December 2005
In this months diary Tracey writes about her fitness program, the
eventing scene and the new addition to the Garside household.
Starting The New Year With Some Fitness
Throughout the winter months I have
been fortunate enough to have had a number of training sessions with
Chris Bartle.
I have had a lesson several times
with my 4 year-old bay mare Forget Me Not, but it was a first
session for my top horse, Dunauger, an 8-year-old dun gelding.
We have had plenty of show jumping
practice recently and had a couple of nice clear rounds at the
Yorkshire Equestrian Centre at Markington.
Life on the yard is very busy at the
moment while we work on the horses fitness programmes. We are
surrounded by hills where we live near Harrogate which is a great
advantage for hill work and getting the horses fit quickly.
Throughout January I will be
gradually building up their walking roadwork, whilst tidying them
up, getting their coats clean, clipping them and pulling their manes
and tails.
The event season starts in March, so
I will gradually increase their fast work through February and March
although I do believe that thorough, gradual fittening work is
imperative and if you take shortcuts you run a higher risk of
injury. Therefore I try to keep a general fitness program running
all the year through.
We are now working towards the
British Eventing Jas Indoor Eventing Championships, the first leg of
which takes place on January 14th at Osbaldeston.
Jas involves a round of show jumping
over 5-7 coloured fences (not timed) which are judged on style.
Following the show jumping a bell is rung and then you must complete
a timed cross country course.
As in normal eventing the lowest
score wins but both jumping and time penalties will be added to the
‘style’ penalty to produce the final score.
We have had a relatively quiet
Christmas and I have spent a lot of time with the horses making the
most of the good weather we have had.
Christmas Eve saw the arrival of our
new puppy, Belle. She is a Jack Russell who has quickly become a
huge fan of being up at the stables and makes a great addition to
the team!
I will write more next month - until
then, happy riding!
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