Petplan Equine
Sponsored Rider - Lili

July and August Update

Chestnut Horse Feeds have been supporting me to help calculate the right diet for the horses and they look and feel amazing, bonus. I have been doing lots of teaching in July in between competing with my horses. At the start of July, I took Zu to Hargate to ride two novices. Again, some really pleasing marks and work. He also had a few spooky moments which I managed to survive, much to my dad’s amusement. The qualifier test was a big ask of him and he was great.

I took Fons to Patchetts to ride the Young Horse Class. One almighty embarrassing spook and spin saw me in the lap of a fellow competitor! But I was very pleased, the last young horse class of the year and we scored 70%.

Charlie Hutton, who I met from filming at Talland with Petplan Equine for their dressage training videos, came to teach me on all three horses. We had such fun! He is an amazingly good trainer, very enthusiastic and fun, and I learnt so much. He absolutely gets after me on my position, which even I can see has improved, so I feel so proud about that too.

I revisited Patchetts to enter Fons in two novice classes. Not the highest marks, but I can see why – totally justified. However I was thrilled that I rode in the two arenas, without any theatricals or spooks which was my main objective. I took both Paddy and Fons for some well-earned physiotherapy, the trip takes me all day but it is totally worth it. I highly recommend that all horses receive regular attention- they are my athletes.

I finished the month of July by teaching at Pony Club camp, which was a roaring success, lots of fun and great kids.

At the beginning of August, I decided to take both Fons and Zu to Moulton college BD. Both horses travelled brilliantly together, no calling or issues. This was a good test run before the Petplan Equine Area Festivals. I rode Fons first in the indoor arena. He was as I expected, a total pig! He hates indoors and gets incredibly spooky and naughty. I retired before the end of the test, with no time to dwell, straight onto Zu who scored a whopping 70% to win and then a 68% in the qualifier, and no, I did not believe my dad when he told me the scores. Fons, was then worked a little harder to improve the connection, and despite thinking naughty thoughts, was much better and scored 68%!

Next I took Fons for a training session with Richard Davison. He is an amazing instructor and I love my lessons with him. We did more spook busting, and the umbrella of doom came out, Richard gave me some top tips to help me and so much homework. It was such a positive lesson, I got loads out of it and Richard was very complimentary, which made my heart smile.

My next training session with Fons was with Charlie Hutton again. Charlie has the best sense of humour, which totally helps me remember things. Again, my position got hammered and corrected in a really positive way.

I managed to enter Zu into an unaffiliated local dressage, where we scored well in the novice and dipped our toe into an elementary. To say I am proud would be a massive understatement. We received lovely comments from an international GP rider, and although my score wasn’t quite where I want it, I know what we need to work on.

Fons, Dougal the Shetland and I were very lucky to be invited by Petplan Equine to attend a photo shoot for their campaigns; I cannot wait to see the results! It also gave me another great chance to ride Fons in another indoor arena, and he was super! That is another life experience for him without any hassle and upset. It was a perfect chance, Dougal was on fine form and everyone loved him.

It has been a busy few months but one thing is for sure, I wouldn’t change a thing – it is worth the rushing, the early starts, late finishes, blood, sweat and tears, what a super summer we have had, bring it on autumn!