Victoria's Blog: Switching Saddles: My week at the yard

Editor
20 August 2015

Victoria Pendleton's progress on her Switching Saddles journey is continuing apace

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Victoria Pendleton is still really enjoying her journey from superstar cyclist to amateur jockey, and here she gives us another update on her progress...

"After breakfast with Alan, Lawney and the team I saddle up my next horse, and a personal favourite of mine – Mighty Mambo. I rode Mambo in my first ever race, the charity race at Newbury earlier in the year. It was an amazing experience, I learnt a lot from riding him and I was so happy to see he went on to win his next race at Wolverhampton."

Training Plan

Monday

As is becoming routine I arrive at Woodway Farm at 7.15am, the home of 'Lawney Hill Racing' and my day-to-day coaches Lawney and Alan Hill. I get my saddle and equipment out of the car and after a quick chat to Lawney about the plan for the morning I make my way over to the stables to tack up my first ride of the day, Miss Mayfair. Once I've said hello, I set about preparing her to ride out; grooming the horse - both brushing and picking out the hooves - and giving Miss Mayfair the once over for any lumps, bumps or swelling that could mean she is unfit for exercise. I then put the bridle and saddle on her, tighten the girth and adjust everything to my preference. Once this is all sorted I'm ready to go, I hop on the horse (like the other riders I use an old tractor tyre rather than get a leg-up) and join the string to warm up.

We start by walking and trotting to blow the cobwebs off and loosen the horses up. Once everyone is happy we move to an oval three furlong all-weather canter, completing a routine of cantering 3½ times clockwise followed by a furlong walk before finally cantering 3½ times anti-clockwise. It's a decent session and a chance for me to get my positioning dialled in and my muscle memory working. I then cool the horse down and wash her off with a pressure washer, the horses seem to love it (although apparently they take a while to get used to it at first). Here at Woodway Farm every horse gets the same treatment and I've learnt, since riding out regularly, how important it is to keep the horses well-kept and comfortable.

That process starts with how we tack the horses up and finishes with how we wash them down after exercise. Finally to dry Miss Mayfair off I put her on the 'walker' with the other horses, after which she gets her morning hay, and then I head in to get mine!

After breakfast with Alan, Lawney and the team I saddle up my next horse, and a personal favourite of mine - Mighty Mambo. I rode Mambo in my first ever race, the charity race at Newbury earlier in the year. It was an amazing experience, I learnt a lot from riding him and I was so happy to see he went on to win his next race at Wolverhampton. It's always great to ride him again and I get to ride for two canters, as usual he goes well and keeps me on my toes. Once we're finished I wash him off and put him on the walker to cool down.

It is now just after midday and that's my riding for the morning completed, I say my goodbyes to Alan and Lawney before I jump back into the car as I have to shoot to central London for an afternoon meeting as part of my brand partnership work with Fitness First.

Tuesday

This morning John Maxse, part of my support team provided by Betfair (along with Alan and Lawney Hill and Yogi Briesner) and someone who has quickly become a friend, has come down to catch up and also ride out with me. We will be schooling today, and it's a great chance for me to continue to develop my jumping technique.

Once we have tacked up (John has to do his horse too - nobody gets special treatment at the yard!), and then warmed up, we head out to the schooling fences. I get a briefing from Alan and Lawney and we then jump over three fences, each time going a little bit quicker.

This morning I'm schooling Viel Gluck whom I have ridden before but have never jumped, it feels like a big step forward. Lawney, Alan and John assure me that the session goes well and we have a quick debrief after washing Viel Gluck off and cooling him down. Part of that de-brief involves me looking over a video that Lawney has taken of me schooling. It's something I am familiar with doing from my cycling days and it's a very useful tool as it allows us to sit down and highlight areas of improvement for future sessions.

After breakfast I ride out on Royal Etiquette, it's a horse that I have ridden out the most in my time at Woodway Farm. I canter him 3½ times around the all-weather, both clockwise and anti-clockwise - we then cool the horses down, get them washed off and feed them.

It's then off to the Midlands for a session with my 'Pendleton Bikes' design and development team - Betfair's Switching Saddles Campaign and horse racing are a huge part of my life now, but cycling and my beloved Pendleton Bikes range remain close to my heart too.

Wednesday

An early start again today, however I'm getting a slight change of scenery this morning. I'm accompanying Alan Hill to the all-weather gallops of Frank Jarvey. This is a gallop Lawney and Alan use for faster work. It is a ten furlong oval gallop with a slight incline on one side. It's very different from anything I have ridden before, which is great, and this morning I will also be riding a horse that is new to me - El Toreros. He is a keen, hard pulling horse so again it's another steep learning curve from my normal rides. Alan explains that to help me keep control of El Toreros I'm best to turn the horse's head to the left while cantering to ensure he's facing towards the outside plastic running rail. This helps me keep him working at the desired speed and not go too fast.

The first two canter warm up circuits feel great so I increase the speed and we gallop for the last circuit. I get on well with El Toreros and we gallop upsides and in perfect control for a mile then pull up at the end of the gallop. It may seem insignificant, but Lawney and Alan assure me that riding in control and a horse of this nature is another milestone in my quest to be good enough to line up in the 2016 Cheltenham Foxhunters. El Toreros is the 29th horse that I've ridden so far (yes, I am keeping a record!), and I feel my experience is growing every day. In the second lot of the morning I add another horse to the list as I ride out on Alianca, we do a quick couple of canters on the all-weather before I have to head back to London for an afternoon meeting at Women's Health, where I'm on a competition judging panel.

Thursday

Thursday brings about my weekly session with Yogi Breisner; Yogi has been involved since Betfair first approached me about the challenge and has been integral in taking me from total novice to where I am now. Yogi's role now is to act as a mentor and provide me with jump specific training - coming from an Olympic background like myself, meant right from the off Yogi and I clicked.

Before meeting Yogi at 8am, I practiced some of the fitness tests for my upcoming Category A Amateur licence assessment, which is fast approaching, and then in the car I went over all the points that had come up in previous sessions with Yogi to ensure I was on top form in the morning, I always want to show him my best after all!

The main aim of the morning session with Yogi was to teach me how to maintain balance whilst landing over a steeplechase fence. As the chase fences are bigger, standing at 4'6" compared to the 3'3" hurdles, the drop on landing is obviously steeper. With this in mind it becomes more important to control the landing and exit to ensure I'm not thrown out of the saddle. It all goes well and the rush of jumping on a horse washes over me all over again, it really is an amazing feeling to be airborne whilst riding such a magnificent animal. I have a de-brief with Yogi and he seems happy with the session which is great to hear.

Once I say my goodbyes to Yogi I head off to a local school to deliver a speech to 200 schoolgirls on the importance of living an active lifestyle. Betfair's Switching Saddles campaign provided an amazing new perspective to my speech and it's always great to be involved in anything that can help the stars of the future keep active and healthy.

Friday

Today I'm given the chance to school Minella Theatre over steeplechase fences for the first time and I'm really excited about applying some of the things I learned with Yogi yesterday on these larger fences.

We warm up over the brush fences to start with and then move on to the two big chase fences. In addition to this I get to ride upside Albert Chandler, an amateur jockey who works in the yard, it's great to be able to get advice and watch the manner of other strong riders.

Minella Theatre has jumped these fences many times before but not for a while so I have to urge him forward with more gusto that usual, this is a challenge but I'm given all the right advice and tips and Minella soon takes to the fences which is great. In order to get Minella to take the fence I have to sit lower in the saddle and use the whip down the horse's shoulder to push him more, something I have never needed to do until now...yet another first for me!

We ride up over the chase fences 3 times in all and it's a great morning ride, a lot of firsts and a lot of adrenaline too. I feel like I have learnt a great deal about pace and balance and I can't wait to see the iPad videos at breakfast. They are really exciting videos to watch, Lawney talks me through them and then emails them to Yogi so that he can keep up to date on my progress.

After breakfast I take the 2nd lot of the morning a little easier and I ride out on Royal Etiquette, doing a quick couple of canters on the all-weather before washing down the horse and heading home to reflect on another actioned-packed morning in the saddle and what I can improve for tomorrow's session.

This afternoon I'm due to speak to Betfair regarding the horse they are looking to buy for my upcoming Point-to-Point season - the next stage will be for myself, Lawney and Yogi to go and see the horse, check that he's suitable and then start getting him ready for the Point-to-Point season. Things really are ramping up quickly in my challenge to Switch Saddles.

Saturday

It may be Saturday, but much like when I was cycling there's very little difference between weekdays and weekends, whatever day of the week it's just about getting as much saddle time as I can.

This morning I ride out in the first lot at Frank Jarvey's again. I get to ride El Toreros and after such a great week I feel more confident to hold him and be in control.

I also ride the 2nd and 3rd lots at the yard, the 2nd consists of a few canters on the all-weather riding Minella Theatre and the 3rd is a more relaxed trot up the hill on a horse called Earl Grez. The hill drill is used to help me get used to adjusting my balance, yet another discipline it's important for me to master on my Switching Saddles journey.

Once the 3rd lot is finished and the horses are washed down, dried and put back in their boxes I leave the yard - another week wiser and more confident. I get a chance to enjoy the rest of the weekend with my family before another whirlwind training week starts again, bright and early, on Monday.

To follow Victoria's journey with Betfair visit www.switchingsaddles.com and support her on Twitter using #SwitchingSaddles

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