Team Haddow – Ailz’s Autumn Update

20 Oct Team Haddow – Ailz’s Autumn Update

The only plus for lockdown has been managing to do a bit more riding.

I have two horses 20 years in age apart! The first one is Filius who is 26yrs,  just over 15h and has been with us for 20yrs.  He has been there, done it, for the t-shirt and written the book.  Now we just skiddle around these days, I sit on top with an idea, and then he does his own thing, he’s certainly not one for retiring.

My other horse, Rubin, is my homebred and at 16.2h and 6yrs old is quite a bit different from Filius.  Originally intended for my sister, Olivia, to compete with I have been lucky to be able to enjoy him for myself recently.  I fell off Rubin last year having only ridden him a few times that year and ended up with cracked ribs. I had struggled a bit to get to grips with him as having had Filius for so long I had picked up bad habits and Rubin has grown a lot in the last 18months.

When Olivia had mentioned FOMO body protectors to me I was intrigued by them after my fall. I’ve been XC schooling a fair bit since the end of lockdown so I’ve worn it quite a few times. It makes me feel secure and protected without being restrictive.

My season started with a hunter trial at Strathearn where I was 2nd on Filius and although Rubin had a wobbly start we got round.

I had one more xc schooling session with Rubin before Forgandenny BE. It went well and felt I was finally managing to ride a little better.  We were double clear round the BE 80 and would have won without our time penalties. All in all a good day and super proud of my home bred boy. Hopefully more to come before Olivia steals him off me!!

Rubin and I have one more SJ and XC training day to end the season which we are both looking forward to.

Ailz Haddow