Sunday 14th September

Today the day started off pretty much the same as yesterday – everyone still in bed with hangovers!! So I made the most of the extra time before I had to ride spending some time with Blossom. I started of with just playing friendly game with her getting all her itchy spots for her, then gave her a really good groom which she really seemed to enjoy.

Everyone was starting to get out of their beds so I decided to go out and play with Blossom on line. Again everything went really well, I even got a lovely change of direction I just wish someone had been there with a video camera!!

I then saddled and after girthing in 3 stages jumped on and went into the arena. I was one of the first tacked up so it gave me plenty of time to have a good ridden warm up. I started with follow the rail, and again using the posts to do transitions – all went well and she actually offered to slow down a few times so of course I took it!! We then had a lovely canter in circles, she was fast and bracey to start with but I added sideways into this and pushed her out using my inside leg. Wow what a difference this made to her, I had to do this a few times but then all of a sudden her head lowered and I felt all the power in her HQ she was so soft and calm so I made sure I only had a few strides and then asked her back to trot. I would have loved to have kept her cantering but I knew it would be better in the long run if I stopped her when everything was going well!!

The competition today was pairs, I wasn’t going to ride but I got asked to ride with a younger boy who was riding a novice pony. He wasn’t interested in winning and only wanted to give his pony another run in a competition setting, and I just wanted to do the same thing. So it was the perfect pair for me to ride with, as there was no pressure on either of us, which was great.

The morning session went really well; again I didn’t push Blossom and was happy with just a steady canter. All games went really well and I can’t remember having any problems so it must have been good!

The afternoon session didn’t go as well as my partner had a really bad session, which I didn’t bother about. But it meant me and Blossom had the arena to ourselves most of the time as the other pairs had finished the race, so everyone was watching us. But even with the added pressure of everyone watching us, we still managed to keep everything calm and get the races right so I was really happy with that.

Overall we came 2nd last in the pairs 6th out of 7 pairs. I am actually glad I brought Blossom as it was good to spend time with her and take her to shows again and I do think she really enjoyed herself. It also allowed me to see areas we still need to work on so one day we will be able to compete in games and hopefully start winning again!!