I write this today from a hotel room in Bristol, not an ounce of mud in sight, a freshly made bed each morning, a menu of meals delivered to my room and absolutely no where I need to be until 9.30 tomorrow morning - its giving me a taste of the 'muggle life'. Muggles; those people that don't find enjoyment traipsing through mud for 6 months of the year, don't have to rush out in what ever weather to ride a horse that has been studying the TeamGB Gymnastics squad exercises whilst the fields are closed? Ruby is actually starting to calm down a bit, I think thanks in part to her Hack Up Bespoke Calmer, she's definitely been a bit more amenable recently and it hasn't killed her energy or enthusiasm which is great. This was a huge relief as the RC area SJ came up quite quickly! An unfortunate mix up meant we could only compete in one team so we were just jumping in the 95 (photo above). She was a bit sharp in the warm up, but was jumping out of her skin! Our team of 4 all managed to jump clear in the first round which put us off to a great start. It was lovely to catch up with so many friends, most of whom were also anticipating their first events of the season too. Unfortunately in the second round we had a pole down, I'm kicking myself for it now but thankfully two more clears from our team meant we finished 2nd behind my lovely friend Faye and her Team (New Forest RC) who are now heading off to the Nationals! With the countdown to Tweseldown (1) still on we headed back to Tweseldown a couple more times and squeezed in a few lessons as well. I LOVE having lessons and get so much out of them, whether its on the flat or over fences; each time I feel more inspired by what my fabulous horse can do, I have absolutely no reason to doubt or question her yet still revert to defensive defensive defensive. We've recently started having jump lessons with Alec Miles, mum's been having them for a while longer than me and persuaded me to give it a go and i'm so glad she did. Alec picks up on all the tiny little things and really drills me on the simple stuff but it's had a huge effect on Rubys jump, she's always been quite impressive but she now gives a really strong feel over a fence.
So we were all set for Tweseldown, the time fairy had been and blessed us with 3 midday times, we'd survived our final lesson and actually managed some semblance of 'normal' in a XC clinic with another of our fabulous instructors; Mark Corbett. But then, The Beast from the East - Storm Emma arrived to disrupt things; Aston and Moreton among the first to fall victim. Ruby had an entire week off, not ideal prep in the penultimate week but the show must go on . . . The Tweseldown team are epic - they truly went to herculean efforts to keep the wheels in motion and amazingly managed 2 days of competition before having to succumb to conditions so we unfortunately found ourselves with an entire unplanned free weekend. So here we go again . . . Munsted balloted and couldn't get into Portman, Swacliffe too far and too soon, and so as not to delay us much further, we're heading to Goring . . . 31st March 2018 . . . 18 days and counting.
1 Comment
alma (Nanny)
3/16/2018 12:38:13 pm
Hi Leanne have joined the viewers and delighted with the information! wonderful ti ready you in full flow with all the articulation that is common to the family!!! I'm so glad for you and that life generally is a WOW! Love you lots Nanny and grandad xx
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