Little Lexi
The Budget announced a penny off the pint and I have saved enough for a new pony……so all I need to do is persuade Martin….hmmm…..need to come up with a clever plan….. OK I’ll agree to a puppy……but that won’t be enough……need to find a horse that’s right up his street……oh look, a little black mare called Lexi – tick! Job done and so much easier than I had thought….
Lexi (that will be Little Lexi) is a little 15.2 black ISH mare and she is 4 yrs old. She has come to us having been in Scotland for 6 weeks, previously having been in Ireland where she was bred. She has been backed and jumped her first fences but is obviously still very green and young (she’s not actually 4 yrs old until July) but we hope that she will carry me over some brown and coloured sticks. She is currently chilling out after a rather stressful move south, and has just started some lunging in her new home. Watch this space!
Ehren was a total superstar at Speedgate BD. In the first test she was a little distracted and spooky but she still managed to win overall and get 69.64% In the second test she was amazing, she really let me ride her and won overall again with a stonking 75.52% On top of a fantastic score she has qualified for the Summer Regionals which we weren’t expecting this year. What a clever girl, she even got mentioned in the pages of Horse and Hound! Next trip out was to the Southern Masters Dressage Semi-Final at Hickstead. This outing was always going to be more for exposure to a bigger occasion than anything else, however I wasn’t expecting her to be so frightened of the large open spaces! Poor girlie got terribly upset by the view in the lorry park, was totally on one in the first test and then rather flat by the time the Masters test came. However it was all experience for her and she didn’t disgrace herself with a 6th and an 11th with 67% and 65%. She will probably now have one local trip out and then we are off to Addington for the Regionals. Again, this is more about her seeing these bigger days, building blocks for later on.
Lexie has had her first two scans and is in foal to the Jumbo sired stallion Med Night Mahout – wooo, very excited!
Lily and Martin headed off to Coombelands for the Riding Club ODE. We decided that I would lead her out to the dressage field (a good ten minute walk) to avoid any confrontation, then lunge her down there before putting Martin up. My word, I have never led a colt at the races but I suspect that was close! This was a huge day for Lily, never having experienced anything like it. She was obviously anxious but coped with everything and didn’t misbehave once. In a very tactfully ridden test her trotwork got 8s, but her jumping showed up her inexperience (Martin fell off twice!!). Bless the Riding Club rules, whatever happened they just allowed you to continue which was fantastic and Lily got her training day! She has been to see her chiropractor this week who says she is in much better shape than three months ago, and I cross everything when I say this; she hasn’t spat the dummy in about 6 weeks……come on Lily, we are all rooting for you…..
Tinka went to Borde Hill BE100. She posted her best dressage to date and was lying second, had an unlucky pole show-jumping, and set off on the XC like a steam train again. Unfortunately as soon as a question was asked she shut down. Tinka is a very genuine jumper and has obviously become confused, so some schooling and training days beckon. She has so much ability; it is just a case of untangling her brain. So off to Lucy’s for a lesson they went, and a very interesting lesson it was too. It ended with Tinka zipping around a course of 1m25 with some very scary jump-off style turns like a serious superstar speed horse. It started with Lucy watching him pop a 90cm rail with a placing pole and thinking ‘this mare is never going to cut the mustard’. So what happened in between? Once Lucy got Martin to ride her like a 12 yr old boy on a 13.2h jumping pony the mystery was solved. As soon as you try to set her up, her attention goes to the rider and she stops looking and thinking. Point, kick and leave her alone and she is absolutely fantastic. Now to take this new found knowledge onto the XC course…..
Talking of lessons I saw Char this week for what turned into a thoroughly exhausting grilling. I shall be more careful what I say about her in Horse and Hound in future!! It looked like someone had poured a bucket of water over my head by the time we finished. Louisa watched the lesson and said afterwards “that looked like such hard work it has put me off wanting to do dressage again”!
I have been really busy with all the usual clinics and teaching. Lots of people have been out and about having fun and doing really well at shows and the recent Riding Club dressage qualifier. On top of all this we have just about recovered from Adult Camp at Bedgebury. A laughter filled weekend full of fun. Everyone had a fantastic time and the only problem was the alarm clock going off on Monday morning, ugh! We had an animal communicator come in on the Friday with some hilarious snippets from the horses and dogs. One word of advice from Louisa’s Labrador Keira “don’t knock mice until you’ve tried them!”
Coming up Tinka has a run in the BE90 at Eridge to trial out their new technique over a smaller course, hoping to give her a happy run before going back to BE100 somewhere like Brightling Park. I have two more grillings with Char and a trip out before Ehren heads off to Addington. Lily has her first jumping lesson with Martin at Lucy’s. We have all the usual clinics including some more XC schooling, plus there are the Pony Club Area Dressage and SJ competitions. The longest day is today so we’ve got to cram everything in before winter comes…..!!
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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