Marianne Stringfellow Eventing

What a beautiful morning to be riding and watching the sun come up. Great to be back in the saddle after 6 weeks off!

Happy faces after a successful rider analysis this week… more to follow 🎉

A yard day out at Elms Farm Equestrian Centre with Norton Disney Equestrian Ali & Holly doing the 80 & 90. Gemma was back to her old self, forward and excited. I didn't think for second that she was having second thoughts. Came 5th in the 80 and 2nd in the 90. Thanks to Sam Hobbs Eventing for the coaching and confidence. Thanks to Teya Weller for the videos (in the comments)

After a bit more practice at home, off we went to . This time we entered the 85cm and 90 Open. She took a dislike to this fence in the first round, but second time she flew over. The course just went up for the 90, so rode it much more confidently. I have to say it's one of the very few photos of me jumping where I am actually SMILING 😊 thank you to for capturing the moment.
Being out on your own is sometimes a little confidence shaking, but everyone I met yesterday was absolutely lovely. Very friendly place and I will definitely be going again!

If she was jumping like this, why did she put two dirty stops in at the next fence? Not sure if it was a bad day at the office or she's not up for this any more.

📸 Your Moment Photography

Today I went to to volunteer in the show jumping collecting ring for the Intermediate sections. Had a wonderful time, especially as the weather was kind and not too cold. The course looked an up to height 1.2m and was good to see the professionals in action with some amazing scopey horses. Managed to sneak a few pictures and my enjoyed my chats with the lovely .jones.equestrian and 🐎❤️

Anxious or Calm? It starts off their backs.

I have watched thousands of humans deal with horses over the last 70 years. So much of how horses behave has to to with whether or not they are anxious or calm, and so much about whether the horse is anxious or calm depends upon how it is handled---I think---

Watch the way a good horse person catches a horse in a field, how they put the halter on, how they lead the horse, how they handle the horse on cross-ties, how they groom, how they tack up, how they mount, and then, after they are on the horse, how they warm up.

I don’t think with the better horse people you will see much drama. You won’t see yanking and snatching and slapping. You won’t hear lots of yelling. You will see quiet movement, almost deliberate handling, consistency, and when the horse gets tricky, like sticks its head way up to get bridled, there won’t be a big deal, lots of patience.

You won’t see the saddle getting slammed on the horse’s back, or the girth getting cranked tight, maybe the horse being kneed in the belly to “make him let out his breath.”
There just won’t be all that hassle and drama.

And once the rider IS on, you will see calm walking, no insta-contact, no feeling of rush or hurry, or frenzy.

All of this is not about riding skills or training while riding, but it is a prelude to that, and usually how you see a human deal with horses OFF their backs will give you a pretty good clue about what you will see when you watch them ride.

After a few weeks of poles and gymnastic jumping over small jumps, we ventured out on Saturday for a jump clinic in Collingham with Adam at Jump Elite. Started out a little green but very quickly got our eye back in. Gemma seemed to enjoy it too.