Page Three Stunners

So, after 18 months of failing miserably, I have finally appeared on Page Three of the Bangalore Times - not to be mistaken with Page Three of The Sun, that veritable shining star of newspaper publishing in the UK. No, this is India, and it's an all covered affair (the only breasts you'll see here are those of a chicken) and is more akin to the New York Post's Page Six, featuring pictures of the latest and greatest goings on in Bangalore's social scene. But its captions are what keep us coming back to it; The Sun's sub-editors would crash at their computers if they saw some of these.... ours was 'Fun Time!' Fairly innocuous. Our friend Angie, who was pictured drinking a glass of wine, was embellished with the highly imaginative caption 'Sip It!' The creative scope these guys use shows no bounds! I'm a little dismayed about the whole thing though. I was until now famous for being the only one of our social circle NOT to have featured on this page; instead, I was in the sports pages, pictured for actually DOING something, other than eating and drinking. Here's hoping it's another 18 months 'til my 'fun times' face graces the pages again.

Calm After the Storm

No, this is not a reference to the monsoon, but more to my calmed state after the end of Equest 2007, the recent South India Equestrian Association show held at my riding school in Bangalore. It's strange but true that the whole competition sent me into a frenzy of stress and anxiety that I can only equate to my early days of doing client presentations at work - I loved it after the fact but got so nervous beforehand that I was terrible when rehearsing (some may say it didn't get any better during the real thing!) At the show, I was worried that in the amateur dressage, my horse wouldn't canter, but he did; a co-rider was worried her horse wouldn't stop cantering, and sadly, he didn't, even in the parts of the tests that were meant to be walk or trot! Poor thing. It all got me wondering, why do I do it? It's not that I'm getting paid for it (I will never be that good!) so that rules out the reason that I had to suffer such stress at work. A couple of weeks after the competition, I can now answer that question. Because I love it. I love the grace and strength of the horse, the excitement of taking part, the joy of learning something new, and of course, the medals! I often feel my riding is two steps forward, one step back, but this week was many steps forward with much cantering with no hands or no stirrups, more dressage, and my first 'real' jumping on new horse, Royal Majesty. Terrifying and exciting at the same time, jumping is completely exhilirating but I have to remember not to squeal over the jump and frighten the horse! Luckily he is much more experienced than me and carries me along for the ride quite confidently. I guess we all have good and bad days at whatever we do, and I only hope that this streak of stress-free riding continues up to and through the next competition!

Back Page News

After 20 years of getting my clients into the news, I finally got myself in! Picture shows Vika on Architect, me on Royal Majesty, Cathy on Cadbury, and Eva on Royal Secret, as we enter the arena for the Pas de Quatre competition at the South India Equestrian Association Equest 2007. The Pas de Quatre is basically four horses (and riders!) doing co-ordinated dressage moves, hoping that the horses get along nicely with each other and that we vaguely do things in sync! It seemed to work - we scooped first place and made the back page of the Vijay Times here in Bangalore.

Horsing Around

Royal Majesty and Me
Originally uploaded by The McGuires

So, I'm back in Bangalore and it's that time of year for the South India Equestrian Association Equest 2007. This year, I was competing for the first time, on my newly 'adopted' horse, Royal Majesty. I'm glad to say that for first timers we didn't shame ourselves... we got a first place in the 'Pas de Quatre' with our friends Eva, Vika, and Cathy; a second place in the 'Pas de Deux' with Cathy, and a fourth place/honourable mention in the Amateur Dressage. So not bad to say we have just become partners (a week or so ago) and I'm not good at handling the pressure of competition! I'm sure it will get easier?!?!