Competitions and Training...

Merri competed at Bury farm in the Inter I test. It was our second ever Inter I together and I was over the moon with Merri's performance. She produced a harmonious test with highlights in her trot half pass and temp changes. There were still some parts to work on but it was probably our best test to date. Merri won the class on 68%.
Merri's 68% Inter I test- 1st

The same day I had a new ride Camiro II owned by Sharon Higgs entered in the Prelim and Novice classes. Aero won the Prelim on 74% and then came 3rd in his fist ever Novice on 67%. He gave me a great ride and there is so much more to come.

Todd recently had a lesson with Ian Woodhead. We were working on simple changes as developing the half halt further. Todd worked really well.

I have also been training with Judy Harvey with Merri and Tilly. Merri was working on half steps and consolidating some canter pirouette work.

Judy Harvey- Merri

Tilly (Galanci RS) a new 5yo owned by Judy Firmston- Williams had a shorter lesson as we are still building her fitness. She was really well behaved and very relaxed.

Judy Harvey- Tilly

Affinity Bay was very lucky to have a lesson with Stephen Clarke. He worked brilliantly and Stephen encouraged our progress towards the Inter I tests. 

Stephen Clarke- Finn

Spring is in the air...

Spring is round the corner now.... I have seen the first lambs of the season which is always a symbol of hope for the warmer months!

We have been busy with competitions this month on some lovely horses.....
Finn was on this afternoon in the PSG.... although I did accidentally get on an hour early... bit keen!
Overall I was pleased with his test- we had an accidental set of 1x changes on entry and a few other blips but overall I was pleased with his relaxation for the rest of the test and he finished 3rd.
Thank you Bury Farm and everyone who supported a busy day!
Finn followed on day two with a calm test. Although he didn't get the memo that there were a line of four time changes across the diagonal... not two time changes as he so beautifully demonstrated!! I was really pleased with his progress in the canter pirouettes and most of the more difficult work. He finished 3rd in the Silver PSG and 5th Overall.
I am very grateful to Blue Chip feed for helping me tailor Finn's diet to his sensative character. We have just started him on the Blue Chip Calm Balancer... watch this space!

At the start of March Todd (owned by Jonathan Chapman), Cooter (owned by Jo Brett) and Affinity Bay had an outing to Bury Farm.
Cooter was brilliant and won Prelim 15 on 71% and a relaxed Todd was second on 68%. Then in Prelim 17 Todd won on 69% and Cooter was placed 2nd on 68%. Both boys showed improved confidence and marks- there were some 8's & 7.5's.

Later the same week Merri and Finn were out competing at Keysoe Under 25 High Profile Show. Merri did a very good PSG test on the first day to finish 4th in the Silver section. There were two big hiccups in the test but the rest of the marks were consistent 7's and 8's. 

Just Before Keysoe Finn was treated to a physio session from Diane Daynes- He felt amazing all weekend and I am still enjoying the rewards weeks later. 

I have been lucky enough to compete Sue Botha's Dante in his first Medium test. We went to Windmill farm to contest the medium 69. Dante really stepped up to the challenge and scored a green 66% to win the class! He was brilliant in all of the half passes and the canter work was a real highlight.

Breakspeare Riding Club were very lucky to have the brilliant Lisa Sparrowhawk  Performance Coach visit Blackwell's Cafe in Chipperfield. Lisa discussed many topics and created a great discussion about positive mindset in relation to riding and competing. She highlighted how we all perceive situations and images differently with some great techniques and also how mindset affects us physiologically (with some more hands on examples).

Thank you Lisa for inspiring us all!

March has been a very busy month (and we are only half way through!).

I have had had the opportunity to ride some great horses ( see Nugget below) and really enjoyed teaching private lessons and clinics/rallies alike.  

I am now looking forward to training with Judy Harvey, Ian Woodhead and Stephen Clarke in the coming week.

Competitions....

February has been a very busy month full of competitions and training.
Affinity Bay competed at the ever efficient Addington Manor Regionals in the Advanced Medium Open and the Advanced Medium Freestyle.
The first test Finn produced some mega trot work. He was feeling very hot which made his trot extensions, shoulder in and half pass very expressive. Unfortunately in the canter the excitement boiled over and we had some rodeo moments in the changes! Surprisingly   even with three big explosions we still scored 66%.
The Freestyle test was later the same day in the indoor International Area. I was pleased that Finn was more relaxed in this test, although he still thought it was necessary to add some extra tempi changes....
His final score was 69% to finish just outside the top 10.
Our last Regionals was at Merrist Wood where we competed in the PSG Freestyle.
I was thrilled with the trot work and the canter. We had correct three and four time changes and I should have been a bit braver by riding smaller canter pirouettes.
We had one very big blip in the walk to trot transition which as a result meant 4's for our shoulder in left. Unfortunatly there was no more music left to improvise another shoulder in left so that was annoying!
I was disappointed with the score but we did have one major mistake and one of the judges gave Finn a 4 for his changes (whereas the other 2 gave him 7's) which didn't help!
We are now looking forward to training with Stephen Clarke and going out to do our first Inter 1 together.

Todd (owner by Jonathan Chapman) and Cooter (owned by Jo Brett) went out to contest their first ever BD prelim tests. Cooter was a star and won both his classes on 68 & 67% and Todd came second on 65 & 67%.
Todd was a little unsettled in his first test which was caused by warming up with a stallion (he definitely felt a bit threatened!) but the second  test showed some more relaxation.
Overall it was a good day out and both horses were impeccably behaved.

I have been busy training for Pony Club and Riding Club, as well as doing some Private clinics in a beautiful brand new indoor school.

This month I was got a little mention in Horse and Hound Online in an article about dealing with competition nerves and how you prepare on show day....

I'm really looking forward to the busy month ahead with a few new rides and an exciting new baby horse who arrived a few weeks ago! Spring....here we come!

February

February has been a very busy month so far, I have had the pleasure of teaching at both Riding Club and Pony Club Clinics amongst teaching private lessons.
The competitions horses are all fit and healthy. Merri had an easier week after the Addington High Profile Show but we are now training towards the Under 25 High Profile show at Keysoe. Finn has Regional Championships this month. He is competing in the Advanced Medium and Advanced Medium Freestyle at Addington and the PSG Freestyle at Merrist Wood. The classes at Addington are huge in the advanced medium but generally looking like a quieter show compared to previous years!

Todd went to his second ever show at Quainton Stud at the start of February. He was super in the warm up, he travelled with another horse and they walked around together to start so that helped give him confidence in the surroundings.
The tests were in much better balance than those that he did at Addington a month ago. Over all I was thrilled with his progress and the judges made some lovely comments. There were gail force winds so trotting down the centre line was quite a challenge....
Riding in high winds is becoming a bit of a theme this February!!

High Profiles and a first outing....

Bury Farm High Profile show ran in December 2015.... Affiinity Bay was entered for three classes, the Advanced Medium, PSG and PSG Freestyle.
It was lovely to catch up with all the familiar faces that compete at the High Profiles.
Affinity Bay did well, he came third in the Advanced Medium, Third in the PSG on 66% and fourth in the PSG music.
I was especially pleased with his PSG performance as he scored highly for his half pass in trot and canter and his pirouettes have really come on. Unfortunately we made a costly mistake in the tempis.
Finn has now qualified for the Regionals at Advanced medium, Advanced Medium music and PSG music- We look forward to our last regionals under the Open/restricted BD rule system in February!

Todd, a green young horse I have been riding for Jonathan Chapman went out to his first ever party the first week of January!
He was brilliantly behaved! He coped with the warm up very well considering how busy it was and didn't spook at a thing.
We had two tests, the first was in the furthest arena at Addington down by the road where all the lorrys trundle in and the second was in the International Indoor arena. By the second test Todd was exhausted- but kept trying. He scored 68% for his first ever test. We had some lovely comments from the judges and one called him a 'cracking' young horse... haven't had that comment before!
Todd was pleased with himself and slept very well that night!

Addington High Profile Show

Addington High Profile show is the first big competition of the season. The classes were absolutely huge!
I was riding Merri and Finn in the Prix St George and the PSG Freestyle.

Merri warmed up well and stayed relaxed in the trot work throughout her test. She scored 7's and 7.5's for most of her trot work, shoulder in, 8m circles and half pass. The canter was also good scoring a 7.5 for her four time changes unfortunately we had a costly mistake in the three time changes. We also had a blip in the left pirouette but over all I was really pleased with Merri's performance. She scored 66.27% which was a top ten placing and won the Silver Section!
It was not Finn's day unfortunately....after warming up well we think he got his tongue over the bit in the test so I had to retire as he was clearly not happy. Retirement in a dressage test was also a first for me!

The PSG freestyle had many withdrawn as the snow hit on Saturday evening. Luckily we had late times so the majority  had melted by the time we left for Addington.

Merri was first to go... The trot worked minus  a small blip but overall it was very expressive. Her canter was good but unfortunately we had a mistake  in the 4 time changes which was costly and we didn't have a spare line to redo them as we were slightly behind the music. 

Finn was a lot more relaxed performing to music although he had two explosive moments in the medium canter and trot!  His music was very loud as I asked them to turn it right up as Merri's was far to quiet... but this meant it was a little distorted.

Overall I'm very pleased with both horses and now back to training to work on getting the marks even higher. 

Thank you Addington for running a super show!

Thank you 2015

Affinity Bay has ended 2015 with three regional qualifications for next year at advanced medium and PSG level...this winter Finn and Merri will be training for the High Profile shows at the start of 2016 at PSG/inter 1 level.

The start of a new year is a great opportunity to say a huge thank you to owners, sponsors family and friends for their continue support throughout 2015.