Last time I wrote it was full steam ahead for the dressage
winter regionals at the beginning of February. I’m pleased to report they went
well and we ended up 5th. My ultimate aim was to qualify for the
nationals (top 2) but I knew it would be competitive and therefore a tough ask.
Herbie was really relaxed on the day and didn’t put a foot
wrong. In hind sight I feel I rode it slightly on the quiet side rather than
really showing him off. This said, I’m proud of being in the top 5 given
dressage isn’t our primary discipline and it’s left me inspired to do more.
Once the regionals were over it was holiday time and Jim and
I headed off to Courchevel in France to enjoy a week in the snow. It was great
to chill out and we spent the week snowboarding, eating and drinking!
Once home it was time to focus on the start of the eventing
season and for Herbie to put his ballet shoes away for a while. Herbie has
never found showjumping that easy but I’ve always felt that he was still
lacking in strength and hadn’t finished developing yet. It seems that a winter
of fitness work, time on the lunge and focusing on flatwork has really improved
his jumping. We’re still only at the beginning of the season but I’ve seen a
definite step forward with his showjumping and he seems a lot stronger and able
to use himself over the fences…here’s hoping! Today we took him in the paddock
to practice our cross country and it’s fair to say he was loving life!!
The plan for the first part of the season is an early run at
BE100 (which will be at Lincoln mid-March), then stepping back up to Novice
with the aim of doing the CIC1* at Chatsworth in May. Following a good season
last year we now have our qualification for CCI* (which means I would get to
experience the trot up!) and we also qualified for the Corinthian Cup at
Gatcombe in August. It’s good to have plans but we all know they are subject to
change so I’ll just have to see how things pan out.
I’m so excited to get back out eventing especially as we’ve
put a lot of hard work into Herbie and ended last season on a really good note.
The sun has been shining for the past few days so I’m really hoping this
continues so we can get on with the fitness work, it really is full steam
ahead!
Good luck to everyone starting their season,
Lucie
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