So it’s taken me a while to write this post, partly because it took me that long to come back down to earth and partly because of seasonal festivities and trips to South Africa! Let me take you back to the super exciting message I got from Irish Olympian Judy Reynolds shortly after our lesson, which I wrote about in my last post.
I was chilling at home browsing documentaries (definitely NOT watching videos on the funny noises squirrels make when they sleep) when Judy messaged me to ask if I had been approached by Leinster Dressage. I knew Leinster Dressage had a super secret night of dressage planned so I had the evening in my diary but I wasn’t sure what it was about. The night would involve a dressage masterclass in which Judy would talk spectators through a variety of horse and rider combinations and look at the common mistakes and training methods that they come up against at their particular level. And it turned out one of those rider combinations would be ROMY AND I!!! In front of hundreds of people. So exciting and scary, all in one. But mainly exciting.
There would be 5 combinations throughout the evening working on varying levels and as we spruced up the horses back stage, the tractors touched down at JAG Equestrian in Kildare and the spectactors and media (the Irish Field did a piece on the evening) settled down with blankets and hot drinks. Not without it’s drama, the evening started with me getting a flat tyre so I got to the event slightly flustered and thanked the world, once again, for my cool headed horse who helps me keep calm.
First in was Joanne Logue and Cashmir’s Hadena while I warmed up around the outside. I was at a slight disadvantage that night as Judy had only ever taught us once but the other riders were regular students of hers, not least Joanne and the gorgeous ‘Hattie’. Judy spoke about the importance of taking it slowly with a young horse and overall leaving them with an impression that they enjoyed themselves so they are always eager to work. She worked on the basics of teaching them to stop and go and encourage the correct reactions when asked by doing lots of (correct and accurate) transitions throughout the session.
First in was Joanne Logue and Cashmir’s Hadena while I warmed up around the outside. I was at a slight disadvantage that night as Judy had only ever taught us once but the other riders were regular students of hers, not least Joanne and the gorgeous ‘Hattie’. Judy spoke about the importance of taking it slowly with a young horse and overall leaving them with an impression that they enjoyed themselves so they are always eager to work. She worked on the basics of teaching them to stop and go and encourage the correct reactions when asked by doing lots of (correct and accurate) transitions throughout the session.
Romy and I were in next and Judy emphasised the importance of a horse of his age and level learning to take the weight on his hind leg. She worked on getting his hind leg quicker and then we moved into the lateral movements in trot. I don’t think I had ever done so much sitting trot on Romy so I could feel he was starting to get a little grumpy by the end of it and as always I was focussing too much on his attitude rather than be practical so I gave allowances for it and didn’t ride a very clean half pass. When I threw all that out the window and just rode a half pass like I should do, he was perfect. But after so much trot work I was thankful when Judy said ‘lets look at the canter’. We gave Romy lots of breaks throughout the session and Judy rapped my wrists slightly when I used the walk to throw everything away and sit like a baked potato (holding your stomach in for that long is tough work y’all). We finished with the flying changes which Romy, as always, did perfectly one way and took a little more persuading on the other rein but he got it eventually...much to the delight of the crowd! Little clip below.
Next in was event organiser (how she rode AND organised I’ll never know) Sarah Mellor and her fab horse Hotshot. The mare is really my type so I’m raging I didn’t get to see much of them because I was too busy giving carrots to Romy backstage but I believe they focussed on how to channel tension into something positive by encouraging her to lower her frame and listen to Sarah’s leg by using some leg yielding exercises. They did lots of circle work and finished off the session by looking at the beginnings of the canter pirouettes.
Following Sarah and Holly came Irish Draught gelding Duke and his owner Simone Hessian who were training at Prix St. George level. I always loving seeing non-warmblood types doing dressage and this horse was no exception. The chunky monkey was already established in his collection, however Judy reminded Simone to ride forward too in order to help engage the hind end further. They worked on the tempi changes with an emphasis on short, correct changes which Judy pointed out can be easier for a less expressive horse and so a possible opening for some good marks in a test.
Following Sarah and Holly came Irish Draught gelding Duke and his owner Simone Hessian who were training at Prix St. George level. I always loving seeing non-warmblood types doing dressage and this horse was no exception. The chunky monkey was already established in his collection, however Judy reminded Simone to ride forward too in order to help engage the hind end further. They worked on the tempi changes with an emphasis on short, correct changes which Judy pointed out can be easier for a less expressive horse and so a possible opening for some good marks in a test.
Kate Dwyer closed the night on her gorgeous Welsh D x Warmblood Grand Prix horse, Snowdon Faberge (Fabio). After competing on the international circuit last year they had taken some time out after Kate had an unfortunate fall on one of her younger horses. So the night eased them back in to the higher level movements, with lots of breaks and breathers in between. Judy mainly looked at the passage and piaffe and reminded Kate to really ride the piaffe to encourage more expression.
If you want to read the full article produced by The Irish Field you can click here.
After the masterclass Christmas came around quickly, followed by a near 3 week holiday for me in South Africa where Romy got lots of field time. Unfortunately this meant he got a nasty bout of mud rash so we haven’t had a chance to do much lately and I am ITCHING to get out. I’m hoping the mudrash will clear up in the next week and we’ll get a chance to compete before the end of February. Qualification dates are running low so I desperately need to try get a few marks under our belt as we hope to compete elementary and medium at winter nationals before moving on to advanced medium for summer nationals.
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| Christmas Kisses |
Till next time y’all!
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