After the countdown to Tokyo, the last few months feel like they’ve flown by! We’d been working hard on developing Loki’s expression in the trot, and he was starting to get stronger within this. In September we had the National Championships, which, for the first time was being held at Somerford Park. Having been to Stoneleigh every year, it felt strange heading off in a new direction but the weather was lovely, which always makes a difference when you’re predominantly based outside!
As the class was fairly quiet, my goal was to try to take some of the new work we were getting in training through to the competition arena. I had a super ride on Loki the day before in training, so I was looking forward to seeing what we could do the next day. I think we might have put our best foot forward in the training as we didn’t quite get what we could do in the arena, but he’s still getting stronger and I’m still finding out his new gears so it’s all a learning experience. I was delighted that he didn’t bat an eyelid at anything as even though we were first in there was still a good atmosphere. We went on to do his first mounted prizegiving too where he was impeccably behaved so we ticked those boxes.
Next up was Keysoe, the last International of the year. Following the Nationals we decided to not pick him up too much in the training day or the warm-up to save his best for the arena and I just had to trust that I would be able to get it when I went in. It worked perfectly and Loki showed just how much stronger he is getting as just a few weeks after the Nationals he was able to sustain it over the 3 days, getting better each day. It was a superb end to the Para season and we walked away with 3 wins and more importantly, I got a really good feeling from him.
After a few weeks break for him and having qualified for everything for Para next year I decided to step up the challenge for both of us and contest our first Medium. Opting for the freestyle (so that I had a bit of flexibility in where we did the movements!) and using new music from Aladdin that I put together myself, we went off to test the water in his Medium debut and finished on 70%. Having achieved our first qualifying score we went out a few days later and scored over 73% to secure qualification for the Regionals! I think it’s great to mix the tests up so that he doesn’t always go through the Para test every time he competes and it also tests me as a rider as I need to have much more control and influence over how he uses his body. I’ve also been playing with his flying changes ready for the advanced medium work but as with anything new, one way is easy and consistent and the other way is currently a bit hit or miss. Of course, when I then want to run through my Medium without any changes, they sneak in everywhere!
Looking forward to the World Championships 2022 and Paris 2024 I am on the lookout for a second horse to campaign, so if anyone sees or hears of anything that might be suitable or has a horse in the stable with a super walk and trot - and even bigger dreams - please do get in touch!
A massive thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year… fingers crossed 2022 is kind to us!