A diary by Abigail Uden following her progress and training with the East and Essex Under 21’s Dressage Group.
May 2010
This month has been fun and exciting, with competing and training. All of the East and Essex Under 21’s Group and some friends were invited down to Goodwood to Char Lassetter’s yard for training.
We all had three days of training and 27 of us went out for dinner one night to the Goodwood House hotel. This was a great opportunity to meet the grooms that all work there and are normally too busy or riding to chat, John Lassetter and Char both came too.
Abi Uden
Poor Tracy got the 6.30 am slot every morning, should really say poor Char as despite starting at 6.30am one night she was still teaching until 8.30pm! The rest of us managed a lie in while Tracy got up and rode, although one morning Larry decided to let himself out of his stable at 5am, this did wake us all up!
As Tracy had such an early lesson nobody knows what she did, but Tracy told me that Dings and her worked on engagement in the trot and flying changes in the canter. These were much better at the end of her lessons.
Robyn and Larry worked on lateral work to make Larry more supple and working from behind. Robyn was really pleased with both of her lessons.
On the day in the middle between both lessons Robyn, my sister Emily on her pony Tom and my baby sister who is four rode her pony Sophie went hacking around the Goodwood estate. They had lots of fun spotting deer and Robyn and Emily were seen racing each other up a massive hill at full pelt gallop.
Char Lassetter
It was great to watch Char Lowries lessons as Phoebe is maturing and coming on so well now. Seeing her glide across a beautiful half pass was impressive to watch the way she moves and covers the ground.
Emily and Tom’s lessons were hard work for her as they worked on softening her elbows and keeping her hands still and heels down which helped to improve Toms way of going. In my lessons with Ernie we worked on my medium trots and getting Ernie off my leg and powering straight into the trots. We did this by doing lots of lateral work and doing no stirrups to make my legs stronger to make Ernie push more from behind.
I was exhausted after the 3 days but managed to take Ernie for a good gallop in the Goodwood estate at the end. It is a really beautiful estate and a great opportunity for a good hack.
Watching Char ride her youngster that she had bred was really fascinating. We also saw John Lassetter training the grooms on other youngsters. We all enjoyed it and had a lot of fun including a pizza and movie night for the children in our lorry while the adults socialised in the Lowries lorry.
As I said in my last update I was hoping to qualify for the regionals when competing in my second competition at Norton Heath at Novice Level. I needed one more win and managed to achieve it by winning both of my classes with 73% and 70%. Ernie did go very well so I was really pleased with him.
The next day Tracy Wright and Char Lowrie competed at Wix at Medium Level, Tracy was in the Open section and got two seconds and Char competed in the Restricted section and also got two seconds. So what a great result was had this weekend for the Under 21’s.
On Friday 16th April Char Lassetter returned to Essex to train East and Essex Under 21’s Dressage which I should have attended but unfortunately I was stuck in Rome on holiday due to the volcanic ash. On Saturday 17th April Tracy Wright went to Wix again and competed at Medium Level and this time achieved two firsts with 67% and 68%. So she is well on her way to qualifying for the regionals now too. She’s still aiming for the Prix St George!
The next Under 21’s dressage training with Char Lassetter will be on the 2nd May and the next Unicorn Trust clinic, for the Ireland team members, in Gloucestershire is on 8th and 9th May. Dan Greenwood and Roland Tong will be training us which will make the training really good and I’m looking forward to meeting them.
If you are interested in joining the Under 21’s Dressage group please contact Tracy Wright on her mobile: +447951570315 or for more information on the group go on the website: http://www.dressageunder21s-uk.co.uk/
