We weren’t last this time!!

Today (25/1/15) Rocky and I headed off to do our 2^nd ever dressage test at Castle Farm, however it almost didn’t happen..

Having had a seriously bad run up to today, frozen arenas, work having to move, lessons rescheduled etc.. yesterday I had given up on the idea of playing at dancing horses!

Even when the alarm went off this morning, I was still undecided as yesterday while moving some bales of bedding I managed to hurt my back AGAIN and I could hardly move let alone ride! Really, today had absolutely NOTHING going for it!!

Well, I really don’t know how I came to the decision to go, but I did, albeit in a very “this is a BAD idea” kind of way!

Tara my long suffering daughter and now appointed head groom, well actually my only groom, was awoken and away we went.

Rocky was an absolute saint to load, travel, prepare etc etc.. even though he has had 1 lunge session and been ridden once in the past week!

As my undecided start to the day had delayed us somewhat, we arrived with just 30 minutes to prepare and warm up, oops. Rocky was still in a very cooperative mood and stood like a dream to tack up, which took slightly longer than usual due to me being unable to bend and move! Still he was a saint. I mounted up (in a very unconventional way!) but having not much use in my leg Tara had to find my stirrup and place my foot in it, Oh lordy this is such a BAD idea…

There were 4 other horses warming up in the arena, cantering and circling, Rocky had his eyes on stalks and grew about 4 hands, however he very kindly kept a lid on it thankfully!!

We had about 10 minutes to actually warm up, and from the moment we stepped into the arena we were focussed, slight distraction when passing a couple of the other horses, but he came back to me quickly. We practised what we had been doing in our lessons, ensuring a quick reaction when I ask for a forwards transition and waiting when halting rather than halting for a nano second and gazing off into the distance!! He was quick off my aids, stretching to find the contact, giving me a longer stride rather than a “pony” stride, yes he was on it!! Hurrah!!

Vanessa called us and off we went, straight in to the arena, gave our details to the Judge, the bell sounded and off we went…

The test felt like it flowed really well and although obviously not perfect, Rocky responded to every request willingly and with purpose. A slight wobble on our final salute but we halted, stood still, he was attentive and waiting for his next command, which was to be rewarded with much fuss and appreciation from me!

We retired to the box, I unceremoniously dismounted, grunting and groaning desperately in need of more painkillers, but I was HAPPY!

Rocky then had his breakfast (yes we were very late leaving) and stood quietly and happily while we awaited our scores.

After a while the class ended, 13 competitors in total, and the scores were in… We had not only achieved a better score than our first test (see previous blog), but we had also picked up a ribbon! Yey, my gorgeous boy had his very first Dressage rosette which I feel was very much deserved, a 5^th place with 64.5%!

I would have been more than happy to have just improved on our last outings score, but a ribbon was excellent, and unlike in our first dressage attempt, we were far from being last!!

Happy, we headed off home.

We did video the test on my Ipad, however just over half way through the Ipad decided it didn’t have enough battery left and died :( but the part that was filmed you can view here.

I am now attempting to get feeling back and get my back working again, ready for our next outing :)

The Personal Training System from SoundRiding….

I have been teaching now for longer than I care to remember!

Spending hour upon hour projecting ones voice, often in difficult weather conditions meaning extra effort to be heard is required, means 2 things, one, you end up losing your voice (not ideal!) or secondly your riders not hearing you and often missing crucial instruction.

A couple of years ago I attended the British Dressage National Championships and while perusing the retail stands – as you must- I came across the SoundRiding System stand. We had a chat about the system and tried one out, my friend who I was with had never used one before whereas I had worn one with a previous trainer, she was very impressed with the system and purchased one for me to teach her with.

As mentioned I have worn one before so was familiar with how the rider felt receiving instruction, but when I was the trainer I could immediately tell the difference in how my friend reacted. The system however belonged to her, so it was pretty much a once a week usage.

I ummed and arghed for another year whether I should spend my hard earned money on the system, after all they are not cheap!

The nationals arrived 2014, once again I perused all the trade stands and found another type of system being launched but after a demonstration and a look at the system I found myself heading towards the SoundRiding stand…

Yet again I found myself trying one out, and once again being impressed! The decision was made, I purchased one!

There are one way and two way systems, I opted for the one way as I feel when you get into a “conversation” while training, the “moment” can easily be missed, although my riders feel it is more like I can’t hear them answer back!!

Since September 2014 I have used it on virtually every rider, from beginners to helping riders warm up at competitions, EVERY rider has confirmed that this has indeed made a big difference to their sessions, being able to react quickly before the “moment” passed, hearing every instruction clearly rather than having to second guess if I wasn’t quite heard and not having to have me stood in the “middle” to instruct or distract the horse, something which can happen when they are particularly used to voice commands, for example when I would say “prepare to trot” often the horse would lock onto my words rather than the riders aids.

The money I spent was a gamble, but 4 months on and I feel I couldn’t have spent it more wisely.

Some of the benefits of the SoundRiding system:

• Lightweight
• Easy to use
• Battery powered, standard AA type
• Riders are able to react quicker
• Horses aren’t distracted
• Excellent for use in Warm up arenas
• Encourages a relaxed training session
• Trainers keep their voices longer!!
• There are different channels to teach a group of riders but still keep it individual (each rider would require their own headset)
• Comes with a 3year guarantee

I can’t believe I left it so long to purchase it!!