Posted
Down-Time
Along with our panic to get some music sorted for the freestyle test, Paul and I had booked a holiday! Not ideal timing, and my horses were meant to be having some time off during this period. I contemplated sending Bugatti to my trainer for her to school a few times, but I really felt he needed a break mentally and physically. So I decided to give him a light week.
Annoyingly, we don't hack Bugatti. All our horses hack but he is really naughty and likes to display his 'airs above ground' unless he is made to trot out to keep his brain occupied! For a dressage horse, this isn't downtime, so after he came home on his own a few times, we took the decision that sadly hacking isn't a safe option for him.
So his light week included a few sessions on the horse walker and some lunging. He loves going out in the field - so we included plenty of all-day turnouts, and when I returned home to ride him on Monday, he felt very happy and good in his body.
Refining the Test
We don't have a correctly sized (20m x 60m) arena at home to practice the test to music for accuracy - we have to hire one. On Tuesday we drove to the arena and went through our freestyle. There are only so many times I can ride Bugatti through the test as it is quite intense for him. I also need to keep schooling the movements individually in order to improve them, or at least not go backwards!
We video our schooling sessions so I can re-watch, work out how the music changes, and I can learn exactly when I'm supposed to be doing what! The video of our test is on our Facebook site if anyone would like to watch it.
We are now around 10 days from the championships and on Monday I have a competition to run through the actual inter 2 test. This means I have to be very mindful of exactly what work Bugatti is doing in order to get him to the competition feeling as good as he can. With this in mind, physio and massages are booked for him and I'm on the cider to keep control of my nerves!
- Georgina Tapner - Tapner Eventing Team - Sponsored by PE
