Gift Horse Eventing - HOME & BLOG

Jack's 15 minutes of fame!

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:22:16 -0800

I was contacted a little while back by a reporter for HORSE Magazine to see if I would take part in an article they were doing on horses who had come back into work after breaking a leg. I agreed to do it and after the phone interview a freelance photographer turned up to take some accompanying shots. Jack thought he would make himself look nice for the pictures by getting absolutely covered in mud from top to toe! When the photographer arrived he was still drying off, but thankfully there was a bit of a breeze and he soon fluffed back up. We took some ridden shots, some standing, some pointing at where the injury was on his leg, and some walking out in the field.

It was really fun to do and a great insight into the making of an article, who knew it would be so hard to coordinate a horse with its ears pricked, and a rider who isn't blinking in the same shot!? The article came out this month and here are the professional shots in print! If you want to read the full article pick up a copy asap!

Cross country schooling with Robert Stevens @ Boomerang

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 11:22:14 -0800

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

GHE embroidered rug, and saddle cloths ahoy!

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:58:19 -0800

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.

The best training aid of all?....an education.

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:58:37 -0800

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!

Team GHE update - Soap, Jack & Dustry

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:30:29 -0800

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!

If you buy as horse called 'Playing Dirty' a mess is sure to follow!

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:20:34 -0800

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...

My cross country coordination is complete!

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:34:53 -0800

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

Jumping Jack Fry!

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:36:06 -0800

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.

Cross country coordination, I've got it taped!

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:42:18 -0800

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

GHE gets its own column on Eventing Worldwide!

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:18:12 -0800

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