I may have missed a few months worth of blog and I don’t really have a viable excuse, but I’m going to claim that the depths of my weather related depression led me to refuse to bore you all with the details.
So here is a summary. It has rained, it has snowed, it has been windy, it has been cold, it has been sunny, I turned 27 (terrifying) and the horses spent most of the time getting really muddy and being really wild. Oh and about fifteen events got cancelled.
Dan and Wesley believe sharing food is the way forward...
The best bit of February was that I took Gus and Baz to a really good training session with Kiwi team showjumping coach Luis Alvarez Cervera – try saying that ten times fast. It was definitely worth the drive to Hartpury in the snow, both for the heated indoor arena and the lessons themselves, which were really helpful, particularly for Gus. Gus began life as a fairly successful steeplechaser and his preferred method of jumping is to charge down to the fence and fling himself somewhat extravagantly through the air, hit the ground running and continue onwards – think the orange version of Sugoi. Any attempts to make his style more orthodox simply results in much dramatic protestation. Luis gave me some good exercises to make him think and teach him to become more supple and ride-able. We’re still working on it.
Dan looking handsome at Aston Le Walls
This was the first event of the year where the weather allowed him to complete all three phases!
Since February, I’ve been flat out going to events whenever the weather stays nice enough for them not to be abandoned. The surprise package of the season so far has been ‘wee’ Wesley. Having never done anything more grand than one EV90 in Australia, in the space of just under three months he has done three BE100 starts and one CNC* start and been clear cross country at every one. I’m really sad that I will have to sell him to continue to fund being here because he is such a cool little horse – last week I talked to my mother on the phone whilst doing his canter sets … he’s that quiet.
Scumpy stick chasing in the famous Ice Pond at Chatsworth International.
In between times, the vile weather has got me thinking – have the Americans got it right? They spend half the year in the north and half the year in the south, all dependent on what the weather is doing. This seems like quite a logical way to go about things and if you take it one step further, its quite natural. Birds migrate for the winter so why shouldn’t event riders?
Clearly money is the inhibiting factor for those of us who would choose to migrate between the UK and Australia or New Zealand, but would it work if instead of just doing the Sunshine Tour in Portugal in January, we packed up and shipped off to a warmer corner of Europe for the entire winter? I think that this scheme is warrants further consideration, for one thing I could really look forward to being able to feel my fingers and toes for the winter months!
“This jump at Chatsworth is named after a really good looking, talented guy ..." says Blyth Tait, for whom the jump is named.
Here is Blyth pictured with Ashleigh Smail and Scumpy
This week, in a bout of exceptionally poor planning, I have three horses entered at Tweseldown tomorrow (Monday) and then have one horse entered at Houghton Hall that is due to trot up at 4pm Tuesday. Oops! Best I stop typing and go and find some clean clothes to wear to trot up. I promise my next blog will be more prompt and more informative.
Keep on kicking on,
Laura
