Jo Barry's blog: Getting back in the saddle after the snow!

The snow has gone and has returned but it did allow for just over 2 weeks of riding in between. The spell over Christmas is the longest that I haven't ridden in many years...4 weeks and 4 days, not that I was counting!! Thank goodness it placed itself over Christmas and New Year so that for at least 2 weeks I almost didn't notice!

At the start of January I tried to get some care issues dealt with...teeth were checked and done ( I get them checked every 6 months) and flu jags and wormings were given.

Once the snow disappeared I tried to start work gradually with the boys but they were determined to push things on and get back to more serious work, it seemed they had missed the gym! They faired better than me...I ached for the first week, legs were fine but my stomach muscles and seat bones knew they had been rested!

Freddie had two weeks of work before we headed down to Cheshire for two days training with Stephen Clarke. It was good to have input and reassurance that things were going ok. It is difficult when you train mainly on your own not to start being too hard on yourself and obsessing over certain ideas and issues. Also I think when you have had a break it is easy to romanticise over how well your horse had been going before the break and it leads to disappointment in their standard when you re-start and in reality there is very little difference in how they are going!?!

The reality, I started work in front of Stephen and he thought Freddie looked great...I was left feeling a little ashamed that I hadn't felt satisfied with what we had achieved since our last visit. Stephen reads my personality well and trains me accordingly making me look and concentrate on the big picture rather than stressing about the detail. His approach is to create an idea about a movement then once that is understood then tidy up the areas that need work, I think it leads to a less pressurised way of learning.

So, home again and now trying to plan a schedule towards the Winter Semi Finals at the end of February. The snow came back today but I hope it will be just short-term. The plan is to take Freddie and Rafa to a competition locally this Saturday to remind them what life is all about and then I head down to Carl's mid-February with them both for 4 days which hopefully will set them up fully for the Semis.