We had a super day at Dene Farm on the 27th March. The weather was very good, rather warm but not too hot.

 

Another small group to teach, however very well matched horses and riders.

 

This was the first Showjump crosscountry training held at dene farm, and it was fabulous. The owner, Nigel, had very kindly given us his showjumps and different fillers to use, and use them we did!

 

As showjump crosscountry is basically cross country over showjumps, we did all our training over the showjumps, working on the techniques you would use on the XC course, but the aim was to produce the horses pace to be able to balance the horse according to the type of showjump presented to you, so for example an upright needs the horse to be steady and balanced with the horse sitting on his hocks as opposed to a spread which can be jumped out of the horses pace he is at.

 

So after an hour spent learning different techniques, we put to use these new skills and went out on the cross country course, and well, the results shouted out the difference! The horses had no stops, run outs, hick ups anywhere on course, in fact, they were fantastic. The riders learnt about how their position was influencing, or hindering, the horses way of going and again, this was so evident on the drop fences, water jumps and the different terrain we were experiencing.

 

It was a super day and i hope to do another one very soon.

 

Well done to all who attended, you were great.

 

 

 

Three Maids XC

 

Wow, to date this was by far one of the best XC Clinics yet!

Although we had a small group, it worked so well, all the horses were so well behaved, riders also!

The weather was kind to us, unlike previous outings to Three Maids, the ground was perfect going, which was appreciated by everyone, including us people on foot!

 

There was one person who had been to our clinics before and the rest were new comers, but after only 5 minutes, it seemed like we had all known each other for ages, the same goes for the spectators.

 

We were lucky to have an amateur photographer join us too, Megan Kent (and boyfriend in tow), very kindly gave up their time to take pictures of the day, I have to admit, I was very impressed by the quality of the pictures. I have put them into a slideshow on here, don't be fooled by the quality on here though, my system doesn't do the proper pictures justice.

 

If you want a copy of the pictures (riders/partners only), please get in touch with me and I will get them to you.

 

Just left to say is a big well done to all concerned and for making the day fabulous. Hope to see you all again very soon.

 

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