Not Machines
06 May 2015
This month has been another busy one with my UKCC (UK Coaching Certificate) training well under way in addition to completing my preparation for the Area Festival Championships. Some of you may have read that last years championships was a complete disaster with Whinny refusing to eat anything and showing signs of ulcers. It is unpleasant to see your horse showing signs of discomfort and worry let alone asking her to perform. When show time arrived last year she totally froze and we had -4 from each judge where we were late into the arena, going backwards where we should be going forwards and all sorts… However now with Simple System Horse Feeds Whinny's performance at local shows has been improving every time!! So we were looking forward to our second chance at Hartpury this year and on the 13th April we left for the long journey to Gloucestershire, with the new lorry packed and everything in its place! We were really looking forward to the journey ahead and arrived with an hour to spare to do our arena walk... So we unloaded, tacked up and away we went. With the stalls along side our arena also being set up there was a few crashes and bangs which obviously upset the dressage diva Willemien. It has to be said, the arena walk was a lot less dramatic than last year so things were looking good for the following days competition! Once the arena walk was complete and Whinny had schooled nicely it was time to take her to her stable for a well earned rest for her big day ahead.
I was so pleased to see her eating her dinner and hay straight away! Its such a relief seeing your horses doing what they love in a new environment. Competition day arrived, we had an early time of 8.36am and so show preparation began... 6.30am breakfast and stable mucked out.. 7.00am plaited and groomed, a quick change for myself and off we went to warm up. The warm up was a lot busier than I thought so early in the morning with a very still yet tense atmosphere. Whinny warmed up well and was a little too full of herself, keen to show off her lengthened strides giving me very little breaks with people shouting their right of way, cantering into you and stopping in the middle of the path I was feeling a bit nervous. I had a little chat with my friend and client Celia who had come to support and groom for me. Celia said ‘just pretend it is me in there and you're training me’, when I went back in I felt a lot stronger. It was then our turn to compete… she went straight in (already a huge improvement from last year) and straight down the centre line! I was so over the moon at this point anything was an added extra! She felt electric, sadly I had too much leg on in the extended walk so we jogged, one of our canter strike offs was on the wrong leg (something we have never had an issue with) then our halt at the end was rather crooked. So, sadly, all these errors turned out to be very costly. We stayed in the top 15 right until the end and sadly we pushed out by the last few competitors and 0.5%. Although it was frustrating to miss round two by 0.5%, I am so proud of Whinny, not only did we have make a vast improvement on last year, due to her new feed, I have to remind myself she had only been back in work for 6 weeks after 4.5 months off. She always tries her best even when nerves get hold of her you can tell she is genuinely nervous.
It was interesting to see that some of my friends horses that were once champions, also had stage fright or just weren’t on the top of their game. Although some of these horses like Whinny are so fully capable of doing fantastically. Sometimes it is just not your day. These big events are such a huge reminder that horses and ourselves are not machines and we can only ask as much as we can, likewise they can only offer all they have that day.
So now for the months ahead.... My next challenge will be to qualify the horses for regional and area festivals and we are expecting a new arrival, a foal by Tacktiek, due very soon!! Also, Chester the 5yr old I backed for a client will be going to his first show! Lots to look forward to! Until next time……