Your horse is fit... are you?

With just over a week to go until the first competition of our winter dressage, we know that many of you have been working hard to make sure your horses are fit enough for competition - but what about yourselves? It takes a lot of work just to "sit there looking pretty", so to help we've found a helpful article about lengthening your leg from the fab American magazine Dressage Today. Personally I really wish there was a magazine like this over here in England - if you're on Twitter why not follow them at @DressageToday

Some good news from across the pond

We do like a bit of good news here in the Leigh and District camp, and we were particularly worried about the horses caught up in Hurricane Irene as it swept across America. However, we've just received this rather sweet story from North Carolina:

"The 116 wild Shackleford horses, 400-year residents of North Carolina’s Southern Outer Banks, weathered another storm. Immediately following Hurricane Irene, a new foal was born only hours after 90+ miles per hour winds struck Shackleford Banks, the horses’ permanent home. Appropriately named “Aftermath,” the new born foal is perfectly healthy, serving as a testament of the fortitude of the wild Spanish Mustangs.

"At the southern end of Core Sound, a valuable part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore, lies a gem of an island known as Shackleford Banks. The only permanent residents on this nine-mile long island are Spanish Mustangs, locally known as "Banker ponies." The majestic horses, survivors of Spanish galleon shipwrecks, have roamed freely across the miles of pristine beaches for more than 400 years. Visitors make their way to the island by private boat or on one of the ferries running from Harkers Island, Beaufort and Morehead City."

Championship news and dressage is back!

Hello all!

Sorry it's been so long, it's been incredibly busy over at L&D towers. However we're thrilled to report that last weekend we won the Osbaldeston Classics showing championships by a whopping 60 point margin. We're really pleased and would like to thanks everyone that came along and represented us. This weekend is the team showjumping event, so let's hope we can dominate that, too!

Here's Darren and Ann with our trophies...



In other news, Leigh and District's winter dressage series has returned for its third year, giving horse owners in the North West the chance to brush up their dressage skills from next month riding their tests in the shelter of our indoor school.
Once again, we're offering separate classes for beginner riders and green horses aged six and under, plus a choice of two prelim and two novice tests.
For those who become dressage members there is the chance to compete for an end-of-season trophy, while the test schedule has been co-ordinated to help horses and riders improve over the course of the season.
Leigh and District's dressage committee pride themselves on being the friendliest in the area and are always happy to answer questions from newbies and provide advice on everything from tack and togs to how to interpret the judge's comments.
The first competition will take place on Sunday, October 9th, at Landlords Farm Equestrian Centre, on Dicconson Lane in Aspull, Lancashire.
For more information, test schedule, membership and entry forms, email leighanddistrict@yahoo.co.uk.

Racehorse to... dressage ring

I know quite a few of you attended our TARRA (Thoroughbred and Retrained Racehorse Association) qualifiers at the July show, so you might be interested in the news that British Dressage have teamed up with Retraining of Racehorses to run a racehorse to riding horse dressage championship. More details can be found on the British Dressage website, here