Well, as you all know, I have my amazing Lola and we have been working together and with the aid of my gorgeous guy dog, Woody. We do quite a lot of training by myself which is coming along nicely! As fun as this is, I would really like to get back in the competition arena. It's something that I dream about but until this weekend I didn’t really think it would happen!
I have talked about it, I have thought about it a lot but now we have goals and we are moving forward and I would love to share with you what has happened this weekend
Firstly one of my friends on Facebook, Catherine Mansfield, was hosting a classical dressage clinic at her property Winterwood Farm.
I love classical dressage and I loved what I did for my beautiful Johno training with José the principles of elegance - the working together, the holistic approach of it - so I contacted Catherine.
Catherine is on a beautiful horse farm in Bathurst and she sent me the information on Nadine O’Sullivan Legerete training.
Well oh my lord, I was so excited my mother-in-law, Lee, was reading me the information and this beautiful lady Catherine McDowell and I have been friends for over 20 years and she has been treating my horses for well in excess of 20 years and I did not realise she was involved in classical dressage so we chatted backwards and forwards I was so happy to have a life changing story like this and two beautiful ladies to meet!
Nadine does classical dressage (the French style) and I am yet to learn all of the right terminologies and get the understanding of the principles but this weekend was life changing for me.
The love and the support turning up at Catherine‘s place and then my first lesson with the beautiful Nadine and my friend Jacqueline was there, who is also one of my coaches and helps when I ride here at home with my orientation and setting up of the lateral movements .
Jac was my eyes in the arena and she explained to Nadine. Jacqueline would let me know when to turn for corners etc and I explain to Nadine the importance of me listening to her voice and I couldn’t use the earpiece because that gives me no orientation so Nadine stood in the middle of the arena and I walked and worked around her on a 20 metre circle - what a beautiful start to everything!!
The training was gentle, it was kind, it was inviting and Nadine created all of this with her instructions. Lola was in heaven! There is small differences to the aids but she listened and she tried so hard and we improved step by step - as our beautiful Johno used to say all it takes is one step at a time.
Nadine trains no fuss - no tension, no jamming. It was such a revelation and all the things that I used to do years ago or came back less is more keep it simple, don’t complicate things, use your body and be aware of what you are doing with your body and how it impacts the horse.
So this weekend has been a game changer on so many levels I love totally love the ask don’t tell and inviting I love the idea of doing less because my beautiful Lola has been put in a pressure cooker at some stage and really push till it really blows her little mind so this training is so good for her it’s not confrontational it is soft it is gentle it is ask don’t tell
And well as you get from my messages I’m a hugger each day I got off my beautiful Lola and gave Nadine the most massive hug I so appreciated being guided one step at a time and it made such a difference
We will also enjoy the journey and I cannot wait for my next lesson. Nadine, you are amazing you have changes my world and you have giving me belief that I can do it I can to get back to Dressage.
So to my beautiful friend Catherine, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for inviting me to be part of this amazing journey but wow wow and wow Nadine O’Sullivan as a coach you totally rock your understanding your empathy and your ability to read a situation is bordering on magical for me a smile has still not moved off my face.
i am so so excited about my next lessons and meet up with you thank you so much to two beautiful ladies that are rebuilding my dressage career believing in me as I have to be honest I do need someone to hold my hand and say it’s okay thank you both from the bottom of my heart
So as you can see I have had the most amazing weekend!!
Love Lola and the Blind Chick!!
You can follow their story here
