I've decided I have too much to write about with these eventing clinics I've been attending so I'd better break it up into two posts rather than one.
So far I have attended two clinics on Teddy and they have both been great. The first clinic the weather was perfect and the second it was dismal!
I have to admit that I was nervous on the first day as I'd never attended anything like this before, nor have I ridden Teddy in a group and Teddy is a nervous boy anyway. As you can tell from the photo above, at home Teddy is pretty relaxed, but any kind of stresser and he shows it.
Day 1 - The conditions were perfect and when we arrived I put the relaxation parallel techniques into practise and after a few minutes Teddy was relatively fine. My first session was with one other girl who was a more experienced rider than me and we did flat work for about an hour and a half. I felt my balance was terrible on the day and was quite tired trying to deal with Teddy's head tossing. It took Teddy a while to stop focusing on the other horses but I could tell he was trying. At the end of it all, I have to admit, he is a very responsive horse and he wants to please me. I learned a lot about keeping his attention on the inside of the circle as there was a stallion grazing on the other side of the arena which was very distracting for him. I think the nerves got the better of me on this day as I wasn't performing anywhere near what I was capable of, and I was a bit concerned about what the others were thinking of my riding (a bad trait I wish I didn't have but I do, particularly with this horse stuff.)
After we had finished I tied Teddy with three other horses and left him there to relax and rest for about an hour and a half, and this did wonders for him. He was a much more relaxed horse in the second half, which was the cross country circuit.
Aurum has its own cross country field so I watched the intermediate group go through there session and this gave me an opportunity to take photos and think to myself - "They seriously don't expect me to do this! What have I gotten myself into?"
They did expect me to do this! But thankfully I was eased into it and it was fine, nothing to dramatic to start with and as Kim was well aware of Teddy's stress levels she obviously made an on the spot assessment that I wasn't to canter as he may well not be ready for it. Or I for that matter! I'm grateful for that as Teddy is an ex-polocrosse horse so when he goes - HE REALLY GOES!
I started off just trotting over logs on the ground which was easy enough but I didn't have the confidence to go any higher at the time. Then we went over to a mound that had a retaining wall on the other side. We walked up the side and had to walk/trot the horse down the other side of the retaining wall. This was quite a challenge for Teddy and he firstly refused to do it. With gentle and persistent encouragement he eventually went down the retaining wall. Then we went up and down about another five times to make it stick.
Next was the water course. First we just had to walk in and surprisingly
Teddy didn't have an issue with this like most of the other horses did.
He must be a water horse after all! As none of the horses could see the bottom of the muddy water they were very cautious of it but Teddy just
went straight in. At the wall at the other end we had to jump out of
it and he was happy to do that too. When we had finished this it was about 3.45pm
and Teddy finally let out a big relaxed sigh. We finished the lesson at 4.00pm!
Day 2 - What a terrible weather day! It was really windy, to the extent that I could hardly hear what Kim was saying. It was cold and raining and at one stage it hailed. But the show must go on. For the record you can keep riding in the wind. It's not my thing as I find it annoying but it does make for a better rider. Unfortunately Teddy is of the same view as he was even upset at home and didn't want to get into the float. When we got to Aurum it took about half an hour of relaxation exercises before I could even tack up and then he still wasn't quite right. The trees were being blown around so much that Teddy thought they were all new monsters that he'd never seen before - the very same trees from the last clinic. Then in the arena I had to work with him for about 10 minutes before I could even mount.
I was with two other people this time and one was on a bucking little pony and the other on a slow old timer - both nice horses, though the pony was a pushy little bugger! As Teddy is so forward and it was so windy he was way out in front of them, but I was much more relaxed this time around and had my balance and rhythm a lot more than the previous clinic. In the flat work session we cantered a little and I initially gave Teddy the wrong aid and must have confused him by doing so as he just started trotting faster and it felt like it took ages for him to get into canter. I was all off balance and bumpy! Poor Teddy! Usually the slightest of touches and he responds. Luckily I realized what I had done and from then on it was ok. During his rest period the intermediate group concentrated on jumping so I watched and took more photos. I may be the designated photographer for these clinics!
Then it was time for me and the other girls to go out to the cross country course. I was a lot more relaxed and happier this time around and it really showed. We did the logs, one on the ground and the other off. This time I was confident enough to give off the ground jumps a go. Then we did a small tyre jump that was half dug into the ground and had obstacles on either side. Next we did a log on the top of a small hill. By the time we trotted up the hill and crossed the log Teddy decided to walk down the other side EVERY TIME, bar one! Then we trotted over a ditch that had a small jump on the other side. He was good at this and it was the first time I could say I really felt a jump motion in the saddle. Next was the retaining wall again and then off trotting through the water jump and out the other side. This was serious leaping out the other side and we did a great job of that - if I do say so myself! The wall on the water jump is a few feet high so we got some serious height - well for me that is! I now understand the thrill of the jump!
Each new obstacle was practiced a few times and then we did the circuit! I was really quite please with myself and Teddy when we had completed the circuit. I would never have thought I'd be doing anything like this a year ago. Also, as I had done a day of eventing clinic before and the other girls hadn't, I took the lead a lot and I think that was good for my confidence and Teddy's. Most importantly I held my position very well and that was very important to me (though that's a whole other story).
Next clinic is Sunday and I will try and get a person to take photos of me and Teddy.
I cant wait!
