Petplan Equine
Sponsored Rider - Lorna

January to March Update

I started 2016 with a blog post saying I was aiming in 2016 firstly to get my horses, myself and Montydog, through it healthy and happy. I said there would undoubtedly be setbacks and that these are to be expected – they are part of the shaping of the future. I believe it is how you deal with them is what matters.

And so January began – it started off with devastating flooding happening in the Aberdeenshire area but it got very close to home at the end of the first week of January. Flood water levels were getting close to my house, many properties in the town I live in were badly affected, the farmland around the town was under water and many roads were closed. As a Council employee I did a session manning the emergency relief centre in the local hall through the worst night, it was a humbling experience. Our centre was quite quiet but the Inverurie one was bursting at the seams, not just with residents but stranded travellers due to all roads in and out of the town being blocked.

At the yard our hacking grounds were under water and some were washed away, the water table rose so high that ground rivers seeped through the ground and flooded the access track to Spangle and Marco’s field.

Not much riding was happening and they live out very happily so were safer and better out, than they may have been in, if the yard had flooded badly. The field has a hill so they could get to dry ground if they wished. The easiest thing was to feed them at their field and they did not mind and are very content and happy to both get their heads in one bucket, showing just how well they get on.

Once we got to the weekend and had daylight we had a bit of fun. The water in the lane was over the top of our boots so we had to take alternative routes through other fields that we couldn’t do with the horses so we decided that bareback riding and leading was the way forward for bringing them through the flood water from the field.

A local charity – Horseback UK, put out a plea on Facebook for rugs as many of theirs were no longer standing up to the conditions they were facing. I offered to take a car load of rugs up and they were very grateful for this and I was only too pleased to be able to do something to help. The response I got was great – some from people I didn’t know but that had seen my Sponsored Rider Facebook page. Horseback UK had an amazing nationwide response to their appeal too and the horses could remain dry and happy.

I entered Spangle and I in our first Novice level dressage test and was pleasantly surprised at how it went. We were placed 3rd and was pleased with the canter work which I know Spangle finds hard in an arena.

At the end of January I reclipped Spangle and took more coat off her in preparation for upping her workload. I find clipping especially rewarding when you find nice well developed muscles underneath – a nice sign too that the work that has been going in is working.

At the beginning of February I travelled north to meet up with a fellow endurance rider to get a quality training ride in company under our belts. We did 28km in just over two hours. The ground conditions were superb and we found some great tracks that the horses thought were great fun. This training ride gave confidence that Spangles fitness was in a good place – mine on the other hand still needs work as I suffered for a few days after.

On February 13th, we came 3rd again in our next Novice dressage test and were really pleased with the canter work this time. Much improved, including counter canter. I think the tests with more to think about are good for both Spangle and myself. We achieved a 60%+ score at novice level which was one of my annual goals – goals have been reset to 65% + score and all test to be 60%+. Spangle was delighted to find that her crew friend was at the dressage too – and I think that helped both Spangle and I. Nic has a very good effect on us both. Spangle especially enjoys her scratches from Nic, as shown in the picture below!

Towards the end of February, winter decided to remind us it was still here although there were signs of spring. Undeterred though, we were out schooling in the silently falling snow, not a breath of wind and snow slowly falling – almost hypnotising. I love conditions like that.

At the beginning of March, Spangle and I had a mini break at Loch Ness Riding Centre, Dores, home of Candy Cameron a long established endurance rider and a font of knowledge. Over recent years Candy and I have become good friends and she has been very supportive of me and a great help in many ways – and not just in endurance or equestrian ways. I had the pleasure of staying in her recently rebuilt house with its tremendous views whilst Spangle enjoyed being stabled in the block with Candy’s lovely boys. On the Saturday morning we woke to snow on the ground which was not what we needed for our long ride that was planned – the weather settled after we had seen to the rest of Candy’s horses, sheep and the lambs that had been born the day before. We set off out and did go up over the hill and as expected there was more snow over the back so we did a circuit and headed back over the hill onto lower ground along the shore of the loch, then back home for lunch. After lunch, kindly made and ready for us by Candy’s husband, we headed off back down towards the loch and did more low level tracks along the shores heading towards Inverness before climbing back up again and back to Drummond. 58km in total and 1900m of climbing. The route and workout details can be viewed on Endomondo https://www.endomondo.com/users/5536557/workouts/682189879.

The following weekend Spangle and I had another couple of days away from home. We travelled down to Perth to have a coaching session with Marjorie Grant. Marjorie is working towards her UKCC level 3 for dressage and endurance and we are one of her case studies. We had one schooling session indoors followed by a coached hack the next day – Spangle found it rather fun and thought Marjorie’s mare Elise was great company and got a little over excited at times, in a way that is nice though as it is so important that she enjoys her work.

Marco has enjoyed a few fittening rides in the local forest with his friend Benji (and my friend Frauke). Spangle joined us on the most recent ride too, ridden by a long term friend of mine, Yvonne. Spangle showed Yvonne the ropes of forest riding and exploring, and especially enjoyed educating Yvonne on how good her 4x4 gears were!