It seems like ages since I last went XC and recently we have really been cracking on with our dressage so it was a little treat for Soap and I to get out and about over some rustic fences for a change. I think he must have been having the same XC withdrawal feelings as me because he was brimming with enthusiasm and couldn't wait to get started. This was supposed to be Jack's first structured introduction to XC but because he is still getting used to his gel pads and I hadn't been able to do as much prep as I wanted I took Soap instead. The clinic was held by my sponsor Rob Stevens which was great, and another bonus was that it was held at Boomerang a venue I really love for its variety of fences, and handily it's only a short drive from home. We started off in the arena over a little course of SJs to warm up, and I almost fell off with shock as Soap left them all standing! He felt so different, really powerful and using his back so much more, I am amazed at how much of a positive affect his new flat work is having already on his jumping. 
We moved to the XC paddock and warmed up over some open ditches, building to a coffin. The final XC competition we did last year ended rather disastrously as Soap had an undiscovered virus and tied up, which involved stopping at a Trakhena so I was keen to build back up our positive ditch experience. Soap seemed to have forgotten all about our little blip and just ate up the ditches, and made a nice job of the log, ditch, wood pile combo. Before we could go and have a play in the water Russ who owns Boomerang had to drive his dune buggy through it first to break the ice! Soap just dived on in completely un-flustered by the ice burghs and was fab up and down steps, and out up a bank with log on top. We then popped an owl hole, a few palisades and 2 clusters of skinny mushrooms on a 90 degree turn. I was super pleased with the mushrooms because they are quite spooky and he has never jumped anything like them before. We then moved to 3 wide skinnys on a big curve, making sure to ride him to the bottom of the fence, keep my hands wide and low, and a nice bouncy SJing canter. We did these quite a few times throughout the session and I was really chuffed with him.
Next we tackled the Trakhena and Soap just flew, then a house, single barrels, and onto a step complex. I love jumping drops on Soap it's really fun, and he seems to have a good natural technique, lowering not launching to make the drops feel small. So buoyed up with confidence because he was going well I even jumped the big drop which I'm guessing was about 4ft! Eeeke! Then we did a sunken road, a bank, 2 upturned blue and white boat skinnys, and a ditch palisade to finish. I had just the best time ever despite the VERY cold winter conditions Soap was fab, and I just can't wait to get in that start box at Moreton BE90/Intro in 3 weeks time! Best of all was the fact that my Mum bravely wrapped up and videoed loads, and another lady in our group had brought her photographer friend who also snapped some of us, and is going to send the pics on to me, so I'll be uploading those when they arrive, in the mean while here is the video and my fave stills below

Seeing as I'm in the process of giving the GHE website a facelift (watch this space it's launching soon!) I thought it was only right that I extended the makeover to my kit. I have some very helpful friends who work for an embroidery company who have kindly taken my old tat and emblazoned it with the GHE logo, instantly making it very desirable! Soap looks hot to trot in his new GHE branded travel fleece, and when out and about if you spy this little logo scoot past on a saddle cloth, say 'Hi' because it's me! If you have sponsors and want to get their logo on your gear in order to promote them then make sure you run it by British Eventing first as they have some very specific rules concerning fees and logo sizes. These restrictions don't exactly make it easy for grass roots riders to promote their sponsors, but you can get round it. 

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!