Scotts of Thrapston

I rode with confidence and Tara’s jumping was fantastic

Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by Janet in Janet Hammond, Rider Development Programme

So here we go – the final run up to the Carlton BE Horse Trials.

As I said last week, I planned to concentrate on my show jumping for a few days with a lesson organised for Wednesday with Anna (Head-Rosteck). It didn’t start well – I was just a passenger and Tara was fast and flat, knocking poles flying as we did a small grid. This is unlike her as she is usually very careful, and I was beginning to lose my confidence. However by the time we finished Anna had knocked us into shape, and we were jumping some difficult dog legs, and then finished with my biggest jump ever on Tara – a 4ft upright. However it had thrown me that we were so rusty to start with.

The next step of my carefully laid out plan was supposed to be a show jumping competition at the weekend. However after this less than confidence-building jumping session, plus two very difficult and intense days at work, I faced up to the fact that I was actually very tired and not at all in the right frame of mind for competing. My decision not to compete was made easier as Anna had built an excellent course of show jumps for all the liveries to play with over the weekend, so I booked another lesson with her.

I am so glad that I took this decision. We were like a different pairing from Wednesday. I rode with confidence and Tara’s jumping was fantastic – we only had one fence down for our entire lesson, even though Anna kept putting the jumps up and giving me awkward lines and dog legs. I won’t think about the height whilst I’m jumping as I don’t want to put myself off, but after the lesson Anna and I walked the course. We took her official measuring stick, and I was amazed that the course was on average 3’ 4” in height, with the highest at 3’ 8”. Now that is what I call a confidence-building session! I hacked out on Sunday to give Tara a break from the hard work, which she really seemed to enjoy.

I’ve now pretty much fixed the plan for this week, with rest days on Monday and Friday, fast work on Tuesday, a dressage lesson on Wednesday, and hacking on Thursday and Saturday. I am scheduled to ride in one of the BE(90) classes on Sunday, so lots of time to prepare on Saturday. I am also going to do the course walk with Nick Turner on Friday.

After all the training I don’t think I could be better prepared. I just need to keep the nerves under control!

Janet

Tags: Anna Head-Rosteck, Nick Turner