We did it! Our first competition

So we finally did it and went to our first competition. All I can say is that it was fabulous and I am totally hooked again. I have already booked us in for our first "official" British Eventing one day event in July - just have to work on improving the keeness of our groom (otherwise known as Mark :)

The competition was just a small 2ft6 cross country class but it was mainly to see how Sam (and I!) got on. As I had expected Sam got very very excited as soon as we arrived as he thought he was going racing. He calmed down a bit one we were underway but you can tell from the photos that he was often too busy staring at the crowd to really concentrate on the jumping! Nonetheless we went clear but I'm not sure if we got placed as I couldn't be bothered to wait around for the (literally) hundreds of other entrants to finish.

Photos are all taken by Mark (who makes a much better and willing photographer than he does groom). I will put up the professional ones once they finally get loaded onto their website.

At the start and feeling very nervous ...

Coming up the hill following fence 2 - it doesn't look it but I was SO happy at this point to be out competing again :)

Jumping fence 3 - even though we practice over pre-novice fences at home (3ft+) he still dangles his little legs sometimes as the photo shows. Think I need to aim for bigger fences in our next competition

Getting into the swing of things half way through

And finally showing just how focused I was on some of the trickier fences (!) - coming towards a bank with a double on top

Plan is to go to a British Eventing tri zone training event in July and then an Intro in September. Can't wait!

We LOVE cross country!

Now that the jumping is getting better Sam and I have started doing some cross country schooling. Photos are from our second attempt and all I can say is that I had forgotten how much I LOVE cross country! Sam is still a bit spooky and he can dangle his little legs when he gets too quick (which can get a bit hairy over the gappy fences) but you can see from the photos that he loves it as much as me. We have our fist competition next weekend so I will add photos from that - we will be jumping tiny tiny but I thought it was best to start him off small at his first competition so that he can gain some confidence. Its all such FUN :)

Sam pretty keen to start ...

First time through water (bless him)

Tiger trap into sunken road - he dangled a leg and it got a little hairy (see next photo) ...

... Clinging on after nearly hitting the floor!

Nice little pop for the last one

And I mean upwards!

Sam and I are on a real roll now with the jumping - although I am no way near as brave as I was as a teenager as yet the weekly jumping is definately improving my nerves! I managed to drag Mark up to the stables last weekend (his third time ever) and he kindly took some more photos of me practising (above & below). The main improvement is that I put my stirrups up a couple of holes (amazing how that helps!) but I really think we are starting to get better. A couple of days later I had another jump lesson (we are on 1 a week now) and Lucy had us jumping up to 3ft6. I know its not Hickstead yet but I am so pleased with how it is all going.

This week we are having two lessons (me, keen?) - 1 with Lucy as usual on Sunday but also 1 on Friday with a man called Mark Haywood. Lucy recommended him and I am going for two reasons - 1) we will be travelling to Amersham for the training so it will be good for Sam to travel and then jump to see how over excited he gets and 2) he used to be the head of training for the Royal Cavalry. How cool is that :) So I will let you know how we get on.

Onwards & Upwards

You have been warned before you read this entry that I have been reading Chapter 2 of my book “Think to Win”. It’s all about speaking aloud what you want and banishing negative statements. So if this sounds a little American to you probably best to skip this section :)

Since the New Year Sam and I have started to seriously focus on our jumping. We are having a jumping lesson every week and I am starting to remember how much I LOVE it! The first couple of lessons I was still terrified about jumping anything “big” i.e. higher than 2ft9 (how embarrassing) but that fear is beginning to recede and now I am much more focused on improving mine and Sam’s technique. This was perfectly illustrated in my lesson last week (where all the photos come from) where it turned out that the jump at the end of the grid was the largest Lucy has had us jump (3ft3) and I didn’t even notice!

The areas that are our biggest challenges and which I am therefore every focused on improving (this is the positive talk I warned you about …) are:

Sam - is getting much braver and keener to jump everything and not run out. He is very fast still going into the fences but this is partly his own natural stride i.e. bloody quick and so I need to learn to work with it. Sam just needs more and more practice so that he makes a better shape over the fences and doesn’t dangle his little legs at the front (very green – bless him :) I also need to work on making the canter bouncier and more contained as we come into the fence. This will of course help him with greater propulsion to get us over the fences.

Sam dangling his little legs (over the big fence)

Janey illustrating the size of the fence (slight poetic licence involved …)

Sam illustrating how much he likes jumping & how fast we go

Me - I also have my challenges that I am going to be working on. As you can imagine, after not jumping regularly since I was a teenager, I am a little rusty and my position leaves a lot to be desired. Using the combined minds of the H&H forum I have come up with a list of areas that I am going to focus on in our next lesson and going forwards. I will provide updates to let you know how we are getting on with the various improvements!

Focus areas to achieve the perfect(ish) jumping position

A brief update (well it started brief)

A quick update on the general state of Samuel and I (well mainly Samuel …):

1) He has had a haircut as seen in the photos below. I tried him with a blanket clip to start with but because he gets so excited about jumping, schooling, hacking, life in general … I decided to go the whole hog and give him a hunter clip. Snazzy don’t you think!

2) I have thrown away the jumper beautifully modelled in the photo. Mark said I looked like a cast member of the Archers and a couple of friends pointed out that horizontal stripes are never a good look. Shame really as I rather liked the old thing but I will admit that I won’t be breaking any hearts in that outfit.

3) Sam’s two large sarcoids have now dropped off. Remarkably cleanly in the end as you wouldn’t even really know they have been there. So we are now just waiting on the chemo cream to turn up from the nice man at Liverpool University. Hopefully once that arrives it will mean we can get rid of the horrible things once and for all. But he doesn’t seem to be feeling any the worse for them. In fact now he is back in at nights (due to the cold weather and him being a bit soft) he has gone a little mad just like he did last winter, which brings us on to the final update …

4) We continue on with our showjumping lessons although (thankfully) no recent photographic evidence. The jumps still remain pretty small as we need to work on the technique applied. Our current technique is attempt 1 – Sinead overreacts and throws herself up Sams neck before he has even thought about jumping the jump, then attempt 2 – Sinead waits and Sam overreacts, remembers he is a racehorse and hurls us at the fence, followed by attempt 3 which is when we usually make a pretty good job of it as we both remember why we are there but ruined by attempt 4 where Sam gets a bit complacent and crashes through the fence rather than over it. He did that in our lesson last week and I have to say I saw my life flash before my eyes! He smashed into the fence and fell forwards – I clung on round his neck like a limpet (my teacher’s words) and he (totally freaked out) then galloped towards the school fence with me still round his neck. Thankfully though through the will of either God, me or Sam (not sure which) he changed his mind at the last minute and stopped. Even my teacher said she thought I was a gonner for a second. Oh well I suppose these things remind me I am alive (or whatever the naff phrase is) …

So that’s it. Service continues as normal in the world of Sam and Sinead.

Blurck, the vet was right!

Just to say that you should all count yourselves lucky that it has been too dark recently by the time I get to the stables to take an update picture of Sam's ringed sarcoids. The large one has started to burst through (see below for the cause of this) and is now all white (which is weird as I would have thought a tumour would be black), and oozing and generally pretty gross. But at least it means it should hopefully drop off soon. Haven't heard back from the professor in Liverpool - for the cream - but the vet said to give him and his team a week or two.

Sarcoids & Skiing: The Sequel

Blimey, well where to start with the latest update of the saga that is becoming the Sinead and Sam partnership!

First off – the Sinead half of the calamitous pair! For those that have read all of this blog (and I am sure I should create some kind of medal for you) you will know that when I first got Sam I was recovering from my first operation to rebuild my knee following a nasty ski accident. Since then I had a second operation six or so months later and had hoped that that was that. But seeing as this is me this was unfortunately not the case. Early summer my physiotherapist noticed that I had a funny lump that had developed to the side of my knee. After much prodding (which was bloody painful) she realised that one of the screws that had been put into my knee was actually sticking out slightly. Very Frankenstein! As a screw poking out your knee never helps much with getting the old riding boots on it was decided I needed another operation to whip it out. So two weeks ago I went under the knife again (although sadly this time with no morphine) and had the offending piece of metal taken out. After one or two abortive attempts to restart riding ASAP I have realised that my body doesn’t recover as quickly as I would like so I am taking another week off in order to let the whole thing heal. But it turns out that the delay works well with same because …

His sarcoids have gone into overdrive – one suddenly got much larger and a new one has grown between his legs (see lovely photo below).


So I had the vet out this morning and she says that they are all nodular sarcoids although one may be semi occult (have a look at this website for explanations - http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/sarcoid/). She has ringed the two larger lumps which basically entails putting a tight rubber band round it to stop the blood supply. This means the thing will ultimately pop out – you really don’t want me to go into detail on this one as the vet was pretty graphic and it is pretty gross (blurck). This approach gets rid of the majority of the mass and then we need to use a chemotherapy cream that will hopefully get rid of the rest of the horrible things. I have sent off my application to a professor at Liverpool University who has developed the cream and it should be on its way in a couple of weeks. The professor is the UK expert on sarcoids and the cream his team develops (different formulations depending on the circumstances) are the best solution that exists at the moment to sort out sarcoids. It seems that no one, not even the Liverpool team, know precisely what causes sarcoids – hence the cream is the best option but is not 100% effective. So fingers crossed. Sam is going to take the week off as well to get used to the elastic bands and he already seems to be getting into the swing of eat, sleep, eat, sleep. Although come to think of it my regime is pretty similar, just with a whole load of work in the middle!

Sam's developing drug problem

Well I got the results back from the vet who says they are simple nodular sarcoids which means that they are not potentially cancerous. So he told me to keep an eye on them (which does get some funny looks when I am peering up between Sam's legs at the stables!) and to contact them again if any more turn up. This kind of sarcoid is quite common in horses so hopefully all should be ok.

Anna the physio came as well and it seems that everything is not quite so sunny with Sam's back - actually to be more specific his back legs especially his near hind. Turns out that the years of racing mean his legs have weakened and he is getting the start of an equine version of arthritis i.e. a bit gammy. This has meant that he drags his near hind toe when he trots (which I as a bad mummy had not noticed) as he has difficulties lifting the back legs up fully and also explains the bad back as his back is having to make up for the stiffness. So the plan is to work more on building up his back using lots of lunge work and also to get him onto a bute substitute to see if the pain killing effect will make a difference. So have been onto Frogpool Manor (v good website) and put in my order for Net-Tex Substi-Bute (catchy name no?). I will start Sam on it for a week and see if it does indeed make any difference - the lady at the shop says many racehorse trainers swear by it so we shall see.

By the way in case anyone has forgotten that I am still riding Sam during all these various minor calamities I will take my new camera to the stables at the weekend and will put some more photos up.

Stress & Sarcoids

There seems to be a bit of a theme with me remembering to update this blog. As is evident I have not put anything up here for a while and it has been yet more problems with Samuel that have triggered me to add something. In the last couple of days he has managed to a) cut his leg and get it infected, b) have his back go again and c) and most worrying, develop three sarcoids in his groin area. The leg was quite blown up until the middle of this week but when I checked him yesterday that seems to have gone down so fingers crossed it is sorted. Anna the lovely physio is coming to see him next week for his back, which just leaves the horrible great lumps round his nether regions :( I rang the vets this morning to request a vet go out ASAP to check him over - as ever I got little joy as they are busy blah blah blah. But after reringing and emphasising just how stressed I am the vet should be going to see him in an hour or so. So I am sat at my desk at work stressing and waiting for the results to come back. From reading my BHS Veterinary Manual and various websites I am not sure if I am over reacting of if I really should start worrying. Not good at all. Will come back once I know what the initial answer is...

Taken a bit of a bashing

That will be poor old Sam, rather than me. I was travelling last week and so Sam went back onto full livery. When I got back I discovered on brushing his back left leg that it was very badly swollen from the hock downwards and was covered in lacerations. After the shock had worn off I was a little annoyed to realise that no one had bothered to ring me and let me know that Sam had hurt himself. So after finding the nearest groom I asked what had happened to him and was informed that he had had a bit of a run in with the post and rail fence in his field. No one is quite sure what he was up to but the fence was trashed so the assumption is that he was showing off to his field mate got his leg stuck in the fence, fell and then damaged himself and the fence.

As my instructor was with me on the Sunday, we were supposed to be having a lesson, I got her opinion on him and after we trotted him up she agreed that it was superficial swelling and that he looked completely sound. So we had a mini lesson, just walking and trotting and we did find that at the end the swelling and heat had gone down quite alot (it probably swelled up from him standing in his stable overnight). I went to see him again last night and rode him in the school in just walk and trot and the swelling seems to be getting better. So hopefully he will be as right as rain tomorrow when I go back for my lesson. Only thing left to do now is to speak to the lady that runs the livery yard to make sure someone calls me if this kind of thing ever happens again!

A belated New Year start ...

Strange looking bit - explanation below!

The first couple of months of the new year have been hectic to say the least - hence I have not had a chance to blather away to the blogosphere (is that what its called??) as much as I would like. I went away for Christmas and NY and then what with work being very busy, not to mention a number of sunny trips away (business of course) I have hardly had a chance to ride dear Sam let alone prattle on about him on this blog. But courtesy of reductions in my company’s travel budget, plus getting on top of much of the work I am now back on an even keel riding wise and shall hopefully be able to keep this thing more up to date.

So excuses aside back to the subject that this whole thing is supposed to be about i.e. Samuel Bojangles (my new name for him as I think it is cooler than Torpica :) Leaving aside the fact that I have not been able to ride very much and his turn out has been much reduced (due to all the rain) Sam’s current behaviour can be summed up in two words – bolshy teenager! Honestly, I do not know what has got into him – as you can see from the October photos below we were really starting to get somewhere in terms of general control and specifically how well he was going in the school. Since the new year all that seems to have gone out the window and I am back to being thrown around the school accompanied by much snorting, cantering sideways and generally rude rude rude behaviour. His other new trick is to grab the bit and then snatch his head down very quickly in order to unseat me and then he naffs off. Not very helpful when you are trying to get him to understand the finer details of shoulder in and, to be honest, just trotting at a sensible speed. So being me I am not taking any of this lying down and so I have begun my campaign plan to regain the slightly better behaved beasty I had up until the end of last year.

Step 1 in the campaign has been to get the physio out again just to make sure that he is completely sound. I am more than happy to spend my time in the school swearing at the little bugger but I just want to make sure I won’t land up feeling guilty about it if I then find out he isn’t 100% sound. Anyway, physio came out on Wednesday and he is all ok back wise although a little tight in the neck. To be honest though I think that is completely self afflicted from his other new habit which is to fling his head up and shake his head manically when he doesn’t want to do something …

So on to steps 2, 3 and 4. Step 2 is to get the dentist out as his teeth are due anyway. So that will make sure that none of this behaviour is linked to having sharp teeth causing him a problem. I don’t think this will be the case as he usually has good teeth but always better to check I suppose. So that brings us to steps 3 and 4 which are based on the assumption that he is just being a nuisance because he is not being ridden so much plus he isn’t out all the time so he can’t let off so much steam. Step 3 is to stop being so lazy on my side and thinking up feeble excuses why I can’t go for a ride when I know damn well that the real reason is that I can’t be bothered to drive all the way out to Windsor in the dark and the rain. I am now planning my visits to Sam each week to try and ride him at least 4 times and am putting them in my diary so that I feel that they are definite arrangements rather than something I can pull out of at the last minute. Life would be so much simpler if I actually lived anywhere near his bloody stables, oh well …
And so to step 4 which I am most excited about – and my instructor is bound to laugh at. I spent most of my lunch breaks this week on the H&H forum and other favourite sites looking for advice on bits for horses that are strong and bolshy and get up to the kind of antics he is at the moment. After much looking around and talking to various people I have come across a brand new bit just introduced in this country – the rather dubiously names Pee Wee bit! It is designed for horses that fight against the bit and aims to basically win the horse over by being kind and direct rather than jamming some horrible torture contraption in there. So I am sat at my desk at present waiting for the bit to turn up in the post so that hopefully I can try it out tomorrow in my lesson and find out what Sam and my instructor think of it. Will let you know how we get on.

Withdrawal symptoms

As usually happens at this time of year my life has got rather busy due to a) trying to get all my work done by the end of the year, b) Christmas parties and c) general socialising, shopping and good cheer. This has meant that I have not got to see my beloved big black monster as much as I would like (thats what comes when you live an hour away from the yard) and this week I have had to put him on full livery as I can't make it out to see him at all. Although I did see him on Sunday I am already missing him lots and so am spending my lunch breaks pouring over all the pictures of other people's horses on H&H in order to give myself some kind of equine fix. But the one good thing about being away from him is that it makes me all the more focused and determined to work harder next time I do get to ride. So stay tuned for more pictures of our jumping and dressage attempts when I get to go and see him again (hopefully with camera) next week.

Jumping photos - as promised

... well I never said it was going to be pretty! These are the photos from my second jumping lesson last night and as you can see we started off with a few issues around our technique i.e. Sam would gawk at the fence, stop and then suddenly cat leap it. My instructor was quite impressed that I managed to stay on but I think it was a natural instinct not to hit the floor from such a height!

Warming up


As is often the case with Sam and I though things got much better by the end of the session. My big issue (which was making Sam worse) was that I have not jumped for about 14 years so I am a bit of a wimp to say the least. This meant that when Sam fidgeted going in I started to panic and we just wound each other up (hence the cat leaps). My instructor came up with a great piece of advice which was - the rider is in charge of the lead in and exit from a fence (can't remember the technical terms) but the horse is in charge of the rest (unless you are John Whitaker). So she told me to sit like a mouse and just bring him in confidentaly with my legs i.e. stop fiddling with the steering as we came in. So my mantra as we come into the fence has changed from "God its big, God its big" to "I am a mouse, I am a mouse". And it seems to be working!

Must take my camera with me

Sam and I had our first jumping lesson on Wednesday and despite me being an utter wimp (well it has been 14 years since I jumped) he was fabulous. We started off with a trotting pole and one cross bar and my instructor slowly brought the second jump up. By the end of the session we were still coming in in trot (apparently it is much better for them in terms of training) and the jump had gone up to about 2"9. I know that isn't alot but when you haven't done it for so long and you are a bit of a chicken it seemed enormous! Anyway Samuel was fab and Lucy thinks he has the makings of a jumper because each time he ploughed a fence (steeplechasers are taught to go low and flat not neat and round :) he would then carefully place himself over it the next time. Apparently that is the sign of a good jumper ... so shall have to get my camera sorted for next week's escapades.

We are famous (well ish)

I know it is sad but I couldn't resist ... Sam and I have made it into the hallowed pages of Your Horse! I know it isn't H&H but its a start. For anyone interested it is this months edition (Issue 287). Mark says he is thinking of disowning me :)

Found some family history

After chatting with a fellow H&H forum member who also owns an ex racer from the same bloodlines as Sam, I thought I would have a look to see if any of his family were any good at racing (unlike him bless him).

So ... have discovered that his sire won the Coronation Cup ridden by Lester Piggot in 1983 (Be My Native). If that isn't impressive I don't know what is! I shall have to have words with Sam about living up to the family name albeit in the world of dressage (not sure what Lester would think).

Back and raring to go!

In case anyone missed me (anyone ...) I have been away for the last three weeks and just got back at the weekend. I was in Bali on holiday for two weeks, which was fabulous, and then one week working in Bangkok. So Sam went back into full livery and all the grooms fought over who was going to ride him. The point of letting you know I have been away (apart from making you jealous about going to Bali :) is to compare the difference between coming back this time and coming back the last time I was away (see below). I rode a couple of times earlier this week and then had a dressage lesson last night and the three weeks off does not seem to have caused any problems. Sam, when he was concentrating, went very well and I am still feeling very positive about how we are improving (instead of stressing about not being good enough like I did last time). Plus one of the grooms, Kerry who is very nice, came up and told me how well I was doing bringing on Sam which is always good to hear. So all in all things are looking pretty rosy. My instructor even suggested thinking about going to my first prelim dressage competition soon but I will have to have a think about that one. She says we can go "just for the experience" and not take it seriously but knowing me I will get all competitive when I get there and then make myself miserable when it all goes pear shaped. Will let you know what I decide...

Before I forget - stay tuned for some photos of true horsemanship that will be posted on here soon. Whilst in Bali I convinced my boyfriend to get on a horse for a beach ride (only the second time he has ever ridden). And bless his heart he not only did the whole ride unled (he said it made him look like a child!) but he also did a canter because as he put it "I'm not getting on a stupid horse again so I might as well get this cantering thing over and done with!". Amazing.

Hurrah! Physio has given all clear

Anna the excellent physio came back yesterday and has given Sam the all clear. HURRAH. Apparently he was looking much better than last time and so this has convinced her that the tightness is due to the years of racing (mentioned before) and not due to a major lameness issue in the leg. So she has given us the all clear to start riding properly again and says that he should be ok as long as I book in for six month checks so she can keep an eye on him. Sam will be pleased though - as ever he loved the attention and just melts when she starts pummeling him.

The proof is in the pudding!

Just to prove that the TFT therapy has had an impact - the picture below was taken at the weekend and is us cantering round the gallops. What makes this even more of an achievement is that on our last attempt before this one Sam lept sideways when he noticed a new paddling pool that has been put in by the track (if I was paranoid I would think someone had done it on purpose!). But instead of this putting me off it just made me all the more convinced that I can happily handle Sam when he plays up (hurrah :)

One step forward, one step back ...

With my new positive mental attitude (PMA for Shell types who love their acronymns) Sam and I have been going from strength to strength. We now have fun cantering on the gallops, schooling and molesting each other in the stable (have discovered if I scratch Sam under his neck he nibbles me on the head, it is very cute :) Plus Sam has a new friend who he loves dearly - they are complete opposites (see below) and it is very amusing to watch Sam tear round the field whilst the cob lollops along after him.





But (not meaning to be a smug pessimist) the good times have taken a bit of a bump, the fly has got into the ointment, etc. etc. I had my usual lesson last week and we found that no matter what was tried Sam was not willing to canter on the left lead (no matter what the rein). My instructor said that it would be worth getting a physio out just to check that there were no issues with his back. So yesterday a wonderful lady called Anna Johnson came round to give him the once over. She is the official physio for the British riding teams and so I was utterly star struck when she casually chatted about being at the last Olympics or sorting out William Fox-Pitts issues - rrrrr.

Sorry lost focus there. Anyway, she checked Sam out and came to the conclusion that he is very tight along his left rear side. This could be due to two things - 1) general wear and tear after years of racing or 2) he is lame in his left hind and this is showing in the muscles. So she treated the muscle tightness (with a very entertaining tool that made his bottom twitch) and will be coming back in two weeks. If he shows improvement then it is just wear and tear but if it is no better then the vet has to come out to do nerve blocks to work out where the lameness is. So fingers crossed he feels better in a fortnight.

Highs and Lows (part II)

Things have been a little hectic recently hence it has taken me a while to add anything new to the blog (although there is me assuming that people have been reading this thing in the first place!). Anyway, following from my last post my nerves and general stress about my hopelessness got worse and worse. As I said the book started to help but the real break through came through a combination of a wonderful woman called Jo Cooper and my ever brilliant instructor. I found out about Jo via the Horse & Hound forum when I posted a feeling sorry for myself note. She is a thoughtfield therapy practioner which involves tapping on acupressure points while focusing on worries in order to remove them. It sounds daft but the effect is incredible - for each worry you have to say from 0 to 10 how bad it made you feel (10 being the worst). Then you go through the tapping sequence and then say what the number is again. I found that a number would just swim into my view at the end of the tapping and it only took a couple of goes to come down to zero on most of my worries. I won't say that it has turned me into miss positive (will take a miracle for that) but it has stopped the downward spiral that had been happening where I worried that Sam would spook and then (not surprisingly) he would. He is still on his toes but now I feel much better about it and accept the fact that 99% of the time I can handle him fine whatever he does. This has also rubbed off on our cantering on the gallops - I now feel much better about it which means I am much more in control. It is certainly true what they say about positive mental attitude.

So the combination of Jo and my instructor being as positive as ever has meant that I am feeling really good about my riding at the moment and Sam and I seem much happier together. My big lesson out of all of this is the realisation that there will always be better riders than me but that it doesn't matter. Sam is my beasty and he is happy whatever we do as long as I keep giving him the carrots!

By the way, for those interested Jo's contact details and more info can be found at www.jo-cooper.com

Highs and lows - positive mental attitude

Well this week has been one of real highs and lows. I got back from my travels last Sunday and went straight to the stables to ride Sam. When I got there the three grooms who had been riding Sam immediately started telling me how wonderful he was, how easy to ride and how much fun they had taking him for a spin round the gallops. With all this ringing in my ears I went out on to the gallops and it was a complete nightmare. Sam got wound up which set me off, so with me getting more edgy our attempts at a quiet canter turned into a full on fight. So I came back into the yard feeling rather sorry for myself and convinced that I did not deserve to have lovely Sam as I was such a rubbish rider. Being me I then mulled over the whole thing all night and by the Monday morning was thoroughly miserable about my (lack of) riding ability and how Sam would be better off without me. Thankfully though salvation came in the form of a book I ordered ages ago from Amazon - Sport Psychology A Riders Handbook - that arrived on my desk that morning and helped turn my thinking round completely by the end of the week.

To be continued ...

The joy of ignorance

I am going away for two weeks tomorrow, which means that Sam has to go onto full livery – sad for me but the grooms at the stables can’t wait for another chance to ride him! Anyway, just thought I would take this opportunity for a little gratuitous babbling about Samuel, you have been warned …

I spent much of yesterday down at the stables (in the shade thankfully given the heat) tarting up Sam and generally giving him a (late) Spring clean – pulling his tail, giving him a bath, etc. He really is the most gentle and loving horse when he is in the stable as opposed to the good impression of a slightly unhinged nutter when we go riding. My new favourite thing that I have learnt is that if I scratch him under his neck (which he loves) he will start to gently nibble me on the top of my head :) I am sure he just thinks I am some useful small (and slightly unattractive) pony that is giving him a groom but it makes me so happy!

That’s it really – a rather pointless post but just had to share what a lovely little monster he is. All these people that go on about only “experts” and “professionals” should take on ex-racehorses obviously sometimes forget the power of just being a gentle rider and making friends with your hoss. I am sure it will take us longer than some expert to reschool him to an eventer but seeing as both of us are very happy (admittedly that is my opinion for Sam!), I don’t see the problem.

Spot the Difference (Lesson no. 6)

I know, I know his head carriage is still too high in the second picture BUT if you compare this to the pictures from our first lesson down below you will see the difference is pretty good. Although we still have the odd tantrum and attempts for him to take control we are heading in the right direction. The tricky thing is just keeping him calm and keeping his focus. He has the concentration span of a small gnat and anything is more interesting to him than my attempts at schooling! Anyway lack of attention aside I think we are getting better and I am learning even more than him about how to train a horse from scratch. My big new learning of this week was to rub / massage up his neck with one hand and then the other (without dropping the reins) when he starts to fight the contact. My instructor tells me this is because he gets himself all tense and wound up and so stroking his neck relaxes him back into a deeper outline. Picture below shows what she means and it really seems to work.

The other big success is that we now strike off on the right leg every time in right canter. Left canter is still proving a little elusive but I attach a picture below to show that he is at least vaguely collected - certainly an improvement on the wall of death (see entries below for explanation of this one!)

Bloody rain!

I am sure no one will believe me after being so forgetful for my last couple of lessons but I did remember my camera last week. However, as it never stopped raining all week round here we decided that the photos would be too miserable so didn't bother to take any. The one good thing about all the rain though is that Sam hates it (he is a bit soft that way) and so automatically tucks his head right in in an attempt to escape it! Makes his outline 100% better.

Looking outside of my window at work now though it seems the sun has finally come back so I will a) take my camera to my lesson this week and b) get my instructor to take some photos to see if we have improved any. I am on a bit of a roll this week when it comes to arranging lessons - I found another instructor from an article in Your Horse who specialises in training riders in how to ride at speed safely (very good idea if you ask me - I attach a link to his site below which explains it all better). As he is also an ex-jockey he is going to show me what the correct aids for "good greif this is way too fast Samuel, slow down!" are. Unfortunately I only learnt that the racing aid for go faster is to pull the reins when Sam took off with me on a hack. But you live and learn.

http://www.msjump.co.uk/

One small step

I am sure things will not continue to run so smoothly on our path to elementary dressage but at the moment each lesson seems to be a hundred times better than the last! I had my third lesson last night and Sam was so good I could have cried – bless his cotton socks. Even though he still thinks the whole thing is a bit beneath him he picks everything up so quickly that when he finally does decide to co-operate the difference is brilliant. For at least a quarter of the time last night he was beautifully connected and moved in a lovely outline. Plus our major achievement was that he cantered on the right lead for both reins (albeit with at least ten attempts required on the left leg but lets not get into details)! What seems to be making the big difference is that my instructor is so good at explaining why I need to use certain aids and when that it is beginning to seriously improve my riding. This is probably the first time in fifteen years that my riding has gone up a level so there is hope for us both yet.

I will try and remember my camera for next week’s lesson so that I can (hopefully) show the improvements.

The course of true eventing never did run smooth (with apologies to Shakespeare!)

This week has certainly been one of highs and lows. To help Sam put some weight on (he was very skinny when we moved down from Cheshire) I had his levels of hard feed upped. The combination of this and all the spring grass that grows down South and it all went to his head. After two exciting (to say the least) hacks last weekend the inevitable happened and I fell off Sam for the first time. Wasn't a particularly dramatic fall - we went for a trot round the gallops at the yard and he spooked at a scary looking hedge. As I wasn't really concentrating I suddenly found myself trotting in mid air. I had that awful feeling of knowing you are about to hit the ground and then I dropped like a sack of spuds (no elegantly bouncing like I used to!). Sam the weasel promptly galloped off to see his mates without even a backward glance to see if I was still breathing. Ho hum, I think we have much further to go on the whole bonding thing. Thankfully some kind soul caught him for me though so no harm was done to me or him but it was still a bit of a shock the first fall and everything (well if you are as pathetic as me anyway).

Because of my issues with my knee I was a bit nervous about causing myself further damage as a result of the fall so I did not ride until Thursday so I could check myself out with the physio (who I was seeing anyway on the Thursday morning - I am not that hysterical!). After much shaking her head about my propensity for accidents she said all was well which meant I could do my dressage lesson that evening with my instructor that had been booked the previous week. Sad to admit I know but I did feel a little nervous just before the lesson (not helped by being stuck in traffic for an hour and a half to get there). Anyway, Sam was an absolute dream and he seems to be slowly learning what the whole idea of schooling and coming down onto the bit is (although he is not getting any better as yet about paying attention). I finished the lesson on a real high after (for the first time) doing canter circles with him on the right leg!! Doesn't sounds a lot but when you have only done the disjointed wall of death in the school before then it means a huge amount. The instructor and I both agreed it was a shame I hadn't brought my camera to show the improvement but she has agreed that from now on she will happily take photos (so my boyfriend is let off the job he is none too keen on). Next lesson is next week so I will try and get some photos up of that.

Lesson one done, one million to go ...

Well I had my first schooling lesson with the new instructor I found and the whole thing can be summed up in two statements - 1) the new teacher is brilliant and 2) Sam and I have a very long way to go!

To cover the instructor first - it turns out I made an inspired choice when I picked her details from the BHS website. She is an advanced eventer and most of her horses are ex-racehorses so she knows exactly where Sam and I are coming from and (more importantly) where we are trying to get to. She has a brilliant approach to thoroughbreds / ex-racers which is to treat them like small children. Her opinion is that as they are smarter and sharper than the average horse you have to respond to them the same way you would a small person. So in a nutshell ... when they behave well you praise lavishly, but when they throw a tantrum you don't respond (although this was easier said than done when Sam threw a fit in a corner of the school and tried to jump the fence!). The focus is all on giving them solid boundaries to work with - she believes when they play up it is usually because they lack confidence so giving them boundaries gives them this confidence to work with you.

With regards to the lesson itself - Sam played the ex-racer role fully and spent most of the first half throwing tantrums and generally making it clear that the whole thing was totally beneath him. You can see from the photos below he wasn't amused!

However, after much persaverance by the instructor and much ignoring of being hurled around the school by me we did start to get somewhere. The teacher worked us for a while with her holding the reins to show him how he should be holding his head (you can see this below). By the end of the lesson he seemed to have come round to what we were after and dropped his head quite significantly - indeed he looked a different horse. I would have liked to have shown you the result by the end but sadly my official photographer (boyfriend) got bored by half way through the lesson and went home! I may have to find someone slightly more willing for my next lesson (which is next week)...

Favourite Links

As promised - find below the links to my two favourite websites. These two sites can keep you entertained for hours and you will be amazed how knowledgable and helpful some of the people are on the sites.

http://www.horse-directory.co.uk/exracers.htm

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums

The first steps to glory (we hope!)

Now that I have caught up with myself time wise i.e. I am now writing this in the present if that makes sense, rather than taking you through the past, I can let you know the plan. As you know (if you have trawled through the rest of my blatherings) the status so far is:

1) One ex steeplechaser bit knackered but now completely sound
2) One rider still pretty knackered but too bloody minded to let that get in the way
3) A plan to turn said horse and rider into an eventing partnership even though the horse has never been near a school and the rider has never tried to retrain a horse before!

So, the obvious next step is to find Sam and I a very patient trainer who is willing to help him and I build up our schooling right from the very basics. To put the need for “basics” into perspective, Sam and I can now just about canter round the school but friends have referred to the spectacle as the “wall of death” as it is pretty hairy to watch. The long and short being we need A LOT of help.
As the last time I looked for a trainer I was still at Pony Club and based in darkest Somerset I didn’t have any contacts that I could call on. Plus my friends are about as horsey as my boyfriend i.e. not sure which end to pat and so they weren’t much help either. This is when the combined forces of the BHS website, the Horse & Hound forum and the ex racers forum came into their own to help me find suitable candidates. For those who have never been onto the Horse & Hound or ex racers forum I recommend them both highly. I have been known to avoid an entire morning’s work courtesy of these wonderful sites! In my next blog I will include links to both so that others can share in their wonder…

The move South Dec 2005 to April 2006

I'm not keen to go into details on this site as to where Sam and I hang out, as you never know who reads these things (although that’s me wishfully thinking that anyone will read this site!). Anyway, without mentioning specific locations I had my initial drunken meeting with Sam up in Cheshire where he was based and I had just moved to. My move up there was with work and meeting and taking on Sam, to be honest, was my one saving grace as I am a southern girl through and through and missed my family and friends far too much being stuck up North. Anyway, being at the other end of England did finally become too much and so after much negotiation in my company it was finally agreed that I could move back to the London office which of course meant finding a new home down South for Sam.

After ignoring my boyfriend's suggestion that we "trade Dobbin in at the glue factory" I started my search for a new home for Sam in January 2006. Although I was moving back to central London I was keen that Sam remain able to spend most of his time kicking his heels in a field (I personally think it is cruel to keep a horse stable 24/7). So from January to March most weekends were spent trawling round the (many) livery yards that circle London trying to find a suitable place for him. I eventually found a perfect place that has many ex racehorses, its own gallops and is surrounded by lovely hacking countryside.

What I don’t think I mentioned earlier is that by the end of 2005 Sam was completely sound and so I had started first lunging and long-reining him and then moved onto riding by January 2006. Even though he has never been schooled in his life (just lots of moving fast in one direction!) he has very good natural paces and so as soon as I got on his back my plans went up a notch and my new aim is to start eventing him – although only small one day events no plans for Badminton or anything! As they say though “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and although he moves well that is only in straight lines and so it is going to take a lot of work to get to the stage of even staying in a dressage ring let alone looking like we know what we are doing. Anyway, with Sam moved in to his new home at the end of April our quest to become an event team had now begun in earnest...

Sam - a brief history

I thought some (if anyone ever looks at this site!) might be interested in Sam's past life in terms of what kind of race horse he was and (the million dollar question) was he any good. I can clear this one up quickly now without you even having to look at his form below. He was, bless his heart, pretty hopeless. He has impecable breeding and went to a top trainer but I think his endless desire to know what is going on meant that he was too busy checking out the other horses and the crowd to ever focus on winning anything. So there you go, never a great racer but still worth his weight in gold (sorry got a bit emotional then :)

http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/search_results.sd?searchtext=Torpica&searchtype=Horse&start_no=1

The road to recovery June to October 2005

In case you read the last post and thought "good grief this story is naff" I warn you it gets even more Disney! What I didn't mention earlier was that when I went out to pat the horses I did it on crutches as I had just got over the first of two operations to rebuild my knee after trashing it skiing (badly) earlier that year. So not only was I now the owner of a knackered racehorse that may never be sound again but I was in almost as bad shape as him! Anyway, after much discussion with the vet (about Sam rather than me) and a long rest in the field for him, and one more operation then rest for me we were both finally well enough to see if we would work as a riding partnership by October of 2005.

The Beginning - June 2005

Although I am supposed to be a sensible type the means by why I landed up with Sam are a little random to say the least! Whilst looking for a house up north I went to lunch with some friends who live on a racing yard. After a quite boozy meal I thought I would stagger out and go and pat some horses. All of them were out in the field apart from one very black very bored looking beast who caught my eye immediately. After fussing over him for a couple of minutes the owner of the yard appeared and told me that Sam (the big black beast) was in the stable because he had fallen at his last race the previous week (he was a steeplechaser) and as he could no longer race they just wanted to find him a good home. (Almost) without thinking I offered to take him there and then and after a brief vet check (can't do a full one with a very lame horse) and handing over the same amount of money I now spend each month on livery (!) I was the proud new owner of an ex-racehorse!

See if this works ...

Hello to anyone who has stumbled across this site! I thought as people seem to fall in love with Sam all the time that I would create a blog for him so that his fans can keep up with how he is doing. Plus it is a good way to avoid work for a couple of minutes a day. I will start adding notes as to how he is doing, how the (attempts) to turn us into a dressage partnership are going and I will add pictures as and when I get round to taking them.