The adventures of Black Beauty - part 6
Wow, I haven't written about the little black superstar for two years and more! How bad is that? Well, worry no more because we are back to bore you some more. It's post the Rio Olympics and no doubt those who couldn't tune in to the horsey events are assuming Brambleberry Beautiful and I won a gold medal, seeing as I had high hopes for her more than two years ago. Not quite, but we did win our first walk and trot test this year - our first red rosette after getting more than our fair share of blue, yellow and green ones. Oh and our extra fair share of comments, such as 'Once horse learns the dressage arena isn't a tiger enclosure, she will be great' and 'Half-pass not required at intro level' (not asked for, I hate to admit).
The truth is, since I last blogged about Beauty, there is lots of tell. We've been on a sponsored ride, had a few jumping lessons, done numerous intro and prelim dressage tests (a lot of which were 'very bad' but some were quite good) and, most importantly, had tonnes of fun. But the most exciting news of all is she's now officially mine!
Having humiliated myself in the arena a few times and being subjected to a few rather unfair (in my opinion) comments from a certain judge, I decided to have a go at Dressage Anywhere. I would highly recommend it to anyone. You simply get someone to video your test (you don't even have to wear competition gear!) and then upload it onto the Dressage Anywhere website to be judged in a class. You can hide your videos from the public if you don't want anyone to see it and from my own experience the judges have been so constructive and helpful. We got a lovely fourth place rosette, too, for one of our prelim tests with a score of over 70 per cent!
When you work with a Welshie (from my limited experience) you have to accept that the words please and thank you have to feature in training quite frequently. Welshies (mares in particular) don't like the phrases 'you will' or 'just get on with it'. They - well Beauty anyway - prefers 'Please would you mind' and 'I would love it if you could...thank you very much'. But that's what makes them so much fun.
I am not sure my trainer approves of my recent purchase, but he's kind of resigned himself to the fact that he will be training me on Beauty for the foreseeable future. His vision of me riding something similar to those beautiful beasts you see at the National Championships every year remains nothing more than a vision for now and hey, you never know, because horses often surprise you if you put in the hard work.
Beauty's good points: She's pretty, she's funny, she's kind natured, she's good to catch, clip, load, trim her feet, hack, jump, school (mostly).
Beauty's bad points: She poos a lot in the school during training sessions (very annoying), her first answer is often 'what's in it for me?', she shies at dead hedgehogs on the road!
Those who are unfamiliar with my past blogs can find them here on my blog page in 2011. I started blogging when I gave up a good job and moved to Devon - five and a half years ago now! I find it hard to read a lot of those blogs now as I had some bad times in Devon, mostly losing my dog and suffering with severe back pain, along with relationship issues and having no money. If you read them, you'll see what I mean. Devon is a beautiful place, but sadly, I am almost Devon-phobic now, due to personal experiences.
Nowadays in Wiltshire, though, life is much better. I have a great pony, a comfortable house and supportive friends and family. If you have read my previous blogs and you're wondering what happened to Eek and Amelie, they are both doing well. Eek had a foal this year by the gorgeous stallion Glamourdale and Amelie has found her forever home (I hope) with a lady who is enjoying a lot of success showing and doing dressage with her. I, on the other hand, am busy preparing my native pony for our first British Dressage Team Quest outing in December. I live in Calne, so of course our team had to be named The Calne Hesters! Watch this space.