As angry as a bag of wasps
Sorry I am a bit late with this blog, computer induced stress!
Harry has been practising his Irish Dancing at Bedgebury BD. Not to be outdone he clickety click clicked his way through the first Novice and scored 71% and won. He wasn’t quite so on-side in the second test as he had a three hour wait, but we still managed a yellow ribbon. The boy was on fine form!
Then we had the first Carmen Court jumping clinic of the year. It was really lovely to see ev
eryone again,the sun shone and we had a great day. Best of all, the horses all jumped really well which is a perfect way to start the year. It was like we’d never been away…
Then on the Sunday Lily had her first XC school. What a clever little ginger thing! We really were delighted with her, she took everything onboard without any fuss and was very brave. Martin rode her and I lead the way on Harry who was a fantastic lead, really giving Lily confidence. She seemed to say ‘if he can do it, I can do it’. Then she worked on her own while Harry napped and spun and made a huge fuss about not being with his 
woman. What a plonker! The only thing she didn’t jump was a ditch because they have filled in the dry ditch at Bonfleur and we didn’t think her first ditch needed water running through it! Onwards and upwards for Lily-head!
Sally lessons for both came next. Lily jumped around a course on grass for the first time, and went really well. It’s all about new experiences for her at this stage. Then I told Sally that I wanted to work on straightness and corners with Harry, and boy what a grilling I got! Needless to say I now understand exactly how my wonky position affects my horse and have learnt a thing or two about holding a line on Harry to a narrow fence. U-hum. I will hasten to add that this is very much work in progress. I almost had a teenage moment in the middle, having run past the same fence about eight times in a row…I gave myself a good talking to and said through gritted teeth ‘I’m finding this a little frustrating’. Much deep breathing and we got there in the end!
We had a lovely day out at Badminton on Sunday. We have some friends over from Australia who we haven’t seen in years and have been busy catching up while they are here.
Then Lily, Otto and Tinka went XC schooling to Coombelands on Monday. Lily was a star, jumped her first ditch without even blinking, and took everything on for her mother. She really felt at ease, and had a great ‘bring it on’ attitude. I was dead chuffed with the girl. You never know how they are going to take to XC, and she seems well up for it! Unfortunately Martin fell off Otto but otherwise he went well and is looking much improved. Despite a very sore knee Martin then schooled Tinka who was also fab, and looking very comfortable with the job. Unfortunately a check up at hospital shows that Martin has sprained the collateral ligament around his knee and he is very lame indeed. Poor old crock!
Talking of old crocks, Ivy has been out doing some novice dressage with Laura gaining a very respectable 66.8% and a 2nd place. Hard to imagine we were all in floods of tears last Summer at the prospect of saying goodbye. Funny little dumpling.
Coming up Harry has Nurstead BE100 on Sunday. I am now dreading this as he was totally beside himself with anger tonight and eventually I got off before I was thrown off, only to find that one of the girth straps had broken during his thrashing about! Me thinks the branch Chief Instructor really should practise what she preaches regarding checking her tack – will put that one down as a ‘near miss’. Lily has some more clear round jumping at Felbridge, both horses have another Sally lesson, Harry has Step by Step BD, and we have the next Carmen Court jumping clinic…bring it on!
Hoo-hah!
We have been away, a few days with the dogs in the New Forest….impossible as it would be for everything to go to plan, it started with Martin having food poisoning…I think sometimes we are not meant to have holidays! We had a lovely relaxed time though and the weather was very kind to us. My horses had a week off and Tinka had two off so let’s hope we can all return to work suitably refreshed with hayfever tablets at the ready!
Before going away Lily went to Bedgebury to school around the clear round, which she did in fine form (which is just as well as we had the yard Christmas meal the night before and rather than sticking to the plan of going easy because I needed to be up early I guzzled rather a lot of vino blanco….!). Then yesterday she jumped around the clear round at Felbridge. I really struggle to get her concentration for the first fence but after that she was a star. Lots more going out, standing around, on and off the lorry etc planned.
Both horses had flatwork lessons with Char on the Friday before Munstead. Check out the photo of Lily – “bend zee knees!” Harry also had a flatwork top-up before Munstead which obviously did the trick because he scored a much improved 30 (good enough to keep our place in the 70% club!). I rode a much better test after our practise effort a few weeks before and he really tried his best. He also jumped a super round and left all the coloured sticks up. Go Harry! Lying in 6th position we set off onto the XC where (cue some background music) his mother let the side down. Should have been in a lower gear on turning to the corner, unbalanced poor Harold, had hold of his mouth (u-oh) so he argued and ran past it. Oh pants. Big boys pants. Sorry Harry. Bit rusty. I generally feel I need to set him up more in front of his fences, particularly the more straightforward ones so I will take this thought forward to Nurstead.
He was a superstar all day, totally relaxed and easy to have around. Just one little incident (isn’t there always?!) when he managed to get one of the rather large and heavy lorry back gates off its hinges with his head (don’t ask). Not sure who wet their knickers the most, us watching (these things always seem to happen in slow motion don’t they?) or him but once he had thrown it to the floor he set off around the lorry park for a celebratory gallop. It seemed to work very well as a pre-dressage warm-up but I don’t think we’ll try it again….
We were delighted to see Sally and Tom Forster get the recognition they deserve in the Horse and Hound article “Groomsbridge Stud. Attention to detail”. They do a fantastic job and the Groomsbridge Girls chez Carmen Court are very proud!
Tinka and Martin headed off to Lucy’s on Friday for a jumping lesson. Lucy couldn’t believe how much she had changed since she last saw her, both physically and also in her confidence. Tinka was pretty ‘Bring it on!’ and jumped like a star.
But yesterday was the highlight of the year for me so far. Hannah Bartholomew jumped around her first BE100 aged thirteen – top effort Hannah, I am very impressed! Back at Felbridge some dressage was also running. A lady on our yard Sue has been struggling with her dressage, in particular reaching the much wanted 60%. I have been helping for around six months, had put a ban on competing, taken things back to basics, changed the way of riding him, changed the way we even think about him, and basically asked her to put a whole load of trust in me. This is a really difficult thing to do and the process often takes a long time so there is nearly always a moment when the rider will doubt my sanity. After years of aiming for 60% Sue rode brilliantly to get an amazing test out of her horse for 65.81%, a second rosette and a place in their championships. You couldn’t take the smile off my face if you tried. Hoo-hah!
Coming up, Harry goes to Bedgebury BD, Lily has more show-jumping practise, we have the first Carmen Court clinic of the year, a debut ginger trip out XC schooling, and both of mine have Sally lessons.
About
Janine is a British Dressage Recognised Coach and Group 3 Rider based in Kent. She has trained and competed from Prelim to PSG but with a background in the training of young event horses she is also very popular for show-jump instruction and cross-country schooling. She is a UKCC qualified coach, is on the BHS Register of Instructors, is a Centre10 Advanced Coach (Applied Psychology for Equestrian Coaches) and a Pony Club B+ Test Assessor and instructor.
She has always had a broad range of clients with numerous wins in British Dressage including the all important qualifications to the Regionals and National Winter Championships. She has lots of British Eventing clients with qualification to the much sought after Badminton Grassroots Regionals. On the showing side there has been a National Side-Saddle Working Hunter Champion, and riders at HOYS in the Search For A Star classes. With a very diverse bunch of clients nothing gives her more pleasure than to receive a text with the day’s results. However she is happy teaching all levels, so long as you want to improve.
Janine is based at Carmen Court near Tonbridge (owned by one of her sponsors Louisa Day Photography) but also teaches from home in Swanley Village. Most of her teaching is in Kent and the local Sussex area but she can travel further by arrangement.
There are very popular show-jumping clinics at Carmen Court from April to August each year, and clinics through the winter under cover at Four Elms Farm. Janine is always happy to do clinics at other venues in the South East.
She has been very successful with rider confidence problems and helping with the psychology of training and competing. As coach, Janine is often very much part of the team as required.
Janine and Martin are sponsored by Simple System Horse Feeds and are Product Ambassadors for Equilibrium Products. They can be found on Facebook under the name Team Lamy Wright.
click here to find them.
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