After an early start, I was very excited to travel to Vale View Equestrian Centre for training with Hannah Esberger-Hancock and Lucy Jackson, as part of the Dengie and Horse&Rider Training Bursary.
Robin travelled brilliantly and settled well. In our flatwork session with Hannah we worked on Robin becoming more active behind by including turn on the forehand and leg-yield into our work. He is easily bored and distracted so this was a great way to keep him interested in his work. He improved greatly during this session and also began to feel more settled in the new environment.
We then had a quick change to the arena XC session with Lucy, to beat the incoming storm. It was absolutely brilliant to have the facilities at Vale View for Robin’s first XC school of the year. Robin felt brilliant, and Lucy was so helpful by keeping everything she was saying very simple. She reminded us to be really conscious of our position to ensure we stay safe and in balance. Robin is a big long horse who still struggles with balance and straightness at times, so it is very important for me to ensure I am in the best balance possible to help him with this. Hopefully he hasn’t much more growing to do!
In the nutritional assessment, Claire was really pleased with Robin’s condition and surprised at how little he was fed. We ensure our horses have plenty of forage and grass so their feeds can be smaller, containing the essential vitamins, minerals and protein to ensure muscle development and general health and condition. Claire suggested we move Robin on to Alfa-A Molasses Free, which I think will be a useful change to his diet and is recommended for competition horses.
The training day was highly beneficial and a great outing to start the year. We will take on board what we have gained from this , and now look forward to the coming season with some exciting goals ahead!
The training opportunity came at a brilliant time in preparation for the 2020 event season. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, most of all the cross country session as this is the phase I love the most. Both sessions helped Lenny and I progress. The dressage session with Hannah Easberger-Hancock helped improve Lenny’s lateral work, where we focused mainly on exercises to develop his half pass which hopefully will allow us the pick up higher marks.
In the cross country lesson with Lucy Jackson we focused on maintaining his rhythm while practising technical lines, which I feel where good preparation to help me achieve my aims for this season.
The nutritional advice from Dengie’s Performance Horse Nutritionist, Claire Akers was helpful in ensuring Lenny’s diet is the best it can be, to help him perform at his best. I found it particularly interesting to weigh Lenny again using the weigh bridge as Claire had previously visited me at my yard in summer last year and we found Lenny was slightly over weight. By changing his diet to Dengie we have being able to manage his weight and his gastric ulcers which I believe has allowed his performance to improve.
This season I hope that Lenny and I will successfully move up to intermediate/3*level and we are aiming for Thoresby Park Horse Trials as our first international event where we will be competing in the 2*.
When we pulled into Vale View the weather was anything but welcoming however, nothing could dampen my spirits as I was so excited! It was wonderful that a cosy bed and welcoming stable were ready for Cici and everyone was so helpful in settling her in. Sarah-Jane had arrived just before us after a mammoth trek from Cornwall, so our four hour journey didn’t seem so bad! After checking on Cici for a final time, it was an early bed time to be ready for the excitement of the following day.
We were up bright and early so that Cici could tuck into her breakfast and I met the team from Dengie and Horse and Rider Magazine. Next, Cici and I tried on the smart outfits that Dengie had kindly gifted us, how dapper we both looked! Soon it was time to tack up and set off to the school for our dressage lesson with Hannah Esberger-Hancock. She watched Alana and I warm up and gave us both advice on how to get our horses focused. After introducing a number of exercises: leg yielding on a circle, practising three quarter lines and honing our transitions, we then concentrated on putting these in to practice, where I had to ensure that I got better connections between hand and leg and improved her bend.
I gained lots of great tips for practising at home and Cici felt so much better. After a cool down, we popped Cici back in her stable for a well deserved break and a feed.
After a well deserved rest, Cici was tacked up again from our Cross Country session with Lucy Jackson. There was an amazing array of fences, so both me and Cici were really excited for this. After warming up under Lucy’s eagle eye, we headed out to the Cross Country.
We tried lots of different combinations that worked on straightness, rhythm, impulsion and accuracy. Lucy increased my awareness of influencing Cici through my upper body and always looking up, putting this simple yet essential points into practice instantly improved Cici jump, she felt amazing!
Back to the stables to tend to Cici and give her another small feed, before we nipped off for a quick and tasty lunch.
Finally, a thoroughly informative session with Dengie Performance Nutritionist, Claire Akers. Firstly, she weighed Cici on the weigh bridge, the clever girl walked straight on! She was weighed at 504kg and Claire gave her a condition score of lower 3 out of 5. Afterwards Claire questioned me about her current diet, and she informed me that I could double the amount of Dengie Alfa-A Oil she was presently receiving. She also suggested that we change her current cubes for a performance balancer, as she thought Cici may be lacking vitamins. Further advice was to add Dengie Alfa-Beet to aid weight gain and condition. Lastly, Claire advised that to increase her forage intake whilst she was away at shows, it was worth trying Dengie Meadow Grass and Grass Pellets too. This was all extremely valuable advice and we are seeing an improvement in Cici’s condition already.
I can’t thank Dengie and Horse and Rider enough for the amazing opportunity and I am really looking forward to using the exercises recommended to prepare for the start of the eventing season.
Liv
When you have a round trip of over 600 miles and 16 hours driving from the tip of Cornwall to Leicestershire, you hope the day is worth it. All I can say is a huge “thank you” to Dengie who organised a fabulous day with great instructors, super facilities and lots learnt. It was worth the journey and some!
I was very fortunate to be able to take both my mares, Ellie the project pony (project in terms of meant to have been sold after a couple of months and still with me 4 years later) and Fliss who are competing at BE100 and Novice respectively.
The day was based at Vale View Equestrian a most amazing facility with a variety of indoor and outdoor arenas as well as a super arena XC course. The day started with lessons with Hannah Esberger-Hancock, she was brilliant really pushing both horses and helping advance their way of going. Plenty of tips to take away and pointers to work on; straightness with Fliss, collection with Ellie and for me controlling my dodgy right hand using a half bridge.
The weather was turning, but Lucy Jackson gave us super sessions using the arena cross country. Again both girls really enjoyed this and it was great to get an early xc session under our belt. Lucy was able to identify some key points with both, Ellie the importance of my warm up and having her in front of the leg before I start and with Fliss making sure my focus was on the next fence and my eyes looked where I was going.
Finally we had the feed assessments with Performance Horse Nutritionist, Claire Akers. Ellie had put on a massive 30kg since her last weigh in and it was agreed she needed to lose a few of these. She is a particularly good doer so it was great we were able to find a diet of Alfa-A Lite with a vitamin and mineral supplement that gave her all the vitamins and minerals she needed, less the calories. Fliss was pretty good weight wise and condition, so just a few minor tweaks needed.
All in all a fabulous day and as an eventer I was very surprised that it was the dressage sessions I enjoyed most. I just learnt so much and that warm feeling when your horses show you that they are ready to move to the next level.
We now continue training where possible and building up for the start of the season in March. I struggle a bit at this time of year with no school and the fields too wet to use to get enough work in but this day showed me they are both further forward than I expected. I’m really excited to get out now and actually put the training into practice. We are aiming with Fliss for the new event at Cirencester to be our first.
Sarah-Jane Brown
Well another year is over and a new one has just begun.
2019 was a great year – I have a handful of new horses and as much fun as that is, it does mean I have taken 10 horses through the winter! Pray for me!
Working at Sam Watson’s yard was a fantastic experience and I had a brilliant time out in Ireland. However after 9 months I felt I was ready to set up on my own, so I came home just in time for a few events in the UK. I also came home with the first of my new horses, Ruby. She is a sweet horse with huge potential.
Googie had a great start to the 2019 season in Ireland and then sadly before Tattersalls International she picked up an injury which cut her season short. She is back up and running and has had the all clear from the vet so I am very excited about bringing her back out later on in 2020.
Pooh sadly picked up an injury in field at home and is on a long road to recovery. She is in work at the moment looking like a big fluffy bear.
Diva unfortunately didn’t get in foal this year, but we will be trying again this summer. I’m really excited as we are going to use the stallion that Pooh is by.
Dougie our old 14.2hh pony is living out with Diva and is enjoying the endless piles of hay and Tim is enjoying hacking and playing nanny to the young ones.
Pogo is now 4!!! I have started backing him and he is being an angel. I’ve had my first sit on him and ridden him in the school. Instead of just having one to back I thought it would be more fun to do another at the same time, so very excitingly I bought a 3 year old in November at the Monart sales in Ireland. Inky is very sweet and he is at the same stage as Pogo.
Last but by no means least I have another exciting new horse, Mary. I was chatting to a friend about a horse for sale and she mentioned that her boss had a mare for sale who was quite tricky on the flat but was really talented jumping. She spoke to her boss that I was interested and annoyingly 10 days earlier he had sent her to his friend in Ireland and swapped her for three 3 year olds. I was on a plane the next day as I had a feeling about this horse. She was lovely and seemed too good to be true. She really is an exciting prospect for this season and I can not wait to jump round some big events with her.
Summer is well and truly over now and it’s wet, cold and muddy!!
The end of the event season didn’t go quite to plan basically because the weather meant that all the events I had planned to do in the autumn were cancelled. After the excitement of winning at the Pony Club Regional Championships, Felix and I went to Pontispool for another BE80. It was a very warm day and we weren’t competing until the afternoon. We did quite a good dressage test although I was a bit disappointed with my score as it wasn’t sub-30 but we were still in the top 10. Felix had an uncharacteristic 4 faults in the show-jumping, but it was my fault as I didn’t have Felix sharp enough in the warm-up – I think we were both feeling a bit sleepy as it was so hot! I wasn’t going to make the same mistake for the cross-country!! I made sure that I had got Felix properly listening to me in the warm-up before we went cross-country and we had a good round, although the ground was very hard and we did get some time penalties. Unfortunately no rosette, but I was still very pleased with Fe.
Our next event should have been the Horse Events Unaffiliated Eventing Championships but unfortunately this was cancelled due to the very wet weather which was a real shame. Hopefully it will be re-scheduled in the Spring. I wanted to do just one more event before the end of the season so we planned to go to Bovington but unfortunately that was also cancelled due to the weather! So Felix’s last outing before his winter break was a dressage competition where we did a Novice Test and Felix got to show off his medium trot (something he had been wanting to do in all the dressage tests at events in the summer but wasn’t allowed to!!). He did a really nice test and scored 70% which I was really really pleased with! Felix is now enjoying a well-earned break in the field. He has been amazing this year and has helped me have a fab first season eventing, 10 events, 2 wins, 6 top 10 placings and always in the top 15! He has been a complete super star and winning a BE Event and the Pony Club Regional Eventing Championships were just amazing experiences. Thank you Felix!
Chico spent the summer concentrating on his dressage and we were lucky enough to qualify for the U21 British Dressage PetPlan Regional Finals at Bicton. We had a really early start in the morning to get to Bicton for the arena walk at 7.30am but when we got on to the motorway it was closed due to an accident!! This meant that we got there with just 5 minutes before the end of the arena walk! It was a crazy rush but we did manage to walk around the arena once! We then had time for a quick breather before it was time to warm-up. Chico loves his dressage as he likes to show -off and he did a really nice test to score 69.7% (so nearly 70!). We were in 3rd place for ages and I was so excited that we might get to do the mounted prize giving, but then one of the last horses to go went ahead of us so we finished 4th and just missed out on qualifying for the nationals. It was so disappointing, but hopefully we will get a wildcard to the Nationals…fingers crossed!
Smartie did his very first one day event at the end of the summer. I was so excited but also quite nervous as I didn’t know how he would behave, but I need not have worried as he was a superstar all day! He did a really lovely dressage test to score 25, then jumped a lovely clear round in the show-jumping and a super clear in the cross-country, although we did have time penalties as I didn’t want to push him as it was his first cross country round. We didn’t get placed, but I was just so pleased with how he had performed and behaved at his first one day event! I am so excited about eventing next season, I think he is going to be good fun!! Smarties last outing before his break was also a dressage competition. We did 2 Prelim tests and got a 4th and 2nd. His first test was a bit tense but his second test was so much better and he got his best score yet of 68%!
Now all the ponies are out in the field having a well-earned break from ridden work. The plan is to bring them back into work at the beginning of December after they have had 5 weeks off. This also means that I can have a bit of a break from mucking out etc although not a complete break as I have been offered the ride on another pony with the view to eventing her next season. So whilst Felix, Chico and Smartie have been on holiday I have been getting to know Bracken and so far it’s going really well. We have done one show-jumping competition where we finished 3rd with a lovely double clear and over the next few weeks I am going to take her to some BE training sessions and get to know her better. I am very lucky to have been asked to ride her and fingers crossed, we will have a great BE season together next year, so watch this space!
This striking, 16.3hh, six-year-old Thoroughbred has recently come to my yard for some TLC and pre-training. This handsome horse arrived with me from Ireland just over three weeks ago, looking pretty light, weak and a little sorry for himself. Having raced in August and been ‘spelling’ in the interim.
He had all the usual checks – vet, teeth, wormed, physio, etc – then I set to work. In addition to a varied routine of ground work, lunging, ridden and pole work for approx 45-minutes a day, he’s been having four feeds spread over the day, each comprising of two-scoops of Dengie Alfa-A Original with the recommended quantity of a performance balancer, which he loves! Plus ad-lib hay and turnout, when possible. The pictures show the improvement in his coat and skin as well as his overall condition, muscle development and tone – he’s looking fantastic!
He’ll now spend a further month or so with me pre-training before a return to racing probably after Christmas; hopefully he’ll be seen in the winners enclosure soon!
Where has the summer gone? It has flown by and now I’m back at school! It was a great summer though and I have had a good time with all the ponies.
Felix has been feeling fantastic. Last time I blogged we had done our first 3 British Eventing events, we then had a short break from eventing to concentrate on dressage as we were selected for our Pony Club Area Novice Dressage Team. Last year our team just missed out on qualifying for the Pony Club Championships so we were really hoping we might qualify this year. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, Felix did a nice dressage test, but it wasn’t his best and we finished outside the top 10. I was a bit disappointed as it would have been amazing to go to the Pony Club Championships.
The following weekend we went to Chepstow for another BE80 competition. It was an amazing day! I rode Felix a bit differently for the dressage. The weekend before at the Area dressage I didn’t really put any pressure on him, I just let him do a nice, safe test. When I was warming up at Chepstow Mum told me to ask a bit more of him rather than just accepting his nice, relaxed way of going. Felix responded well and went into show-off mode which the judge obviously liked as we did a really good test to score 26.3! We then showjumped clear and stormed round the XC to finish on our dressage score and win the section!! It was amazing, I never thought I would win a BE event in our first season!
Our next event after Chepstow was the Pony Cluc Area Eventing which was held at Nunney. Felix did another good dressage test, but we then had a 5 hour wait before we showjumped because the air ambulance had to land for someone who had fallen in the show-jumping. Thankfully the rider was okay and the competition was able to carry on, but it was quite hard to get going again after such a long wait. Felix show-jumped well, but did have one pole down which isn’t like him. We then went XC, it was a tough course and I was quite nervous but Felix flew round to go clear, which meant we finished 4th and qualified for the Pony Club Regional Championships!!
We did one more event before the Regional Champs which was at Oxstalls. It was a lovely event. Felix was quite cheeky in his dressage test, he even had a little buck in one of the canter transitions and jogged in the free walk so he didn’t achieve his usual sub-30 score! We then showjumped clear and we had a great ride around the XC inside the time to finish 4th which means we have qualified for the Horse Events Unaffiliated Championships!
Pony Club Regional Championships at Bicton was our next event. As Felix had been a bit cheeky in the dressage at Oxstalls we had a couple of lessons with my dressage instructor before the championships to remind Felix how to behave in the dressage arena. It worked! He did a fab test to score 27.1, the only sub-30 score in the section! The showjumping was big and caused plenty of problems, but Felix was great and jumped clear. I was in the lead going into the XC and this made me really nervous! It was a big and quite technical course with lots of combination fences and because it was a Championship it was quite a bit longer than other courses we had done. But I need not have worried as Felix flew round which meant we won!! I was so excited, I have wanted to win a sash for ages and we did it!! Felix is just amazing!!
After the Pony Club Championships Felix had a week off as I went to Burghley Horse Trials. It was great to watch the competition and to meet fellow Dengie brand ambassador Lucy Jackson. After a couple more events Felix will be having a longer well deserved holiday out in a big field with his friends!
As I have been so busy with Felix it has been quite hard to fit in much competing with the other ponies, but we have managed to do some. Chico has been doing some dressage and we had managed to qualify for a Pet Plan Area Festival which was exciting. At the Festival Chico behaved very well and did a nice test, but I made a few mistakes which lost us marks. We still managed a score of 66% though which means we will be going to the Area Festival U21’s Final at the beginning of October which I am quite excited about!
Smartie was the lucky one to go to Pony Club Camp this summer and he loved it! He was so good and coped really well with staying away from home, something I was a bit worried about as he can get a bit stressed and anxious about change. It was a really fun week and I felt like Smartie and I came on a lot together.
After camp Smartie and I did a dressage competition, we did a walk and trot test which he was a bit tense in, but then we did a Prelim test and he was much better. We are now getting ready to do our first little one day event, so watch this space!
Another exciting thing to happen this summer was our broodmare Annie had a lovely colt foal and I watched it all! The evening before he was born Mum thought that Annie was behaving like she might foal that night so she said she would wake me up if she did. I didn’t actually go to sleep as I was waiting for Mum to come in and tell me it was happening! It was so exciting and amazing to see a foal being born, I couldn’t believe how big he was! We have called him Nemo and he is quite a cheeky character! He is already trying to take his Mum’s food so obviously likes the Dengie Diet!! I can’t wait to see him grow up and ride him in the future.
Well, that’s all for now. Next time I blog the eventing season will be over and it will probably be cold and wet but at least Christmas will be coming!
Apologies for the lack of updates recently. Unfortunately I managed to get a virus 6 weeks ago and it has made me dizzy and have chronic fatigue…not great and very frustrating when all you want to do is ride and compete!
Having fallen off at Aston between jumps I decided it wasn’t really that sensible to carry on Eventing while I was ill, so the horses have all been having a bit of an easy time since! They are all still in work and I have to say rather bored of not jumping or competing, but they are all well! Hopefully I will be back in action soon!
I have however had a good catch up with Dengie Performance Horse Nutritionist, Claire Akers who came to check in on Candy and ensure she was okay and still her enjoying her food! Claire also had my haylage analysed to check that all the horses were getting the nutrients required from it and to let me know if I needed to add any additional supplements to their diets! The team at Dengie are so helpful and approachable; they can never do enough to make sure my horses are on top form with their diets -I am very lucky!!
It was fab to be able to have the time to watch fellow Dengie ambassador Lucy Jackson win the ERM at Millstreet International Horse Trials – what a great result that was really well deserved! Hopefully I will be able to compete again soon and give you a more interesting update.
Well what a week we had at Bramham Horse Trials. The event boasts a stunning park, immaculate organisation and a very friendly atmosphere. We enjoyed a really super week of remembering exactly why we participate in this sport! All the best ingredients seemed to be there.
Stinky’s dressage was a fraction disappointing. Such is his maturity now in the dressage he didn’t need as much practising as I did before his test! So a touch flat and a couple of little mistakes left us on 33.
Thanks to the heavy rain on Friday and an enormous amount of preparation by the Bramham team, the going for Saturday’s 10m42s cross country was perfect. Ian Stark challenges bravery and accuracy and accuracy and bravery!!! The problems were scattered all around the course with very little let up, coupled with steep undulations making it a very senior test indeed. I set out allowing Stinky to find his feet being his first run at this level. After he hopped and popped his way confidently through the challenging combinations at 6, 8 & 10/11 I thought it was worth upping the pace to try for that elusive double clear in the time. He answered my every call and came home bang on the optimum! What a buzz! I’ve definitely never had a horse as fit or finish as full of running around a track like that. His Dengie fibre diet of Alfa-A Oil and balancer clearly suit him as he looks a picture of health and felt a million dollars from start to finish.
Di Boddy always builds a challenging and technical showjumping track and Bramham was no exception. Thankfully despite clears proving hard to achieve and a tight optimum time, The Greenlees family’s little brown pony skipped around and became one of only 3 horses from the 80 starters to finish on his dressage score!!! I’m still almost expecting to wake up and find that I was dreaming. My clever sister Sophie Lane produced Stinky from an unbroken 4-year-old to the Burghley Young Event Horse finals, and was instrumental in securing me the ride on our little star. I’m so fortunate that The Greenlees have had the patience to allow him to develop at his own pace, which will hopefully now pay dividends as we look forward to Blenheim and then Badminton, Bramham having secured his 2020 Olympic qualifications. So many people and so many factors go into a happy and successful three day event, it’s almost impossible to list them all. Suffice to say THANK YOU one and all, and may this be another step on an exciting journey towards the pinnacle of any equestrian’s dream…The Olympic Games.
