THE GOOD
Since the disappointing result at the end of last year at Keysoe, Skye and I have worked really hard to improve in all areas with the help as always of Andrew J Murphy’s regular training sessions together with Gill Maybury, Chiropractor, keeping Skye’s body feeling fab. We have been very pleased with Skye’s progress and with his consistency and relaxation in his work which was also becoming much more secure. Meanwhile I took my increasing crookedness seriously and worked on my own straightness in the saddle, and which is now part of my normal routine. Throughout the year we’ve had good results in the handful of BD affiliated competitions we contested with 5 wins and 3 second placings.
We also competed at four 3* internationals but at those competitions it always seemed like the better we felt Skye had gone - the worse his scores were. Despite all the positive comments on his improvement from other riders, stewards and just about anyone else who had seen him competing in the past, it was hugely disappointing!!
THE BAD
When you are a one-horse rider every poor result hits hard as there is no second horse in the wings who may then have a good day to balance it all out. Initially, at the early internationals, the poor scores made me more determined than ever to work even harder to deliver the test the judges wanted to see. The word ’tense’ or ‘tension’ was being used much less on our test sheets and ‘behind the vertical’ had all but disappeared but now they just wanted ‘MORE’ of everything else!
At the final international of the year in the UK at Wellington, we went knowing that, since competing at Hartpury in July we’d made even more progress, and were feeling confident of some reasonable scores. Maybe we weren’t going to be knocking the top riders off their spots but were competing against ourselves and our previous results. We had just attended a fantastic two day training clinic with Andrew J Murphy at the lovely Dovecot facilities in Oxfordshire.. and unexpectedly were also asked to ride in the lecture demo! It was the perfect run up to the international the following week.
Unfortunately, the judge who appears to have a bee in their bonnet about Skye and rang the bell on us at Keysoe (the attending FEI vets at the time and my own vet back at home could find nothing wrong with him) was judging at Wellington. History repeated itself… I can’t begin to describe how upset I was. A huge outpouring of support from those watching and who could not believe what just happened softened the blow a little… but only a little. Nonetheless it was very reassuring to have that backing!!
All that is history now but soon after I felt that I couldn’t realistically compete Skye internationally any more. So where do I go from here… entirely give up something that I am still passionate about … or sell Skye? Both ideas upset me equally.
Everyone knows the rollercoaster I have been on with Skye but equally we’ve come such a long way… and you don’t dismiss lightly a horse that took you to the World Championships!
AND THE UNEXPECTED
Reluctantly I thought about selling Skye. Keeping two horses is just not feasible for me both financially and, more importantly, time-wise.
Suzanne and I talked over different possibilities. We thought it might be possible for us to look for a horse together – one that would replace Rhapsody for Suzanne and one that perhaps could take up the para competition baton for me.
(Dear Rhapsody is fine by the way, but he is fully retired now as his eyesight has deteriorated so he is living his best life out in the field with best buddy Briggs …and Skye who is not necessarily his buddy – haha!!)
When news of looking for a new horse went public, I was overwhelmed by everyone sending info and/or links to horses for sale!! It’s a minefield and the prices didn’t always seem to reflect the horse being sold but then I am so out of touch with today’s market… it wasn’t looking very hopeful.
Then when something suitable and ‘affordable’ did come on the market - one horse wasn’t a good fit… one horse failed the vetting…. but third time lucky we hit the jackpot!
In the end Suzanne bought the lovely Figaro (aka Fig) to fill Rhapsody’s shoes and, if all goes well, I will be lucky enough to compete him next year.So rather unexpectedly, and less than a week before Christmas, we brought Fig to Park Farm. He settled in really well in just a couple of days, taking his new surroundings and routine in his stride. A few more days later we had our first ‘get to know each other’ training session with Andrew - a very exciting time for us all!!
I wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Successful 2024!!