Hugely delighted to see that saddles are being allowed in Equagility for the Summer of Sport! :-D  

I have been campaigning for this change for some time (it is normally bareback).

I know that some people feel that riding bareback is not necessarily good for the horse's back and that a well made and well fitting saddle is kinder on the horse's back.  I haven't seen the scientific evidence one way or the other (I'm not saying there isn't any, just that I haven't investigated in any great detail) but I do believe that someone's choice to use a saddle should be respected.  For me, Equagility has always been about bitless/ bridle less riding, not about bareback riding.  By all means, go bareback for fun if you are confident enough and can balance, but I have always felt that this excludes alot of people who can't or don't want to ride bareback.  The point of Equagility has always been to ride from voice, seat, weight and breath aids and not the horse's mouth.  To this end, I would much rather see someone achieve light, stable and balanced riding from the seat, rather than unbalanced, tight and insecure riding bareback.  Lastly, there is rider confidence.  I work with a number of less confident riders and the thought of going bareback is closer to their panic zone than their comfort zone.  This excludes quite alot of people who would love to have a go and who could have fun and benefit from having a go at ridden obstacles.  Allowing a saddle makes Equagility more inclusive and more accessible for more riders and I'm delighted to see this change in the Summer of Sport :-) 

The Summer of Sport is back again, yay!!!! :-D  And bigger and better than ever!!!  Delighted to see that it's running over two months again (July and August) and the Team element is back :-D  If you like the sound of Wild Agility, Dressage and Jumping (all in hand or at liberty!) then there's also a new Eventer's Challenge Rosette to compete for!  With TWENTY (!) courses to chose from this year, there's bound to be something for everyone :-)  

The Horse Agility Club courses have just come out for February and there's very exciting news for anyone who is in the Southern Hemisphere, or indeed those in the Northern Hemisphere looking for Winter Fun!!!

The club has launched a Southern Summer of Sport, which will run through February and March.  The original Summer of Sport has a Northern bias, as it runs through July and August, obviously that's Winter for our friends in the South!  Hurrah for Equal Opportunities (and more fun for everyone :-D  

The Southern Summer of Sport classes are:

• Long Reining
• Pairs
• Showjumping
• Wild Agility
• Junior

Well what a fantastic day we all had yesterday :-D  The Berkshire Horse Agility Competition Day was a resounding success, with entries in 6 classes:  Starter, Liberty, Open, Long Reining, Pairs and Equagility!  The venue was fabulous, the weather was lovely and lots of happy, smiling faces on both humans and horses :-)  Congratulations to all who took part, everyone was a winner :-)

Yay!!!  Feeling very excited! :-D  It's time for the International Horse Agility Club's (IHAC) annual Summer of Sport :-D  The Summer of Sport first came about in 2012, inspired by the Olympic Games coming to London and comprises a number of Fun Agility classes, in addition to the usual monthly Online and Liberty League classes.  I'm very excited that Equagility is back and even more excited that a Wild Agility class has been introduced (yay!!!! :-D  If those don't appeal to you, then there's a special Junior's class; if you're sad to be too old for Juniors then there's the adult version "act your shoe size" ;-) or you could try the long reining or pairs classes.  For the more athletic equines, there's jumping or dressage.  And there's also a team element being introduced this year, in true IHAC style you can hook up with members from all around the world to form your team, you don't have to be in the same country, or at the same level, just enter the same 4 classes to be awarded a cumulative score. 

This year, the Summer of Sport has been extended from one month to two months, so more time to have fun, play with the courses and film entries :-D  So a long Summer of Sport, definitely yes.  And hot?  Well there's never any knowing what the summer weather will bring us, in the UK anyway, but the courses are definitely "hot" :-)  Lots of variety and fun ideas to choose from :-)

The Summer of Sport results are in!  I think we traded quantity for quality this time.  Five competitions in 1 month, with 2 ponies, on 4 different courses!

The New Girl got to enter her first Horse Agility competitions, in fact, The New Girl had her first introduction to Horse Agility altogether!  To say that she's young and very green she did really very well and took it all in her stride.  A bit disappointing that she only came 5th in the Starter level competition, even after so much time competing it seems that I am not immune to making course errors, lol.  When the instructions said "walk the horse along 2 hoops without stepping outside", I thought that meant don't step outside the "corridor", I didn't realise the horse wasn't supposed to stand on the hoops where they overlap either.  When your feet are like soup plates that's really quite a big ask.  New Girl has many positive attributes, but she is not exactly what you would call dainty :-D 

Although we didn't get placed, I was especially pleased with the Equagility.  In the On Line Equagility there is a 5 point deduction for tying the lead rope to make 2 reins and the standard is so high that there are plenty of people who are able to complete the course riding with just 1 rein, so we were never going to be in the running.  But to say that this pony was only backed a few months ago, to ride her around a course of 5 "scary" and exacting obstacles, bareback, in just a headcollar was pretty amazing.  A fantastic feeling  :-D  And she came a very creditable 8th place!  In fact, she completed most of the obstacles perfectly, both led and ridden.  We only lost 3 points on the obstacles themselves and they were all on backing up, which I know is a weak point we need to work on.  

This was the first time ever that Fat Pony didn't get placed in a competition!  For the Medium level he was just too hungry from his extreme diet (sadly necessary to prevent laminitis) and too distracted by the grass. However, in the Liberty, on the same course, under the same conditions, we managed to come 6th.  Sounds oddly illogical, doesn't it!  But that's already been written about!

And then not forgetting Fat Pony taking DD (Darling Daughter) round the Junior course as well.  They did the obstacles really well and they would have come 2nd except for DD doing the obstacles in the wrong order so they ended up unplaced.  Course errors a bit of a theme this month!  But we had fun :-D

Well, that's it. Today is the closing day for the Summer of Sport entries.  The Summer of Sport is over and, as if on cue, the weather has changed.  It feels as though its been a month of endless sunshine. Today, finally, some long awaited rain :-D

Have spent the day reviewing videos, picking the best ones, uploading to YouTube and submitting for the competitions.  Managed a different Horse Agility course every weekend and the month has flown by!  It has been exhausting, but fabulous :-D

Sometimes these Horse Agility courses look easy - until you start practicing!  There are almost always some interesting challenges thrown in and with the Summer of Sport Equagility course that I've been playing with it's the 5 step back up! Sounds easy? Well, maybe your horse doesn't back up, but let's say he does and let's say that you have enough control over his feet that you can get an exact number of steps: 1-2-3-4-5. Easy, right? At least, that's what I thought. As long as I go slow enough to to stop him simply rushing backwards out of control. As long as I go slow enough to get one foot stepping back at a time. It should be easy. 

Turns out that the pony prefers to stand still with his front feet together (yes blindingly obvious to me now :-)  So a 4 step back-up - no problem.  A 6 step back-up, no problem!  But a 5 step back-up.....  Well, I challenge you.  Go on.  Give it a go :-)

With so many fun courses available for this month's fabulous "Summer of Sport" and only enough time and equipment to do one course at a time, it's decision time!  I decided to have a go at the Equagility first.  It doesn't come up very often, so when it does its a rare treat. There are also only 5 obstacles to set up, so an easy course to build!

In this particular Equagility course, the obstacles are: 1. a tarpaulin to cross; 2. five cones to weave through; 3. a scary corner (a corridor made up of "spooky" objects); 4. an L bend (poles forming a 1m wide L shaped corridor) and 5. a 5 second halt followed by a 5 step back up.  The obstacles are to be completed first on line (or at liberty) and then ridden using only the same equipment!  A bareback pad is allowed, but strictly no saddles!  For liberty, only a neck string is allowed.

For me, the fun is in getting to ride my ponies bareback in just a headcollar. Fond memories of a mis-spent youth perhaps. Although I am far more confident riding my ponies bareback now than I ever was as  a teenager!  Since starting an exploration of "natural horsemanship" methods, I feel far better equipped to ensure that the experience is a calm and a safe one.  Oh, and having a nice round comfortable cob to sit on helps too :-D

It's a tradition now for July to be "Summer of Sport" month at the International Horse Agility Club.  There are still the usual competitive league courses, these being an On Line class for each of the 5 Levels: Starter to Advanced 1 star; plus a Liberty class for 3 levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. But, for July only, there are lots of fun and exciting "have a go" Summer of Sport classes added as well.

The Summer of Sport was first inspired by the London 2012 Olympic Games and proved so popular that it has become an exciting fixture in the Horse Agility calendar ever since.

For 2014, the Summer of Sport "have a go" classes are:

• Long Reining
  
• Pairs
  
• Showjumping (online or liberty)
• Juniors (handler to be 16 years or under), sponsored by Think Like a Pony, with rosettes and prizes for every entry
  
• "World Equestrian Games" (obstacles inspired by the WEG taking place this year)
  
• On Line Equagility
  
• Liberty Equagility
  

With so much to chose from, its just a shame that there are only 4 weekends in the month!!!!!