We've been pretty lucky with the weather here this winter with only a few riding days cancelled due to wet ground or crazy wind, and I think I managed to ride 4-5 times a week throughout the whole of June which is great considering we're mid-winter! My amazing crew have been doing a fantastic job with Tech's training, and he's working really well on the lunge now and also getting some really nice work with them under saddle too. It's all rather exciting watching and feeling his progress!
I had another lunging session at the beginning of June with just me and my hubby at the paddock. Darren isn't particularly horsey bless him, but he caught Tech for me (still need to find a way for me to do that part myself!) and unrugged him, then handed him over to me. :) Tech was a superstar again - being very patient with me and standing still while I sorted out my hands, and then he was really responsive and did very well on the lunge for me. It feels like such an achievement to be able to lunge him myself and keep his training going when my crew are busy. I love it!
June brought the Tauranga Dressage winter practice day, and both Lucy and I rode a test; me my Para Champs test and Lucy a Level 1 test. We all had a fab day and had some great feedback from the judges. I felt so proud watching Lucy and Tech in action hehe! Hopefully they will be able to do a few more tests over the local practice days and ribbon days this year.
We've had three really good lessons over the last two months - two with my super-coach Jody Hartstone, and one with lovely Vanessa Way. It was our first lesson with Vanessa and it was really interesting to get her viewpoint on my riding, Tech's progress, competing internationally and training with Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin. We had a great lesson - I rode the first half then Lucy rode the second half and got some good tips and advice for improving Tech's trot and canter. It was a great weekend and was really interesting watching the other lessons too - thanks heaps Vanessa and Tauranga Dressage Group for organising it!
Our lessons with Jody have been awesome as usual the last couple of months :) For our first lesson, Jody had Tech learning a bit of shoulder in, travers and renvers which was quite impressive despite his little tantrums putting his bum in the air when it got a bit tricky! But you could really see his brain working and he felt really good when I got on. We worked on leg yielding, which I've been finding quite tricky off my right leg lately, despite my right side being my stronger side. Jody had me breaking it down into really small steps, and by the end of my ride we had him taking a couple of real leg yield steps to the left off my right leg yahoo! Such a sense of achievement! For our second lesson a couple of weeks ago, Jody rode Tech again and commented on how much better he was reacting to the travers aids (great work on our homework super-crew!) and despite jig-jogging the entire time Jody was on (hehe!), she got some really good responses out of him so we're definitely going in the right direction. My ride was AMAZING!! We rode my new freestyle to our new music and made a few tweaks with Jody's expert eye, and Tech felt absolutely fantastic! Now we just need that feeling at every show now please Techy Boy! Huge thanks to Jody for pushing us and giving us the guidance and tools that we need to keep moving forward. I'm really excited about the next few months!!!
So what else have we been up to...? We had a rally at the racecourse with Tauranga Dressage Group a couple of weeks ago which was great. I took my PA speaker with us and played some music while we were riding, which is a really important part of our training at the moment. Tech has had a few issues with speakers at shows over the last few seasons, so I'm determined to break this habit and get him nice and relaxed out and about with speakers going. I'm hoping we can all enjoy our freestyle tests again instead of worrying if he's going to explode! He was really good with the speaker at the racecourse so hopefully that's a good sign for things to come.
We had a visit from Steve Cleary and lucky boy Tech got a Savvy Touch session, while I stocked up on my favourite Savvy Touch products. It was the start of the week that I was sick, so I made sure I picked out a bottle of Eze-Breathe to help me through the evil flu that was brewing!
We also had a delivery of Big Red's Stable Snacks (Techy's FAVOURITE treat in the world!) and Top Stock Detox & Calmer minerals to top up our supplies over the last month. Thank you so much to my fabulous sponsors for keeping Tech and I in shape and stocked up with really fantastic products. I truly believe in and stand by every product we use, and recommend them all in a heartbeat. Tried and trusted by Tech and I in every sense of the word!! (Yep, I even tried the latest turmeric flavour Big Red's when they arrived and they were really nice haha!)
Unfortunately I had a bit of a bad week last week - I was sick with the flu and ended up in bed for two days solid (thanks heaps to Mum and my fab crew for keeping Tech going and fed/rug changes over the week I was out of action!). But worse than that, some evil people decided they would break into my paddock and steal two wheels off my float and the metal step that I use to get in and out of the float as well as get on and off Tech at shows! :( I was so angry, frustrated and upset that someone had the gall to think it was ok to walk into our paddock and take what they wanted, without any consideration for the impact it would have on it's rightful owner. Unfortunately the police couldn't get any fingerprints because it rained really heavy that night, and it seems everything is long gone and not going to be recovered now. But my faith in humanity has been restored with the countless number of messages of support and offers of help I've had from both friends and people I've never even met before, who want to help me get back on the road again (and in the saddle away from home too!). Oh and to top off the rubbish week, Tech was lame when I finally got up to the paddock fit enough to ride again on the Sunday grr! I think he may have had an abcess brewing, so we soaked his foot in epsom salts and poulticed him for a few days but nothing surfaced. My farrier came out on Wednesday and couldn't find anything, and Tech wasn't lame any more, so we lunged for a few days and I got back in the saddle on Saturday for the first time in 12 days. It felt SOOOOOO good being back in the place I belong! :) Hopefully that's all our bad luck done and dusted now so we can crack on and have an amazing rest of the year!
We've got the Tauranga Dressage ribbon day on 23rd August, then we're demo riding at the Para Festival at Tauranga RDA at the beginning of September. The Para Festival is a 2-day clinic for new/potential para riders to learn more about the sport and get signed up. I'm really excited to be involved with this great initiative. We need more riders in our sport, and hopefully this is the start of a national programme to help grow our sport and bring new riders on board.
The following weekend we're off to Taupo for a 1-day para clinic for National riders which will be awesome, followed by the Rotorua Spring Series Day 2 show on the Sunday, so it will be a busy few weeks for us and a great chance to put all our training into practice and have a good few warm up outings before the season kicks off. I can't wait - bring it on! :)