Well, it is official, we have a working arena and a walker here at home for Shannon Eventing! I have had my first ride in the school and the walker will be finished later today by Claydon Horse Exercisers.
I would love to say that I rode round the school with a bottle of champagne and lots of bystanders, but there is a lot of work still to do, so I was on my own without any celebratory alcohol in sight. I cannot complain though, it was lovely to finally ride in my own school and we have plenty of time for parties and celebrations when we have finished the job.
In the meantime, I have been cross-country schooling all the horses, as well as having dressage and showjumping lessons. Well, this was my intention at least. I managed to head out for showjumping lessons on Monday morning, and turned up with plenty of time to get ready.
There was another lorry that we parked next to and I was wondering why they seemed to be getting tacked up at the same time. I figured I was overthinking, but just to be sure, I went to see Caroline Moore in the school, to check I hadn’t been really blonde and gotten the week wrong or something — I mean who does that, right?
It turns out I do, as I managed to come to my lessons a full week early! After 20 minutes of phone calls to owners (“Yes, we do have lessons, but you best not come watch them til next week!”) and other equestrian centres, we managed to salvage the day and get the horses booked in to Aylesford cross-country to have a play around their course.
It turned into a beautiful, sunny day so I was happy to be outside and the horses were all brilliantly behaved and enjoyed the sun on their backs. I have to say, it’s got to be better to be early than late with this kind of thing…
So, I am heading back to see Caroline THIS Monday, to get the mares tuned up for their first run at Belton next weekend. Although we’ve been to a few events now, this is my first run on our horses, so I can’t wait to get started — though I’m confident I’m not so excited that I’ll turn up at Belton a week early as well!
Lauren
