There's always time for carrots
Sunday morning. It’s 4:30am and I am out of bed, dressed in my riding gear and drinking coffee as I eat my toast. At 5:15am I head over to collect Billy. It’s pitch black and of course I’ve forgotten my torch. I found Billy at the top of the paddock and walked up in the mud, slipping and sliding and then decided to walk him down the adjacent driveway so that we both stayed upright. I removed his top rug, gave him several carrots, popped on his float boots and loaded him up and we were on our way to Fingal and a clinic with Amanda Ross.
I was listening to Fox Radio as we drove along and they had a segment called ‘Sunday Morning Hero’ and wanted people to call up and say what they had already done that morning. So I decided to call in (via my hands free of course!) and finally got connected to the station receptionist. She asked me some questions and then said I would be going to air to speak to ‘Woody’. When I told him I had risen early, loaded the horse and was on my way to train with Amanda Ross an Olympic Rider he said, “So we’ve got a potential Olympic rider on the air! Have you got Black Caviar in the float?” I giggled and said there was always that possibility if you dreamed hard enough!
We arrived at our venue at 7:30am and I unloaded Billy, gave him some hay and water while I attempted to remove the thick mud from him. At 8am we walked to the dressage ring and warmed up under a gorgeous sunrise. Billy was calm and relaxed and the peaceful atmosphere together with the sound of the ocean in the distance was just lovely. Amanda arrived and we had a brief conversation about where we were at. I mentioned several things like how Billy is unbalanced on the right rein at canter and that he hangs off the right rein a bit too. I added as an after thought that I was also having trouble with my lower legs lately not being as secure as I would like. As Amanda is a personal trainer (as well as a great equestrian coach) and I am currently in some heavy training with my own personal trainer I wondered if perhaps I was now using different muscles and noting the change. So she made me walk and stand in my stirrups, then trot and said my balance was really good, but that my ITB muscles were tight, which wasn’t allowing me to lengthen my calf muscles and put my toes up as much as I could. My personal trainer and I have been using a roller in the gym to assist with this, so I was pleased to know what was causing me the pain in the side of my calf when I put my heels down.
I then attempted walk to trot transitions standing and did these, and also a halt from walk still standing. Billy was great, taking everything in his stride. I then did two strides of trot standing, two sitting and then three and then four. After this I made Billy halt from walk while I was standing using a half halt with my body and lower legs. It was really neat and he stopped within two strides! Amanda was impressed with him and said I was a strong rider and just needed some small tweaks. I’ve been riding in some suede chaps in the AP Wintec saddle and have found the suede doesn’t provide me with much grip on the saddle flap.
After our great flat lesson, we walked back to the float and then I went to watch two riders having a jumping lesson. It was great to see the issues they were having and how Amanda was so quick to recognise what the horses were doing. I could also see the improvement in the horses as the lesson progressed.
When it was my turn to jump, the other rider in my lesson was late so I had about half an hour of private tuition, which was amazing! We had four fences in a grid down the long side and a box grid in the centre of the arena with a double set at three strides down the other long side. Amanda started us working over the grid poles first and then we jumped them as cross poles and then as straight bars. Billy tends to string out in jumping so Amanda helped me adjust his rhythm and tempo and she taught me how to get him to do a walk to canter transition. As she put it, “It won’t be pretty but I know you can do it.”
I walked Billy forward, keeping his pace marching and applied the canter aids and gave him a tap with the dressage whip and he rushed into trot then canter. I brought him back to walk and then tried again and within two strides he was in a forward canter! I was smiling so widely! What a good boy! Then we tried the right rein, which has always been the difficult side for him and he was super! I couldn’t believe I was doing this! I was so excited.
One of the grids we used
We then worked on the grid, riding straight after the two-stride fence and then halting. From there we added the additional side, which was a one stride, so we were effectively riding a figure of eight. I finally got the rhythm and talked to myself as I rode the course “ba-dum, ba-bum, ba-dum” and found that helped me regulate the speed as well. The other rider, Bree, finally joined us and we put the fences up to grade 3 and despite feeling nervous, I just reminded myself to trust Billy and to breathe! The first attempt wasn’t pretty and I could feel myself losing my balance so typically I did something funny and sat up letting the reins slide through my fingers and for some unknown reason I put my right hand up in the air. It was like a classic eventer riding into water from a drop! “That just goes to show how good your balance is,” Amanda laughed.
What a great day I had with Amanda Ross
After our fantastic lesson, we had a break for an hour before cross country, so I sponged Billy down, put a rug on him and headed in for lunch. Then it was time to head out to the amazing cross country course. The course looks like it should be the set of “Mordor” from Lord of The Rings! It’s hilly and open and fun! I was with Bree and her mum who were both on green horses. I was the only ‘non EA’ rider at the clinic and wasn’t sure what to expect as the heights for show jumping and cross country are much bigger at EA competitions but I thought I would just see how I felt as we progressed through the lesson.
Billy was a different horse on the cross country, forward and powerful … he just loves it. We warmed up and down over the hills and then a small log working on the right rein. From there we jumped a double cavaletti and I was supposed to turn left and head over a stone wall but I continued straight on and jumped the wagon logs and then the stone wall. Whoops but Billy cleared everything. I just needed to let him go forward more and as the lesson progressed my confidence came back and I was really jumping well. The other two girls were jumping nicely and I decided to follow them and tackle some of the bigger jumps and managed to jump all of them! I was very happy. Amanda also had us practicing downhill fences and some tight turns. Billy was really good at the turn but not so confident on the down hill approach and Amanda said that this could have been due to his age and him finding it a little more difficult. From there we went to the water, walking through it and then jumping out of it. Bree’s horse refused to jump into the water and then Billy (who normally will go over anything) decided that he too wasn’t interested in going in and when I gave him a crack with the whip he reared. So Amanda told me to really ride forward and keep kicking even when he hesitated. I tend to forget that sometimes and it was a good reminder! After that Billy went in every time.
We moved up the hill to the ditches, no issues there and then we added another two fences, one on top of the hill, to the ditch and then down the hill to a ski ramp. I loved this combination and at first I was nervous about the heights, but once I trusted myself and Billy it was a breeze!
Amanda suggested I try and get a pair of leather gaiters, to help with the grip of my lower leg. I had recently bought a pair of ‘as new’ Ariat Crowne leather gaiters but they were too big so I need a smaller size. If anyone has a pair for sale, please contact me! I have the Ariat’s for sale if anyone’s looking for a medium size. Amanda also suggested I should get some Sporty Haft Spray or saddle stick-um to use as well as a new pair of thicker and slightly larger stirrups. It was fantastic to know that a few gear changes could help a lot, in fact all the feedback I had from Amanda was fantastic.
On my shopping list
My next competition is the Melton Horse Trials – so until then,
Happy Riding!
Jenna
