The Medallists’ parade at Olympia!
Happy New Year to everyone! We had a busy finish to 2018 after a little bit of a quieter time post WEG. Our last Team Training session happened at the beginning of November and I was delighted with how Pimms felt after her short break. We always try to use the break in competitions to go back to the basics and look at areas we can improve for the following season, so it was great to see that even though she had improved so much, there are still plenty more marks to gain. It was good to catch up with the rest of the team and have a proper review of WEG, areas we could all improve and things to look at going into the 2019 season as well as building up to Tokyo 2020. It was a useful exercise looking at fresh ideas, things we can take from other sports or teams and trying to identify ways to achieve those marginal gains, because as we saw – that can be the difference between silver and gold or 4th place and bronze.
At the end of November, myself and fellow riders Sophie Wells and Emma Kent also took a week off for a proper holiday, which was definitely needed as I hadn’t been away since 2016 and before that it was 2012 – we went rogue and broke the Paralympic cycle! There wasn’t much time to transition back from holiday mode though as I barely had time to change my clothes after arriving back from the airport before I was reunited with Pimms for a lesson. It was quickly apparent that Pimms was not impressed that I’d abandoned her for a week and only after a substantial amount of bribery, did she finally agree to stop ignoring me and that I was allowed to ride her.
As it’s the end of the season it’s nice to take some time in December to time to catch up with family and friends who often get sidelined a little during the busy competition months. I was also invited to attend Sports Personality of the Year, which is always an amazing experience. I had been for the first-time last year and it was such an honour to be attending again alongside so many talented and dedicated athletes from all areas of sport, celebrating some of the many achievements that took place throughout 2018. The following week we were invited to Olympia for the medallists’ parade on the Thursday evening. We were there for most of the afternoon, where we did a meet and greet and a Q & A session on the Pony Club stand before our individual interviews with the BBC. Later on we also had another Q & A session at the interactive zone before quickly getting changed for the drinks reception and getting onto the big trailer for the parade. It’s quite overwhelming when you think about the bigger picture, how many people get behind your journey as well as the support that we have from the general public back home and it was an amazing experience to be alongside the successful Dressage, Eventing and Junior teams who all brought back medals this summer.
This year, we have the winter championships in February as our next aim and I’m looking forward to getting Pimms out to do some smaller shows before then as we start our campaign for the European Championships in Rotterdam. I’m keen to do more teaching this year too and I’m also still looking for my next young prospect, so fingers crossed there is a talented horse out there waiting to be found!
Until next time… Erin