April 2017 - In which people and ponies become models - Simon gets new underpants - and I hook up with an artist
Beau Bayou Blog April
2017
In which people and ponies
become models - Simon gets new underpants - and I hook up with an artist
Brand Ambassador
I am very proud to be able to say that I am now a brand
ambassador for Laura Mary Art. Laura
very kindly sent me this gorgeous print of a hare to say thank you
I have been in touch with a couple of other brands but
the lines of communication are slow so hopefully more news next month!
You may have noticed, that Neue Schule Bits are running a
competition for their next sponsored rider.
Since Beau prefers their bits it would be inconsiderate of me not to try
and go for it! I have been tweeting like
mad #nsnexttopjockey and @nsbits! I want
to join the team badly, of course, but this is too good an opportunity to miss,
so get entering! It’s for any standard
or level of rider and all you have to do is keep using the hashtag
In other news, Simon has been having great fun with
Derriere Equestrian - #DerriereEQ. He
won a pair of riding underwear via #Dressagehour on Twitter, and has done his
best ever since to tell the world how comfy they are!
The poor man just needs some breeches now!
Side Saddle
In mid-March, Ginny kindly organised a showing master
class for us all to practice our individual show, and learn what happens in a
showing class. The wind was blowing hard
and all five horses had a naughty spell (Beau got some tempi changes into his
show)! But we all came away knowing we
could deal with whatever happened in the ring, and me with a much clearer idea
of what to expect. I also found that my
apron needed some tweaks to help it sit level when I’m mounted. SO I went home and sat back down at the
sewing machine. I had to shorten the
apron slightly, and add curtain weights to the hem because in the wind it was
whipping up a treat – most immodest!
At the time of writing we have now done our very first
wonky show. It was such a lovely day with
a calm, relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
The Show was run by Area 5 of the Side Saddle association, and was held
at Pittern Hill Stables in Warwickshire.
They were running classes for all levels, starting with my class, the
walk trot. Everybody there was friendly,
and all the competitors were supporting each other and helping each other
out. If all showing was like that I am
sure people would do much more of it. A
really really enjoyable day
I wanted to try and apply what I learned at the seminar
in February and the master class, so had to do the best I could with all my kit. So, I spent what felt like the entire
previous week cleaning and ironing and washing and polishing – including Beau
(not the ironing part) – so by Saturday evening everything was gleaming abd
ready to load up. I even turned Beau out
in a headless (for safety) lycra neck cover to try and keep him clean. That was a slight fail – I have no idea how
he managed to get mud UNDER his neck cover, he must be part cat.
Anyways, the class went fine, and although by the time we
did our individual show I was pretty tired, I don’t think we did too
badly. We certainly could have, and
have done, better but I have to wait for the next novice show in October to try
and prove that. Pics below for a taste of the day. Ginny always recommends warming up astride, so the first thing we did on arrival was take a wander around the arena. Then my sister Tory had to get me dressed!
Habit construction
FINISHED! ( see above ;) )
Quadrille
We had a team get together this month to start writing the test and discuss costume ideas. The
music and theme we have chosen will be challenging – the music certainly
suggests movements so I hope we can do it justice. No mounted practices yet, but we’re a mean
team on foot ;)
Combined training
Jumpies training has been good and bad. I have been over the top of the blocks at
trot with no issues, but as soon as we introduce canter my head falls off! I think, though, I now know why. Having been basically a get on and get it
done kind of rider, I have only in the last couple of years been trying to take dressage seriously. This has mean that
my seat has moved to being more upright.
Of course as soon as you start to canter at a pace that you can jump from, you're all out of balance which has been unnerving me. So Alison made us canter over poles this week
until it clicked in my head. I now think
it has, and am looking forward to our next session in April to prove it to
myself
YourHorse
YourHorse magazine came to do a photo shoot too in March. We all had a lovely day posing for pictures and generally giggling! Beau of course was very well behaved. I am going to have to buy every issue of the mag now to see if my hand, or Beau's hooves have made it into print! Parker and Sardra really got into their roles - though it was not until a week later that we managed to fulfill the 'horse drinking' brief. We are officially the king and queens of hi-viz, so I am hopeful that our #glowmeansslow pic makes it into the pages of YourHorse soon
Ambitions
It has been one heck of a month – all about getting to
the side saddle show and not looking too daft!
Apart from the jumpies training to try and get me back from the CT
competition in one piece
Dressage: The main focus is STILL to get 70% in a prelim
test unaffiliated!
Posh dressage: Tracy to compete with Beau at Elementary – am looking
for classes…
Dressage again: Having discovered that BD are allowing Team Quest
members to compete affiliated at prelim – AND having coughed up for full
membership for 2017, I am now aiming for regional festivals at novice – though
I am not sure what’s involved in that yet. Mainly I'd like to end up at
the Veteran and Draught Championships again
Side saddle: An intro dressage test ridden wonky. Showing done – and we came 6th :D
Quadrille: Lots of theme ideas already bubbling away for 2017 –
and entries are opening on 31st March! EEK!
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