Just thought I’d share this with you guys today 🙂

Well, I went to see Lucy at her dressage boot camp for the first time since we dropped her off 10 days ago. Those of you who know me will know that dressage has never been my strongest phase of Eventing and I was always lucky to have people around me that could produce a horse on the flat back in the day. I can manage to ride a half decent test on a well produced horse but a difficult one that needs fixing? Nah. Give me a dodgy one that needs sorting to go SJ or XC and I’d be all over it like a tramp on hot chips but flatwork that needs fixing? Not going to happen.

Lucy has been awesome so far this season, she can be pretty much guaranteed to jump a double clear round 90 and 100 (touch wood!) but the dressage has been going the wrong way – by 10 marks. It’s not the wee mare’s fault, she’s a little tricky but she’s not a bad pony. It’s me, and I know it is.

Anyway, I’m absolutely blown away by the difference Eilidh and her mum Lorraine have made to her. Lorraine is obviously very supportive of her kids and it was her that lunged her (taking care to explain what she was doing, why she was doing it, and what she was looking for) whilst Eilidh finished teaching her eleventy-fifth lesson of the day! Eilidh then jumped on and showed me what she’s been working on and then put me onboard to run through my test for Hopetoun this weekend. Well, I’m fairly sure they’ve swapped her for a different pony! Ok, she’s never going to be a dressage star but by christ, what a difference. Softer, much better outline, contact, throughness etc.

I took a bit of video of Eilidh on her and then Lorraine recorded my run through of the test. I’ve edited it right down but here’s a wee video to give you an idea. It’s still not perfect, but it’s a damn sight closer that I’d have been 12 months from now on my own!

In short, if you have a horse that requires a little ‘re-education’ on the flat then you could do a lot worse than send it to Team Grant! You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the cost, too.

Not much exciting to report today except that we’re having a wee fun show at the yard tonight.  The boys haven’t decided if they want to jump yet as both their ponies jumped both days at the weekend. 

The lorry is for sale though and I am expecting a few people up to look at that tonight so fingers crossed it sells easily – it should do as we’ve just spent a bloody fortune plating it for a year!

I’ll pop a wee update on if the kids jump tonight, otherwise the next update will be after my dressage lesson with Eilidh on Lucy tomorrow evening.

A great and very successful day at the show today. Fin and Lewie both double clear in the Stepping Stones (85cm) to share first prize and both jumped great in the Discovery/90cm Open. Fin had a very unlucky 4 in the jump off by knocking a wing with his foot and Lewie jumped a cracking quick double clear to win!

We took Millie’s wee pony Jack for Charley Hamilton to jump and she rode him great for a double clear and 3rd in the 70cm and a decent round in the 80cm. Jack is looking like he’ll be a bit too sharp for Millie as he starts to fill out and feel better so Charley is going to ride him at shows for a while until we decide what to do with him – keep or sell. Meanwhile, back to the drawing board to find Millie her perfect pony…

Video below of the boys’ rounds in the 90cm.

It was far too nice a day to be stuck in the office all afternoon so I snuck out a couple of hours early to watch the boys have a lesson with Super-Sally. It amazes me how much these boys have come on in a year! Anyway, hopefully that’s them all tuned up for Tillyoch BS all weekend…

So, the focus moves away from Lucy for a few days as we head towards the weekend. The boys are heading to Tillyoch (www.tillyochequestrian.co.uk) this weekend for a two day Junior BS show with Izzy and Maddie. They were fairly successful last time at Tillyoch with both lads picking up wins so hopefully they can build on that and keep it going.

Here are a few pics from the last time we were there:

LeeAnn just sent me a little video of Eilidh working Lucy this morning.  I must say I’m absolutely delighted with the progress so far!  Lucy is much straighter and softer and Eilidh has her much more relaxed as she doesn’t have a fight on her hands (unlike me!) – I’ve been summoned for a couple of sessions next week by Eilidh’s scary mummy Lorraine so that I can learn to ride her this way.

LeeAnn has popped over to see Eilidh working Lucy this morning so I’m looking forward to getting a progress update  The updates from Eilidh so far is that she’s been very well behaved but her major issue is straightness.  Once this is sorted out hopefully it will be onwards and upwards…

Stay tuned as I may get a little video from LeeAnn later.

Lucy (Bengarys Luipillia) has has a very successful first season Eventing so far this year with regards to the jumping (3 out of 4 events double clear) but her dressage has left a little to be desired!  Dressage has never been my strong point as I’ve always enjoyed the jumping side of the sport a lot more.  However, I have decided that this isn’t fair on Lucy, so for the next two weeks she’s staying with the awesomely talented dressage rider Eilidh Grant where she’ll be schooled every day.  I’m told that part of the deal is that I have to put in some work too and that if I’m a good boy Eilidh will reward me with chocolate biscuits.  And she has a naughty step if I’m bad…

Update on this next week.  Please click ‘Follow’ so you don’t miss it!