First Aid Course with X Factor

Yesterday I dragged my poorly sick body off to Hartpury College for the day for the dreaded update to my first aid course. Always boring and always a whole day away from the horses.

However I soon felt loads better when it turned out to be the best first aid course in the entire world.

On my course were

Jane Davis - Completed Blenheim 3* twice and one of my best freinds.
Louise Skelton - 4* event rider
Bill Levitt - 4* event rider
Lucinda Green - 6 x winner of Badminton
plus lots of other more local instructors, event riders and showjumpers.

It was an event riders dream first aid course and we had such a laugh, consequently however the course ran an hour late.
Lucinda was playing with play dough all day, I decided it must be an anti smoking thing until Louise Skelton said it was more likely to be physio for her wrist that she broke a few months ago!

Quotes from the course

"How am I going to wee on my head" - Louise Skelton, after being told urine can be used to cool a burn.

" Yes I will need two breaths after that" - Jane Davis after giving 30 CPR compressions
"The two breaths are for the casualty not you" - Trainer

"Drag her out quick" - Lucinda Green on what to do with unconcious rider in the water jump.
"Now you are both dead, you have forgotton to stop the next horse" - Trainer

Rorys Cure for a Cold

I am still ill, not quite in a coma but almost, I have not ridden a horse for 3 whole days and have cancelled all lessons. I am fed up of aching all over and coughing. I am bored of being in the house but feel more terrible if I go outside for longer than 15 minutes. I am just about keeping up with the mucking out, although Ant came down to help me yesterday when I was feeling particularly bad.
I was staggering and gasping through the final bit of mucking out when our friend Rory came to chat to me after he had ridden his girlfriends Emma's horse. I was not able to chat back as I had lost my voice which was probably a very good job. Rory announced that I didn't seem any better, but that he thought the smell of ammonia rising from the wet stable floor would help clear my throat!
Sadly I did not have the strength to throw lots of manure over him.

Mika update and Two Horses Sold

I am in the middle of a nasty cold and feel poorly. Today I have been cheered up as Amazing Mika is home. He is my home bred skewbald youngster whose been with Matt Ainsworth (of HOYS fame) for breaking, Matt has done a fabulous job. Despite feeling poorly, weak and wobbly I have ridden Mika today and even jumped a few small 2ft fences. He is of course very green but feels safe and is a bonny little thing. At 15.2 hh I think he will make a perfect teenagers horse when I have finished training him, especially if he is as good as his Mum in this photo.
We have sold Mika's mum, Butterfly, to Matt for his partner Nickie to hunt, they have had her on trial for a while and she has been loving her hunting. Also sold is tiny 10 hands Poppet, a pony a friend of mine saved with 14 others from a meat lorry destined for the lions at a Zoo(at least that's what the lorry driver told her). I felt sorry for her and bought her for £50 about 8 years ago, broke her in, she has been out on loan ever since, teaching child after child how to ride and care for her. Her new owner Thomas adores her and she is the star of the local Ledbury Hunt where she lives at the kennels.

Louise Skeltons Wedding

Great excitement today as we got ready to go to the wedding of the year. I normally don't go to any parties of any sort and the ones I say yes to I then change my mind at the last minute. If I do go which is never ever, I normally sit in a dark quiet corner and want to go home after half an hour!
It was the evening do which was held in a hall at a gorgeous old school where Louise's husband Greg works as a teacher. It was amazingly like Hogwarts with old oak panels and a maze of long corridors with lots of ancient nooks and crannies.
Louise was beautiful, she had little blond curls in her hair and her cream dress was stunning. My big shock was her Mum Jackie who no longer had straw in her hair. Her woolly hat, trainers and jeans were also missing. A new hair cut, blow wave and a lovely pink outfit transformed her into looking like the renowned and prestigious breeder of top event horses which of course she is.
I cried with laughter however at Louise's rendition of taking Jackie shopping for a dress. Jackie grumbled about every shop and dress she tried and refused to remove her jeans and trainers so they had to envisage the finished look with them still on. Once I had stopped laughing I had to confess "that's what I do, I hate shopping for clothes so much I just want to check it fits and go home. Taking jeans and boots off wastes time, better spent with my horses!!!" Louise looked at me in horror and said "Oh my God Stella you are turning into Jackie". I took this as a huge compliment!!!
We spent the evening chatting to various people and sat with our friends Evan and Natasha Thomas. Natasha was the only one of us brave enough to have a go at the barn dancing. Ant made the observation that if I had gone with her it would have looked so much better. Natasha would then have not been on her own in being 5 seconds behind everyone else in the dance moves!!!

Top Gun Moves Towards BE Novice

My aim through this winter is to establish Top Gun at Novice level dressage and 1.10m showjumping so he can move upto British Eventing Novice level early next spring. This week he began with competing in his first ever Novice dressage tests at a British Dressage Affiliated event. He came 3rd in both classes, despite being quite tense. He coped well with the more difficult movements. But oh my goodness winter dressage is so grim, no one hardly smiles, no one looked pleased with their win and the crowd watching the tests came to the grand total of one and he was the guy taking the photos!!! Oh roll on eventing only 3 months to go and the dates for next year are out already....happy days!!! Then Wednesday he went affiliated ShowJumping at Hartpury, double clear in the smaller class and although he had a rail down in the 1 metre I was very pleased as he felt bold and confident. He tightens in his back during his jump and has rails down behind, so my homework is to try and keep the same energy but within a more softer canter. That is about a million times easier said then done!!!! Click this link for photo of Top Gun competing at Novice dressage http://acjphoto.co.uk/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewImage=43788

Hartpury Show Jumping Just for Fun

Big entries at Hartpury today, I took Man Friday and Top Gun. It is always nerve wracking jumping Hartpury Top Gun at Hartpury as he was bred there and I always feel slightly more anxious not to let him down in front of his home crowd. Top Gun was in the same class as his Dad, a momentous occasion indeed!

Thank goodness Top Gun jumped lovely, just one rail down in each class (both rider error) his canter has improved during his holiday and he is really enjoying his show jumping. Eventing show jumping can be a bit too serious (no jump off fun) and Top Gun had been feeling a bit bored in the SJ ring during his last few event runs. He was very fun, fresh and bouncy today.

Man Friday came 4th in his class winning £15, he just put his knees under his chin and jumped clear clear even though his canter is still very green. Then I had to dash home as I had riders coming for help with their jumping and flatwork.

Credit Crunch Christmas

The story so far... Crunchie is my 2 year old homebred, out of Josie Jump (she is now sold and happily hunting with The Ledbury)
Crunchie was a huge surprise when he was born. Man Friday is his Dad. We knew his mum had been out with Man Friday when he was still a colt and so we had vet Andrew Harrison check her to make sure she was not in foal and Andrew said not. However early Winter next year a chestnut colt foal was reluctantly born. Poor Josie had been struggling a while on her own to foal him. My Dad and I had to help. The foals big head was stuck and we were soon exhausted trying to heave him out. He eventually plopped out and I was certain the foal was dead. Luckily I had helped calf cows and lambs before and set to work on his seemingly lifeless body, I pinched his tongue, it twitched and suddenly he began to breath and shake his wet floppy ears.

Next problem he refused to suck from his Mum. He really did not fancy living! After 6 hours he had not drank so we had to intervene. Another 2 hours passed and he fought and fought and would not drink not even from a bottle. Josie was so good as we had to milk her to get the bottle filled.

The Vet was called. Poor vet was only a young girl and when she arrived she started to check Crunchies heart beat. Anthony rolled his eyes and looked at the vet and said "I know his heart is OK I have been wrestling with him for over 2 hours" I prayed she had read James Herriot's book All Creatures Great And Small and she was prepared for Castlemortons equivalent of "Mr Biggins"

The poor vet then pointed at his crooked and very wonky legs "he will have to be box rested a month until those are straight and he needs to come into the surgery to be bottle fed all night" I told her I was not box resting a 6 hour old foal, he was just squashed into a small mare and would come straight on his own running around outside. It was the start of the Credit Crunch and as he stood to be worth about £50 I explained he won't be coming into the surgery at roughly £300 a night!

And so Crunchie had his first essential drink of milk via a stomach tube, he did not like that much. Then every 2 hours for the next 18 hours Ant and I fed him from a bottle all through the night. Each time we had to first milk Josie and then bottle feed him right under her so he linked the milk supply to her. He wouldn't suck and we had to use a bottle with a long spout (normally used for calfs) to force it down him. Each time he threw us to the floor and kicked and fought. Milking Josie each time and fighting with Crunchie took so long that as soon as my head was back on my pillow it seemed it was time to go and do it all again. Then thank goodness Ant suggested we miss a feed and see what happens, it worked as the hungry Crunchie had now a taste for warm milk and he found his own way to his Mums built in supply.

Then 4 weeks after he was born it snowed, the worst snow for 20 years, it was over his knees, no wonder he had not fancied living. He had to have a rug on and come in each night and he grew a 2 inch thick winter coat. His late foaling means even now he is confused about what thickness coat to grow, he often has tufts of winter hair hanging on in the middle of June! Now he is 2 yrs old, 15.2 hh and I have just finished long reining him. He was very good, very much like his Mum no bucking or rearing. He was fab over the spooky jumps and even trotted a tiny double. Today I have turned him out for the winter and he will be back in for breaking in about 12 months.

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BHS Training Day Hartpury- Functional Anatomy and Its Relationship to Body Shape

This was a day forced on me as I have to update my coaching skills, sometimes the courses are useful but mostly I struggle to stay awake as I learn better by physically doing things .
I find slide shows and being talked to particularly tedious and the morning session was 2 hours of exactly that. Yawn and nothing much learnt other than our max possible heart beat is 220 bpm minus our age and that event riders fall off alot but jump jockeys do it more and we all need better balance to not fall off.....think we may have known that already.
I debated leaving at lunch time but decided it could only get better. It didn't.
We were shown 3 riders first live and then a the video of them and we had to comment on where they were crooked, even a non expert could have done that. I then got interested as it seemed we were now going to put these riders positions right. But the presenter just said sitting them on a ball with exercises would help them but he did not have a ball to demonstrate this with.
Then the presenter asked us the aids for shoulder in and a long argument raged on between all the BHS expert Instructors. I was not sure if the presenter was asking us to tell him the aids for shoulder in because he didn't actually know or if he was testing us.......anyway the argument ended up in me being completely confused. As I got an 8 for the last shoulder in I rode I decided I will carry on riding and coaching as before.
Then a raffle draw concluded the day and I won top prize of a years free BHS membership worth about £130. Which made the day worthwhile.
In comparison last week I went on a fitness coaching course for pony club racing.
I shadowed several instructors in 3 different training areas. Riding, equine simulator and on fitness equipment.We watched the instructors solve position issues and also were able to try all the equipment, wobble boards, balls, equine simulator etc all to improve balance and core stability. The riders had to make notes on their strong and weak points and the exercises they needed to do to improve where they were weak. I went home feeling inspired and I now had hands on experience of more ways and methods of improving both my riding skills and the riders whom I coach.