Sorry I have taken so long to "report" on our Conrad Schumacher training but we have been so busy with the horses I have in training at the moment that spare hours in the day have been very rare!

I’m pleased to report that the hard work is paying off, and they are all going extremely well. Nerro and Gary have 2 Area Festivals each to look forward to, so I will keep you posted, good luck to Angela and Claire!
        We currently have a youngster that has come to us to be broken in, and David (my husband) and I do him together each day, and it never ceases to amaze me just how loving and trusting horses are. To think just a few weeks ago he was just a baby down on the rolling hills of Devon and now he is in a stable, saddle, bridle, and going round and round in circles. Each day I walk towards his stable loaded up with tack and he comes to greet me with such a lovely look on his face, they are so wonderful to let us do what we do!
        "Conrad" training as always was fantastic. On the first day Nerro put me to the test, and any vision I had of floating round the school with Conrad singing my praises were soon wiped from my mind as not only was Nerro tense but he felt really wild with excitement! Not what I was hoping for! We did not show ourselves to our best but the lesson was valuable and Conrad did not back off and made me work very hard until Nerro relaxed in body and mind! The next day we had a super lesson, showing Conrad we really had been doing our homework. I was particularly thrilled with the canter pirouette exercises also the flying changes, and not to mention our first zig zag half pass (trot). Thank goodness we had such a good lesson, it’s such a huge effort driving all the way to Suffolk, 5 and a half hours there (no hold up on M25 thank goodness!) 7 and a half on way back! As I thought through the lessons on the long drive home, I knew it was all worth it. For me it reinforces that you can never stop learning and any problems seem to be sorted out by going back to the basics and correcting the rider of course!! I did feel proud of Nerro and all his good training.
          Alas Rudi is a different subject and after much head scratching, Conrad, myself, and David all agreed its back to the beginning for Rudi.............a long way to drive........but in all honesty it’s what I had been thinking and Conrad gave me the confidence to trust my judgement. Hopefully Rudi will progress now and I will be writing good things about him in the future........
           Before I finish I must say well done to Natalie and ‘Sasha’. Sasha is 18 yrs young and very "hot". Nat took her on last year after Sasha (much to her horror) had been retired. After loads of hard work, and they never miss their fortnightly lessons, they went off to a Riding Club show, won the Novice dressage and jumped brill. It goes to show that even at 18 with the correct training what can be achieved. As I am writing this I’ve just had text from Natalie and Paul (husband) to say that they competed at Hunters today and were 1st and 3rd in both Prelims and anyone reading this that knew ‘Sasha’ before will know what a fab result that is!!
              Likewise Amanda and Puzzle.......off work for over a year due to injury...... went to their first comp and after being rather " bouncy" in his first test won the second test with over 74% so well done to them as well. 

P.S. At Claire's suggestion (Nerro's owner)  I will try and put the Conrad lesson video on the web site as hopefully some of you would find it very helpful. Until next time, Happy training and Happy Horses......Amanda.

It has been a great start to the season with my very different pupils and horses. The lovely dressage horse Viquino (photo in banner at both ends) has gone out and won his Elementary classes, started in Medium with his owner Claire Randall and at their second attempt won a medium at Sparsholt with over 70%! Not bad considering Claire has to sit in an office in London Mon to Fri, and I ride and train Nerro as he is called Mon to Fri. Then it's all hands on deck on Sat as Nerro me and Claire have one day to get her tuned into Nerro, riding him and then usually practising a test ready to compete on Sunday!! As a trainer it's a massive task to prepare and train Nerro through the week, set him up for the weekend, and a lot to ask of Claire who does an amazing job considering she does not ride all week, not to mention Nerro who has to cope with the rider change and go out and compete! For all of us it's a tall order but we manage somehow and have had loads of wins, so must be doing something right!

From one extreme to the other, my youngest pupil only 8 won a walk trot dressage test out of 18 entries (all adults) so maybe a champ in the making? I already think she is a little star as she loves her lessons, takes it all on board, and when I teach her next time she has always improved.
            
3 horses that sadly had rather serious injuries are now back in work and begin lessons soon so will be out competing in the not to distant future. In the meantime one of the injured horse's riders, Amanda Royale, has done an amazing job with one of her own client's horses- a half Shire! Amanda runs a lovely livery training yard from her home near Devizes and has been bringing Wiggy along for regular training, owner John in tow. This lovely part shire, who did look rather heavy is now floating around the school looking every inch like he may win his dressage classes! At first attempt although green he was 2nd so watch this space...exciting news for those of us who think because our horse is less than perfect they are at a disadvantage, but it just goes to show that correct training works on all shapes and sizes!

Speaking of which, another "little" dressage horse came to me at the wonderful Greenway Farm, where I am based for some training after an illness he had through the winter. He stayed for some dressage training, and he and his owner Angela Collins recently stepped out to be 1st and 2nd at Patchetts in the Prelim with good scores of 68% and 69% so a good start to the season for them and now lots of training ahead for them to prepare for their first novice and then onto Elementary. " Gary" had a bad start to his training before Angela bought him, look at testimonials page and before and after page, you will be impressed!
 
My event riders are also on the up, lots of homework for them but more of that next time, but I will quickly say their jumpig is coming on thanks to the dressage work on IMPROVING THE CANTER !  The same for one of my junior show jumpers, Jessica Mendoza. She is really having a great season with her ponies, more on that next time, but we have worked so hard with Tixylix to get her loose and supple and working her muscles correctly. This has meant that her brilliant jump has become even more brilliant and Jessica has more control of her on the course. More about the schooling of the jumping ponies next time! 
 
I love teaching all my people so much that I could go on and on but will have to space it out a week at a time!
 
My own young dressage horse "Rudi" has come back into work after having a break. We are taking him very slowly and have at Greenway Farm lovely tracks around the fields so at this moment in time he is doing some baby schooling out on the grass. Hope to bring him into the school in the next week or so,fingers crossed he is a star in the making! 
 
Untill next time, happy training, and happy horses.
          
Amanda x