We had a great day at the 2* and 3* Training Clinic with Gill Watson, so excited about the start of the season now!!

We had a great day at Knowle Farm on Sunday for the 2* and 3* Training Clinic with Gill Watson! Both Roxie and I learnt lots and also met some great people.

We started off the day meeting in the coffee room all stood round the fire to keep warm. We had a breif talk before going and tacking up, ready for our first lesson, which was Dressage. We warmed up and worked on some 2* and 3* movements before running through the 2* A Dressage test, which was judged by Gill and the other people that weren't riding. When I had to judge Hannah's test with Roweena it made me realise how quick the Dressage judges have to think as each movement / mark comes up so quickly!

Once we had all ridden we went and sat back around the fire to
defrost and have a bite to eat. Whilst we had some lunch we watched our tests back on the TV after Alice had very kindly videoed them all for us. Gill went through our marks whilst we were watching the tests so it was very interesting hearing from Gill what the judges are really looking for in each of the movements. We all took down many notes whilst listening too! After we had watched our videos we had a talk with Robin Balfour on FEI rules. This was very interesting and we all realised that wi didn't know as many as we proably should and the British Eventing rules are quite different to the FEI Eventing rules.....some bedtime reading for me then!

After lunch we went and tacked up again to begin our Show Jumping lesson. Before we started jumping we did lots of work on getting them really listening to the riders aids. To do this we worked them on serpentines in trot and canter, each time we crossed the centre line we changed the pace, either through walk, trot or by doing a flying change. This really helped get Roxie nice and supple and listening to me. During our Show Jumping lesson we worked on related distances, some slightly short distances, some slightly longer distances and some on the correct striding. To finish off we linked them all together as a small course and had to react very quickly on landing after each fence making sure we had the correct canter needed for the next line of jumps.

I would just like to say a huge thank you to Gill and to Robin for allowing us to invade his premises! It was a really good day and we have come away with little things to work on before the next day at Littleton Manor in March.....I can't wait!

Videos and pictures from the day are now uploaded on to Still Learning's Training page in Gallery......CHECK IT OUT!

We have lots coming up in the near future so keep checking back for regualr updates on what's going on at Sarah Gadd Eventing.

So, until next time,
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