These last few weeks have been really hectic both for me and my team - a full working day at the yard now seems like an easy day for us! The filming for Horse Hero was more nerve wrecking than actual competition, as it turned out. I train and prepare everyday to compete but I haven't got a clue how one would prepare for a film shoot, especially as horses have a great talent for making fools of us. I am pleased to say that I don't think I made a complete fool of myself and my horses performed beautifully, even the youngster, Topstar, who was experiencing his first cross country session. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the shoot and hope in the future that there might be some more filming to be done, at least I'll have an idea of what to expect.
A few days later, I took a couple of the youngsters (Ears and Topstar) to a little dressage show, and to my surprise they both won their classes! I know it was only Preliminary but they both behaved well and performed consistent tests, which is not bad for their first outing. Topstar is really living up to his name because the judge actually gave him a 9 for his movement, I don't know if he was bragging about it to his neighbours but I sure as hell was a very proud rider!
We haven't been totally 'all hands on deck' as one of our staff has been on holiday and then to top it off my little boy, Aldo, got a nasty stomach bug. This was bad enough but he also made his mum, Alice, sick which involved more cleaning up on top of the additional work at the yard! I am very pleased Alice is so resilient and was back to work after only a day off, and with a show the next day she also managed to pull a win out of the bag. Any opportunity to show off - give us blokes a break!
I have also taken some of the youngsters cross country schooling again and I am amazed how much they improve with every session. It is easy to forget how little they know and just how young they are! I have to remind myself regularly so I don't get carried away. I was also able to test my new ride Pilot (a five year old stallion from Tempest Stud) over some cross country jumps. Although he was a bit cautious to begin with, he soon got the hang of things and was flying around - not bad for our first outing! He was also very well behaved when I helped my working pupil, Kate, over some fences. You would never think he was a stallion; he was so chilled and relaxed with the other horses cantering and jumping towards him, I have every hope that he will develop nicely.
I can now reflect that my first event was not all that I hoped it would be. Not only did it rain pretty much the whole time I was in the saddle but my horses were very naughty boys indeed! On paper I had probably the worst result ever but that's horses and you have to look at it positively otherwise we all would be suicidal. In other words I had a very expensive training session which, as training goes, was comprehensive, so hopefully we won't need anymore! Both horses were completely over the top in the dressage and Uprising thought he was required to perform some bonus movements in his test, but alas the judge felt that the extra movements were not needed! Doni jumped very well considering that by the end of the day it was deep and muddy, especially the take off and landings at the fences. It was interesting looking at the scores as the day wore on, they got worse but that's what makes this sport so exciting and tough.
Just a quick comment about the neurotic horse, Surpass, who I mentioned in my last blog. He is still worried about me being up there. It takes time and patience, there are no quick fixes or miracle cures, just hard work and determination. I had a horse who would freak out when I got on him but after the first few minutes he relaxed, a little trick I did was bribe him. Yes - I fed him a polo before I got on, then one when I was on and that was enough to get him to realise that I was not a monster. The only thing is Alice still has to give him a polo now and he is nine! Just remember the horse is scared and the worst thing to do is force it, in many ways they are just like us!
I have to say I am honoured to be featured in Fiona's blog! Wow - I am sure they had an absolute ball editing my shoot - probably an equal amount of tears from laughter and frustration.