone else but it can be so frustrating when things go well in a lesson and as soon as you are on your own everything goes to pot again! Sarah and James Oakden who I am based with have been brilliant in getting Ian up to help us all. They watch all of our lessons for four days solid which means that when Ian goes home they can keep us right. No one gets confused because we all know exactly what we are trying to achieve. Ian is up again in January and I’ve been given my homework!
We’ve managed to get out to Howe Equestrian and have a jump although no way near as much as I would like, life just seems to have got in the way a bit, so I need to pull my finger out and make that happen in January. We’ve had a few jump lessons at home and for the first time the other day I felt like I used the lesson to educate Splash rather than just survive and get to the end of it!
I’m learning that the first ten minutes are so critical for how he performs, both on the flat and jumping. He can be quite tricky because you never quite know what Splash is going to turn up each day. Sometimes he’s relaxed from the start, other times he holds his breath and is super tense and it’s finding the key to get him to relax and take a big deep breath as quickly as possible. As I said earlier, on the flat I’m finding this so much easier but with the jumping it’s still very much work in progress.
I can now recognise that when I jump, I often come out and get going too quickly with the jumping and it’s having the confidence whether in a lesson or at a competition, to say that I just need 10 minutes to relax his body and get him in the right frame of mind before we start jumping. And it’s bloody hard because on the outside he never looks overly tense, worried or anxious, it’s just the feeling you get!
We also headed out to some British Dressage to do a couple of medium tests. We were both a bit ring rusty but he was much more rideable and did a nice test in the first class to score 65%. We then had a go at the regional test M75 and OMG is difficult! It’s got everything in you could possibly think of and everything comes up super quick. Splash decided he did not want to rein back and we also missed one of our simple changes so I wasn’t too disappointed with our mark of 62.97%…. except that we just needed 63% for it to count for an area qualification and that was our final outing before the qualifying period closes on 31stDecember! Totally my fault having left it too late and only entered three medium tests…. Whoops!
Looking past Christmas and New Year we have got a super busy January and February. Heidi Woodhead (aka GOD’s Wife!) is coming to Dunbog for a couple of days jump coaching and I’m super excited to have a couple of lessons with her.
I have only watched her teach before but she has an incredible reputation as jump trainer and rider in her own right, so it will be really interesting to see what she makes of us both.
We have also managed to get a lesson with Ros Canter at SNEC which is EPIC but I’m now papping myself because I put my brave pants on and asked for 100cm not the 90cm group! Then Ian is back up at the end of January, we’ve got some BS and BD planned in amongst all the training and in early February we’re heading back down Ian and Heidi’s base for some more lessons.
Splash has an appointment booked at Dunbog for Hugh from Loch Leven Equine Practice to check him over in early January so fingers (and toes) crossed he’s still happy with him. The plan will be for him to see him every month in the run up to Badminton – I’m not sure what will make me more nervous, jump lessons or Hugh’s monthly checks!
I’ve also started the process to get some help for my overthinking brain and have a first appointment booked with a Sport Psychologist so I’ll let you all know how that goes in our next blog.
Planning much further than February is on hold at the moment until British Eventing pull their finger out and publish the fixtures list! Once we’ve got that I’ll sit down with James and we’ll make a plan (and probably plan B,C & D too!).
I think that’s all our news for now, I hope everyone has managed to enjoy some down time with their ponies over Christmas, eaten and drunk far too much and are now raring to go….. bring it on 2024!
Liz x
