Our last event was Silver Hills - quite a long time ago!
Photo: maineventphography.com.au
The last time I updated you Positano and I were preparing for Silver Hills which, looking back seems not only a long time ago but it was the last event I have been to – thanks to the HSC!
Silver Hills was an interesting event for us with Positano showing a bit of warmblood spookiness in the dressage and some disappointing rails in the show jumping. Nevertheless we enjoyed a clear cross country round and finished fifth in the pre novice, so we were pretty happy.
Jumping at Simon's camp
With the hectic time frame of year 12, I’ve started to think that this year is actually a valuable time for me to practise any areas of performance that aren’t quite up to scratch, especially since I’m looking to go 1* as soon as possible. During the last school holidays was, of course, Simon’s camp, along with a few dozen piles of holiday homework, and a temporary, not so holiday, for Positano as he moved to Windsor for a while. For three weeks he stayed at John and Caroline Twomey’s place while Simon was overseas and during this time, he learned a thing or two about the correct use of his part cart-horse body. Needless to say we worked very hard on our dressage and because I live in Sydney, the drive to Windsor was incredibly convenient compared to the 2.5 hour commute to Foxground every weekend. I was even able to get in some afternoon lessons, which I really enjoyed.
Simon's indoor arena
We’ve been practising a lot of engagement exercises and 1* movements and there’s definitely been a noticeable change in our paces and transitions. So hopefully when I get back out there later in the year or early next year we’ll be giving more consistence performances and maybe picking up a few marks here and there. I reckon this work will also improve our show jumping a lot!
All this practise, however beneficial it may be, doesn’t quite live up to the excitement of competition and HSC is making me miss it A LOT. I’m hoping it all ends quickly and successfully and that I will then have more exciting things to write about!
Maia
