Paddy's first dressage

Well, I bathed Paddy yesterday, pulled his tail, trimmed his heels, put him in his stable for the night and of course as soon as he got in there he rolled!

this morning I arrived at the stables and everyone was on a mission to make their ponies & horses look smart. I wasn't going to plait Paddy up but decided at he last minute to do so, and what a smart boy he looked.

It was a scorching day and Nick was riding him first, so warmed up and then went into the arena, and although being unbalanced in canter, did a good test.

I then  got on and went to warm up, Paddy became very excited when Magic (one of the school ponies) came hurtling past him at top speed out of the indoor school and off towards the yard - I'm sure Paddy thought there was a race on! Then went to do my test.....

Paddy performed like a star - He was so well behaved and calm, no napping, no gawping at everything else that was going on and he didn't bat an eyelid at the big scary, flappy parasol that he judge was seated beneath that upset many of the other horses!

I was over the moon with the way he went - a very proud Paddy's mum!

Preparation for Paddy's first dressage competition

The livery yard where I keep Paddy is holding a dressage series for the riding school clients and liveries, so I decided to enter Paddy with Nick & I riding him. I normally have a lesson on him on a Wednesday evening with some of the other livery owners, which is quite good as we are all of a similar standard. So in  preparation for the dressage on Sunday I let Nick ride him in the lesson so that he could have a bit of practice beforehand & so  could see Paddy being ridden which is not something I get to see that often as I am normally on him!

Here he is practicing the canter part of prelim 12, as yet Paddy is quite unbalanced and Nick has the tendency to have his reins too long so Paddy goes round a bit strung out.

First group lesson

This evening Paddy and I joined one of the group lessons which liveries are allowed to do as part of their livery agreement. He was very well behaved given that he has never been in an enclosed space with lots of other horses. In fact he was better behaved than the others, who are all older and used to being with others. He rushed on in trot though trying to catch up so we worked on slowing the trot down by me slowing my rising and he managed to maintain a nice even trot. He got tired quite quickly though and startedtossing his head up. Chris & I decided to limit 'hard' work to 20 minutes to 1/2 hour bursts as his muscles are very weak along his back and will need time to build them up. All in all I was really pleased with the way he went.

Introducing Paddy

Hi I am Emma and recently took up riding again after a break of about 20 years. In my teens and early twenties I rode alot. I had my own horses all of which I used to compete at various levels, but mostly my little thoroughbred chestnut mare Gemma, who despite her size (15'2"hh) was a complete superstar who did a bit of everything including Pony club, showing and hunting plus affiliated dressage, showjumping and eventing up to advanced level.

I restarted riding at South Cambridgeshire Equestrian Centre (http://www.scec.co.uk/) but very soon started hankering after my own horse again, wanting more than the weekly riding lesson, so started the hunt for a horse.

My wish list was for something that was sane, had done a bit of everything but with enough left for me to bring on and develop, preferably an irish sport horse type......When I contacted the owner about Paddy I wasn't that interested as he didn't have completely clean legs, was an e-racehorse, a thoroughbred and was very green.......I only went to try him as it was on the way to another horse viewing!

Well I dragged my daughter & her boyfriend (who also rides) with me & when we arrived it was raining, cold and miserable but then I saw him & saw how he was in the stable & being handled I was already half smitten! He was gentle, sane & very pretty (I'm a sucker for a pretty horse!). We then rode him and he went very well with nice comfortable paces despite the rain and horses in the next field prancing round & distracting him....After this it took me all of 10 minutes to decide to buy him!

And here he is...