You may have seen John mention one of our regular commenters, “lec,” who often takes time from her busy schedule to put up with us Yanks and give us the inside scoop from across the pond. Lec was also one of the first to send in a LL Rider Profile, and it’s high time we learned a little more about her!
Name: Lucy
Age: 29
Location: Somerset, UK
Primary horse’s name: Gulval Mastermind (Rodney)
Age, breed, pertinent info:
11, TB x Hanoverian (by Silver Owl) Showed a lot of promise then had a season to forget in 2008 which was due to hock problems. Now jumping and going better than ever so hopeful of a good season and getting back to 1* level. Will hopefully move back up the levels quickly to what he was previously doing before the hock issues.
Level currently competing:
Starting first event at intro (novice?) then quickly moving to PN (training?) before ending up back at Novice (Prelim)
Short term goals this spring/summer:
To actually have fun and not get caught up in the crap of trying to do well and missing out on the fun in the process as putting yourself under so much pressure. Ideally I would like to qualify for Badminton Amateur Champs and get some points at novice.
Year-end goals:
I would love to finish on a 1* but will have to see how it all goes and look at finances.
Overall goals?
I would love to get to 2*. I would also like a youngster to bring on and hopefully not make as many mistakes as I made on this one.
What’s the best thing you’ve learned recently?
If you are quite tall like me (5’9) and struggle with your shoulders going too forwards and over balancing you at jumps then push your hips forwards more and this changes the alignment of your shoulders and keeps you in better balance over xc fences. Another was that if you have a horse that rushes ride off your corners more powerfully and then the whole process will be smoother and the horse will not change the canter so much in rushing.
Favorite eventing moment/story?
My trainer coming 4th at Luhmuhlen 4*. It proved that one horse amateur riders could compete at the highest level and do well at it.
Photo(s) or videos:
