Top winter training tips
When time is limited, try and focus on a small handful of things when schooling. Sometimes I only have 20 minutes schooling time per horse before work, I just try and focus on only one or two things – sharper transitions, flexions, lateral work. I feel a short, sharp, sweet school can sometimes be more beneficial than a longer session. Plan your session! I always try and pre-plan my schooling session, that way by the time you’ve got to the yard you can hop on and you already have an idea of what you would like to work on. On the topic of planning your session I also plan what each horse is doing on each day of the month in an excel sheet. Call me super organised but with two horses to juggle and a tight schedule it makes life a lot easier, trust me! Use the eventing off season to get as much training in as possible like clinics and lessons. It breaks up the winter and gives you lots of things to work on whilst you’re dreaming about getting out and going XC again – check out Equo for some venues near you…. If you can, try and set out some poles exercises the night before. Then when you ride in the morning you’re all set and ready, you can just get on and go. Must-have items around the yard in winter My Winter Elite eGloves! I Would not be without them. Superduper warm gloves and touch screen tips, meaning I can Tweet and Facebook wherever I go without taking my gloves off!!! No more cold hands here… Helmet Ears – they attach to your riding hat and stop the wind whipping around your ears on the frosty morning schools. These are also brilliant out hacking. A good non freeze/non flood sandschool surface – I’m very lucky to have the horses at my parents but it’s tough with a full time job, therefore I’m hugely grateful for our outdoor sandschool which doesn’t freeze or flood – it means I can school whatever hour, whatever weather! On the topic of a great school surface, good lights! We’ve recently put up some plug in moveable halogen spotlights and they are brilliant! A great alternative to fixed lights, and cheaper too. A flask of milky sugary coffee! Wouldn’t be without it when I’m frozen and scrubbing stable stains and plaiting manes for a day’s dressage at 5:30am….
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I can’t believe that this is my last blog as an Equo Events Brand Ambassador. The last 10 months have been brilliant. We’ve achieved more things than I would have ever hoped to achieve and have done more things than we would have ever dreamed to do.
When it comes to pinpointing specific highlights, I’m not sure where to begin with these, there’s a lot! There are two highlights that really stand out in my mind though – first and foremost is obtaining a British Eventing regional final qualification for the Badminton Mitsubishi Motors cup following a 2nd place at Borde Hill horse trials. I never thought we’d get a top placing but it has just shown what hard work, determination and a little bit of luck on the day can do – now to qualify for the main event! The second highlight would be qualifying both Smokey and Hektikos for the Dressage Championship at Cobham Manor in August, we’ve been vising Cobham Manor all throughout the winter and I was so excited to see that we’d qualified, our flatwork has improved so much and it’s so rewarding to be getting some good results. Beyond the two main highlights there’s also been 101 little factors that have made the last 10 months with Equo unforgettable. Thanks to Equo we’ve been able to have regular dressage lessons at Eden EQ with Luke Baber-Davis and have been able to put what we’ve learnt into practice with regular trips to Cobham Manor. Never did I think that we’d break the 70% barrier at Novice with Smokey and get very close to it with Hektikos at Prelim, never did I think I’d get a personal best dressage score out British Eventing, staying consistently under 33 and nearly hit a sub 30 (my ultimate aim!), never did I think I’d be pinging around 1m open showjumping tracks at Felbridge Showground and more importantly never did I think that Hektikos would ever leave the ground again and we would jump ‘the pony that doesn’t jump’! With the help of Equo we’ve had to opportunity to visit new venues, one of those being Cobham Manor as well as regular trips to the lovely Eden EQ, similarly it’s great to see local smaller venues get on board such as Great Dunton Farm as well as large competition centres such as BCA and Felbridge Showground. We’ve also had the chance to meet so many new people and make some great and lifelong friends along the way – big shout out to the other Equo Ambassadors and all the Equo team. Though competitions, training and results are only a small part of being an Ambassador. The thing I have truly enjoyed the most is watching Equo grow and develop from virtually nothing to the largest online booking portal for equestrian events. I remember the excitement and buzz when it first launched and having only one or two pages of venues and events across the whole of the UK to now being able to do something every weekend with Equo within a 25mile radius of the yard! It has also been hugely exciting watching Equo being nominated for various awards and really holding their own against some big household names such as ITV hub. To sum up this journey is very tough, it’s been brilliant, so much fun and totally unforgettable. But, one thing that is true is that in 10 months I’ve not had to hand write a single entry form, post a single entry envelope or buy a single stamp – I think that’s a momentous achievement in itself! Jess x As someone who works full time in a demanding job (when I’m not at the yard, I actually spend my days as a consultant in a busy recruitment office) the past month has proven that hard work, dedication and a little bit of luck pays off.
Being an amateur rider my dream and ultimate eventing aim is to get to Badminton Grassroots and compete in the Mitsubishi Motors Cup – well, two weekends ago, we got one step closer to that aim by coming 2nd at Borde Hill Horse Trials… and bagging ourselves a regional final qualification! Our season hasn’t got off to the best start as you know – head injuries, abscesses and withdrawing from our first event. Then, when we finally got to our first event, Chilham Castle in Kent, I had my first ever retirement across country at fence eight. Our dressage wasn’t bad, not our best but it was our first time on grass so I wasn’t expecting much, our show jumping wasn’t great either with three fences down and then the cross-country all went a little bit wrong! We were held in the cross-country start box for over 40 minutes due to a problem on course and when we eventually set off Smokey wasn’t himself, not taking me forward to the fences and generally being quite sticky. I knew something wasn’t right so jumped fence eight, a simple pheasant feeder, held my hand up and called it a day. As soon as I got off Smokey stopped and did the biggest wee known to man! He tried so hard for me, but as you can imagine, jumping when you’re so desperate for the loo is just something you can’t do. Horses are horses after all. If only they could talk sometimes! Onwards and upwards to Tweseldown with ‘Weegate’ behind us. We’d had a great lesson with Luke Baber-Davis the week before at Eden Equestrian (entered with Equo of course!) and felt very prepared for our dressage. Apparently it showed and we got a new dressage personal best of 31.3! I was over the moon, and we got some lovely positive comments from the judge too. A very exciting score, as I know we still have more to give in the dressage. We had an unlucky pole in the showjumping coming into the double, but after three down at Chilham I was really chuffed with that. We then went onto the most amazing cross-country round – clear and 12 seconds under the time… our best ever time at 90! Time is something we’ve always struggled to get and we’ve been working on fitness and taking fences out of a forward stride all winter. British Eventing have also allowed riders of lower levels to wear a stopwatch for a trial period and I know this has helped us enormously. It means I’ve learnt to be efficient with strides and really be conscious of how much time we used to waste setting up. Overall we ended in 13th. It was lovely to have my grandparents and a family friend come and visit and support us, and more importantly join us for tea and cake at the lorry afterwards! Onwards and upwards yet again to Borde Hill – the event where it all came together. Putting into practice our sessions with Luke at Eden we went and got another brilliant dressage of 33.3. Our section was marked quite toughly and this put us in the top half. I think it’s safe to say the showjumping was causing a lot of faults and problems! Poles we’re flying everywhere but Smokey was absolutely mega! We’ve really been focusing on getting him to use his shoulders more with my amazing trainer Sharon and it paid off with a super clear over a very tough course. Then onto the cross-country course. Borde Hill is known to be a tough 90 course and one that rivals some 100 tracks. A perfect run as we are stepping up to 100 at Rackham at our next event. Smokey absolutely ate it up and made nothing of the max height and width obstacles. The time was very tight and we were very cunning with some of our lines. He gave me the round of my life and came home bang on optimum time! I think the fence judges made a lot of comments about our enjoyment as commentary kept relaying about how much fun we were having out on course. We were one of the very few combinations to make it home inside the time. I couldn’t believe it when a friend ran up to tell me we were lying in 2nd. Smokey and me, in 2nd place! I’m so proud of our boy. He’s a bit of a legend. Beside eventing, May has been a very busy month in general. We’ve had some excellent news from the vet that Hektikos is now sound and ready to come back into full work following his final bout of Tildren. We’ve been looking at events to take him to and have even started jumping! I never thought he would ever leave the ground again so I sold my GP saddle a considerable time ago… jumping in a dressage saddle can prove interesting at times! Hektikos went out to a pole work clinic with Andy Ford last week at Eden EQ and was good as gold, if slightly keen – namely tanking off with me up the long side at every given opportunity! I’m very glad to see he’s got his ‘vavavoom’ back. To finish this blog off, how can I forget the fantastic week that we spent at Badminton Horse Trials! We’ve not been to Badminton for years and for the first time ever we camped out in Doris (the lorry). It was a brilliant week and great to see Michael Jung with the Rolex Grandslam. We also won a course walk with Nick Gauntlett, which was pretty cool and learnt a huge amount – some of which I’ve been putting into practice. Not to mention catching up with the Equo girls and daily visits to the H&H stand! The next things for us is Felbridge Combined Training (entered with Equo!) then onto Rackham and Brightling British Eventing events, as well as starting to do more with Hektikos… so watch this space! Jess x In my last blog both Smokey and I were out of action: Smokey with a hefty abscess and me with a rather serious bump to the head. Well, I am now very excited to say that we are both off that rollercoaster (for the time being – they’re horses after all) and are back out competing again!
We decided to take things quite slowly to allow us time to get back up into full fitness by getting our strength back and our eyes back on competing, so it was a trip down to Cobham Manor for some dressage – entered via Equo Events, of course! Cobham Manor were amazing following my fall as they kept my February entry and kindly moved it to April. It’s quite shocking to think that we have haven’t actually been out and about competing, or even training, since January! We ended up taking both horses down to Cobham Manor as Hektikos hadn’t been out since January either and we felt both horses could do with a pony party and some prancing. Hektikos did brilliantly in the Prelim – we called in a last minute favour from my friend Lucy to ride him, as unfortunately my head still wasn’t up to the challenge of two horses and three tests. We were over the moon to see that they came 2nd out of a big class, and in a long arena test, which he can sometimes struggle with. Then it was Smokey’s turn to strut his stuff. Smokey was very keen to be out and gave me some very pleasing work in the first Novice test. I stupidly saluted with my whip in my hand, which lost us two marks and a comment from the judge! Why I did it I do not know and I was left kicking myself. I was really pleased though to get our sheet and to find out that we had won the class with a respectable score of 66+% – it would have been 69% if I didn’t have my ‘whip blip’… The second Novice, 39, was a very tough test, which was a good step up before our Elementary debut in June. It had three halts and a rein back, counter canter (with giving and retaking the reins) as well as medium trots and medium canters. Smokey really came into his own again and we got some brilliant work from him. I was not going out expecting a lot due to our time off from injuries, but I was so pleased with the work he gave me and even more pleased to know that he has so much more to give. There were elements of our test that could still be improved, for example we only learnt rein back the day before – nothing like being fully prepared aye… When we went in to collect our sheets I was really shocked to see that we had got just over 68%! I was absolutely over the moon and even more excited to crack on with some Elementary preparation. Last weekend we had the chance to get a last minute slot in a cross-country clinic with the Australian event rider Mark Boxall over at Nurstead Court in Meopham. With so much being cancelled and so many courses being shut I was a bit dubious about the ground, but I can honestly say it was incredible! It was so bouncy, not holding and had a great grass covering. We had very small studs on just incase but we didn’t need them at all. The last time Smokey and I went cross-country schooling was back in January for a clinic with Nick Gauntlet. For this reason, and with my confidence taking a knock from my fall, we decided to practice angles and technical elements rather than big bold fences. Smokey was yet again a superstar. He popped everything first time round and was so keen to be out and about again. I’ll ignore the bit about nearly getting bucked off at the end when we went for a gallop and he got his head between his legs and went full rodeo on me… how I stayed on I shall never know. It did make me giggle though and make me grin at how feisty he was feeling, despite a full hour of training! Next stop for us is Chilham Park BE event. Our first event of the season! I cannot wait! We’re feeling really positive for Chilham and really looking forward to getting out and enjoying the day (fingers crossed it stays dry for the next week). We will also be at Badminton Horse Trials from Wednesday to Sunday, so look out for the Equo Jacket and if you spot me come and say hello! Catch up soon, Jess x Since my last blog it really has been a roller coaster and unfortunately not a fun one. February was going brilliantly, Smokey and I were on top form; we were ready and waiting for the event season to start, and then it all came crashing down (quite literally!).
Smokey had lost a shoe – nothing too drastic there, the deep mud at the moment is playing a big part in farrier call outs. So, because of this I decided one Sunday morning to have a bit of fun in the school at walk over some poles. I went to get on him and then bam, everything went black. I have no recollection past that. In all honestly my whole morning is quite fuzzy, as is my memory of my afternoon; I know I went on a hack with Hektikos and my Dad came on foot but I can’t tell you much more than that. After my fall, my Sunday carried on pretty much as normal with yard duties and horses, I even got back on and carried on riding Smokey afterwards. After all – as the equestrian saying goes, “If you’re not going to hospital, you’re getting back on”. It was only on Sunday evening that things started to become very odd. I was making a roast dinner and have never felt so sick whilst peeling spuds! Then Monday morning came. I woke up with a pounding headache, that horrible nauseous feeling again and my neck was agony! I couldn’t move it at all. I was doing a great impression of a robot, quite to the amusement of my other half… armed with a heat pad and some painkillers I trudged into work. We have a lot of big projects going on at the moment and it was not the time to be staying at home in bed feeling sorry for myself. It was only on Tuesday evening that I really realised that I was not miraculously better and that pain killers were not helping. With the persuasion of a colleague I eventually wandered off to my local A&E. I was shocked when I was seen nearly immediately by the nurse and then the consultant and then promptly carted off for a CT scan of my brain. Turns out, I wasn’t fine at all. I was on my own when I came off and the doctors think I was knocked out for some period of time, they also confirmed that I had concussion and whiplash. The positive was that I did not have bleeding on the brain so I was allowed to go home. Despite a big fall I was still aiming to get to Tweseldown for our first event of the season. Sadly the following Thursday (nearly two weeks since the fall and a few days before Tweseldown) it was back into A&E for me with the most unbearable head pain. I can’t even begin to describe the sheer agony I was in, so much so that on the way to hospital my other half had to pull over so I could lean out his car and throw up! After a few hours at A&E I was seen by a doctor who told me that I now had something called Post-Concussion Syndrome and that I needed to take it incredibly easy and not go to work, nor ride or even go to the yard! He made it very clear that I was to do absolutely nothing. Words that normally fall on deaf ears but this time I obliged. After being in solitary confinement for four solid days I was bored, very bored. I can now imagine what it feels like to be a horse on box rest – I didn’t even have a treat ball to keep me occupied! Fast forward a few days, add some more painkillers and an upgrade in painkiller strength and I am excited to say that I am now noticing a considerable difference, I am back at work and even went to the yard yesterday, for the first time in over a week. It was so lovely to see the horses, I’ve missed them! Massive shout out to my Mum for keeping things running ultra-smoothly in my absence. Nearly a month since the fall and my headaches are still niggling away, I still get dizzy spells and my memory in general is fuzzy, which makes daily tasks quite interesting but we are getting there. The doctors have warned it could take several months before I’m 100% again! We made the decision to withdraw from Tweseldown but sadly the event was cancelled anyway due to weather. I am getting a new hat this weekend, and are now aiming for Chilham at the end of April. We could have aimed for an event sooner but during this time Smokey has also been suffering with an abscess in his hoof and has subsequently had a few weeks off work so we both need to get our fitness back and get our eye back in the game! I look forward to updating you soon and hopefully by the time my next blog comes around we’ll be back up and out and about competing again! Jess x Well, I’m not really sure where to begin with this blog – January and February have been so busy and it really has been all systems go!
Most people’s New Year starts with a hangover and a fuzzy memory of the night before. Mine started with a 7:30am jumping lesson…A very good jumping lesson I should add. Something that we’ve been working a lot on is bounces. I would say that bounces are our jumping weak point following a horse fall a year and a half ago, which resulted in a big splint for Smokey and broken bones for me (not to mention a large mouthful of dirt and sand for both of us). It has taken my trainer Sharon nearly a year to get us going over a bounce and I’m really excited to say that on New Year’s Day we were confidently jumping three bounces on a curve, and, just this Saturday gone we were pining down a row of not one, two or three, but six bounces! The jumping progress that we have been making at home is really starting to show when we’re out and about competing. In January we managed to get to Felbridge Showground for their combined training and also went to Littleton Manor Equestrian (LMEQ) for our first ever arena eventing attempt. This is as well as a lesson with Luke Baber-Davis, a cross-country clinic with Nick Gauntlett, several pilates sessions and a rider straightness assessment with Emma Foyle from Focus Pilates. Told you we’d been busy.... Our trip to Felbridge’s combined training was on the coldest day of the year so far; I was so thankful for my Equo jacket and I think Smokey really appreciated his competition sheet too. We decided to enter the 90cm class as it dawned on me while doing the entries that we had not actually jumped a course of fences since October 2015! The day didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped but nonetheless it still ended with big smiles all around. We had a fantastic lesson with Luke Baber-Davis at Eden EQ a couple of days before Felbridge and Smokey felt a million dollars in the lesson. Unfortunately I think that I now know that Smokey does not need a lot of working in. If I’m totally honest I think the excitement of being out competing got to us and I got on him too soon, which meant by the time that it was our dressage test he had pretty much switched off (as had I!!). However, we gave the test our best shot and got a mark of around 36. Not our worst mark by a long way, but quite far from what I know we are now capable of. The disappointment was very quickly forgotten with a fantastic clear round over the showjumps. It was a tough and twisty course and a lot of poles were coming down, as it was causing a lot of problems. I think a lot of the horses competing that weekend (like ourselves) had not been jumping for a while. Keeping in the jumping spirit we then headed off to a clinic with Nick Gauntlett at LMEQ. Nick’s clinic was part of my Christmas present from my wonderful parents. I think that the time has come to start having someone on the ground pushing us across country. I’m ashamed to say that to date we have only ever had two cross-country lessons together as a combination. One of those was with the wonderful Lucinda Green and the other was with local trainer and eventer Sam Jennings. Nick’s lesson was incredible! He really understood what we needed to improve on and really helped us work on our galloping speed and taking fences from a good forward rhythm. Unlike Hektikos, who being an ex-racehorse never struggled with the time across country, Smokey is a little bit more cautious and takes a lot of riding to make up those precious few seconds. I think that if I had to sum up the lesson I would say that Nick was able to push us out of our comfort zone, but in doing so also managed build our confidence over the more technical fences. Something which I believe is quite difficult for any instructor to achieve! Our lesson with Nick was great timing, as the following weekend it was time to attempt arena eventing for the first time at LMEQ. It is a phenomenal amount of fun – why we’ve never done it before I shall never know. It really feel like we’ve missed out! Smokey jumped his little heart out for me and was pinging round, making light work of the 90cm course with a super double clear. We even managed to put what we had learnt into practice from Nick’s lesson and got a great forward rhythm over the cross-country elements of the course! It was a huge class of 45 for the 90 section and I was over the moon to find that we had come 14th. I’m very excited to see that LMEQ have arena evening at the end of Feb (it’s on Equo!), so if all goes to plan until then I think we’ll enter the 90 and 100 class… Overall our January has been fantastic and a huge learning curve. I’m really excited to see what happens over the next coming months and also thrilled to say that we have entered our first BE event of the calendar and are heading off to Tweseldwon in March! Speak soon, Jess x After a quiet month following my last BE event at Littleton Manor it’s suddenly all systems go at the yard! In October I decided to give Smokey a break from jumping and galloping until the end of November and purely focus on his flatwork. Doing this gave me a chance to bring Hektikos back into work, as he’s had the summer off due to ongoing injuries and physical time constraints (there’s just not enough hours in the day).
So, on Saturday we had the pleasure of visiting Eden Equestrian – one of the first venues established on Equo! Eden EQ is a small yard nestled in the heart of the Kent countryside. The venue and facilities are truly excellent. Smokey and I had a private clinic with the very up-and-coming international dressage rider Luke Baber-Davies. Luke has recently moved back to the UK following a few years training in the Netherlands and is now based in West Sussex with his string of dressage horses. I’ve never had a lesson with a pure dressage rider before and it was fascinating! We were working on strengthening our canter and more specifically establishing collected canter. This is something that I’ve never attempted with Smokey. Luke made a couple of very interesting points. He suggested that it is better to work with the base of Smokey’s neck much higher than I’m used to. This is because Smokey has quite a weak back end, so by working him longer and lower it enables him to pull with the front rather than push from behind. Luke also noticed that Smokey is quite stiff to the left and as a result can really fix himself against me. As a result of this we worked on getting Smokey to give and and have a soft left flexion – which I’m pleased to say we got… and much quicker than I ever have ever managed before! In order to do this we worked on a circle and focussed on bringing Smokey’s head round with a lot of quick asking with the inside rein and a lot of giving and retaking. One thing that I especially liked about Luke is that he also focuses on the rider, for example pointing out when my reins got too long – I am a self-confessed culprit of the ‘washing line rein syndrome’. Luke also made sure that I kept my core stable and he was very quick at picking up if I dropped my outside rein. I found this very helpful. The final point of the lesson, that I found particularly interesting, was how quickly Luke advised that we asked for upward transitions if Smokey got in a muddle and broke his canter. When Smokey found some of the tougher canter work harder he occasionally dropped behind my leg and broke back to trot. Normally I rebalance the trot and then ask for canter again when we’re ready… but not with Luke! We were straight back into canter and then rebalanced in the upward pace, which we were meant to be in all along. Now that I think about it this makes a lot of sense! I must also say a huge thank you to Eden EQ. After our lesson we discovered that the lorry had a flat tyre. Eden very kindly let us borrow a stable for Smokey and supplied us with numerous cups of coffee while we waited for the recovery service to come out and pump up our tyre! On Sunday it was time to put our lesson into practice with a trip to Cobham Manor for some dressage (entered through Equo, of course). We have never been to Cobahm Manor before, so I thought it was about time that we headed down there. I entered Prelim 18 and Novice 27 for both horses – so there was a bit of head to head competition between them! As Hektikos has not been out for over a year and has only been back into work for a month I was not expecting much from him. I would have been pleased to just complete both tests while keeping him soft and engaged throughout. However, I was completely shocked at his performance! He was so happy to be out competing and strutting his stuff that he really pulled it out of the bag and came second in the prelim with nearly 68%! He even got an eight for his first centre line. Hektikos then continued to enjoy his day out and produced a very respectable third place in Novice 27. Smokey also did us very proud. He would have been placed in the prelim was it not for a dozy rider forgetting the test half way through… oops! On the plus side we did do a beautiful halt in the middle of a serpentine whilst I rebooted the ‘rider sat nav’. Luckily in Novice 23 I decided to have a caller and Smokey did everything that I asked of him and surprised me with how soft he was on the left – our lesson the day before really made a difference. We were over the moon to find out we came second in the Novice, especially as Smokey has not done many Novices before. I’ve just entered the next dressage competition at Cobham Manor in December and following the success of this weekend we are doing both Novice tests and stepping away from our comfort zone of prelims! Overall I’ve had a great few weeks and an especially a great weekend. As Luke said in his interview – ‘go out, have fun, but most off all enjoy it’… and that’s exactly what we did! Read more at http://blogs.equoevents.com/brand-ambassadors/fun-enjoy-jessica-receives-wise-words-luke-baber-davies-335/#sH3E0wX7O1DKk971.99 Hektikos is a 15hh, 15-year-old chestnut gelding. He is an ex racehorse by Hector Protector that we bought as a five-year-old. Hektikos was bought to bring on and event, but at the age of seven he fractured his fetlock (this was due to an old racing injury) so we decided to call it a day with jumping him competitively. After sustaining the injury Hektikos spent a lot of time in rehabilitation and eventually we began to compete in local riding club shows and dressage competitions. We then went on to hunt a few times with the Coakham Bloodhounds.
Hektikos has unfortunately had a lot of injuries and time off (these include fractured withers, a fractured fetlock, lacerations to both hind legs, hock spavins and arthritis). He’s had the whole summer off while I have been focusing on my other horse, but we went to our first dressage competition in over a year last Sunday! I’m so happy that he’s back and sound. Smokey is an eight-year-old, 16.1hh, dapple grey Irish Sport Horse by Crannagh Hero. My mum bought Smokey from a dealer as a five-year-old for her to have fun on and enjoy. However, we soon realised how talented Smokey is and I was fortunate enough to be allowed to ride and compete him! Smokey has just finished his third season eventing, where he completed his first ever BE100. He did brilliantly and came tenth, I was so pleased with him! We’ve bought him on very slowly and are now aiming to qualify for Badminton Grassroots next year. Over the winter we will be out competing in both dressage and showjumping… and perhaps a bit of hunting with the Coakham bloodhounds. This horse really is one in a million! Read more at http://blogs.equoevents.com/brand-ambassadors/jessica-leroy-introduces-us-horses-hektikos-smokey-321/#RJgj6Zt1BQGHvusF.99 So that’s the eventing season over for another year. I know it’s officially over when I’ve taken my tweed jacket in for its annual clean. I guess you could describe this season as ‘the one where it’s finally come together’, albeit with a splint hiccup at the beginning, which meant I didn’t actually get out to my first event until late June.
We’ve had Smokey for three years now and have worked our way up from BE80 to recently being placed at BE100 and from being a stocky five-year-old that didn’t know what a cross-country jump was to a handsome eight year old that now gets excited at the sight of a start box (well excited may be a slight exaggeration, he pricks his ears forward now rather than falling asleep…). Smokey is the most laid back chappie anyone could imagine; he’s so laid back he’d be horizontal if he could, but he loves his job and wants to please. My Mum actually bought Smokey for herself but after several jumping lessons she was so fed up of being in the ejector seat that I was fortunate enough to land the ride, and earn the honorary title of ‘crash dummy’. I think it’s safe to say that Smokey’s back end can only be described as somewhat exuberant over a fence! We set out this season with incredibly ambitious aims. I’ve always tried to aim high – that way I’ve always got something to work towards. This year we wanted to attempt to qualify for the Blenheim Amateur Dressage Championship and to also qualify for the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Cup. Well, we did neither of those, but, following a lot of hard work and determination we did manage to get a personal best dressage score of 32.3, to keep a clean XC score sheet for the whole season and to get two consecutive double clears to end the season on a high. I am over the moon about these results! Our Smokey is really starting to understand eventing. Now that the nights are starting to draw in and the dreaded winter is on its way it’s time to focus on our dressage and showjumping. Behind the eventing façade we also have another horse – Hektikos. You may remember Hektikos as the pony that got ‘Equo’d’. He is the polar opposite of Smokey – a hot headed chestnut ex Racehorse. Hektikos is now 15 and following a lot of time off due to various injuries he is now coming back into work and we are commencing mission ‘Donkey to Dressage Diva’. I will tell you more about Hektikos but that’s a whole other blog for another time… Both our boys will be out at our first Equo competition on the 15th November at Cobham Manor Equestrian Centre competing in the Prelim and Novice. The overall aim is to have them both competing at elementary by the end of winter (I told you I like to aim high). Watch this space and I will update you with our progress next month. Read more at http://blogs.equoevents.com/brand-ambassadors/jessica-leroys-blog-the-eventing-season-finishes-on-a-high-149/#eOQq8VZfuM4tlSkr.99 What a day!!!! After a lot of preparation and a very long road we attempted our first ever BE100 at Munstead, little were we expecting to go double clear with a fantastic SJ round (it was BIG!) and an even better XC round (inside the time and all direct routes) (Including a meaty trekehna and a solid corner) but least off all were we expecting to come 10th!! And to think - this time 11months ago I was in tears at Pulborough 80 as was so terrified in the showjumping. Our Smokey really is a wonder horse, he tried his heart out today and blimey has he done us proud ❤
Today we turned our back on Eventing and turned to the very darkest of sides....Showing!!! We took the two boys up for a play. Hektikos hasn't been out in nearly a year so we felt it would be good for him to join us. Hektikos was in the Ridden Horse and came a very respectable 3rd, he even had to pop a fence. We then decided to take round the mini clear round and the diva did me proud with not 1 but 2 clear rounds (it was tiny, but considering Hek hasn't jumped a course in over 4 years I am very pleased with him!)! In the Riding club I must add that I am Super super proud of Mummy Leroy that only went and came 2nd in the Ridden and then reserve Champion!!! Yes she jumped too!!! Think I may lose my ride soon....
Smokes and I then had an impromptu pairs speed SJ class with a cheeky 2nd place before cracking on with the working hunter. An unlucky pole cost us the win but so chuffed with coming 2nd - it was jumping on the downhill again, my current nemesis! Coming 2nd qualified us for the championship where we came 3rd. A brilliant brilliant day at Sevenoaks Riding Club - It's nice to step away from the hype of affiliated events and enjoy small, local and incredibly friendly venues, even if I am thoroughly clueless about the art of showing....!!! I am absolutely over the moon to announce that we have been selected to represent the South East as a Brand Ambassador for Equo Events - The new online entries system from Horse and Hound. It has been a tough couple of weeks of campaigning and putting myself out there but the phenomenal support and votes that we have received is very humbling and has paid off - so a huge huge thank you to all that supported me. This is a fantastic opportunity and will mean that not only will we be financially supported by means of clothing for both me and my #EquoPonies but also get help towards training and competition entries, not only this but we also get a regular blog spot on Horse and Hound!! Keep up to date with our training and progress and check out Equo Events, the only place to do all your competition entries online!!
"With Equo, you can get your entries done quickly and easily, allowing you to concentrate on what’s important — your training and further success. Train – Find – Enter – Compete – Repeat" https://www.equoevents.com/ A wonderful day at Firle Place, we took the plunge and attempted our first ever long arena test on grass and stepped away from BE95 to BE94, Championship test! The section was marked really hard but very fairly in my view and we got 37.8 - I agree with the score, he was a little bit flat in my view. I have later learnt that the judge liked the horses that had pazaz and whiz about them. This is certainly somthing we are working on and hopfully by this time next year we will have nailed it!
The SJ was a very tough course, some tricky lines and great use of the terrain. We had a super clear, but sadly just got a little onward bound down the hill and just rubbed the final planks. Then onto a super XC clear!!! By far the biggest XC we've done to date with some excellent questions (And several of the Badminton Grassroots fences!), just 2.8 time penaltys to add. I think this was probably due to trotting the huuuge hedge!!! Can't wait for our first crack at a 100 at Munstead in a couple of weeks. Prep is going really well so am looking forward to finally taking the plunge and stepping up. I am very excited to have been short-listed as a Brand Ambassador for Equo Events, the new online entries system from Horse and Hound! A very good friend told me about the opportunity so I thought I would give it a go and enter. Little was I expecting to be short-listed for the role! The entry process involved answering a few questions about the horses and our career with them so far followed by a 2 min video! This is something that I have never done before so tried to get a bit creative....Check out the full video here: Another great outing at Chilham Park. Since this event started we have been going and to this day - it is still my favorouit event on the BE calender!
My dressage was at 8:56 so it meant a very early start - but on the plus we were finished by 11am. I was pleased with our dressage, I felt the test was accurate and he was active. I belive the judge liked it too as we scored a very respectable 34.8. The best score in the section was only 31.5... The Showjumping was over a very well built course and it was very twisty and actually rather long too. Smokey juped his little heart out but sadly we had the last fence down. As a rider it was my fault, he got a little bit long and onward bound down the hill. The XC was again a fantastic course. It had a couple of questions and some tougher fences. The team at Chilham made a fantastic effort with the ground. It's not often an event in mid August runs with such fantastic footing. We had a great round, and had our best XC score to date with just 0.8 time to add. Over the moon with how the day panned out. We ended on a final score of sub 40 - which is our best ever score to day and overall 13th. If we hadn't knocked the final SJ we would have been 3rd but I will leave myself that challenge for another day..... Despite being our 2nd event of the season I was feeling optimistic about Borde Hill. I've only been once before and I remember it being the type of event that suits us - Not a dressage competition!
I decided to take a bit of a risk and use the warm up space nearest the cross country. Smokey can sometimes be a little flat so my guess was that this would spark him up. The test felt good, albeit a little quick in my view but it certainly was active, so active we nearly jumped out the arena twice! My gamble paid off, we got our best ever score of 32.3!! The SJ was by far one of the biggest courses I’ve jumped at BE 90 but I think this is what we needed. It meant I could really work on riding him forward and positively. We had our best jump over fence 1, and a good push up the hill to fence 2. I was then able to bring him back well and really set up for 3, 4, 5 on the downhill. Sadly we slipped on the turn to number 6 which meant we had it down (apparently if I’d sat there and not fiddled we'd have probably kept it up!) then onto 7 the biggest fence, and then clear around 8 and 9a+b. I really feel that the show jumping is coming together and I’m now starting to feel confident over the larger more demanding fences rather than worrying and holding onto him. The XC presented a good step up from Rackham with some tough questions and some big fences early on (number 5 and number 7). Number 5 the big brush took some riding as it was off a tight turn and there was a group of people stood there. Likewise the combination at 6 caused a lot of problems. It was a narrow wishing well onto a narrow corner off the downhill turn. I actually went back and walked that line from 5 to 6 again and glad I did. I decided to take the course fairly slowly and did a big loop out of the water witch cost me a lot of time. Following a slip in the showjumping and a slip in the XC warm up I wasn’t willing to risk anything. We really stepped up our game over the XC and he gave me a cracking ride. Clear with 6.4 time to add. Over the moon with how Borde Hill went for us, we we're just out of the placings and ended 13th. A really good result and hopefully can do the same at Chilham in a couple of weeks. We sadly withdrew from Tweseldown this weekend in the 90 section as Smokey was ever so slightly foot sore following the Farrier. Despite being 100% fine after 24 hours we felt that following the distinct lack of rain and the very hard ground that it would be better to pull out.
It was just one of those things and we trusted our gut instinct and thought that it would be a much safer plan to save him for another day and another Pony Party!! Bring on Borde Hill on the 25th July instead :-D We're very fortunate to have a local riding club that organises so many clinics and low key competitions (as very as very active teams at various qualifiers!). Following our rather disappointing dressage score at Rackham (37) I was feeling slightly disheartened so was going out with the aim to focus on him going forward and accepting the contact. He does have very good paces and is capable of getting 8's so as an idealistic dream I was ambitiously hoping for 2 8's.... Both test we're long arena (Prelim 15 and Novice 37). We've only done one Novice together before and was one of the early Novice tests - Novice 37 was considerably tougher!
The prelim test went very well, I as incredibly pleased with how he went. He didn't get a huge amount of warm as the ground is still quite hard and I'm keen to save him for Tweseldown this weekend so we we're going in slightly less prepared than I would have hoped but I needn't have worried! He was soft and round and forward. Again warming up and using his 'gears' really helps us. We had an hour and a half wait before the Novice and again I didn't warm him up a lot due to the ground. This is our first time doing a test with such complex movements in and at times this showed. We only practiced rein back the day before and the same with counter canter! Still, at the end of the test I was very pleased with him and he did everything I asked and did it well - he even gave me a few lengthened strides which is something I know he struggles with. Whilst collecting results I was shocked that in the Prelim we have finally exceeded the 70% milestone and 2 8's, coming a very respectable 3rd in a big class. Then the Novice, he only went and got 2 8's again and just over 66% and a very respectable 4th against competitors that compete regularly BD! I'm very pleased with him and this has given us a good confidence boost as well as lots of things to work on such as giving us a good direction to start schooling in and incorporating some more complex movements. I had the pleasure of having a Showjumping clinic with Ernest Dillon on Saturday morning organised through Sevenoaks Riding Club.
When Mum told me I had a jumping clinic with him I thought great! Who is he? Turns out he's actually a pretty big deal...a top level showjumper himself, competed up to PSG dressage and also tried a spot of eventing. Before clinics with new people, I like to have a little Google and find out what people think of them, what they've done (competition wise) and their style of teaching. After Googling Ernest, it's safe to say I was pretty apprehensive! His website tells it how it is, but reviews on various forums are very mixed. General consensus was - it you can handle someone that is very direct and to the point then he's your guy!! The clinic was with me and another lady called Liz - riding a lovely grey Connie. It started off well as Ernest said he liked Irish horses - and was partial to a grey. Warming up it was apparent that Ernest liked our way of working in. He is very keen on horses to be relaxed and responsive - we've been working on going through Smokey's 'gears' within the paces and I guess it all means we're going in the right direction. The jumping started quickly with a warm up fence near enough 90cm. No messing about with poles or cross's. Then progressed quickly to 2 fences on a related distance on both reins before working around a course with 2 combinations (one related distance and one long double), a 1m upright on the downhill and few 'let up' fences and a dog leg on the down hill to finish (the session was on a very undulating grass field). The main aim of the session was to focus on a good forward canter and not be afraid to KICK! One of the main things I will take away from the session is that when things go wrong (and they did a couple of times) just sit up and kick. Wise words. He made a very fair point by saying that when your riding a course or competition and something goes wrong sometimes you don't have the time to sit up, balance, change lead and faff about. Sometimes you just have to work with what you've got and make the best of a bad situation. He's really taught me that our level SJ isn't this stuffy precise game but actually in order to get that good canter you need to have a bit of momentum behind it and allow the horse to travel. He also came our with some cracking quotes (in my opinion): "You rode that like a lemon!" (this was over one of the related distance - and admittedly, I did just sit there!) "Do you ride with Spurs" "Yes, when I'm competing" "Where are your spurs?" "with my Mum" "They're much more useful on your feet love!" (Can't really argue with that can I...?!) I was very lucky to win a pair of eGlove's from a Twitter competition! Now, you're probably thinking, what an earth a eGloves?!
Direct form the company website: "Top equestrian riders from the Netherlands and United Kingdon teamed up to develop a high performance touch screen horse riding glove with the grip, warmth, feel and accuracy to provide the right glove for the right conditions. Our GripPro gives you that second skin feel with silicon grip where as the Winter Elite brings waterproofing, windproofing and breathablility in colder conditions." So there you have it - gloves that can be used with your touch screen! Addmitedly when schooling I very rearly look at my phone. However, these gloves will become an essential part of my hacking equipment! When hacking before work I am very concious of the time, I must be back at the yard by 7:30 therefore I have to keep an eye on the clock (i don't wear a watch so my phone is my clock). With normal riding gloves, I have to take my glove off, sit on my glove (how I've not managed to drop a glove or 10 is beyond me!), wrestle phone out of pocket, look at the time and then repet the whole process in reverse. With eGlove I can actually keep my gloves on my hands!! The material is very soft and moveable and the grip is very good. It has an elasticated back to help with movement and a very good velcrow fastening. The rrp for the Gloves is £29.99 and they have summer and winter styles (they also have gloves for snow sports, extreme sports, running and cycling) Overall, I would highly recomend these - especially if you're a teenager that has their phone glued to their hand 24/7!! http://www.eglove.co.uk/nl/horse-riding-gloves We've done it!! We've finally completed our first BE event this season!!! We are finally #eventinglive.....
Super super proud of our boy. He did his best ever dressage to date - sadly this was not reflected on our sheet and we only got 37, but his free walk was ace, he was soft, bendy and from onlookers it was accurate too. Our SJ had 3 down however lots of positives to take away. I think first and foremost I felt confident!! I've started having sports psychology with Jo Davies Sport Psychology and the difference can be seen already (huge thank you Jo for being there today too!) Then onto the XC - Following "splint gate" I was set in my head that if he was struggling I was happy to pull him up - well that didn't happen!! Little man flew around the course, ate it up and only spat out 2.8 time faults. Not bad considering I wasn't actually trying to get the time!!! Overall a very great day and thank you Mummy Leroy for Top groom and Papa Leroy for Top togging. Next event is Tweseldown on the 12th July and inbetween times I have a clinic with top trainer Ernest Dillon which i'm very excited about.... Well that's was certainly a morning to remember!
Got to the yard bright and early and trooped down to the field to see the boys sound asleep and zzzzzing away. Walked down and had a nice little snuggle with Hektikos - he's a soppy bugger when sleepy. When Hek decided to get up, daft ID was stood right in his way. Instead of barging Smokey out the way like he normally does Hek twisted his whole back, did an almighty groan and hauled himself up onto 3 legs. Leg number 4 was no where to be seen and waving about in the air like no body's business! It was his own rendition of S Club 7's "Reach for the stars"!!! Panic phone call to Dad in the house and half an hour later between us we managed to hobble the cripple TB to the yard. Poor pony could only move sideways rather than in a straight line. Quick call and Super Vet was on his way. Hobble pony out the stable, a bit of poking and prodding, a sigh, some meaty looking instruments, a bit of drilling and a black puss covered nail later problem solved! Voila, not a twisted pelvis but a very very very sore foot. Pony is now feeling sorry for himself in his stable, has some snazzy lime green and pink rave vet wrap going on and poulticing for the next few days to draw out the rest of the infection. Fingers crossed in a week or so he should be better, always the concern for deeper infection or pedal bone issues but for the time being we're doing what we can and hopefully he can go and enjoy the new spring grass again in a couple of days time. |