Us horsey people definitely question our love for the sport in the winter! Working a 9-5 job can be tricky too with not much support.. but as always you find a way to make it work. I’m rather lucky having a flood lit arena at my yard which makes life a lot easier for me, but it still makes for long days in the dark. Also, being based in Cornwall can be tough in the winter for shows!
I took Zip to the Four Burrow Hunt Opening Meet in November, he was a superstar all day, jumping everything asked of him including a few little gates and banks and really seemed to enjoy himself, and certainly felt fresh afterwards.
At the start of November I started working at M.A Grigg Agricultural Store. Griggs have an amazing equestrian department as well as many others. All their products can be found online at here.
As many of you will know, it can sometimes be difficult juggling a full time job with having horses no matter what level you ride at or how much you do with your horses. As far as the horses at home go, I have very little support when it comes to the day to day running of it. When it comes to training, I’m very lucky to have a great team behind me which makes life a lot easier for me. I have trained with my trainer, Bev Trebilcock, for 6 years now. I believe that it is really important to have a good relationship with your trainer to get the most out of you and your horse. Winter can also be tough with training with the late evenings but we make it work.
For my 21st Birthday back in October, I was lucky enough to get a set of jump 4 joy fences which I was in desperate need of for training at home! It took me a while to decide which fences to get as there are so many online, but after weeks of research Jump 4 Joy seemed to be the best bet as they are plastic so will last much longer than wood and will be much easier to move around/maintain, but my main worry with these were that they would not be heavy enough…but speaking with the Jump 4 Joy team on the phone I managed to upgrade to the BS weight poles for very little cost as well as very little cost for delivery. I am really glad that I went with these fences and they are great value for money
On 17th December, I had to go into hospital to have all four of my wisdom teeth out which wasn’t the most straight forward procedure so I haven’t done much as far as the horses are concerned. I decided it was for the best to just keep them ticking over in the last month or so, so plenty of time in the field, hacking and lunging.
As far as plans for 2016 go,…I have applied for the UKCC Coaching Programme which I would like to work towards. The UK Coaching Certificate is the new future of coaching, this has been brought into over 30 sports to improve the quality of coaching across the UK to provide and build safe and effective coaching systems for participants in all sports. I would also like to make it to the Step up to Gold selection day (without any hiccups this time) as well as the shows I plan to go to.
I want to try and get to more UK away shows this year further up county so usually around this time of year I sit down and make a plan as to which shows I plan on going to.
I am heading off to Addington Manor in Buckinghamshire for a 3 day show at the end of January with Ed and Zippy. All the classes are being held in the indoor international arena, which will be a good experience for the horses. So fingers crossed we will have luck on our side making the long drive worth it.
As far as the horses are concerned, I will be working towards Zippy and Ed’s double clears for the regionals. Zip mainly in the Newcomers and Ed mainly in the Fox, and would like to put both of them through the second rounds this year. I would also like to travel more in the UK next season as we are quite limited being in Cornwall! I’ll also have my young one Lottie to break, so for a quiet end to 2015, I am making the most of it as 2016 is going to be a busy one.
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