A Day Trip To Paris To See Les 4 Ecoles D'art Equestre

So yesterday I went with Joy on a day trip to Paris to see the four schools at Bercy.

Alarm went off at 04:20 <groan> and I rang Joy with her wake up call, Joy sounded very bright and jolly.

So 05:30 coach to Baker Street then breakfast in St Pancreas International had a very indulgent breakfast of warm croissant with Gruyere and a warm Belgian waffle with a *lot* of white chocolate sauce. Clearly we were too relaxed as I suddenly realised it was 08:00 and we were supposed to be checking in on the Eurostar!

So onto Eurostar and we dozed ourway to Paris, first glitch was at Gard du Nord when my ticket wouldn't work in the metro gate reader so tail gated and off we went to the Tullieries for a stroll and lunch.

Leisurely lunch took a LOT of effort to get the bill, if it hadn't appeared at the third time of asking and some twenty minutes, walked to Place de la Concorde  and caught the metro, had to exchange my metro tickets as apparently my phone had nuked the magnetic stripe (!) 

So onto Bercy where we had a coupe de Champagne.

It was lovely being there again and once again we had excellent seats.

The stadium was less than half full, the performance itself was a lot more of a crowd pleaser then the first show back in 2007,

For me the SRS stood head and shoulders above the other three schools:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DxXtlufZek&feature=player_embedded

I liked le Cadre Noir when doing the long reining quadrille but in general I do not get the feeling of partnership and joy from the Cadre Noir  that I feel stands out with the SRS, The Real Escuela exude joie de vivre and as always R Soto played to the audience and just looked to be having a thoroughly excellent time.

It was a shame that Rubi did not make the advertised appearance

We had to leg it as soon as the four schools had taken their final salute to get back to Gare du Nord to check in and go first through French passport control and the more passport control with the UK Border Agency some 10 metres further on. Why?

Grabbed a bottle of Champagne and a tube of Pringles and had a pleasant journey back to St Pancreas toasting horses we have owned or just owe a debt of gratitude to.

Crawled into bed at 23:30.

Another day that wonderful memories are made of

Spanish Riding School - Magical evening

Last week for personal reasons has been to say the least not the best of weeks, on Friday having heard of a possible glimmer of good news thought fcuk it I'm going to the SRS on Saturday as who knows when I'll get the chance again and if I learnt one this this last week it is that we have no idea what the future holds for us.

So went online and splurged on two tickets, being situated on the floor alongside the pillars row B. Sent txt to Pip to see if she'd like t'other ticket as early Christmas pressie.

Poor Pip talk about not giving her any warning but took view if she couldn't make it husband could come along. Luckily Pip was able to fit it in which husband was very pleased about as SRS not his idea of a gripping evening!

So caught the 17:45 and headed to Paddington got to Wembley Central at 18:20 and went and collected tickets from box office so far so good. Pip was on Jubilee line so supper before show looked go!

Went in search of Chinese following directions Pip had been given having walked round block still no Chinese so asked chap directing traffic and retraced my steps and went in opposite direction and found it!

Pip was now stuck on Jubilee line due to electrical failure, Alisan was full and Indian next door couldn't get us in and out in 30 minutes but as I walked out Alisan had emptied so went in and lovely chap assured me he'd get us fed in 30 minutes so went in search of Pip.

Found Pip on Olympic Way (how did we manage before mobiles) and went to Alisan had lovely meal courtesy of Pip's generosity :-D and then off to see the white ponies.

Found our seats and waited, show started off with Carl Hester on Donald and Lee Pearson on Mavis (?) the compère Nicky Chapman (who is she?) was just fcuking irritating. Yes I am fully behind making 'dressage' more accessible to Joe Public in which case explain what levade is before we see it in hand not after! Had seen Richard Davidson with Gill whilst on my restaurant search now he'd have been a much better choice as

1/ He actually has a clue

2/ He might have asked Carl something intelligent

3/ He wouldn't just woodenly read the auto cue / whatever

4/ He is good at this sort of thing

Anyway enough of my gripes the evening was magical, was so pleased Pip was there with me.

I have no idea if I've changed or if the SRS have changed but the first time I saw them was at home some 15 ish years ago (was at the Bensons with just Skunk so it was pre 1997) and I spent most of my time with tears running down my face I was so blown away.

They then I think did their first tour of the UK when I was at Calais Oak so Sept 2001 to Sept 2002 or around then. I remember thinking how tense the stallions looked but got told I had a lack of understanding.

When they next came over with the Mounted Police doing a display I thought the horses still looked tense and some of the riders seats weren't as I'd expected to see. Whilst still very good some for the SRS were 'below par' . Hence why I hadn't booked tickets when they announced the tour but with the bad news on Tuesday this week I am glad I though bugger it as it was a magical evening.

The horses this time looked relaxed and to be enjoying their work, lovely to see after doing some movements the stallions clearly looked pleased with themselves and showed their joie de vivre .

The riders were all excellent and it all looked so quiet especially in the changes.

So so glad I went :-)

Your Horse Live

Went with Marianne and met Gill and Sally for lunch.

Good stuff
Two tickets for £17.50 thanks to Gill :-)
Laura B demo
Spending time with Marianne
Claire Lilley demo
Observing the two minute silence hall went silent
Coffee and muffins from marquee
Husband doing ponies

Not so Good stuff
Loos
Lack of decent food from clean stalls
Somewhere to sit and eat said food

Steph Croxford Demo & Sunday

Saturday

Had a lie in which was much needed, walked the dogs and was somewhat gobsmacked to see my physio walking an elderly Labrador as 1/ he lives miles away & 2/ his Lab is a 10 week old puppy.

Turns out his daughter lives nearby and he was Charlie sitting :-)

Faffed about and ended up going to yard with barely time to get stuff never mind ride (my bad) am really not good when going to yard PM as just faff about all morning before I go over and achieve nothing!

Picked Clare up and went to the Steph Croxford demo at Moreton Morrell. We did not go directly to demo due to too much nattering and had to pull into layby and get TomTom to assist us as we'd missed a turning ...

Steph Croxford Demo

First rider

Started with mare at Novice level that has tendency to be inattentive and neighs.

Mare of course proved owner wrong by being pretty quiet.

Horse and ride both crooked and sure Steph saw both but tended to address horse as I guess no one volunteers as a guinea pig to be pulled apart in public so makes clinician's life pretty hard to effect real change in demo situation.

Steph very encouraging and did a fair number of things that are familiar to help this combination.

In and out on circle then shoulder in/fore and transition to canter.

Second rider

I seriously wanted this mare as loved her attitude and also less positively wanted to wrench rider from saddle remove her spurs and poke her with them at every stride. Yes I realise the irony in that sentence given how I ride and my flapping legs.

Lovely mare really got some good pointers from this combo.

Neck as a shelf - This is from Richard Davidson's teaching of Steph and basically neck should come *straight* out of withers and top of neck should be straight and long and thus shelf like.

Then pick up so ears highest point (ears up!) whilst keeping neck long.

Ears up! - Half halt with upwards feel and LET GO outside rein to keep poll highest point.

Steph VERY keen in give and retake in canter to ensure horse is not balanced on hands.

Also on long side LY three/four strides in off track, forwards the trot, LY back to track and similar on diagonal.

Steph Croxford on young horse

Steph then rode her very tense six year old that has a stamp of Rimmer (Mr President) about him.

Lots of shoulder in and Clare's 'bend him' walk past it but don't look at it so bend him around inside leg to get past monster.

Steph was amazingly honest and admitted how difficult this young horse had been putting both her and her husband in hospital and how long their journey had been to the point where he now trusted her (was quite teary eyed at this point)

Steph also admitted how difficult it was to actually let the rein go post a spook and not just keep him on a contact, really refreshing to hear that yes even the top riders find stuff like this hard going.

We then had a break for coffee and supper :-D

After the interval Steph came in with a young rider Louise on a nice horse Lindor the combination training with Stephen Clarke.

Louise a lovely rider and horse another one I'd have liked to take home but on the night horse not very forwards and through IMO.

In the absence of Mr P (suspensory injury) Louise rode through her music.

Really good evening.

Sunday

Got up feeling totally shattered I do not do getting in after midnight very well any more, maybe I never did?

Got to yard turned boys out and had a putting the world to rights chat with Steph which was thoroughly enjoyable. Again ironic as I'm another one with grand plans who doesn't always prioritise riding enough and was also daft enough to buy a lame horse (Fred)

Mucked out got boys in, rode C said hello to new livery, went home for lunch had a little nap.

Back to yard skipped out pooh picked field home to supper and am more than ready for my bed!

Good weekend :-D