Last season to try and improve my performance I went down the route of having discipline specific lessons with instructors who specialised in that field. This did help in some areas and Soap’s short stay at ‘SJ Boot Camp’ really made a noticeable difference, but having separate lessons from 3 different people (so in affect 3 different points of view) I found it really hard to decipher the common themes between them all, and not get tangled up in knots when they were telling me conflicting instructions! So....this year I knew I needed to try a different method and started to look for an instructor with experience in eventing, and a good foundation in dressage as I’m aware this is increasingly becoming the most influential phase. It must have been my lucky day then when my physio Mel Gurdon gave me the number of Amanda Brewer. I booked a lesson with Amanda at the end of Jan and had my 2nd lesson with her yesterday and already she has made a huge difference in my thinking, riding and Soap’s way of going. I like to be told the mechanics of riding, what I need to do physically, and what impact that will have on the horse. I love the way Amanda is very black and white, and she doesn’t dumb down, she will explain the science, history, and her personal experience of teaching methods so that you are being educated as a rider not just instructed like a puppet. I plan to try and have a lesson with her almost every week in order to make a big difference to our standard before we are too far into the season, and then reduce the frequency slightly and increase the number of events entered. Below is a short video from this week’s lesson which if compared to our dressage test at Tweseldown BE90/Intro in March last year I think you can see a marked difference!

Tips from the lesson – Flatwork

• Remember to keep my hands level and an even contact in both reins
• Work him up and to the contact
• If I feel my troublesome left hand creeping back give the rein away
• Keep the neck soft, fat and bouncy
• Don’t let him roll over at the poll
• Encourage stretch down and to the bit not just curling under
• From canter to trot – rebalance and then ask for more forwards
• Before a transition ask for a tiny bit of leg yield and in the soft moment make the transition
• Keep the left shoulder up by raising my hand to ‘pick him up’

Flatwork exercise – In trot ride a circle and at each quarter of the circle change leg so that you ride a ¼ on the correct leg then a ¼ on the wrong leg etc This highlights any stiffness or bias your horse has so work on keeping the neck supple, the rhythm constant and the eventual aim is for there to be no noticable change in feel between diagonals (a good exercise to try on Jack!)

Tips from the lesson – Jumping

• Ride him up to the bridle and have an even contact in both reins
• If even contact in both reins fails get outside contact, rebalance and restore even contact
• Keep a light almost 2 point seat to allow him to really move and use his back
• Keep a big bouncy rhythm

As well as all my homework above Amanda also wants me to get Soap a softer dressage snaffle rather than his Myler which he was fitted for about 3 years ago, and suggested that he may need a couple of scoops of energy boosting mix added to his feed as his workload increases. She did make me giggle though when she asked ‘Chloe why does he not have any boots or bandages on?’ and I replied like a typical eventer ‘Well it’s just flatwork....’ and she explained that he was a ‘dressage horse in training’ now and because I was asking him for more movement and a bigger action we had to guard against him knocking himself or as she put it ‘bring your bandages next time Chloe he’s precious now’ I just hope Soap doesn’t turn into a dressage diva after hearing that!  

I have been trying to plan out my season this year and to kick off I have entered Soap for Moreton BE90/Intro on the 7th of March so we are gearing up for that, and I can't wait to be out competing again! He had studs holes put in today because next weekend we have a XC clinic at Boomerang with Robert Stevens. I'm really looking forward to doing some XC again and meeting up with Rob to see how his winter has been. Jack has been making slow but steady progress so last weekend I booked to take him and Soap for a lesson, but sadly when we arrived he was lame! The vet and farrier have both looked him over and came to the conclusion that the recent hard ground has made him sore, either inflaming his feet or aggrivating corns (which aren't visible) but might be there as a side affect of the long period he spent on box rest. This was a bit of a blow because we were starting to have fun, and get somewhere. My farrier came out and as recommended fitted him with gel pads on the front, and he was instantly 100% sound and bouncing around the field! The upside to this is that I now know that he just cannot deal with hard going so will keep that in mind when faced with frosty mornings, and hard dry going. He is now wearing the horsey equivalent of Nike Airs so the next time I ride him could be very pingy!

Dustry has been 'on standby' just chilling out in the field since he arrived and today I brought him up the yard to have his feet trimmed. He hasn't left the paddock since last month for the farrier to check him and he was an absolute doll. He is so chilled and grown up, other horses were coming and going, trailers were being hitched on and driven about and he didn't bat an eyelid. Unfortunately he seems to be another mud lark keen on getting covered in the stuff, so I spent a little 1 to 1 time with him giving him a good scratch which he loved. I'm planning to have him shod and stable him again from mid March to begin working him, I'm just waiting for the evenings to get lighter so I have a few more daylight hours to do it in!

I think Soap must win the award for the 'horse most dedicated to the pursuit of mess' he comes in every day PLASTERED in mud, sometimes despite being in a full neck, deep length rug he even manages to get mud on his withers! how he does it only he knows. So I guess it shouldn't have come as much surprise to me when I walked off to get my hat from the car and return to find this...

Last season I ordered myself a new hat silk from Treehouse, and spent all year scouring online shops and the high street trying to find a long sleeved green top that matched. Nothing I found was quite right so for Christmas I splashed out and ordered myself the matching event shirt from Treehouse, and today it arrived! It's fab and I love it, and I think it looks really nifty with my new Kan Teq who are one of my new sponsors for 2010! Of course because it is new I will have to ride out in it before I compete in it just to get rid of any jinx, I'm superstitious about using new stuff for the first time in competition! Now if only I could find some green and white harlequin gloves...hhhmmmmmm... click images to enlarge

As the season is fast approaching and I'm already trying to plan where I can take Jack for his first unaffiliated ODE I thought it might be a good idea if I got round to some XC schooling! I am very lucky because on the farm where our yard is based there is a small XC course. It's only up to 2'9'' but it has quite a variety of fences, and is ideal for initial XC jump training of young horses and reformed delinquents! This was quite a provocative location for Jack as along side the jumps is a long grassy stretch where his previous owners used to gallop him for his point 2 point fitness training, things could get interesting! To begin with I cantered Jack up and down past the jumps to test out my brakes, and to take the edge off him. When I nearly swallowed his ears a few times I took this to mean he was a bit over bitted so I moved the reins up the rings, and he settled more but even when I tried a totally loose contact he was still backing up and shaking his head about so I put this down to old habits and excitement. I started with a little rail and barrels fence of about 2ft and jumped it a few times to get a feel for him, and his way of going over and between fences. He started a little fussy and opinionated, but I just kept calmly asking the same question and eventually he settled really nicely, and we finished on a fab note with him soft, round, light, and in a lovely even rhythm. I was very pleased with him considering the last time he jumped anything rustic was racing about 2 years ago. After the session he chilled out and walked home loose and relaxed and I had a big smile on my face. Before we started I made sure I popped on my Kan Teq back protector just incase, but thankfully it wasn't needed. I have entered Jack in a XC clinic with Robert Stevens at Boomerang on Feb 13th (let's hope that's not unlucky!) so between now and then I need to work on finding a nice XC bit he likes, and his straightness as he has a tendancy to twist his head and neck. Below is a little video of todays antics and I think you can see a real progression as he realises what I want and settles into his work.

Ok so I think this may be taking my obsession with colour coordination to new heights! To match my GHE colours of harlequin pattern bottle green and white, I have found a tape to match! When this arrived the other day I got ridiculously excited about it, and couldn't wait for the snow to melt so I could do a quick dry run to check it would be suitable. I love it! and when my belated Christmas present of a matching xc top arrives at the end of this month I think I might just burst with colour coordinated joy!
Check out Soap's sexy legs (no pun intended!) click images to enlarge

This year is getting off to a great start because I have just submitted the first entry for my new column on Eventing Worldwide!
EWW is a subscription site covering all aspects of eventing, there are course photos, videos, reports, reviews, competitions, regular columists and much more. If you want to join EWW it's just £30 for a years membership, and having been a member since 2009 I would say it is definitly value for money. Before starting my 2010 column I had 3 articles published on EWW in 2009 each covering aspects of equestrianism that I have a good deal of experience in, and this year I will be writing all about my eventing season in the monthly 'EWW amature riders column', but if you aren't an EWW member don't worry you won't miss out coz it will still be business as usual on GHE. click images to enlarge

It seems only a few weeks ago since we had the last dusting of snow, and now it has come back with avengence! Just as I was getting excited about being able to use my 4x4 to navigate the snowy roads my 4 wheel drive went kaput! I have been parking near by, and walking up to the yard when the hill is impassable which is a little chilly, but I'm telling myself it's all good exercise, and will help me to walk off all the chocolate log I munched last month! Ooooops!

So as nothing can really be done with the horses I have made a little video of my winter wonderland, enjoy!

Last night I was looking back through some old photos from my polo days and it reminded me about how I used to ride and lead the polo ponies. One day whilst exercising a string I ended up riding one pony and leading two more on each side! 5 ponies may sound like a handful, but they were so used to being worked like this that they were very well behaved, and it was great fun to take them out and canter round the pitches. So........(can you see where this is going?) today I hacked out Soap and took Jack as a tag along. After a few initial teething problems where Jack wanted to tuck in behind, and when I lent back to pull on his rope Soap sped up we had it cracked. We hacked around the farm in walk as the ground was still frozen, but they were both very well behaved so hopefully we can progress to trotting, and I can use this method to exercise them both when time is tight.

It's good fun riding and leading and as we walked towards home across the hill, with the sun starting to go down, and a cool winter breeze blowing I thought to myself......'It might be quite nice to be a cowboy!'... click images to enlarge

Several people I have asked recently to recommend a good equestrian book have suggested one called Celebrity Jumping Exercises compiled by Caroline Orme It is filled with SJ and XC jumping exercises submitted by professionals such as Pat Burgess, Matt Ryan, and Leslie Law. With the help of a few well timed hints I ended up unwraping this on Christmas day! (How on earth did Santa guess!?!) Today we attempted an exercise submitted by Yogi Breisner. To begin with you place 5 poles at bounce distances (10-12ft between each pole) in a straight line, and trot through them. These are not paced for trot so trotting through them is aimed at getting your horse thinking about where to put his feet to not hit the poles. Soap trotted through cleanly on both reins, and tried hard to work out how to get to the opposite end without touching the poles. Next you start to canter through them, and this really makes them stretch for the stride in order to make the distance. I did this on both reins a few times and he quickly got the hang of it, grunting as he made the effort to stretch. The next phase is to build each pole into a x-pole one by one, making sure you jump the exercise equally on both reins. Finally you will have a line of 5 bounces (I could only comfortably fit 4 bounces in our 20x40 arena). I finished here as Soap had really made an effort to understand the exercise and do his best, but if you want to progress further you can remove fence 2 and 4 and turn fence 3 into an upright. This book looks to have some really constructive exercises in it and I plan to try most of them, and will be blogging as and when on how they go. click images to enlarge, video of exercise below