Imy’s Rider Diary – February 2024
Badminton preparations are well underway. Mooney and I have been doing lots of training with Project Pony and we had a fantastic show jumping session with Bruno Freire at the end of January followed by some fabulous training from Padraig McCarthy.
I have weekly flatwork lessons with Matthew Firth and Julie Corrigan and this keeps Mooney focused. I’m working on getting him lighter and off my hand, listening to my leg. We also work on test riding which helps when it is a competition. Project Pony arranged a day with Piggy March and I had a great lesson with her on Mooney, we worked on balance, rhythm and straightness. I also had a lesson on my fitness and strength and I have lots of exercises to do so I am as fit as Mooney!
Rider nutrition is also important and this was a real eye opener and something I need to think about on a competition day as sometimes I just forget to eat and that is not good if I am riding! I also took Mooney to his first competitive showjumping competition since our last event at Oasby. We just rolled a pole in the 1:10 Foxhunter, completely my fault as I didn’t have him balanced well enough on a turn back to an upright double . He was jumping for fun though and it was a great round by him. He is looking fantastic and I will continue with his work to be as fit as possible for Badminton. Where I live it’s very flat so I need to find some hills to go and train on ready for the undulations on the Badminton course. My farrier is going to be putting new shoes on this week and he will be having stud holes in this set ready for working on grass.
As usual a big thank you to my family for running me all over the country and helping to look after my ponies. My biggest thanks goes to the main man Mooney who gives me so much fun and joy.