First arena hire

"You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." Although an arena hire may not seem like a big event for many, for me to go to a different arena that wasn't ours with Erik was a huge achievement. Don't get me wrong, I love riding him at home in my own arena. On most days he's perfect and on the rare bad day he just does a few small spooks that I just sit to, and then carry on as if nothing had happened. But the thought of taking us out of that arena which is my comfort place, to another arena where I couldn't be in control of the surroundings and what might happen whilst we were there gave me the chills of panic! 😨

So on Thursday I finally got my act together. I was already full of worry at 6am as I knew we were going to the neighbours' arena in the afternoon - just to ride, nothing more exciting than that. But, not only would it be my first outing of this year, it would also be my first ride not at home with Erik ever and my first time 'hacking' him on the road to the neighbours'! Rama had already done a massive spook before we'd even left our home, I panicked about leaving Vallu in the barn as he was shouting for Erik as we hacked to our neighbour's arena but guess what.... I did it! 🙌🏻 And I had a great time too (after about fifteen minutes of not breathing and my anxiety filling me up full of ideas of everything that could go wrong). We dealt with a barking dog, automatic gates, fallen over fences in the arena as well as horses turned out near the arena and Erik took it all in his stride.

All the stress, the fear, the anxiety and the trembling worry was definitely worth it as I’ve come away from this feeling braver than ever, and more relaxed and rational about the thought of going to different places with Erik. The first time seems to be a big step and I'm sure each time it'll get easier, so here’s to building on this and improving my confidence outside my comfort zone. 🎉🎊

Massive thanks as always to Lizzie for letting us use their arena and to Mum for kicking my ass and getting me out of my comfort zone! Now that’s over, I’ve got my eye on a few competitions for next few months... 🤗 Nothing big, just a few unaffiliated competitions near us just to get me used to going to different places with a 'new' horse. After these the goal is to get registered with British Dressage and go to some bigger affiliated competitions in the summer!