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Coping with Covid-19 and NO EVENTING!

So here it is… my first blog!

With no eventing, and it being possibly the craziest, scariest time that most of us will ever have experienced in our lives, I thought I’d try and spread some positivity and motivation as we’ve all got a little bit more time on our hands. Which if you’re like me, you don’t quite no what to do with! Also, more time means more thinking about which events we should have been attending that week, which then leads to a slight drop in mood!

We’ve been lucky enough to have some lovely dry weather. Meaning all the horses are getting plenty of turnout to keep them happy and chilled, enabling me to lower their workload slightly but keep them ticking over without them being fresh or silly. So, I’ve decided to stay positive and come up with a few things that I can focus on over the next few months that will then hopefully prepare me and the horses for when the season finally starts again; whilst trying to keep everything fairly easy and safe to prevent any injuries. The last thing I want to be doing at this moment in time is risking putting more strain on the NHS, as I’m so thankful for everything they’re doing. But sometimes I think the simpler the better anyway! If you’re like me and lucky enough to still be riding, hopefully this may help you focus and stay positive too.

I have written up a list of what I think each horse could improve on and how this can be improved, to give myself a bit of a focus. An example being canter rhythm when jumping, which can be helped just by doing a course of simple poles on the floor. I am planning on videoing the exercises I use, which I can then share with you all. They might even be amusing because canter poles are a key part, and surprisingly they are my pet hate… Apparently cantering to a pole on the floor is a lot harder than cantering to a jump!

I have also set myself some aims. One being flying changes. I HATE flying changes! So therefore, I just ignore the fact that they exist and never do them. Like everything that we find hard, right? But I’m sure that will eventually come back to bite me on the bottom! So unfortunately for the horses, I am now trying to add in changes to most of my training sessions so that eventually it will become normal and won’t freak either of us out! My other focus is my upper body position. With no competitions to worry about, it doesn’t matter if the horses don’t look pretty trotting around the arena, meaning I can focus on what I’m doing a little bit more and remember what everyone has been shouting at me for the last few years… BOOBS. So, if all goes to plan, once this is all over the shouting will no longer be necessary, and I will have a 6 pack from all the no stirrups I’ve been doing…. And most importantly there will be no more slouching!

I think sometimes the simplest things can be the hardest but also the most beneficial, so taking a step back and working on all the things we would usually ignore could be the one positive we can take away from this far from ideal situation.

My final aim is positivity and remembering how lucky I still am. The horses are all feeling and looking amazing and the sun has been shining, so let’s all still try and enjoy them and appreciate them as much as we can!

Let me know your thoughts, and any aims and ideas that you may come up with for yourselves.

Most of all, stay safe and stay happy!     

xxxxx

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