Good Things

By Francesca Prescott

I was a bit low last week, as you probably gathered from my mournful post. My horse’s protruding ribs and bony bottom had really upset me; I blamed myself for not being more vocal about my growing concerns just as much as I blamed the owner of my stables for not feeding him enough for the amount of work he was doing. Thank you again to everyone who wrote in to tell me about personal experiences, and to offer advice and support. I really appreciated it.

With two weeks of being fed proper amount, and the recent addition of extra protein in the form of linseed meal (“tourteau de lin” in French) and soya meal (“tourteau de soya), I can definitely see a difference. Qrac’s ribs are not quite as scary looking, his back feels a little more padded, and his bum is not so “caved in” and bony. Of course, he has a long way to go, as he’ll need to rebuild all the muscle-tone he dissolved when he needed it for energy, but it seems like we’re on the right path. He’s also taking daily doses of Vitamin C. He seems calmer, more focused, and is far more pleasant to ride. He’s also cuddlier than ever!

Since my trainer is away for a month, coaching one of her students at the Junior European Championships in Poland, I took a lesson with somebody else the other day. His name is Greg Sheers, and he used to work as a groom for a rider who was reserve on the Swiss team during the Beijing Olympics. Greg recently arrived at my yard with a couple of young show jumping horses he’s training, and I immediately warmed to his quiet, sensitive manner and straightforward attitude. We’ve chatted quite a bit over the last few weeks, and I really like him. He strikes me as very trustworthy, and, well, there’s something really nice about his aura! So when he told me he also gives riding lessons to a couple of people in the Lausanne area (at the other end of Lake Geneva), I suggested we try working together at some point. My trainer, Marie-Valentine, can only come once a week at the best of times, and then there are weeks on end where she can’t come due to other engagements (usually competitions), and I knew she wouldn’t mind a little of equestrian infidelity! So when I arrived at the stables in the pouring rain on Tuesday afternoon, there was Greg, hanging up wet rugs. We had a little chat, one thing led to the other, and before I knew it he’d agreed to give me a lesson there and then. Even the weather behaved, the rain kindly taking a break during the 45 minutes we were in the arena.

I thoroughly enjoyed my lesson. We didn’t do anything fancy. We just worked on the basics: getting Qrac to slow down his walk, getting him to stay in a slow, regular rhythm, getting him to really focus on listening to me. We worked on walk-trot-walk transitions on a circle, focusing on getting them smoothly through the outside rein. We then did the same in canter, and I’m delighted to report that Qrac and I managed our first ever canter-walk transition! I was so proud!

The owner of the stables came down and filmed snippets of the lesson on her I-Phone, then emailed them to me last night. I watched them, satisfied by what I saw, but also thinking how much work and effort and concentration goes into trying to perfect those simple basics. It’s pretty crazy, really! I mean, if I show a none-dressage buff those three little videos all they’ll see is a black horse trotting slowly on a circle, going back into walk, and then back into trot. Boring as hell, right? Okay, so there’s the canter video as well, but unfortunately Steph didn’t film my canter/walk transition, not that it was anything to broadcast on CNN! Nevertheless, I’d have liked to see it, especially as it was on the previously dreaded right lead canter! I’d post these little videos if only I knew how, just to show you where we’re at.

But since I’ve no idea how to post them, I’ll post this one instead, just to show where I’d one day like to get! Besides, trust me, it’s far more interesting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WWEqXvaXZw

What about you? What are you working on with your horses at the moment? What do you enjoy?