‘The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft awry ’. Or so it seems when it comes to my newsletter. I have sat down several times to make a start and have either been distracted and gone to do something else or as the say I got writers block. Anyhow, here I am so hope it will be worth the wait.
It has been the longest winter I have known for some considerable years. Every part of the country was hit by snow, frost, high winds and much rain. None of these things are a great deal of help to a show jumping coach, especially when the said coach does not have the luxury of an indoor school, and even if I had not too many of my clients were able to keep their horses in shape to jump them. I think in all we had three false starts with a couple of tantalizing warm sunny days just to be kicked in the teeth by Mother Nature.
One of the more interesting trips was to Scotland. I had a very busy clinic over five days in Perth, Fife, Pitlochry and Aberdeen. It got pretty well whittled down and a lot of sitting about looking at a blank wall or watching day time television made me pretty near stir crazy. Everything comes to an end and so did the ice and snow, unfortunately it was followed up pretty quickly by very high winds and constant rain. Everyone’s sense of humour has a limit and I must confess that mine was reaching that limit. Even being brought up in
Liverpool, the home of comedy, where they say you have to be a comedian to live there, did not help too much but I did rally eventually and now things are pretty well back to its normal exciting self.
The clinics at Twin Oaks in Mursley are going well, it is a great venue and everyone seems to go home with a positive attitude and I hope something to work with. I have one coming up on the 18th and 19th of May which is full up and all we need now is a sunny weekend to help everyone have a great time.
Some of the clinics at Littleton Manor in Surrey have been a bit depleted of late but I am pretty sure that they will pick up again. Parwood in Surrey is getting busier every time we visit and I know I am very lucky to be able to conduct my clinics in such great venues, the going is always first class and the hosting is first class. Many thanks to Matt and Kate at Littleton and to Sarah at Parwood.
North Yorkshire is a great place to teach and Northallerton Equestrian Centre is a wonderful venue. I am trying a new venture up there at the end of the month, on the 23rd-24th-25th May I am doing a three day intensive course. We cover as much as possible with each group riding two sessions a day, I ½ hours in the morning and 1 ½ hours in the afternoon. I cover as much as possible, work on the flat for jumpers, pole work, gymnastic jumping, related distances, combinations and on the last day in the afternoon we build a course, do a course walk and talk then all of the riders have the opportunity to ride the course at least twice then immediate feedback from the coach (me). This format has been very successful in the past and they do seem very popular. I still have a couple of spaces left so if any-one would like to join us please contact myself 07710099210 or Georgina at Northallerton, georgina@northallertonequestriancentre.com The two day clinics in Yorkshire are a great success with Laura Jennings doing her job really well, she is aconstant star.
Scotland is always a great place to teach, the weather is err, variable, but the people are constant. Great humour and great enthusiasm makes it well worth the long trip. I teach in Perth, Fife, Pitlochry, Inverness (we conduct the three day intensives here at Dark Deer Park) and Aberdeen. Aberdeen is a new venue and Davey is the man to contact, 07543435215.
I recently enjoyed the results of a frosty snowy winter by driving over the deepest pot holes I have ever seen, not seen in time I regret to say and two blown tyres later I said oh bother what a shame…! I did thank my recently renewed AA membership who came out pretty quick and a couple of hours later, my bank account a lot lighter to the tune of two Pirelli tyres and a couple of missed lessons we set off again. I must say that sometimes in life you do meet remarkably nice people. One lady, opposite where my tyres died came out immediately with the offer of a “nice cup of tea”, and another neighbour offered me his spare wheel to get me to the tyre fitter. I have never seen these people in my life but they were there straight away to lend a helping hand. They also made sure that Aileen was ok whilst I went of with my friendly AA man. Speaking of Aileen, I had the car up on the jack in my opinion as safe as houses. Aileen said leave the wheel on until Mr AA came along but I knew better and said it would save time if I put the spare on the front and took the flat tyre off the back. All was fine until a bloody great milk tanker came rumbling along and yes, you guessed it, plonk!!! The jack fell sideways and the rim of the wheel hit the tarmac, S—T. Luckily for me the only thing that was damaged was my manly pride and my ear drums, sorry Aileen, you were right, AGAIN.
Mr AA has featured quite a lot in my life of late. I was a long way away when I got the plaintive phone call from my beloved telling me she had locked her keys in the car. I was about 175 miles away from home. Call the AA I said, so she did. Sorry madam, they said, your AA subscription expired last month, whoopee! So lots of back and forth phone calls renewed the subs and got the AA man with the help of a coat hanger got the car opened.
Guess what I did in New York with my rental car? Yup, I locked the keys in it, or at least, I left the keys in it and it locked as I shut the door. “Sorry sir”, they said, “Your fault and it will cost $55.00 to get it sorted”. This ridiculous condescending lady on the other end of the phone then proceeded to give me a lecture on how it is always safe to take the keys out of the car before closing the door, “Oh really” said I “Thank you so much”, why do silly young girls in offices always talk to you like you are a complete Muppet?
Speaking of New York I had a great trip over there last month. I spent ten days in all and visited five different barns (yards) altogether. My old friends Tom and Maddie Duggan hosted the first couple of days. Always great fun with a bunch of “YeeHaa” kids galloping around a bit like a Scottish Pony club. Then up to Albany where Eugenio my new friend hosted a very busy day so I hope that will be growing by the time I return in the Autumn. My next stop was in Millbrook and I had a couple of great lessons at Bonny Stedt’s place with my lunatic English friend Jo Blackmore, Jo runs marathons for pleasure??? Oh well I suppose someone has to, it takes me all my time to run to the toilet. Lisa Winkler in Millbrook had a couple of lessons for me as well. The last stop was in Westchester County where I spent three very hard working days with a minimum of 13 lessons and a maximum of 16 lessons, whew. Christine and Wayne Varella at Chickory Meadow always make my stay a great and profitable experience and Christine's mum and dad, Tom and Carol look after me in fine style, so thank you all.
The flight back home was horrendous. The flight was choker block full up and somehow the air is like breathing glue scented with sweat and bad breath. I could not sleep a wink so broke all the rules of long haul flying and took full advantage of the complimentary drinks trolley, has to be done. Aileen said I was grumpy when I got back, I can’t believe that, I am always bright and cheerful, especially after no sleep with someone breathing all over me for eight hours and a minor hang over, why on earth would I be grumpy?
Back home we had a small glimpse of summer weather, lasted about four days but felt great to have the sun on the back and the horses really enjoyed being out with no rugs.
My regular clients are all doing really well. Alice Dunstan, who rides at three and four star level has had a great season so far, as has Lydia Hannon, being placed in her first advanced, Georgina Wood, second in the Grass Roots 100 at Badminton. Stephanie O’Neal and Emily Ryder my young Scottish superstars, Laura Jennings and her sister Lucy Henson are going strong and a whole host of Yorkshire riders are all holding their own at every level. I am hoping to go to France next month to help Candy Crawford, that will be interesting being the usual ignorant no French speaking Brit’. I can say “Je ne parle pas Francais” and “Parlez vous Anglais”, but that’s about it.
My own riding has been sketchy to say the least. All three horses are going well but I am afraid the eight year old Cassie is on the transfer list as her owners can no longer afford to keep her. She is a wonderful mare, careful, scopey, brave, never stops and a pleasure to ride. If you are looking for a great mare to take on she certainly has 1.40 scope if not more. She is currently jumping up to 1.20cm with ease and is ready to go on. I sometimes ride three a day then no riding for a few days and so on but I am still enjoying every minute of it. I had a gallop this morning and it is so true what Winston Churchill once said “The best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse”.
A good single malt does something similar when I get home as well.
Just to finish. Check out www.straightforwardtraining.com or www.mysft.com it is a new venture with Katie Bowie and is a great idea. What happens is you go to the site and download your You Tube video of you riding your horse with a brief written description of your problem. I check out the video and give you an audio feedback, so in effect you get an online lesson. So far it has had great feedback take a look and give it a try.
That’s all for now and again I am sorry it has taken a while to get it all down. Please enjoy.
It has been the longest winter I have known for some considerable years. Every part of the country was hit by snow, frost, high winds and much rain. None of these things are a great deal of help to a show jumping coach, especially when the said coach does not have the luxury of an indoor school, and even if I had not too many of my clients were able to keep their horses in shape to jump them. I think in all we had three false starts with a couple of tantalizing warm sunny days just to be kicked in the teeth by Mother Nature.
One of the more interesting trips was to Scotland. I had a very busy clinic over five days in Perth, Fife, Pitlochry and Aberdeen. It got pretty well whittled down and a lot of sitting about looking at a blank wall or watching day time television made me pretty near stir crazy. Everything comes to an end and so did the ice and snow, unfortunately it was followed up pretty quickly by very high winds and constant rain. Everyone’s sense of humour has a limit and I must confess that mine was reaching that limit. Even being brought up in
Liverpool, the home of comedy, where they say you have to be a comedian to live there, did not help too much but I did rally eventually and now things are pretty well back to its normal exciting self.
The clinics at Twin Oaks in Mursley are going well, it is a great venue and everyone seems to go home with a positive attitude and I hope something to work with. I have one coming up on the 18th and 19th of May which is full up and all we need now is a sunny weekend to help everyone have a great time.
Some of the clinics at Littleton Manor in Surrey have been a bit depleted of late but I am pretty sure that they will pick up again. Parwood in Surrey is getting busier every time we visit and I know I am very lucky to be able to conduct my clinics in such great venues, the going is always first class and the hosting is first class. Many thanks to Matt and Kate at Littleton and to Sarah at Parwood.
North Yorkshire is a great place to teach and Northallerton Equestrian Centre is a wonderful venue. I am trying a new venture up there at the end of the month, on the 23rd-24th-25th May I am doing a three day intensive course. We cover as much as possible with each group riding two sessions a day, I ½ hours in the morning and 1 ½ hours in the afternoon. I cover as much as possible, work on the flat for jumpers, pole work, gymnastic jumping, related distances, combinations and on the last day in the afternoon we build a course, do a course walk and talk then all of the riders have the opportunity to ride the course at least twice then immediate feedback from the coach (me). This format has been very successful in the past and they do seem very popular. I still have a couple of spaces left so if any-one would like to join us please contact myself 07710099210 or Georgina at Northallerton, georgina@northallertonequestriancentre.com The two day clinics in Yorkshire are a great success with Laura Jennings doing her job really well, she is aconstant star.
Scotland is always a great place to teach, the weather is err, variable, but the people are constant. Great humour and great enthusiasm makes it well worth the long trip. I teach in Perth, Fife, Pitlochry, Inverness (we conduct the three day intensives here at Dark Deer Park) and Aberdeen. Aberdeen is a new venue and Davey is the man to contact, 07543435215.
I recently enjoyed the results of a frosty snowy winter by driving over the deepest pot holes I have ever seen, not seen in time I regret to say and two blown tyres later I said oh bother what a shame…! I did thank my recently renewed AA membership who came out pretty quick and a couple of hours later, my bank account a lot lighter to the tune of two Pirelli tyres and a couple of missed lessons we set off again. I must say that sometimes in life you do meet remarkably nice people. One lady, opposite where my tyres died came out immediately with the offer of a “nice cup of tea”, and another neighbour offered me his spare wheel to get me to the tyre fitter. I have never seen these people in my life but they were there straight away to lend a helping hand. They also made sure that Aileen was ok whilst I went of with my friendly AA man. Speaking of Aileen, I had the car up on the jack in my opinion as safe as houses. Aileen said leave the wheel on until Mr AA came along but I knew better and said it would save time if I put the spare on the front and took the flat tyre off the back. All was fine until a bloody great milk tanker came rumbling along and yes, you guessed it, plonk!!! The jack fell sideways and the rim of the wheel hit the tarmac, S—T. Luckily for me the only thing that was damaged was my manly pride and my ear drums, sorry Aileen, you were right, AGAIN.
Mr AA has featured quite a lot in my life of late. I was a long way away when I got the plaintive phone call from my beloved telling me she had locked her keys in the car. I was about 175 miles away from home. Call the AA I said, so she did. Sorry madam, they said, your AA subscription expired last month, whoopee! So lots of back and forth phone calls renewed the subs and got the AA man with the help of a coat hanger got the car opened.
Guess what I did in New York with my rental car? Yup, I locked the keys in it, or at least, I left the keys in it and it locked as I shut the door. “Sorry sir”, they said, “Your fault and it will cost $55.00 to get it sorted”. This ridiculous condescending lady on the other end of the phone then proceeded to give me a lecture on how it is always safe to take the keys out of the car before closing the door, “Oh really” said I “Thank you so much”, why do silly young girls in offices always talk to you like you are a complete Muppet?
Speaking of New York I had a great trip over there last month. I spent ten days in all and visited five different barns (yards) altogether. My old friends Tom and Maddie Duggan hosted the first couple of days. Always great fun with a bunch of “YeeHaa” kids galloping around a bit like a Scottish Pony club. Then up to Albany where Eugenio my new friend hosted a very busy day so I hope that will be growing by the time I return in the Autumn. My next stop was in Millbrook and I had a couple of great lessons at Bonny Stedt’s place with my lunatic English friend Jo Blackmore, Jo runs marathons for pleasure??? Oh well I suppose someone has to, it takes me all my time to run to the toilet. Lisa Winkler in Millbrook had a couple of lessons for me as well. The last stop was in Westchester County where I spent three very hard working days with a minimum of 13 lessons and a maximum of 16 lessons, whew. Christine and Wayne Varella at Chickory Meadow always make my stay a great and profitable experience and Christine's mum and dad, Tom and Carol look after me in fine style, so thank you all.
The flight back home was horrendous. The flight was choker block full up and somehow the air is like breathing glue scented with sweat and bad breath. I could not sleep a wink so broke all the rules of long haul flying and took full advantage of the complimentary drinks trolley, has to be done. Aileen said I was grumpy when I got back, I can’t believe that, I am always bright and cheerful, especially after no sleep with someone breathing all over me for eight hours and a minor hang over, why on earth would I be grumpy?
Back home we had a small glimpse of summer weather, lasted about four days but felt great to have the sun on the back and the horses really enjoyed being out with no rugs.
My regular clients are all doing really well. Alice Dunstan, who rides at three and four star level has had a great season so far, as has Lydia Hannon, being placed in her first advanced, Georgina Wood, second in the Grass Roots 100 at Badminton. Stephanie O’Neal and Emily Ryder my young Scottish superstars, Laura Jennings and her sister Lucy Henson are going strong and a whole host of Yorkshire riders are all holding their own at every level. I am hoping to go to France next month to help Candy Crawford, that will be interesting being the usual ignorant no French speaking Brit’. I can say “Je ne parle pas Francais” and “Parlez vous Anglais”, but that’s about it.
My own riding has been sketchy to say the least. All three horses are going well but I am afraid the eight year old Cassie is on the transfer list as her owners can no longer afford to keep her. She is a wonderful mare, careful, scopey, brave, never stops and a pleasure to ride. If you are looking for a great mare to take on she certainly has 1.40 scope if not more. She is currently jumping up to 1.20cm with ease and is ready to go on. I sometimes ride three a day then no riding for a few days and so on but I am still enjoying every minute of it. I had a gallop this morning and it is so true what Winston Churchill once said “The best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse”.
A good single malt does something similar when I get home as well.
Just to finish. Check out www.straightforwardtraining.com or www.mysft.com it is a new venture with Katie Bowie and is a great idea. What happens is you go to the site and download your You Tube video of you riding your horse with a brief written description of your problem. I check out the video and give you an audio feedback, so in effect you get an online lesson. So far it has had great feedback take a look and give it a try.
That’s all for now and again I am sorry it has taken a while to get it all down. Please enjoy.