October 2008
4th Oct - Warm Reception for Gold Medallist Andy Hodge
I was invited to attend a reception at Craven Leisure Centre on 4th October to welcome Olympic rowing Gold Medallist Andy Hodge back home from Beijing. Andy is our 'local hero' and is from the village of Hebden near Skipton.
The Olympic athlete visited Craven last December when he officially opened the new fitness centre extension and launched Craven District Council’s Free Access to National Sports People (FANS) scheme. Myself and a number of other up and coming athletes from the area attended the event to meet Andy Hodge and we were invited to jojn the FANS scheme which gives us free gym access along with other added benefits.
It was a fantastic day - really inspiring - and I even got to hold his Olympic Gold medal!
I finally got my hands on an Olympic Gold Medal!
20th Oct - Clinic with Sarah Rodger
I took both horses to a test riding day at Mobberley Riding School with interenational para judge Sarah Rodger. It was all part of Trevor's education and I was pleased he took everything in his stride. Sarah worked on straightness and once he was straight I found that it was easier for me to get him going truly forward. If he's not going forward enough he has been known to spook so I need to learn to be confident enough to ask for the extra energy.
Also when he was more forward he started to come up in front rather than tucking his nose in too much. We will be working hard on all these aspects over the winter.
Next I rode Indi, and as I hadn't had much time to work in, Indi's test could have showed more suppleness. Sarah worked on helping me to soften him and by the end he was showing some excellent work and was much more flowing. One rider who was spectating commented that he hadn't realised how difficult Indi is to ride, and I agreed - he's not as easy as he looks! Trevor is much easier to ride.
Many thanks to Pam Rigby who organised the event - hopefully there will be more of these events in future.