First clear round: a small fence, a large feeling.

It was a 90cm class on a Sunday in St Helier. It looked like nothing on the entry sheet. It did not feel like nothing.

It was a 90cm class on a Sunday in St Helier. It looked like nothing on the entry sheet.

I rode in third from last. I forgot the course twice in the warm-up and remembered it once we were inside. The horse — borrowed, kind — did not forget anything.

Clear. On time. A polite round of applause from people who did not know me. I cried in the lorry. That's the entry.

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Restoration

Year one: clearing twenty years of quiet.

Riding

First clear round: a small fence, a large feeling.

Year one: clearing twenty years of quiet.

Learning to sit a canter without apologising.