One Day Rally Sunday 6th November 2011
I would firstly like to say many, many thanks to Lindsay for being so accommodating and a wonderful host. Lindsay’s training techniques, her fantastic understanding of each horse and rider’s needs was wonderful to watch. Just by making one simple change to your riding or your technique can make such a difference to way your horse responds, Lindsay’s lessons were inspirational.
I would also like to thank all of you who attended this One Day Rally and making it a huge success and making my job much easier to organise such an event.
Well It’s not everyday your stables are invaded by 8 Isis members, their horses, mum & dad, husbands and guests to boot, but Lindsay was more than willing to have us. The morning started with hot tea & coffee and the most amazing home baked fruit cake and biscuits.
I must say the weather was kind to us, a little chilly, but thankfully no rain.......All that praying the night before was certainly worth it........!!! Lindsay kindly offered to ride her new horse for us, Didi (who is a very handsome chap to say the least, and huge) this was an extra treat for everyone, as Lindsay had proposed to do this Demo just a week previous to our one day rally. Didi had only been in this country for 5 days......!!!!! Watching both horse and rider perform was fantastic, everything was effortless to say the least, a super canter half pass flowed into a flying change, it was hard to believe they had not been together for years, never mind days......I would recommend everyone to attend this year Christmas lecture / demo with Lindsay and experience her harmony with Didi first hand.
First to ride was Verity Carpenter riding her very sweet pony Domino D. Verity confidently worked Domino in shoulder in under Lindsay’s watchful eye, improving his canter and generally getting the most out her cheeky little pony. Overall her session was a success, and has requested to be put on the shortlist for Lindsay’s next One Day Rally.
Second to ride was Denise Small on Spike. What a lovely type of horse he is, beautiful flowing mane and tail, incredibly willing and eager to learn. Denise worked on accuracy (by her own admission she said she struggles with riding circles and shapes) and making Spike listen to her aids, and most importantly her half halts. They were a pleasure to watch.
By mid morning it was time for the ever supportive Claudine Gerhard and the wonderful Peter Pan to have their tuition. Claudine and Peter worked on straightness and pole work with I do believe that both thoroughly enjoyed themselves as always. Claudine is planning to do more Hunter trials and ODEs next year so working on straightness is imperative for those disciplines. It’s really nice to hear that not all members of Isis Dressage group just compete in Dressage competitions. Good Luck Claudine.
Last of the morning sessions was myself. Jill Smith & some would say the ever so quirky; butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth – Miss Marple (I know differently). Lindsay has been judging us all this season, but not actually seen us work in. So she asked me to walk trot and canter on each rein then described us as “Nice” LOL.
Miss Marple and I are working towards Advanced Medium, and Lindsay basically said “Nice “is just not good enough (Anyone who knows Lindsay, you know she says what she means – in a “Nice “way) LOL.
We worked hard on getting more cadence in the trot and canter, by doing every movement in shoulder fore. It was Shoulder fore, trot, shoulder fore, shoulder in, shoulder fore, half pass, in both trot and canter followed by Lindsay shouting “not good enough, do it again” it was relentless, but definitely worth it. We finished our session on canter pirouettes and a dash of passage. I loved every minute of it and can’t wait until I set another date with Lindsay for another one day rally. Where hopefully our work will have improved enough be better than “Nice”
1.00pm and it was time for lunch. Lindsay put on treat of tomato soup with warm rolls, followed by jacket potato and quiche and chocolate cake and fruit cake for afters. ALL HOMEMADE. Lunchtime was an excellent opportunity for everyone to chat and discuss their lessons so far. The feedback was excellent and we were only half way through the day.
1.40pm and lessons were to start again. Next to have her lesson was Emma Hickman and her very elegantly moving Ramiro Diamond. They chose to test ride Novice 20, and used the opportunity wisely to gain valuable feedback from a list 1 judge. Lindsay helped Emma work on her trot, canter, balance and positioning of movements, ending their lesson with another test ride of Novice 20. Everyone who had been watching this session were particularly impressed with how much Emma and (Taris) improved throughout her tuition, especially her trot work. Emma’s second test ride was very different to the one she had done at the beginning of her session. Her final percentage was over 64%, very impressive, since they have only recently moved up into Novice level and having an audience watching their every move must have been intimidating to say the least.
Catarina Eriksson and Braveheart were the next pair to strut their stuff. Like me, Catarina had quite an intense lesson. Lindsay certainly gave Braveheart a rude awakening. I have competed with and against Catarina for many years now, moving on up the levels from Prelim to Medium at the same time and I have never seen him go the way he did that Sunday. He looked fabulous and very worked hard and willing (as did Catarina) from start to finish.
The penultimate pair to go was Helen Roberts riding her new horse on loan, Ex 4* eventer Dumble.
They were very calm and collected together, everything they did looked effortless and easy. As Helen had said in her application form to me, when booking her place on the One Day rally, she wanted her riding to catch up with his experience and to get the most out of him. They certainly achieved that.
Last but by no means least, was Caroline Ogden riding Max. This pair has been together for a few years now, so know each other really well, almost TOO well. Anyone who knows Caroline’s horse Max, will know he is huge chap, with a huge talent, he just does not know it yet. She has been spending a lot of time encouraging and convincing him Dressage and schooling is not that hard. The beginning of the session, Max was being Max, trying to take charge. Lindsay’s calm response to his reactions was invaluable to watch. Caroline soon started answering Max’s questions in a different way and the results were fantastic to see. They were the perfect end to a very enjoyable day.
So my closing paragraph will start with, Once again many thanks for all of you who supported this first and certainly not last One Day Rally with Lindsay Jenkins. Without you training days like this are just not possible. As an Isis member and committee member, organising such events can be really tricky. So once again, thank you for making this event a huge success. Next year I will be planning more days with Lindsay at her yard in Kintbury, for those of you wishing to attend one of these days, All I can say, is you had better be quick, I already have a waiting list.
Kindest regards
Jill Smith & Miss Marple
Other pages:
This is the text-only version of this page. Click here to see this page with graphics.
Edit this page |
Manage website
Make Your Own Website: 2-Minute-Website.com