Posts

There's a particular kind of knot in my stomach that only shows up when I open the course map and see the dreaded blue square sitting right at the bottom of a…

There is a particular kind of frustration that hits when you finally have your horse feeling soft and round in the warm-up arena, the contact is light, the…

The first time I really felt the problem, Archie and I were halfway down the centre line of the long format at a Sydney International Three Day Event-style…

I swap Archie's bit between phases at every event, and friends who don't event often find this strange. Surely one correctly fitted bit should work for…

Archie came to me as a horse who had never worn anything on his neck. He had been ridden in a plain loose-ring snaffle, no breastplate, no martingale, no…

The morning started with a 4am alarm and a horse float already hitched to the ute the night before. Archie was wide-eyed in the back by the time I climbed the…

The day started like any other at a one-day event in regional New South Wales, warm sun pouring over the warm-up arena, the smell of liniment in the air, and…

Being the first rider on course at a big event has a particular kind of pressure. There is no useful round to watch, no chance to see how the ground is riding,…

Archie had a habit of shaking his head mid-approach to an oxer. I tried everything: a different bit, a tighter noseband, more schooling. The thing that finally…

There is a particular kind of panic that creeps in the week before an event when you realise the dressage test you printed off still looks like alphabet soup.…