Dan Greenwood clinic

Another great clinic with Dan, just a shame that it was held outside as I would like to expose Grace to that ‘spooky indoor arena’ a little more. Dan helped me teach Grace to listen to my leg better, and not overreact when I ask for bend or any upward transition for that matter. Another successful lesson.

MOT time!

Grace has spent the last week having her annual health checks and MOTs! She had her teeth done, annual injections, saddle checks and a full MOT by the lovely Mark at Towcester Vets.

We also spent time with Grant Bazin, so that Grace could learn to be clipped without sedation! It's going to take some time and a lot of patience, but I definitely think it is worthwhile.

British Dressage debut!!!!!

Really beautiful autumn day for both mine and Grace’s BD debut, and I was most excited that I got to wear a stock for the first time in my life! Grace looked super smart and I spent most of the day grinning for no apparent reason. First test reminded me how spooky Grace can find the indoor arena’s at Bury Farm, but this wasn’t helped by a lorry loading up the other side of the back wall as we performed our canter transition. The judge wrote ‘well sat’ on my test sheet, which said it all really.

Still beaming though, I rode the second test even better and Grace was much more relaxed. I was absolutely thrilled to learn that we scored 68% and came second overall – my first real prize money was spent on treats for Grace, and a bottle of wine for me!

Dan Greenwood clinic

Grace gave me a fantastic feel today, we worked on canter transitions and straightness with lots of counter-canter. I love this mare! So excited about our first BD debut tomorrow, not sure I'll sleep at all!

Dressage debut at Addington

This weekend Grace and I officially ended our 'getting to know each other' period and started our busy schedule of Winter events. On Saturday we boxed Grace up surprisingly quietly and headed off in the Autumnal sunshine to Addington Manor Equestrian Centre. Our first test was Prelim 13, and after a mistake on the first element (oops!) I couldn’t relax and clearly passed my tension through my seat to Grace. She decided that the judges and arena markers were out to get her, and that the boundary of the ménage was actually a show jump in disguise, after which she proceeded to try and jump out in a break for freedom! Not a successful test, and entirely my fault... but luckily I had a 20 minute ‘cool down’ period to collect my thoughts.  

Entering the arena for Prelim 7, both Grace and I were in a much more relaxed frame of mind. The test ran brilliantly, I couldn’t help myself from grinning much of the way through. The only mishap was when Grace locked onto the edge of the arena again... definitely going to have to try and solve that one! As we left the arena I felt amazing, even more so when I realised that we had scored 65%, and got an incredible 9/10 for our canter work - what a fantastic mare! With this score, and a placing of 3rd overall in a class of 29 competitors, we have qualified for the Addington Winter Championships on 10th April 2010. Our first competitive outing together, our first rosette and our first championship qualification – all in one go. A brilliant start to our partnership!  Huge thanks to my partner Craig for successfully rebuilding the gearbox on the Landy with just 48 hours to go so that he could still towe us, and to my Dad for calling the tests for me, and for putting up with my mood after Prelim 13! Bring on next weekend...

 

All about Sacramenta Z

My seven year old mare Sacramenta Z (Grace) was sold to us by the lovely Mark Forrest of MB Equestrian, who has given her a really good basic education through her early years. I have owned her for just over one year now, and although she has proven very difficult to master, we've had some great fun over the past few months.

Having had a relaxing summer with some promising training outings and lots of hacking and fun, we are now developing a very successful working partnership together. I have my sights set on some unaffiliated championships, various training activities and some debut British Dressage outings over the coming winter months.

Grace loves to be busy and challenged, and is a great character on our yard. She can often be found escaping from her stable, standing on buckets, throwing carrots at passers by, tipping over full wheelbarrows and generally destroying anything that looks like it could provide some entertainment!



Some background information...

Grace is by the legendary Sandro Z (more information on the bloodline here). Her full brother Sandro Hit (pictured left), is a hugely successful dressage stallion, so we hope Grace will go far. The Sandro Z progeny are described as having "very good temperaments, keen, energetic dispositions, often rather hot", which describes Grace very well!

Some pictures of Grace at home this summer...