Hi everyone! How are you all doing?
Mystie and I have been quite busy since I did my last blog post. We’ve been out competing and doing lots of training!
I have had a lot of lessons with my local instructor Barrett Watson. He has really helped me and Mystie progress with our jumping, the difference in us is huge! We practice courses, making sure to ride the correct lines and get the correct striding. I’ve learnt so much with him already, I can’t wait to have more lessons and carry on with our progress. In our warm ups, Mystie has been flying over 105, no problem! She can really jump! But it isn’t about the height, much more the technical side of things and making sure to get things right as much as possible. I love seeing what she can do in her ability of height, but it’s much more important to practice at the level you compete at. I’m so proud of how far Mystie has come on in our lessons, she’s a turbo cob for sure!
I took her out arena eventing at The Jays recently and she behaved impeccably. I went for a training round, not expecting to come anywhere but we ended up with 4th place! We had a couple poles, one which was a silly mistake made by me, and the other was just unlucky where she just tapped it. However, because our time was so fast, we were still in the placings! This time last year, we would have crashed through a lot of the jumps but now she’s flying round, I’m so proud!
We also had the very exciting opportunity to have a lesson with Ben Hobday and his wife, Emma! It was hosted at Topthorn Arena and was organized very well. Mystie was flying over everything the whole time, even doing some new tricky lines that she hasn’t seen before, absolutely perfectly! We warmed up with Emma over a little course, working on the consistency of the rhythm in canter, and making sure they were forward in front of the leg. It was so fun, I feel so grateful to have met her. We then went inside with Ben and he told us to canter round the arena, whilst working through our different ‘gears’, and told us to imagine we were riding around Badminton! That made me laugh and Mystie flew off, I even had to overtake the person in front, oops! We then did jumping, working on bounces and related distances. Mystie was absolutely awesome the whole time, I really can’t fault her. Ben made us all laugh, dancing and singing throughout the lesson.
It was such a great opportunity, I’d love to have a lesson with him again. I’m feeling very lucky and thankful that I was able to go!
I’m looking forward to getting out to some ODE’s with Mystie soon, all the training will pay off!
I hope you’re all having a lovely summer so far, and that your all keeping safe!
Charlotte & Mystie ☺️
Photo Credit to Carol Street
