February 20125th February: Well it had to happen at some point!! Todays clinic at Waterstock had to be cancelled due to snow and icy roads. I should not really complain as this is the first days work lost so far this Winter, and to get through to February before saying that is not bad at all. Gill and I took Jack for a walk in the snow this morning which was lovely and at last I have had time to update the website. A few additions, a couple of tweaks and the changing of Cookie's Corner to the Tribute to Cookie. She is still very sorely missed and although we are now looking we are realising she will be a tough act to follow! 1st February: I am planning to do update the website more fully over the next week or so and so this is just a quick note on this cold, fresh morning!! Due to issues with the organiser I have had to withdraw from teaching the Aspley Guise R.C. group sessions and these dates have now been removed from my Clinic list. We are now starting to look for a horse on loan for Gill. We are still grieving the loss of our beloved Cookie but as we know the process of finding the next horse to come into our care could be long, we are starting now and, as I always advise anyone that goes out looking, we will take our time. January 201210th January 2011: After the sad news about Cookie I have thrown myself into work which has kept my mind off things. It has been a particularly hard time, especially for Gill and I, and is still quite raw. We would both very much like to thank all of the people that have messages and thoughts at this difficult time. On a more positive note, Step Into Dressage is pleased to announce a date for a lecture demo has been provisionally arranged for Sunday 27th May; the venue to be Bury Farm. Full details to follow but it will be a days event covering various aspects of dressage training. Clinic dates are being booked in for the main part of the year so check the Clinics page for new dates. 5th January 2012: I have some very sad news about Cookie to report. Please go to her Training Blog to read the full story. 3rd January 2012: Christmas has come and gone and I hope everyone had a lovely festive time. I wish everyone a happy New Year and I hope it brings many good riding times. The Xmas clinics at Bury Farm were both full and went really well. We have dates for Bury in January, February and March for the usual weekend clinics. In addition I am pleased to announce that, in conjunction with Aspley Guise Riding Club, I am running some group training sessions. Priority will be given to Aspley Guise R.C. members and for more information go to: Aspley Guise R.C. December 201118th December 2011: STOP PRESS: Due to the popular demand for the Xmas clinic at Bury Farm we have added a second day. The original clinic was on Thursday 29th December and now we have added Friday 30th December. The clinic is in the new large indoor school and is a fab chance to ride in the super arena and get used to the surrounds ready for riding in there competitively in 2012!! I am now also able to take in schooling lveries, basing them at Bury Farm. For more details see the Prices page. 12th December 2011: This year has flown past. I am relieved though to be this close to Christmas and still able to get and about to teach. For the last two years by this point we were well and truly under the snow and although having time off was relaxing it did not help the bank balance!!! Cookie has come into our lives and we have had her almost a year already! This has been an eventful journey as owning horses can often be. She has starred in two articles, one in 'Your Horse' and the other in the 'Chiltern & Thames Rider'. Clinics are booking in well for the first part of 2012. Another Ireland date has been added in mid-March. I am also seeing what I can do with respect of some weekend training camps. Any ideas as to what folk would like then please feel free to e-mail me. November 20113rd November 2011: Cookie and I are in print in two magazines this month! In the December issue, no. 354, of 'Your Horse' magazine is the lunging article that the editor Julie Brown did with me. I am really pleased with the 6 page feature which has come out really well. We are also in the November issue of the 'Chiltern & Thames Rider' in an article on the 'Rules of Engagement' that I wrote with Gill. Gill took the photos for this and, although I am obviously biased, am very proud of how they have come out. Bury Farm had their official opening of their new indoor school last week. This was combined with a 3 day show jumping show that had superb entries. The center is certainly now a force to be reckoned with. The Gala evening was a sell out with entertainment from the Devils Horsemen, a film stunt team, which had the crowd going and a heel work to music with Mary Ray and her dogs. The GP class was great with a very exciting jump off. October 201117th October 2011: Have just finished proof reading the Lunging article that I am doing with Your Horse magazine. They have laid it out very well. They have just included lunging with a single rein and may well do a second article with the double lunging. Cookie was the model for the photo shoot and she was a star and looks fab in the photos. The clinic at Bury Farm went very well and was a full day. Most of the horses took really well to working in the new indoor school - just took some of the riders some time to adjust! Its great for horse and rider combinations that are aiming to compete at Bury Farm to get a feel for the indoor school without the added pressure of the actual competition. Congratulations to Sara with her lovely horse Ty. Gaining over 73% advanced medium to music and then winning A100 with over 66%. A super combination that has worked really hard to get to this point and the exciting news is that there is still more to come! On Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th October are the Chiltern & Thames Rider dressage champs at Patchetts. I will be there for the day on the Saturday helping Gill and some clients. September 201128th September 2011: Just come back from a lovely trip to Ireland. This was my first time visiting Ireland and it certainly was an adventure. Thank you very much to Kate Peatling for organising everything and taking splendid care of me. The weekend was really busy with a full days teaching on the Saturday, a Tapas evening in the cafe next to the Hook lighthouse and then a really early start on the Sunday. In order to fit everyone in and catch my flight home we started the first lesson at 7am!! Cookie is now going from strength to strength - catch up with the latest on her Training Blog. My first clinic at Bury Farm is Saturday week and I am really looking forward to it. There are limited spaces which are filling up quickly so if you would like a slot contact Bury Farm. Congratulations go to Bernadette and Ollie for winning the Petplan medium at Patchetts on Monday and to Annie for coming 2nd and also qualifying for the Winters at PSG. 21st September 2011: Well what an eventful couple of weeks. As with any training of horses you will encounter some blips along the way. We have been going through that stage with Cookie recently. To find out more check out Cookies Training Blog Some exciting news: Your Horse magazine contacted me last week as the editor Julie Brown wanted to do a feature article on lungeing. She came down to Bury Farm last Friday with her photographer and Cookie was the demo horse for the photoshoot. Cookie was excellent and we also included double lunging which may well now come out as a separate article. I will let you know when the article is due to come out in print. I am off for my first clinic in Ireland this weekend which I am really looking forward to. I have never been to the Emerald Isle and I hear the part I am going to is beautiful. 13th September 2011: Where has this year gone? It seems to have flown by. Booking dates ahead for clinics is always good but to be booking in dates for 2012 has made me think where 2011 went! This has not really been helped by me thinks that we really did not get a good summer at all. Ho hum. Another proof of the onset of Winter is we put Cookie's winter rugs in for cleaning and the clippers will soon have to be coming out. The National Championships are upon us this week so good luck to all competing there. I hope the weather holds off for a good week of competition. August 201125th August 2011: STOP PRESS: I am really pleased to announce a new clinic venue, Bury Farm Equestrian Centre, Bedfordshire. Dates have now been confirmed for the next 6 months so please check out the Clinic's page. Bury Farm is a livery and competition centre complimented with fabulous facilities. These include 4 indoor schools, outdoor school, x-country course, cafe, tack shop and Chiltern Equine Vets on site. The clinics will be held in their brand new indoor school. The cost of a session is £45.00 for 45 minutes which includes the school hire. Please contact Bury Farm to book a space on the clinic. The sessions can be aimed at ridden dressage, in-hand work / long reining or test riding. An ideal way to not only have a dressage session but get to ride in their super indoor school where they hold their dressage competitions! 18th August 2011: A day to remember for British Dressage. Team Gold at the European Dressage Championships in Rotterdam. The first day saw Emile Faurie give us a good start with a 70% plus test and then Charlotte Dujardin with Valegro scoring a massive 78.8%. At the end of day 1 we were in the lead. Day 2 saw Carl Hester, with Uthopia score a personal best with 82.568% and hopes for a gold medal were high. Laura B came in with a 77.280 with a very exuberant Alf then we had the Team gold in the bag. Carl was top of the pile - highest score and a well deserved medal. On a teachingl front the Regionals saw some riders gain some new highs and some well deserved polos for some really good performances. Plans for a lecture demo in Spring next year are well under way so watch this space for more information. I can now also announce that I have a few limited spaces for taking schooling liveries in. If anyone is interested then please e-mail me here: Contact Simon. | |
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Step Into Dressage
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