As life slowly begins to return to something resembling the way it used to be – to whatever extent we would want it to – Bader Grant Recipient Para Dressage rider Richard Neumann shares lockdown thoughts.
I’m so grateful to Richard for sending us this wonderfully honest and thoughtful message about a time that affected all of us (and, yes, our animals too) in so many ways. The challenges we all faced during lockdown were very much influenced by our personal circumstances but there’s no doubt that owning animals and being responsible for their welfare was a challenge in itself. This may be especially true when the animals in question are competition level horses, used to being regularly exercised and trained and needing to work regularly with their riders to establish and main a trusting partnership.
Read on as Richard Neumann shares lockdown thoughts with us. Thank you, Richard, for this personal insight into how Covid and its repercussions affected one man striving to reach the top of his sport and his 4-legged team.
Hi
The first lock down was the biggest problem we had, the yard was put into quarantine and all horses were ether on full livery with no access to them, I chose to have them in a field and look after them turned the lorry into a tack and feed room and I must admit changing a poultice in a field is not for the faint hearted. When things started to ease the horses were brought back into the stable and we could ride in the school or hack out, this was a god send as I was feeling the stress of not living a normal life, at least this brought a modicum of normality back to my life, and I could get the horsebox back into a horsebox. I also did a few charity challenges which kept me in a good place mentally, however I can’t begin to imagine how any one less fortunate that myself got through this.
All competition was cancelled so training was the only competition you could get, but in the grand scheme of things there was plenty to feel grateful for.
The second lock down came and went almost unnoticed it does say something about you when you can go into lock down and your personal life doesn’t really change. I believe I have a better relationship with my animals because of lock down as we spent so much time together. Now things are getting back to a normalish situation competitions have reopened, the gyms have reopened, and life is getting back to resemble a little of the life before lockdown.
The things I have learnt from this situation and a lesson I hope we all have is that the simple things are the ones we should treasure the most, family is more important than most things and we should be grateful for what we have not what we believe we are entitled to. I was incredibly fortunate to have everything I care and love around me in this situation. Without them I can’t imagine how I would have come through the other side, now we are looking forward to the winter championships the regionals and hopefully getting our first invitation to represent the county.
(Richard Neumann)
Above you can see the lovely Smartie after a recent competition when he stood in for Otto who had sadly injured himself. Smartie acquitted himself beautifully as you can see in the top image where he is proudly rosetted and rugged, before a well-earned rest back in his stable.
You can see other posts from Bader Grant Recipient Richard by following the link.