Riding Club

Gadding Without Galahad

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My riding of the ponies has been a bit curtailed recently as I had the opportunity to ride on my riding club’s showjumping team last weekend and I had no hesitation in taking it.  Obviously the jumps are too high for Galahad – hence the riding of other horses.  Before we had the ponies I used to ride so many different horses in my lessons and it really did make me a better rider – I was reasonably confident sitting on anything.  These days I am much more nervous and it feels like it takes me longer to get to know new horses – just because I have got so used to the ponies’ way of going.  These couple of weeks have really brought home to me how much I have lost and I am determined to keep riding other horses.

It has been several years since I jumped proper grown-up sized jumps and even longer since I competed for the riding club so I was somewhat nervous but very, very excited.  We had a much earlier start than Galahad and I are used to – we do stick to the local shows after all – and I am certainly not used to getting the horses ready in the dark.  We also had an interesting journey as the lorry broke down and we arrived as the class was starting.

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I didn’t have my usual support crew with me so thank you to Wayne for taking some brilliant photographs!

Of course, that meant we could not walk the course but we are nothing if not determined and it certainly wasn’t the first time I have jumped without a course walk.  I overshot one turn slightly but overall we got round pretty well with just one pole down.

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We did manage to walk the course for the second round but annoyingly we still had a pole down and time faults as well – which meant we were the discard score for that round.  I was still so proud of us though – I had only ridden Murphy a few times and we were working well together.  I learnt so much too which I can hopefully use another time.

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In the end our team came third overall and second of the qualifiers.  We actually had the same score as the qualifying team but were slightly slower – which makes that pole and time faults extra frustrating!

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I had the most amazing day though and am very much hoping that I get to do it again soon.

Unexpected Rewards

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There are many benefits to riding ponies but this is not one I was expecting.

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I’ve never had my name printed on a rosette before!

My riding club held its AGM and annual awards show last week.  I went along expecting a fun evening but not any awards – an Exmoor pony doesn’t normally win enough points to compete with the blood horses!

I had no idea there was an prize for adults riding ponies so I was very surprised and absolutely thrilled when I won it.  I’ve never received an annual award before and it was a wonderful feeling.  I am so proud of Galahad.

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I had a great evening and came away enthused about working hard next year – which is really the whole point.

Galahad’s Riding Club Debut

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Sunday was the day of our riding club’s dressage show.  I have only recently rejoined after an extended university break so it was both mine and Galahad’s first outing to the club.  The entrants were almost all novice combinations and it was quite a low key event which seemed ideal for us.

Galahad was upgraded from the trailer to the big lorry for the first time which I thought he might worry about – especially as he was also wearing his new boots in earnest for the first time.  Surprisingly he walked straight in but he did put in an enormous leap getting out again!

He seems to be getting used to shows now and was nice and relaxed as we walked around.  Unfortunately the judge had a very scary (very small!) dog so the C end of the arena was pretty much off limits as far as Galahad was concerned.  It didn’t help that there was also an apparently dodgy looking trough and a few spectators.  This all meant that our centre lines were ‘not at all straight’ and riding in that half of the arena was a bit interesting!

See the scary dog lurking in the background?

See the scary dog lurking in the background?

It was only Galahad’s second dressage test though and his first canter test.  Apart from the spooking he behaved very well and was sometimes working in an outline.  Overall I was very pleased with him – he might have been spooky but he didn’t take off which he would have done last year.

Our first test was walk and trot and we managed to come fifth so even bagged a rosette!  Strangely he got more spooky in the second test and we came ninth.  Some of our canter work was rather unbalanced but for a first go it wasn’t bad and it is something we are working on.DSCF5630

I came home and spent the rest of the afternoon being inspired by the professionals at the European Championships.  I can only dream of riding like that!