Hi Everyone!
I have had an incredibly busy month and can’t wait to tell you all about it!
During May, I was lucky enough to go to the Hickstead Premier League; grooming for my employer Judy Harvey. This was an amazing experience and it was lovely to catch up with a lot of my friends. Hickstead is one of my favourite venues – it is always so well run and has a great atmosphere. There were so many top combinations to watch throughout the weekend including the incredible Carl Hester. Watching tests from riders of such a high calibre Is really inspiring!
In my last blog I talked about my young horse, Dennis. Dennis has been progressing very well over the last month; we have already been to some arena hires and his first EVER show! I was also lucky enough to have a lesson with Ian Cast which was fabulous preparation for my first show with Dennis, and I learnt some great exercises to help me develop the paces. In the lesson Dennis behaved incredibly well; he really put his trust in me and took to being in a new place superbly.
After Dennis’ sterling behaviour, I then threw myself in at the deep end and decided he was ready for his first show. The chosen location was Addington Equestrian Centre. He behaved impeccably throughout and didn’t put a foot wrong… he was however, slightly scared of the judges moving in the hut at ‘C’!!! Overall, this was an amazing experience for his first time out and again another fantastic venue – Addington EC really has a championship feel to it; brilliantly run and well maintained.
Alongside Dennis’ education, I have also been busy building Beanie back up; ready for a busy summer after having some downtime!
Alongside lots of riding, competing and grooming, I have been revising for my End Point Assessment (EPA) for my Level 3 senior equine groom qualification at Haddon Training. My Trainer Coach, Jess Coltman, has been great at helping me plan my revision for each of the modules and has helped me understand how best to revise for each of the different parts of my assessment day.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the content in this apprenticeship and the life skills I have learnt whilst working on the job are invaluable.
I’m now looking forward to Regionals in July with Beanie, and another competition with Dennis, I will update you on how it all goes in my next blog.
Thanks for reading,
Emilia