Paddy Muir

Training Shows

The persistent rain throughout this Autumn season has caused many events to cancel and has left many disappointed organisers and competitors. Witton Castle fell victim of this, after struggling to run the Pre Novice and Novice Events on Saturday they had to cancel their very full Advanced and Intermediate sections which were to take place on the Sunday.

I was due to run Stanley Brown here in the Advanced class, we have been working extremely hard on the show jumping recently as I have been taking advantage of the mid week BSJA Showjumping show at Richmond Equestrian Centre every wednesday. This is a very relaxed show, with good courses on an excellent outdoor surface. I have been able to go and jump a 1.15m class and then a 1.20 Foxhunter after that. Stan is getting much more relaxed about going in the ring and to be honest it has made me so much more relaxed, because we are schooling in the ring it is nice to concentrate on rhythm, turns and balance without worrying about time faults.

During the week I try to incorporate as many grids and gymnastic work as I can without ever over doing it. I do grid work for half an hour about four times a week before hacking. I am working on improving strength in his back, encouraging him to really use his shoulders and to be much sharper with his front legs.

I have a line of 6 trotting poles, just over 1m apart, raised 3 inches off the floor which I trot though slowly which really makes him lift in the trot and concentrate on where his feet are going. An excellent exercise which can be started with just one side of each pole raised until the horse gets the hang of it. I then ride a 10m circle at each end after the poles and go back and forth about six times then rest. I normally do this about four times.

Then I have a grid consisting of a pole on the ground, 9 feet to a cross pole, 10 feet to a very small upright, 10 feet to another very small upright then 10 feet to a small parallel. Once I have done the exercise in trot and canter I widen the parallel to about 3-4 feet and raise it to about 3feet.

This little bounce exercise really sharpens up Stans' brain and his front legs. I do this five or six times after the pole work. Then I might finish off over a plain upright, a parallel and a treble of uprights at about 1.20 - 1.25. With priority on energy, balance and keeping a good length of stride and not shortening him infront of a fence.

I feel a big improvement in the way he is going in the ring and I'm quite inspired to work on this all winter. I have also registered with British Dressage and will compete in some competitions very shortly.

All the work on Stan's balance and canter have worked wonders in his flat work, his trot and lateral work have improved beyond recognition and he is much lighter and very much more engaged in the Dressage arena.

I look forward to reporting on our progress!

Paddy