I was very happy when my good friend, Lisa Mayhew, called me to say she was really keen to arrange a dressage course in South Africa. I have helped Lisa for a number of years when she lived back in England and having moved to SA last year she was desperately missing some eyes on the ground. She did a fantastic job of arranging the logistics, not an easy task with my busy schedule and the fast approaching hot summer and African horse sickness jabs! After many calls we finally fixed a date and with fairly short notice Lisa gathered a great selection of riders at a lovely venue in Stellenbosch with the kind permission of Liz van Rensburg.
Sadly not long after my arrival in SA I received the devastating news that my Grand Prix horse, Nemo (Jay) had died very unexpectedly. It was such a terrible shock, I don't know quite how I managed to carry on, but I was very conscious that I had travelled a long way to help the riders that had been so looking forward to their lessons and I was determined not to let them down. Thank you to everyone who was so kind and supportive.
The two day course was well attended by a wide range of horses and riders who I feel really benefited from the few days we worked together, improving relaxation, correcting outline, softness and hopefully leaving everyone with a better feel and understanding, along with some useful exercises to continue training their horses. It was also great to see a few of the trainers of the riders come along to support and discuss some of the suggestions I'd made.
I also enjoyed a few days holiday with my fiance, Sean while we were in SA including whale watching and the cable way up table mountain. It is such a beautiful country with amazing scenery and we even managed a day on the beach which was gorgeous especially with the thought of a long British winter ahead! We were very lucky to stay in some lovely places and were so well looked after, I'm really hoping to come back next year for another course or two!
Sadly not long after my arrival in SA I received the devastating news that my Grand Prix horse, Nemo (Jay) had died very unexpectedly. It was such a terrible shock, I don't know quite how I managed to carry on, but I was very conscious that I had travelled a long way to help the riders that had been so looking forward to their lessons and I was determined not to let them down. Thank you to everyone who was so kind and supportive.
The two day course was well attended by a wide range of horses and riders who I feel really benefited from the few days we worked together, improving relaxation, correcting outline, softness and hopefully leaving everyone with a better feel and understanding, along with some useful exercises to continue training their horses. It was also great to see a few of the trainers of the riders come along to support and discuss some of the suggestions I'd made.
I also enjoyed a few days holiday with my fiance, Sean while we were in SA including whale watching and the cable way up table mountain. It is such a beautiful country with amazing scenery and we even managed a day on the beach which was gorgeous especially with the thought of a long British winter ahead! We were very lucky to stay in some lovely places and were so well looked after, I'm really hoping to come back next year for another course or two!
