Monthly diary — September 2015
Lucinda Green
Read all about what legendary eventer Lucinda Green has been up to this month.
Having been looking around for another horse, we’ve ended up buying one for Lissa – 11-year-old Hollyfield competed at 2* in Sweden with varying success, sometimes coming unstuck show jumping. Lissa really likes him and hopefully her experience can bring him on. Ironically, another horse appeared for sale right under our noses... a mare Lissa already rides. She has a very unorthodox jumping style but we love her - and the coffers are rather empty. We now need to find more funding and any money I had for my own horse, has gone.
At Blair CCI 3*, one of my Austrians was riding. Daniel and his horse arrived with a top line a bit upside down but we did a few dressage sessions (not my strongest card) and they took everything on board and performed a very respectable test. Cross country day meant baited breath as the course looked suited to less experienced combinations leaving the competition wide open. But then it rained - and rained - and Daniel’s poor horse was one of the three consecutive sliding victims of the ‘Haggis’ fence, before it was removed from the course. Overall, it proved a brilliant, varied cross country test. There were only seven brush fences - three times that amount has recently, in my view, become the irresponsible norm.
Next month it’s Blenheim - Lissa qualified with Ali this summer and has been looking forward to this moment for four years. Then I’ll be off to the US teaching, to earn some pennies to pay for these eventers
Tip of the month:
Road work in walk and slow trot is a prerequisite of a sound horse. In particular, before and after work, walk you horse for at least 10 minutes, preferably on a hard surface. Mild vibrations through the legs help to keep Sharpey’s fibres, that connect the tendons to bone, healthy.
