April 2013 PONY Magazine

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Who’s in charge, you or your pony?

April 2013 £3.99

DJMurphy

Inspire your pony when you ride real

life

stead to Hick anted!” t n e w “We dy w es nobo i n o p n o “Barred from my ridi ng school for something I didn’t do!”

ponymag.com

writes for PONY!

DON’T MISS MORE horsey goings-on at

Charlotte Dujardin

No more jumping fab poster pages! r e f u s a l s !

BE ACE AT MOUNTED GAMES!

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TA K E YO U R V E T E R A N P O N Y S H O W I N G !

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19/02/2013 14:55

Epic eventer FRANCIS

Francis Whittington is fast gaining a reputation as being a strong medal contender in the world of British Eventing, so we interviewed him to see how he made it to the top!

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FRANCIS FACT FILE

Full name: Francis Whittington Lives: East Sussex Birth date: 1977 Best moment: Riding around my first four-starevent and finishing three seconds within the time allowance. It signalled the start of my career.

Most embarrassing moment: When I was about 17 I tacked up to go show jumping, but forgot to put a breastplate on.

I warmed up but in my haste, forgot to do the girth up. The saddle kept slipping back until the last fence and, as we landed, I fell off! Fortunately, I landed after the finish flags, but it was still very embarrassing!

Quirks: Francis is also a qualified equine dental technician! Cool!

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TOP HORSE FACT FILE

Full name: Sir Percival III (Percy) Birth date: 1997 Owner: Margrete Paget Height: 16.1hh Fave thing to do: Stroll in the field for a few hours Funny characteristics: “Percy always wants to be involved while being mucked out, so he has to be tied up or he gets in the way. He also has a bad habit of biting his stable door and lifts it off its hinges, and then frightening himself as it falls! He’s always been a dab hand at opening his stable door and letting himself out given the opportunity, hence the need for secure locks out of his reach!” says Francis.

Hates: Time off – he gets bored and naughty!

In the beginning

Growing up surrounded by horses at his mother’s riding school meant that Francis started riding at a very early age.

Francis’s talent was noticed on the circuit as he entered and won Pony Club competitions.

He then went on to represent Great Britain on the Pony Team, winning team silver and individual gold in 1993 on North Down Nova at the European Championships in Belgium when he was just 16 years old. He followed this with an impressive second place at Bramham Young Riders Championships in 1997.

Through the Badminton water jump!

The route to the top Since competing as a senior, Francis has been notching up numerous high-profile wins and placings and has beaten some of the world’s finest event riders.

His first ride at Burghley in 2001 went swimmingly, with a clear cross country ride on Doonberg Lady, and he won the 2005 Scottish Championships at Thirlestane

with Spin Doctor. In 2006 he completed Badminton successfully with Osh Kosh and was the winner of the Burnham Market World Cup Qualifier in 2008 with the only horse clear inside the time.

He is currently ranked as number 33* according to British Eventing and is working his way up the rankings. He is considered to be a serious medal contender for the future Olympics, too! *British Eventing Top 100 riders 2012.

Francis riding Osh Kosh at Badminton

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he ye first ve p the w lanned s ar. It’s al o lI e seas ather m far beca on. A use ay af fect ll my diffe the re h we’ll nt aims a orses ha v nd g see h oals e ow t so hing s go !”

QUICK-FIRE QUESTIONS Grey or chestnut? Grey Rosettes or trophies? Trophies Ditches or banks? Ditches Dogs or cats? Cats Burghley or Blenheim? Both fantastic events!

Cross country or dressage?

Cross country Hotel or horsebox? Horsebox Crisps or biscuits? Crisps

t rge aand T Natasha Cabral sy nheim a E make lea fantastic tB apartnership

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, spon anies e “I am of comp s r o er nH numb g Sarace Bank, re din inclu Aldermo ctor , s ROte d P e , s Fe e l d Sad x.”

Wow nd Nette a

Do you have any advice for PONY readers determined to become top eventers?

Never be afraid to give something a go. If you get it wrong, it just highlights an area for further education to help your career progress!

Clic k on ponym to ag to .com

read mo re abou t Francis

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Part one: Speed inspiration!

Have you ever wondered why the pony you ride is soooo slow? It could be your fault, says Lorraine Jennings!

It’s time to turn the tables and be an inspiration!

Inspire your pony!

Go YOU! It takes two

Just because you’ve decided to get your pony going, don’t expect him to agree! You’ll have to convince him that you really mean business, and that means that YOU’RE going to need bucket-loads of energy. Lead from the front! Don’t make a massive effort one day, and then give up the next. Your pony needs to know you’re going to expect him to make an effort every time you ride him. And you need to show him that you will, too.

The way you approach your pony, or your riding school pony, matters. Start as soon as you get to the yard. Bounce cheerfully down to his stable and he’ll perk up straight away. If you slouch down the yard and slump over his door can you really complain if he can’t be bothered to look round from his hay net? Moods are catching – good and bad!

VIP (Very Important Pony)

Riding is all about teamwork. You and your pony should be BFFs, there’s no battle to be won – or lost! Make him feel like the most important pony in your life – because he is, isn’t he? A few pats, treats and Good boys will make a huge difference.

If you’re not positive and energised, how can you expect your pony to be? Set him a good example!

On Your Marks!

See how much energy (not speed) your pony can give you at walk

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Riding starts from the yard. Does your pony refuse to move when it’s time to go? Get hold of the reins under his chin and stand at his shoulder. One good click and a firm Walk on! should do it – but be careful, make sure you go through the doorway first so you don’t get squashed, and wait for him to come out behind you.

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Not so fast!

Walk this way

Your pony must walk on smartly when you lead him. Not only because it is good manners, but because allowing him to shuffle to the school is unfair if you tell him off for doing the same thing when you ride him.

Be consistent!

Whenever you lead your pony walk at his shoulder – never drag him – and carry your whip in your left hand.

If he doesn’t walk on chivvy him up by swinging your arm around behind you (while you face the front) and tap him up on his side.

It’s easy to think you need to go faster to liven up a lazy pony, but think again! Walk is a great pace.

It’s a great way to bottle up all his energy until he’s itching to trot – without tiring yourself out! Creating energy is easy, keeping it is much harder. When your pony is really walking on add a couple of circles in trot or canter, then walk again. Short bursts of activity prevent your pony from running out of steam, and keep him keen. Try it!

Chill Out

If you’re always getting left behind don’t get stressed and end up trying too hard. Many riders often lean forward, drop their reins and kick when they want to go faster but that’s wrong! All this does is throw your pony’s weight onto his shoulders. It won’t matter how hard you push on – if his weight is on his shoulders your pony will lose balance and slow down because his hocks can’t work properly. Sit up and use your legs. Make it easy for the pony you ride to do what you want!

Make life interesting!

Are you sure your pony is lazy? Could he actually be bored? Schooling isn’t boring, but trotting round and round is! Try these ideas: ● Ride a turn, transition or shape every time you pass a marker ● Ride a 20-metre circle at E. When you pass E, change pace, ask for a circle or go large again ● Put a small fence at X so you can jump it as you change the rein (after warming up!)

Just for fun!

Ponies love company. Share the school with friends and liven up your pony’s day (as well as yours!) ● Practise gymkhana games

Treat your pony like a super-charged racehorse!

● Hold a Chase-me-Charlie competition ● Play follow-the-leader (take it in turns to lead and change pace, direction or shape as your ride around)

Get a reaction!

It doesn’t matter if your pony is your own or a riding school pony, he knows who you are and you can influence his reactions. Treat him like a super-charged racehorse every time you ride and before long your friends will soon be asking you to wait for them!

NEXT MONTH: Inspire your fast pony to slow down!

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Diary of A

dressage diva!

Valegro and I share a joke!

Photo: Risto Aaltonen

Our new columnist is double Olympic gold-medal-winning dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin! Don’t miss what she has to say every month!

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Ponies, Italy and snow...

It’s been a busy time since my last column! All the horses are back into full work and I have been riding at least six horses a day – some real babies, and some that should know better!

PONY Magazine recommends that all riders wear a correctly fitted and fastened, approved riding hat when mounted.

PONIES PAST

I thought it would be fun to give you a bit of background about my own childhood riding experiences. I first started sitting on ponies when I was about 18 months old. My mum would sit me on the back of my older sister’s ponies, and also some of her show jumpers when she was mucking them out! She told me that when I was three years old she caught me leading one of the ponies out of the stable, picking up his foot and balancing it on a milk crate – I was told off for that one!

My first competitive riding was on a lead rein pony called Toy Grenadier – Grenny for short. He was lovely, and me and all the other kids would play with him and he didn’t mind. I went from Lead Rein classes to First Ridden on him. My mum remembers when I was five years old performing my display for the judges and asking them if I could do a flying change as I had been learning them at home. The judges were so surprised they agreed to let me do them on my figure of eight – and I won the class. I will tell you about more ponies next month.

FUN FILMING!

We finished filming a TV programme for Horse & Country TV called Carl and Charlotte: Golden Year, which is now on the channel. It was great fun as we got to talk about the new up-and-coming horses we have and what Carl and I plan to do now the Olympics are over and life is back to normal. The young horses managed to make themselves known – in fact you can see one of them do a massive buck with me in the show. It was funny but falling off on TV would not have done much for my street cred!

Me at Equipe in Italy, attempting my elegant Italian look!

I GO ALL ITALIAN!

I was very lucky in January as I got to go to Italy for a trip to see where my Equipe saddles are made. I went with a few of the best equestrian shop owners and saddle fitters in the UK, and we had a really interesting time. It is incredible how much goes into making a saddle and the serious technology that these companies have.

We also visited the area’s town hall – well it was actually much grander than that – it was like a palace and I received an award and special honorary certificate and medal from the Mayor of the town in which Equipe are based. We also had the best pizza in the world ever – although mine was so big that we could have fed the whole PONY Magazine team!

SNOW BUSINESS

This is me on one of my sister’s ponies!

Nowadays, I always wears a riding hat when riding!

It’s not all work though – we had a whole load of fun in the snow a few weeks ago. The horses were finished off early and a few of us at the yard took ourselves off sledging.

Let’s just say that some of us got a lot wetter and muddier than others!

The horses loved the snow and walking them from the stables to the indoor school was funny – they all kept putting their noses in the piles of snow that we had cleared away, blowing and snorting at it. Even the older ones who have seen it before used it as an excuse to play. The babies had their eyes on stalks – but after a few days they were very bored.

The dogs also loved it – it was definitely the week for their doggie coats!

Brought to you by www.classicdressage.com

See you next time!

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