It's a Romy love fest!

Hey y'all!

Things with Romy are going from strength to strength. I don’t want to be one of those owners who thinks the sun shines out their horses arse. I know Romy isn’t perfect for everyone. But for me, right now, he is. I’ve been through many horses and have battled with my decisions to let them go. But it just has to be right for you. We invest so much time and energy into these huge, beautiful beasts that it has to be right for us. And if it’s not, it’s ok to admit to yourself that your horse might be more perfect for someone else.

 

My horse time is my meditation time. It’s time for my solitude and it’s time that I allow myself to love who I am and where I am at that very moment. So it’s so important to me that the little time I give myself every evening with my horse is worth it all.



But first...lemme take a selfie



 

I really do believe in my horse. I see a great future for him and dare I say it, he’s allowing me to believe in myself too. I honestly have always thought of myself as a blow in to dressage....something I just stumbled upon without being competent enough and kind of tried to fit in along the way. I still do. And sure, I’m at the bottom of the scale but I have dreams and hopes now and I am so dedicated to getting there. At this stage I guess it’s time I give a shout out to Heidi Mercken and RLZ Dressage for finding Romy for me. They’re based in a (very beautiful) yard in south Holland, on the Belgian border, and can be found on Facebook here.

 

I’m really starting to gel with ma poneh now. And so we’re spending less time in our sessions together trying to figure each other out and more time perfecting what’s going on. His canter is just a dream to ride. Sure, he’s a bit of a squealer and has the odd kick out when I ask for canter from walk but I kind of like his cheekiness (although he can keep that for the training session....please don’t bring it to our tests Romy!). His trot is really opening up to what it was when I tried him in Holland. We need to work on his balance, which he loses sometimes but I need to remind myself he is only 6. We also need to work on his medium walk, which he reads to be ‘piaffe’....chill out on that for a couple of years mister! But he is SO trainable and tries everything I ask of him. And is the cuddliest bear in the stable. Not everyone would like being licked from head to toe by their horse. But I do....tongues ahoy!

 

We’re doing two elementary tests this Saturday so I’m looking forward to reading what the judges say. Back in the snaffle now, any bitting experts out there I’d be happy to take advice on some bits to try on him because he’s still a little uncomfy in the mouth!

 

I’ll report back after the test!

Love,

V x

A teeny tiny competition to test the waters

So. Where was I? Aaaahhh yes. The love of my life had arrived and all was well with the world. I was SO excited about his arrival that I was waiting for the downer to kick in. I hear this kind of thing happens when you get married…you are so excited preparing for the big day that when it’s all over you fall into a bit of weeping-with-snots-hanging-out-of-your-nose time. Not that I’m comparing me getting a horse to anyone getting married but…well…yeah, yes I guess I AM comparing it to that. So? I was kind of expecting the same down time to happen after the arrival of Romy. I’m still waiting.

I lost the complete run of myself on day one and took him out for a walk around the yard on a lunge line to stretch his legs. And stretch ‘em he did. Gave him a little run around and later got approached with ‘erm, you know we have boots here…you can use any of them if you like for lunging’…oooopppsss…silly me. Slaps herself on the hand. I WILL be known as ‘the old woman who lives in a (horse) boot’ because I have so many of them…you’d think I’d remember to put them on. I was just too excited. Good thing he didn’t smash his own legs up!

Since then he has settled SO well. I feel like I’ve had him for years and actually it’s like he’s been at the yard for years. He has a fine aul brain on him so he does. Although I'm still approaching everything with trepidation. There’s a handful of moments of fear in my life that stand out in my head;

Howdy Neighbour!

• The first day of my Irish leaving cert exam


• Having to present to all the interns at Morgan Stanley


• The day I spilt oil on my mums driveway


• The first day I turned Romy out into the field

I know in Holland they don’t often get turned out as much so I wasn’t sure what experience he had with having acres and acres to run around. And run around he did. And by ‘run’ I mean gallop in circules at top speed. Kevin, the groom at my yard and cheeriest chap of all time, was just smiling away saying everything would be fine. Honestly, I thought I was going to have some sort of heart melt down. But of course, he was fine. He made friends over the fence with the other four legged fluffies and came in from the field without a scratch. Phew. I can breathe again.

Vogue

Because he had settled down so well, and given I bought him with the intention of hitting the ground running, I decided to enter a competition. Just one teeny tiny test to get me back in the game. So last weekend I spent most of my time preening and grooming to perfection and we made our way to Killossery in north Dublin for our first ever elementary level competition.

 



Oh, hai there world!

My number one aim for the day was for him to behave, enjoy himself and to get over 60%. And I tell you, the boy done me proud! He was a little behind my leg and wasn’t comfy in the double bridle (which he had been SUPER comfy in 2 days before) so back to the bit bank to try out some more for him. But he did everything I asked of him and got super scores of 7.5 for his working canter and 10 meter circle/counter canter. 7 working canter and first medium trot. Unfortunately, numpty here pushed him too much in the second medium trot (after my trainer Sandra specifically told me NOT to do that) so we got a measly 4 for that movement. I also asked for too much bend in the shoulder in (after Sandra specifically told me NOT to do that either) and only got a 5 for that. And years of halting at X are apparently embedded in my brain because that’s exactly what I did…much to the judges disgust ‘Em, it’s supposed to be halt at G???’. Oops. Sorry Mr. Judge Man.

 



So this is the bitch I gotsa take down?

For his double marks he got 7’s for all his paces but a 6 for his walk because it wasn’t forward enough (I have a feeling his medium walk will be the pace we need to work most at…forward and rhythmic is tricky for him because he starts to pick up his shoulder like I’m asking for piaffe), 7 for riding and 6.5 for submission because he wasn’t happy in the bit. So we ended up on a score of just under 65% after deducting my errors which was exactly what I was hoping for. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY ROMY!!!! Lots of apples for him that night and Mac Donalds…I mean paleo raw calorie-free air snacks, for me. And a bottle of wine. OOOooooh yeeeaaahhhh.

So I think it’s safe to say that he can deal with it…and I’d even go as far as saying he really enjoyed the day out. He was Mr. Chilled and loving all the attention at the trailer from my cheerleading squad.



I maaaaay enter another one weekend after next…watch this space.

Love,
V x

Strike a pose

 

I think I found him!

Well they say silence speaks a thousand words. And whoever ‘they’ are…they’re right. As always, my silence has meant there have been many changes in my life. The loss of one horsey love and the gain of another.

After a really amazing time with such a super once in a lifetime horse there were lots of changes going on in my life which meant Woody went back to his owner Amy and I moved back to Ireland. For some reason I didn’t feel as sad saying goodbye to Woody as I was to Beau, I think because I’m very close to Amy so I knew we would be in touch all the time and I knew exactly the type of fabulous life she would give him. They’re now riding up a storm in the south of England and I’m loving seeing their regular updates...social media is the bomb diggidy!

Ireland was a whole other ball game. I wasn’t sure if they knew how to SPELL dressage, let alone know what it is. How wrong I was! Good aul Judy Reynolds has put Ireland on the dressage map and there is more and more interest growing over here. I was nervous about leaving a country with SO many fantastic trainers and opportunities but I really feel like I’ve landed on my feet with my yard and trainer, Sandra Blake Farrell. Not only am I learning SO much from her, she is totally sound too…..someone ring the GIRL CRUSH alarm (insert blushing emoji) . Sure, Ireland is a little less Pikeur and a little more Primark. But I came back because I missed the people and the proximity of everything. That is unless, of course, you want to still compete British Dressage in which case you need to commission planes trains and automobiles to get you there (I WILL do it).

Anyway, I digress. So. There I was. Twitching away without a horse to feed my habit. Lots of changes going on. I’m sure that’s when drug users feed their habit…when there’s change or stress. So I did the same. I fed my habit. I decided to book a flight over to Holland to go horse shopping. Best. Weekend. EVVEERRRRRRR. I met up with a couple of great dealers who showed me around. If I’m completely honest I had been online shopping for about a year on www.sporthorses.nl (it’s like ebay for horses). I can also say I’m now 99% fluent in dutch….Paard (horse) Te Koop (for sale) Dressuurpaard (dressage horse)….you get the drift. There was one horse I had saved in my ‘favourites’ and had enquired bout him. He was out of my budget but they had others to show me. So, armed with my hat and my boots I went on my own little road trip across Holland and Belgium to try out horses.

 

If anyone is thinking of getting a horse, I would highly recommend doing this. There are lots of good and bad points to buying abroad, which I won’t list here but you can find more about them on De Google. Everyone has a different idea of what is right for them. For me, I wanted something that could hit the ground running. I was starting to compete Advanced Medium and it was REALLY exciting and the prospect of going back to prelim, for me, just wasn’t going to work. But I did go with an open mind and tried both youngsters and older more advanced horses. And literally fell in love with every one I tried…sigh. There are FANTASTIC horses in Ireland and the UK and I’m all about supporting home grown. But I’m also about supporting my wallet and quite frankly I never would have been able to afford a horse at the level I wanted in the UK.

Furst Romanoff: Furst Romancier x Royal Hit

So trying out horses is the BEST FUN EVER!!! Over the weekend there were three that stood out. One was a lovely bright bay Spielberg gelding. Super correct, trainable and made me feel like a good rider. But for his level he was a little out of my budget. The second was a 4 year old gelding who had been bred for jumping but just wasn’t really good enough. Gorgeous mover, tried his little heard out and I went back to see him again and rode him around in an actual thunder storm. Shit the bed, but he was super. I also went to see the horse who I had been perving over for months, a 6 year old by Furst Romancier with Sandro Hit on the dams side, but who was out of my budget. And of course, fell in love with him. He was a little bit cheeky and I liked that about him. But tried everything I asked of him. Has a lot of the advanced movements there but is still super young and inexperienced so it will be about reigning it in for a couple of years until he’s ready. So he was expensive. But I loved him. He had a FAB face and god knows I love a good looking creature. So I did what any responsible person would do and googled as much as I could until I found something which would tell me to buy him: "Buy the most expensive horse you can afford because the price of purchasing a horse is the least expensive aspect of horse ownership." OK Robert H Koontz DVM from www.ckequinehospital.com, I will. Thank you for your professional advice.

 

Hello Neighbour

‘Romy’ arrived fresh off the boat on Wednesday 6^th July 2016. He travelled a dream. He settled a dream. I have now turned into an overly paranoid owner because he’s been SO good that I just keep thinking something bad is going to happen. OK he eats everything in sight so I will need a rug budget capable of servicing all the horses in Ireland combined. But if that’s his ‘bad’ bits, then that’s AOK with me.

 

 I’ll leave our progress for another day and finish today’s post off with some photos of the gorgeous man doing what he does best….LOOKING GORGEOUS!