Getting Ready for Spring! – Email 16

Hello There

I’ve only ever done one One Day Event. That was on Seamus at Pony Club and we were 3rd which was amazing really as I was clueless about dressage tests at age 12. In those days though I’m pretty sure it depended more on the jumping elements which once mastered we got to enjoy.

Daisy’s done a couple of One Day Events in the past and we (there’s a tendency of all of us support crew to say ‘we’ as in ‘WE could really jump the higher fences but WE are just taking it steady for now’ sort of thing)… Anyway, WE did jump well and enjoy the days out (always beautiful venues) and at these lower level events my experience has been watching happy horses and humans in a generally good atmosphere generated by the organisers.

Daisy and Hugo did do an Arena Eventing at Hickstead the other week, that’s cross country fences on an all weather surface, which was fun. As Hugo’s fit and well it seems a good time to carry on a bit longer this year to see how it goes with the dressage and ‘proper’ cross country. It’ll give us a clue to see the areas we need to work on if we’re to continue next year.

If we treat this as practise we have a chance of being ready to Make Ourselves Proud next year. Of course, you don’t have to compete to Make Yourself Proud but personally, I find it tricky if I don’t have some sort of aim and I’ve loved getting Hugo in super shape in the last year and what that’s meant I’ve learned along the way (and can pass on). So some minor competitions are just a next step for Hugo as I see it.

Part of the fun of cross country (and happy hacking) is teaching your horse to be brave. For instance, I've googled and found out that the photo above is the last fence at Cirencester and when I look at it I think ‘hmmm… that is quite WHITE’. In fact, I’m not sure we’ve jumped anything quite that white before. Those of you who have attended the Online Horse Psychology Course will know all about this from week 5 – the brain and senses… So I started a search and found a white tarp to get some 'White' Practise.

I do some things the laziest way and have just put the tarp in the gateway for now as they are coming in. That's one way to make the most of a rainy day!

In Other News!!!

We are literally sending the IH Magazine to be printed Any Day Now and obviously it’s going to be splendid!

We've got the October Prize Draw up online and ready to be entered with a chance to win Access to Bares Bones of the Matter DocuSeries entirely free. So don't forget to sign-up here.

And wait… There's more! We've just announced a new webinar 'Horse and Grassland Management' on Wednesday the 1st of October at 8:00pm where we will be joined by Jane Myers of Equiculture. Jane, and her husband Stuart, offer education and resources for people who own, manage or work with horses and the land those horses live on.

Note! Do let me know if you have any goals for 2026 and I’ll see if I can advise or get the best person I know to advise.

Lots of Love

Kelly x

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