So much has happened, it's not easy to keep track of a wirlwind...
Caroline has finished the horse riding section of her GCSE PE with plenty of video to send to the examiners. Our thanks to Bob Garret and Allison Higgins at Aldborough Hall for the riding and jumping lessons on all their wonderful horses. Caroline now knows how to do shoulder-in, stand square, rein back, turn on the forehand, quarters in, leg yielding and jump a course whilst breathing and thinking at the same time! Now she can do all this with Dax with much more confidence.
Due to studying for her GCSE exams, Caroline has had to give up her ambition to ride in the Crystal Palace youth team. She and Dax were accepted for the local pony club team but again she found studying got in her way. Once her heavy learning days are over, I know she'll be back into serious riding again.
Caroline continues to work hard with Dax and get him fitter as well as having a lot of fun with him. She has been competing in lots of dressage events locally and coming away with rosettes each time.
In March this year our riding club held our first public event. Rob Jones the national BHS TREC orgniser came and gave us a talk and demonstration of the different TREC activities. Dax was one of three horses chosen for the demonstration. Before the event our resident dressage guru Linda Lee taught Caroline and Dax how to walk backwards in a straight line without touching the ground poles, how to walk and canter around a short maze without touching the vertical and overhead poles, a very slow canter (which he did perfectly) and fast walk (a little more difficult). He had to get used to a few 'scary' objects and stand still while Caroline walked away. The club have decided to hold more TREC practice events, at the moment holding an actual TREC event might be a little difficult.
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Rob Jones presenting TREC in the indoor school. If you missed the talk this section of the BHS website tells you all you need to know. |
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