Champion Hat Fitting Course

The importance of hats!
Source: Daily Mail (google images)

Hello!

Today I was fortunate to attend a Hat Fitting course by Champion as they are currently visiting various BHS approved centres around the UK for approved centres to go along for free and today they held on at our HQ so I was invited along. I would suggest to anyone, whether you own a yard or work at one or not, if you get the chance to ever go along then definitely do! I learnt so much and it made me realise that my current hat most probably doesn't fit properly and is actually way overdue (luckily I'm getting a new one at Burghley as a present - funnily enough it's a Champion one I want [featured here]). 

He started by showing us how previously, hats just had a thin piece of foam as protection, but now they contain polystyrene and foam to offer more protection. He also discussed the different standards and what they mean and how important it is that hats have these. It was interesting to find out that just because a hat might be more expensive, doesn't mean it's safer. In fact, some are refused from riding clubs, eventing, etc, as they do not have the correct standard - so always make sure yours does! Hats should be kitemarked with either one of both of these standards: PAS 015 2011 or BSEN 1384 2012. 

He also discussed how the average lifespan of your riding hat is normally around 3-4 years depending how often you wear it, though other manufacturers may state longer. He mentioned that a child who has an hour lesson each week, minus 2 weeks for holidays, therefore riding 50 hours a year will probably be fine with their hat lasting around 4 years. However, those in the racing industry start noticing green circles in their hat after 18 months - pretty grim! This is due to the sweat from your head as well as other chemicals such as hair products, make-up, etc., seeping into the polystyrene altering the shape of it and causes a gap between it and the outer layer - no longer providing the correct safety! Again, I realised how much I need a new hat! 

Another fact that I learnt is in relation to those little rubber bands that are commonly used as keepers. Turns out, these are highly important as they are supposed to be situated under the buckle bit and stop the straps from loosening. He even demonstrated to us their importance! Basically, if this doesn't make sense, try this out: place the rubber band at the end, acting as a keeper for your chin strap and then pull - you will find that the chinstrap loosens really easily. Now, place the rubber right at the other end, under the buckle so it's virtually hidden and again pull - you should find that the strap doesn't alter! No wonder my chin strap always seems to loosen! He also wore his hat and asked each of us to remove it to give us an idea of how a correctly fitted hat should fit - let me just say, we all thought we were going to end up pulling his head off! It's quite tight and therefore requires a bit of a pull to remove. So if your hat comes off easily, like mine, then there's a good chance it's a bit loose! 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the course and now I have a nice certificate saying that I have been instructed on the correct fitting of Champion riding hats and skull! Who doesn't love getting a certificate? Especially when it didn't involve any tests or exams! 

Hope this has given you a bit of an insight about the fitting of hats. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask as no doubt I probably haven't included everything I learnt!

Thanks for reading, 
Laura xx

York Ebor Races [Saturday 23rd August 2014]

Yesterday, I went to York Racecourse for the Ebor race meeting to celebrate my friends 21st. Unfortunately, I didn't actually get to see much of the races which is a bit of a shame, but it's always a nice day out regardless. 

York racecourse is quite nice, it's not overly large but it can be a bit hard to find people again if you split up! Also, it can be hard to get a good view of the race, so it's best to go higher and try and view from there. York races were full of bars but limited seating, unless you pay more for the county stand or wherever, however, these were considerably more so we just stuck with grandstand and paddock entry. 

Visiting the races has made me also want to consider working in racecourse management as well as event management and I think they are vaguely linked. I just need to finish my placement first! 

Let me know if you want me to do a blog post on visiting the races on a budget!

Thanks for reading, 
Laura xx

[Monthly Review] July 2014

Hello! 

I had only just bought him in! Lazy po!

I feel that Pea has been a tad neglected the past few weeks as I have been super busy finding somewhere for me to live and various other things. This has resulted in me not riding as much as I normally do, infact it's been like twice a week :( I hate not being able to ride so much and his fitness has definitely suffered which is so frustrating as he was quite fit before and going reasonably well. However, I do hope then when I finally get somewhere for him to move to (I am beginning a placement on Monday, you can read more here) and he's settled he will hopefully work better after his mini holiday. 

At the beginning of the month I decided to have a little jump on him and I always forget just how awesome he can be! I originally bought him to jump and potentially do BSJA but ended up losing so much confidence and I think he didn't have the confidence in me either. Now, his striding is so much better as he previously got in so deep which was horrible! I still haven't braved jumping fillers but I do end up raising the straights to 2ft6 or so, which may not be big but it's a step in the right direction. 

His schooling is still all higgedly-piggedly (technical term there ;) ) as one day he decides to just rush around not bending and I get frustrated, but I have learnt on those days to just ignore asking for bend and instead concentrate on getting him to listen. This means lots of transitions and leg-yielding as well as attempting shoulder-in, though in typical Pea style he pretends he finds it too hard only to do it perfect when he's having a tantrum about life... 

Lately, I've been a bit concerned about his back and pelvis so I think maybe once I move him I might get a physio or chiro to check him out. I did contemplate getting my current one out but as I'm hardly riding at the moment I don't think that it's going to be too great. He's been having great fun spooking at completely ridiculous things out hacking as well as scaring me on the lunge by looking like he's going to fall over his head in canter so I don't think it's too bad but definitely needs checking. He was also slightly mouthy on the lunge the other day which is weird as he's only just had his teeth done so I'm not sure what that was about!

Sorry it's not much of a great post, but fingers crossed once we get moved and settled and he starts coming into work there will be more to report on! 

Thanks for reading, 
Laura xx