Delighted to have had a visit from Aloe 4 Equine Solutions who popped round to deliver a selection of their products that I won through a competition on FaceBook. They sound fantastic and I can't wait to try them out. Thank you to Diane Snelson who took the time to drive over and drop my prize off. :-)
I had the best phone call I could possibly have asked for this morning...Nicola Moran, a friend from my Riding Club, had to call me straight away and tell me I'd won the Mirrors for Training Event Rider Sponsorship after seeing it had been announced on FaceBook just after 7.30 this morning. It was a complete shock when Nicola phoned me, but shocked in a great way!!!! I was so desperate to win because I think to have their mirrors installed round my arena will be so beneficial for my riding. Gone are the days when I have to bend down in the saddle to check that my horses are stood square in holt. They will help so much when practising lateral movements and hopefully they will help correct my bad habit of looking down. Mirrors for Training have already booked me in for a yard visit on 8th November, when they will come and install 4 4'x8' mirrors. It's going to make such a difference to my arena and its going to look so smart. 4 months ago I hadn't even got a school but in just a few weeks time I'm going to have a school with fabulous arena mirrors!!! How times have changed. I'm so grateful to Mirrors for Training for picking me as there winner. I'm thrilled to bits and can't wait to put my mirrors to good use. :-) Very excited to have been listed as one of ten finalists for the Mirrors for Training Event Rider Sponsorship. I've got to wait until Friday to find out if I win overall so please can everyone keep their fingers crossed for me. It would be amazing to have support from Mirrors for Training and have their mirrors installed round my arena, it's amazing to actually have an arena after struggling for so many years without one, so to have mirrors put up would be the icing on the cake. The majority of the time I ride alone at home and don't have a great deal of help on the floor so to be able to watch myself ride would be so useful, as I could look out for straightness, square halts, sitting up tall etc...the list just goes on. Lets hope my luck is in on Friday :-) I headed to Weston Park at the weekend for my last event of 2013 and it was a soggy day to say the least. I had Florence in the Open BE100, she did a fab dressage to lie third on a 31. Then she jumped a really clever clear round show jumping in very testing conditions, she's a bit like me and doesn't really like mud, she did really well to get a clear. I said before I headed off on the cross country that if she found it as hard work as the show jumping I would probably pull her up as I didn't want to push her out of her comfort zone in the bog but actually we took it fence by fence, jumping all the direct routes and came home safely. Unfortunately we did pick up 5.6 time penalties which cost us 1st place but we were happy with 6th, I felt like I couldn't really have asked her to go any faster in such boggy conditions. What a great way to finish her 2013 season. Dudley was in the BE90, he did a fabulous dressage test, his best yet, although the judges mark didn't reflect how well he'd gone, scoring us 36. The showjumping is still our down fall, I don't think it helped having to hang around for an hour before we got to jump but its no excuse to have 3 down. He warmed up fantastically well, he was really pinging but when he gets in the ring the stage freight kicks in and he can't maintain a nice bouncy canter, he either drops off my leg and trots or rushes and flattens. He will get the hang of it because he shows so much talent outside the ring and at home, he just needs ring time and plenty of practise. He is a different horse on the cross country and just floated across the bog and cruised round not looking at a thing. Once we've got his showjumping sorted out he's going to be an awesome horse. Looking back he's come a long way in the 6 months I've had him, he only ran his last race 7 months ago. They will both join Frankie and Percy on holiday now for a good month or two, depending on the weather. They've all deserved it and I'm quite looking forward to having a bit of a break, but I'm also looking forward to getting back out on the eventing circuit in 2014 :-) Frankie and I had a mention and picture in Horse Magazine that came out yesterday. A friend, Penny Grant, from my old riding club text to tell me it was in there. Nice little surprise :-) Both Florence and Percy ran in the BE100 at Kelsall Hill last weekend. Neither of them had evented for 8 weeks due to my fall and medical suspension. They were very well behaved despite luck not being on our side. Both did what I would say were good dressage tests but the judges disagreed scoring me 35.5 on Florence and 36.5 on Percy, I've watched the videos back since and still think both judges could do with going to specsavers. the show jumping didn't cause any trouble for either of the horses, they were both thrilled to be jumping and were giving the fences plenty of air just to make sure they didn't pick up any faults, in fact Percy nearly jumped me off over a couple, which did give me the giggles. The cross country brought mixed results, Percy stormed round clear inside the time and made it feel quite straight forward. Florence was being a bit bold and unfortunately at fence 4 left a back leg which lost our momentum for fence 5 which was a trekhener on a related distance of 5 strides, so we stopped, looking back I should of reacted quicker and turned a circle, which would have been fine as the fences were numbered separately, but she turned around and then popped round the rest of the course fine. It's a shame to pick up the 20 penalties as she hasn't had a penalty on her record since being a 4 year old. Dudley did his first BE90 last weekend at Kelsall Hill. He was very well behaved all day. His dressage test was very nice apart from a little baby mistake where he broke in his canter, for a 34.5. He is still a little green in spooky Show jumping arenas which was why we had 8 faults SJ, he just needs to learn to focus on the fences and not the peoe watching him. He jumped the majority of the course very well. The cross country is his favourite part of the day, he cruised round in fine style and wasn't concerned by any of the more technical fences like the corner or ditches. He really makes me smile on the xc because he trusts me and if I say he can do it, he gives it his best shot. Quite excited about his future. He's come such a long way in just 6 months :-) Frankie has now had his first run at an event since his fall. He was an absolute legend and the event didn't phase him at all. We were at Morton Morrell for the open novice. He had a 32 dressage, 4 faults SJ and a fantastic clear in the time Xc to finish in 10th spot. I'm so thrilled with him, I half expected that he might be a bit nervous out on the cross country so I rode him a bit like a baby, setting him up and making sure he'd seen the fences, but I'm sure if he could talk he'd have said "what are you doing, lets go, this is easy!!!" He was a complete pro and he did give me an easy ride. I had lots of fellow event riders telling me it was good to see me back and that they didn't expect to see me back this season, which was nice. My friend, Nicola Moran, from Nantwich Riding Club came along to keep me company and I think we spent so much time talking that I didn't really have time to think about what had happened at our last event and the whole day ran with no dramas. She also spoilt me by buying me the lovely photo collage of Frankie and I. His little face tells the story of just how pleased he is to be back!!! |
Bonnie FishburnAmateur event rider Archives
August 2022
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