First day back on home soil!

The Pyrenees Mountains!

Home again..

Well I'm back. As much as I love it in France, nothing quite beats the shade of green we get from our grass here in England and it always makes me happy to be here. I had a lovely break and visited markets in St Girons, a Jazz festival in Tarbes and amazing scenery in Luchon as well as a lovely day out sight-seeing in Toulouse. I also enjoyed lots of bread, french cheeses and plenty of sleep!!

My sisters horses who emigrated with her and the rest of my family in 2013 are both very well. Beanie, a 16.3 Irish sports horse is training well at home and Taffy, my first pony who is going to be 30 this October (shhh! don't let him know that!), is as fit and full of life as ever and is enjoying the new cross country jumps they have at the yard!





Europian Dressage Championships at Aarchen
I've been avidly following the dressage championships the last few days and it's been as nail-biting as it's been controversial! Having learnt so much the last few years about understanding horse communication it's blatant to me which partnerships are in harmony with both horse and rider free and relaxed compared to those who look tense and even a bit forced. I totally love dressage because of the harmony factor between horse and rider but I almost think the sport has become so focussed on flashy extravagant movement which appeals to the masses of slightly mislead eyes in the international audience, that some of the basics of relaxation and harmony are being overlooked. That being said I'm not holding my hand up to swap places with any of those riders yet!!!! The amount of concentration from both horse and rider, under that amount of pressure in such an electric atmosphere is phenomenal. For me, Carl and Nip Tuck really showed what correct training can achieve in the Kur and although he had some small mistakes (which are totally understandable), not once did 'Nip Tuck' fall behind the vertical, his extended walk showed true relaxation and his expression was positive throughout with pricked ears and almost a grin on his face! A real pleasure to watch and a true inspiration.

Training with Guinness
Fresh off the plane, I squeezed in a lesson with my trainer, Sue Edwards. This was the first time I'd ridden Guinness after 12 days off which could have gone one of two ways!! However, he outdid himself as usual and we had a fabulous lesson. Today we really worked on me using my core to engage for my collection and release my belly button and hips for more forward and length of stride. At first I found this particularly difficult in the walk, where bad habit means my first impulse is to put my leg on to ask for more energy. However, with practise, I was able to move my leg away when I felt the need for more 'go' and release my hips and core instead and it was amazing how quickly the energy flowed through us both. It's so easy to fall in to the habit of relying too heavily on leg aids but one I'm definately going to concentrate on going forwards!

I've entered for Aston-le-walls One Day event at the end of the month so Guinness and I will be doing lots of hacking and a bit of jumping this week, to make sure were not too rusty!!!

It's back to work tomorrow and I'm looking forward to catching up with the Moorwards crew and a busy week of lessons and fun and games with the happy hoof campers!