Well we are a week into March and finally I have a few minutes free to round up a very busy February.
February is always a busy competition month due to Regionals however business this month was also full on with many new lovely horses to treat. At the beginning of the month I took delivery of my new Custom saddle, it's taken a little while to get used to but it helps support me when Guinness is spooking. I have started attending some Pilates classes to try and help improve my core and aid my position as I have started of falling into a habit of leaning forward. So the Pilates ball and resistance bands are becoming my best friend and I am already noticing a difference in my ability to sit his trot.
We attended Checkendon at the beginning of the month to start gaining some of our regional points towards the Summer regionals, a few spooks but on the whole a great test and we came home with a red rosette and a 68+% . We also rode the Elementary Unaffiliated to gain out GB Rider Qualification and although I lost a little power in the test he pulled out another win on a little over 65%.
Over the past few months we have been upping our training and having regular lessons with Natalie Allen, with Martin moving up north my training has been hit an miss until now so I am so grateful to have found Natalie who has given us a massive amount of support and Guinness is going from strength to strength with the regular training, this showed when we went to Addington and scored 72+% in our Novice Qualifier.
Alina came back into work after her injury last year when she got herself tangled up in the post and rail fencing after trying to jump it. She came with me to Wellington with Guinness where they both did the Novice Freestyle. She behaved impeccably for a horse that hadn't been out for months and although green scored a respectable 66% just behind Guinness with 67%. I am looking forward to taking her out again over the next few months with the aim of Novice PetPlan with her this year.
Next up we headed up north to watch Diane compete her regionals with Martin, Diane is a very hot ride and at the moment she is just a little to much for me so we enjoy watching her develop with Martin and hope that one day I can take over the ride. First up was the Medium Freestyle where unfortunately the music played very quiet but she did a lovely test to become reserve regional champion to Martins other ride Eden. Then the Advanced Medium where she got a little too hot and showed her inexperience at the level however Martin rode her extremely well and scored 66%.
Back home and it was time for Wellington Regionals which Diane also came to, We were second to go in the Novice Freestyle, Guinness felt great and I was really pleased with our test, of course there were things which we could have done better and his walk did pull down our mark but so excited to have scored 67.9% and placing 9th, which topped off a great regional for us as we also placed 10th in the Elementary freestyle at Addington at the end of January.
And of course not forgetting Nutmeg who had her first showing outing this year where she won the In-hand Veteran at the grand old age of 27. Back in September she had an attack of ataxia, we are unsure why but I thought I was going to loose her or never get to rider her again, luckily she has recovered and is doing well on the higher dose of Bettalife PharmaQuin and is now attending regular sessions on the water treadmill at Wellington to strengthen her up again and I have been doing some ridden walk and light trot sessions, fingers crossed we can get her back up to strength to do some ridden showing this year but if not she can still attend the In Hand classes which she thoroughly enjoys and has already qualified for one championship.
So overall it was a busy but successful month for us. Unfortunately February didn't close well for us as we lost Oscar (Winter Dream). Oscar has been part of our family for around 10 years, after a rocky start with a hospital stay included he really turned into a sweet horse who not only helped me qualify for the BRC Junior Music Championships but he also gave Maddi and Marine an experience of owning their own horse and making the transition from riding school to horse owner. He spent the last two years of his life at home enjoying retirement and we will miss him greatly.
