Well, since December quite a bit has happened. I travelled to Liverpool for the Oliver Townend Nationals. I can not begin to describe how cold it was - even in my lorry with the heating on full! I was amazed at the substantial size of the venue - it was unbelievable. The competition was fantastic! Chisum did very well and finished 8th in the under 25 nationals - a result that i was overjoyed with. We then returned home to have snow falling the following week, this put our competition plans on hold (no menage and horsebox snowed in), but all the horses got a well deserved brake and a chance to play in the snow.
As soon as the snow cleared it was all go again, this involved re-introducing the youngster to his schooling and pole/jump work and re-starting Chisums flatwork training, in preparation for a dressage show. The preparation paid off - he did an amazing job; in the novice he came 3rd with a good 68% and further improved in the elementary finishing 2nd. This has given us the boost to continue trying at our least favourite discipline.
Max, the 3yr old I broke in October is going superbly, he is in his 4th year now so i am hoping to aim him at the BYEH qualifiers as well as the BSJA 4YO classes. He had his first outing the other day and jumped an impressive double clear. I am now in the process of getting all the horses fitter, something im struggling with as revision for my forthcoming GCSE exams are needing more attention than i had thought!
I also received some exciting news; I have qualified both my horses for the British Dressage Winter National Championships. Chisum has qualified for the prelim combined training while Charlie has qualified for the combined training novice finals. This should make up for missing out on the Summers which I had qualified for.
The Organic Horse products I am using have worked wonders! The Horse Power provided Chisum with the energy i needed without an 'over-excitable' or 'un-rideable' horse. The Joint Power definitely helps Chisum move more freely and a lot more willingly. I also received several compliments on my horses condition, which I have put down to feeding them Coat Power, it has bought out a healthy shine to their coats.
