H&C

A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH AND A 76% SCORE

Natasha and JP at Merrist Wood

"Hi everyone, sorry its been so long… I have had internet troubles galore and have been unable to send in any more blogs. But I am back - and I have lots of news!

Back in 2007 I bought a horse called Ludo and hoped that he would be my Beijing ride for the 2008 Paralympics, however, just before selection he went lame. Over the past year, Ludo has eaten, slept, ate a little more, grew into a polar bear with this thick coat, ate a little more, nibbled a few of us and eaten a little more!

When we found out that Ludo had a damaged a branch of his hind suspensory we were all heart broken. The whole family had put every last penny we had towards buying him; I sold my first dressage horse to be able to buy him so you can imagine how we felt when our vet Simon Knapp told us that Ludo was going to be out of work for at least a year.

Ludo was being turned out for a few hours every day and walked for about 30 minutes. On Monday the 11th of January Simon came for Ludo’s review… Simon himself said that he didn't know what we had done but Ludo looked amazing and he was given the all clear. We were in shock; I cannot explain how amazing I felt! I just wanted to jump on him and ride him again; I had forgotten what his trot and canter were like and what an amazing horse he is.

We are going to be taking it slow, getting Ludo fit again. There is no pressure on him or us to push him out too early to compete as we have JP so he has enough time to come back into full recovery.

In the meantime I have been out competing my new ride, JP. In November I did a few able bodied competitions in Prelim and Novice and was gaining over 70%! I was thrilled with him, especially after only owning him for a few months, it was a fantastic start.

Then the snow came… and it hit us pretty hard. I was unable to ride for ages, sometimes couldn’t even take them out of the barn it was so bad. Fortunately we have an indoor lungeing area where mum was able to work them, but it wasn’t the same, and boy did I miss riding!

When all the snow disappeared we were back out in full swing. I had my first para competition on 23rd January. I had only been riding since the Monday before the competition so it was a bit Crash! Bang! Wallop! We had to learn pirouettes and fast! Luckily the judges loved him, I managed an amazing 76% in the team test, it was lovely because when I went down the centre line I heard the judge make the comment 'beautiful' that put a BIG smile on my face! For the second test, the championship, it wasn’t as polished however I still managed over the qualifying score and got 68%.

We also took a trip to Oldencraig on the 5th February. My warm-up plan got turned completely upside down… we got told that everyone was running 15mins late, so I walked JP around on a long rein not to wear him out. All of a sudden the horse due in before me got called in, the judge had skipped her break and so they had caught up their time. I then had six minutes to warm him up. Considering this I was so pleased with 73%. The next test went to plan, the warm-up was perfect and he went into the test feeling amazing. I ended up getting the highest percentage of the day with 76%. When I saw the results I was in a state of shock, and to be honest I still am… He is certainly my little angel."

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