August Update

I’ve finally sat down home in Kilkenny after a hectic week. Early this week saw me in Mullingar, County West Meath at the Irish Pony Club Festival, warming up the Waterford Branch dressage riders for their first year qualifier. Some really lovely riders and they all rode incredibly well considering how new to dressage competition some of them were. I was most impressed. Wednesday saw me spending the entire day at the same show with riders from the Laois Branch of the Pony Club preparing them for the musical ride. They rode like little superstars and despite a blown amp in the speaker, they held it together for a very credible 5th place and the best turned out prize. Talking to Alice Mernagh, head of the Pony Club, she said she was very impressed with them. I hope their parents are as proud of them as I am, they were wonderful riders to teach, stepping up to each challenge we set them and improving their ponies from week to week.

Speaking of improvement, Woodend Picasso has been training up a storm here in Kilkenny, winning his in-hand showing classes and making leaps and bounds forward every day in his schooling at home. Thankfully not the literal leaps and bounds anymore, but becoming much more responsive to the leg and more supple through the back. Both Barry and Marie Claire at Woodend Sport Horses are doing a great job long reining and riding him while I’m away.

Shawn and I had two days away in Valentia in County Kerry, not Spain unfortunately nor as sunny either but it was splendid to catch up with friends (Franc is on a stop off on her ride around Ireland for charity with Susi Burton Allen, they can be found at Franc’s blog) and chill out for a couple of days and recharge the batteries. Good thing too since when I arrived in today to school Rex, he was ready to rock and roll. I had forgotten that our stables, Raheen Na Gun were running another S.J.A.I. show and the place was full of runaway show-jumpers. Rex and I had an entertaining time to say the least, trying to guess where everybody was going, I discovered quite quickly that the direction show jumpers point their horses heads doesn’t imply an actual direction of travel. We had to be quick on our toes and several unintended flying changes later we left the other riders wondering why we weren’t jumping the metre thirty class as well.