Natalie Povey Sponsored Rider Blog – May 2019
Natalie Povey Sponsored Rider Blog – May 2019
This month, preparations are well under way for the British Dressage Winter Championships at the end of the month. Tidy has been going so well and has progressed so much in this last year. I have been working on fine tuning the little things that make that extra difference with guidance from our coach Helen Hopewell. We have been working hard on my accuracy and the consistence in Tidy’s way of going. She can be a little eager to please so I have been teaching her to wait for me.
The British Dressage Equissage Pulse Para Winter Championship soon came, this was going to be Tidy’s first championship so my goal was for her to have a good experience. It was a very early start, with extremely foggy weather conditions, we had packed everything the night before so all we had to do was to feed and get Tidy ready to travel – Tidy has amazing manors on the ground and she is a pleasure to deal with so she was soon ready and loaded. My good friend Joanne was very kindly taking us to the championships. We arrived in plenty of time so we let Tidy have a rest as it is the furthest she has ever travelled, although saying that she travels amazingly. I went to have a wonder around to stretch my legs and it was soon time to tack up. Tidy was very chilled so I got on her by the trailer to ride her to the warm up. Tidy warmed up amazingly – she was listening and relaxed. On entering the competition arena I questioned how well she would cope as there were lots of flowers and various banners – something that she has never seen before so I rode her confidently forwards and I need not have worried as her attitude to new situations is amazing – she takes everything in her stride. She was feeling good and we started our test – I had a minor SAT NAV error and turned the wrong way at the end of the centreline but it soon come back to me. I was so please with Tidy – she gave me everything I asked for and I was over the moon with her. I literally couldn’t have asked anymore from her at her first championship. She was place 2nd with 67.49%.
After the championship Tidy has had some down time as we had been working so hard in the lead up to the championship. Next month we are off for a lesson to Paralympian Nicola Tustain MBE.