Sponsored Rider Update: Sarah Gadd

We had a great day out eventing on Monday with Roxie, despite the weather not being that nice to us!

We were at Tweseldown and it was mine and Roxie’s first attempt at Intermediate level and only her second run of the season, so I was a little nervous if i’m honest! Thankfully it stopped raining just before we got there so on arrival I headed off to walk the XC course. Fence 1 a lovely inviting flower, ‘this looks fine’ I thought…….then there was fence 2, a nice filled in oxer type fence which was just below my shoulder in height and wider than my arm span! I did contemplate turning round and heading home at this point! As I continued to walk the course it got bigger and more technical, but I was getting extremely excited about cracking on with it and giving it a go. I knew to get to have a crack at the XC we had to get round the SJ, which has always been our nemesis and, as usual at Tweseldown, the SJ was a very big track!

Anyway before either jumping discipline we had to do our dressage and as it was only Roxie’s second time out this season she was rather excited to say the least! She did a good test but was slightly tense and it is a test I’ve done many times before so she knows what movement is up next…..and they say horses aren’t clever!?! After our dressage ,when I went to learn the SJ course, I looked at the scores of my arena and they ranged from 27 to 55 so was hoping for somewhere in the middles! We scored 40.9 which isn’t a great score but I know what needs to be worked on for next time.

The SJ course was testing with very few clears and looking at the scores last night only 4 in my arena jumped clear showing how thought the track was! I was determined to jump a good round as couldn’t wait to get out on the XC! It was by far the biggest track I’ve ever jumped on Roxie and she was SUPER! We did pick up 4 penalties at the first part of the triple, which was off a tight turn where many horses were slipping, so to ensure she didn’t slip my approach was too steady! But I was chuffed to bits with our round as it felt the best round I’ve ridden on Roxie in a long time.

So with a great SJ round behind us, it was now all to play for and I couldn’t wait to get out and attack the XC course! I was a little anxious, as she was such a handful at South of England in April, but she proved me right and was more than ready for the step up to intermediate level as she flew round the course making it feel the BE100 track! We did pick up 20 penalties at fence 17a, a skinny brush with a sharp right turn on landing to fence 17b – which was upright racing rails. One thing I hate with a passion are uprights on a XC course! I think because of this I fiddled a bit too much before the skinny, focusing on the upright rails and Roxie just wasn’t quite sure where I wanted her to go! I was very annoyed with myself as it was completely rider error as she was jumping brilliantly all the way round. If i’m honest, I was really quite annoyed with myself when I found out without the XC penalties we would have won! Oh well, there’s always next time.

We did finish 14th in my section so a very respectable result considering it was our first run at this level! I am so so pleased with how it all went!

Best regards,

Sarah

Follow Sarah on twitter @SarahGadd

Sponsored Rider Update: Sarah Gadd

“I hope you had a lovely Easter break and the weather is finally looking more like spring weather 🙂

Just to keep you updated, we were out SJing last Thursday with Roxie and Milli at Felbridge. I’m now an eventer-turned-showjumper with so many events being cancelled! I entered the Discovery class on Milli and she jumped really well. She is still jumping SO big over every fence, I think being young she is miss-judging the height slightly and doesn’t want to touch a pole but now she is jumping slightly bigger tracks she is having trouble jumping the bigger spreads and came down on the back rail of a big spread yesterday which resulted in her loosing confidence and stopping at the next, which unfortunately I went on to jump myself!! Not good!

Although, smashing my face and nearly breaking my nose obviously knocked some sense into me as I rode the best round i’ve ever jumped on Roxie and had she been registered with BS and not jumping on a ticket she would have finished 2nd in the next class 🙂 Thankfully I wasn’t too bruised up the following day…..I was worried I would like like i’d been beaten up or something though I have to say!! 

I would just like to let you know I am AMAZED at how well the Global Herbs StrongBone supplement has worked on Roxie!! She isn’t on any form of joint supplement and doesn’t feel like she needs it at all. The StrongBone has helped strengthen her hocks so so much that she now has a lot more confidence in herself, that she can get slightly closer to the fences and has the power to push off the floor. Paul, from Ultimate Images was there and he said it was the best round he has seen her jump as well, so thank you for once again making a SUPERB supplement 🙂

 

Strongbone

For normal strong conformation – especially hock joints

Many horse owners use limestone flower but StrongBone is much more effective. This can be used in any horse as the best possible form of calcium. In the young it ensures proper development of the legs and in older animals it can be used routinely to ensure that the joints remain strong, flexible and sound. In adult horses it is particularly invaluable for maintain hocks in perfect condition.

• At a low level as a routine supplement to ensure strong normal joints
• For young stock to ensure normal healthy skeletal system
• As a food supplement when there has been any damage to bones
• To help with normal milk production in mares

Price Details

• 1kg – £16.50

• 5kg – £73.95

Directions for use

Feed 2 x 25ml (blue scoops) twice daily for an average sized horse over a period of 2-3 months. Maintenance can then be at 1-2 scoops daily indefinitely.

Sponsored rider update: Sarah Gadd

Read below what our brilliant sponsored rider, Sarah Gadd, has been up to.

“Just wanted to give you a quick update on how everything is this end before Christmas and the New Year celebrations begin. We haven’t been out competing much over the last few weeks because of the weather but we have still been doing lots of hacking and training when the school isn’t frozen!

I am also incredibly busy coaching and riding clients horses at the moment which is good. Last weekend I went to a British Dressage training session with Leanne Wall. I took Roxie and got some really good work out of her and Leanne has given us plenty to work on before the next session in January. I was very pleased when she said that Roxie has the potential and is more than capable of going advanced / 4* but I’ve just got to be braver and ask more of her so with our training programme changed slightly we are working harder than ever getting ready for the start of the season in a few months time.

Milli is working very well and is STILL growing! She’s going to be enormous by the time she stops growing! She had her first set of back shoes on the other day so is now very grown up like Roxie! We are next out competing on the 30th December at a dressage competition and have our first jumping lesson booked for the 28th December which no doubt they will find incredibly exciting as they have only been jumped a few times at home since coming back into work after their holidays!

The video and pictures are from our training session with Leanne and I have left the sound in the video as people have previously commented on little things they have learnt from watching and listening to my training videos 🙂

I hope you have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year 🙂

Many thanks for the support from Global Herbs during 2012 and lets look forward to what will hopefully be a very successful 2013!

Sarah