Needs a sat nav Rider with no concept of basic rules of the school usually riding along naval grazing while others have to swerve around them. Will have ‘left hand to left hand’ hissed at them at least ten times in the warm up but probably won’t even notice as they almost crush your kneeContinueContinue reading “People You Will Meet in The Dressage Warmup”
Tag Archives: Dressage
Winter Finals, here we come!
Sunday was quite simply, an experience. I headed off with two friends to our first Dressage Ireland competition of the season. They were keen to qualify for Cavan, I just needed three more scores myself and one wanted to test drive her new lorry so we thought why not and headed off out West toContinueContinue reading “Winter Finals, here we come!”
When it was all gone a bit Roland Tong
On Friday I took Sammy and Merlot to Leinster Dressage training with Roland Tong. I had Sammy at a session with Roland once before and also took Samuel last year. The thing with Roland is he fixes problems without me realising. One moment your lamenting the fact that you cannot keep the horse on aContinueContinue reading “When it was all gone a bit Roland Tong”
We’re All Mad here
“Oh my god this feels amazing” I shrieked across the arena at a friend last week followed by “please say it doesn’t look terrible”!! No, I wasn’t doing anything incredible, there was no Piaffe or passage going on not even an accidental spook inspired one. I wasn’t doing anything remotely close to a dressage testContinueContinue reading “We’re All Mad here”
Showjumping Holy Trinity – The canter, the line and the trust!
When I am teaching show jumping or cross country I have a mantra I always bang on about. Why? Well the answer is two- fold. Firstly if you are going to be a coach you need to have your own philosophy on things and your own way of explaining things (Drive that bus Christa!), otherwiseContinueContinue reading “Showjumping Holy Trinity – The canter, the line and the trust!”
Whats in a picture?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and as someone who has always enjoyed photography I would tend to agree but what is it that makes a specific photo special to us? I was chatting to a photographer friend who asked me this last weekend. He was photographing the dressage show running atContinueContinue reading “Whats in a picture?”
Elementary my dear horse
Why the national championships? Goals are personal and what matters to each rider really does depend on their own experiences. For me, competing successfully at the National Dressage Championships has meaning because when I first started proper dressage training a few years ago it seemed ridiculously unlikely that I would ever be good enough toContinueContinue reading “Elementary my dear horse”
Eventually Eventing
While I have focused on dressage and showing for the last number of years I actually used to event. I evented for a few years on the riding club circuit in the intermediate grade. I used to event whatever I was allowed to sit on. My biggest challenge was a chestnut mare ex racerContinueContinue reading “Eventually Eventing”
Competition nerves and Winning Against Worrying
My anxiety around competition was never really just about competition. It was a fear of the unknown, of lack of control, of new things. It started when I was a small child and if I was anxious about something I would feel sick and nervous. Things like exams, trying new things, bus trips. Over timeContinueContinue reading “Competition nerves and Winning Against Worrying”
Things you should know before having dressage lessons
Get used to being on a circle. You won’t be moving sideways at the greatest of ease any time soon. The circle is your friend, embrace the circle. Don’t go large around the arena – this does not go down well. If you have enough grasp of spatial relations to be able to ride aContinueContinue reading “Things you should know before having dressage lessons”
Equestrian Reality 