Mari Durward-Akhurst

First Competition

On 21st November I had my first competition on Lady Amelia. We headed off to an unaffiliated competition at Patchetts, with my new lorry full of people (mum, dad, me) as well Amelia. We got there with plenty of time so I had a chance to watch some of the other tests.
My grannie and granddad arrived so we met up with them and had a chat before I went and got changed, while my mum and dad tacked Ady up. I then warmed Ady up in the arena, she went well and I was really pleased as I coped well with riding in an arena with lots of other people. Ady felt fab and I was really pleased as I had done all of this without the help of my coach. It was then time to go into the arena for my first test in the indoor school.
I went into the arena really positively and she went fab, I was really pleased with Ady. I just need to work on getting her working more from behind and more of her bouncy trot. I got 65% which I was very pleased with in our first ever test together, and we would have finished 6th out of approximately 20.

The second warm up was a bit of a nightmare, as it was dark we had to warm up in the small arena that had lights. However Ady still went well even though I could not do everything I wanted. I went into the arena positively again, there was a lot of free walk in the test and I did not manage to fully pick her up so she got a bit long. The test was quite complicated so I was pleased with our result.

It was then time to head home. I was really pleased with the whole day as Ady was well behaved and went really well for our first competition together. I am looking forward to our next outing which will be our first Para competition.
Training has been going really well with Sacha Hamilton at my new yard. Ady has settled in very well and has been going brilliantly. Its a shame about the latest weather but we are hoping it will pass soon!!

Mari