ArcEquine supports Lissa Green's eventing success

With a family background in eventing that would be the envy of most riders - Lissa Green's mother Lucinda Green was a six-times Badminton winner and her Australian father David Green a dual gold medallist, but until fairly recently, riding was more of a hobby and not a full time occupation, as Lissa herself explains......

"I only turned to riding and competing full time in the last couple of years but I always had one horse to event in the summer holidays between term time at school and university. My biggest highlight would be as first reserve for Team GB in the 2007 Junior European Championships; I remember being more than ecstatic when I got that phone call!

There are always low points with horses, sadly it comes with the territory, most notably when a horse is injured. When they hurt themselves it is truly horrible.

Lissa Green and Malin Head Clover

Secondly would be when I get injured, as I did last August when I had quite a nasty fall, as my then new ride Malin Head Clover misjudged the smallest fence on the course. Luckily he had a soft landing on me so was absolutely fine, but I came off a little worse with four fractured ribs, a broken collarbone, damaged rotator cuffs in my shoulder, multiple fractures to my jaw joint and my chin bone was split into two bits at the front. I had my chin plated and spent a week in hospital and hoped my collarbone would mend.

Five weeks later an X-ray revealed it hadn't and needed to be operated on, but I wanted to finish the season and although I was sore, it was worth it. The horse I fell on did two Intermediates and was 7th with a double clear on our last run.

I then had my operation and straight away my collarbone was so much more comfortable – with the bonus that I didn’t have to spend a winter perhaps worrying about how my nerves would be when I got back on Malin Head Clover. To top it off we managed three top 10 placings out of those last five competitions, so maybe I should fall off more often….

I have to say my parents have been a huge influence; they both treat me as an individual and always help when I need it, but don’t interfere too much. I have taken inspiration from so many amazing horsemen, it is such a privilege to be constantly around the calibre of rider that is competing today.

When it comes to fitness, I have a very strict schedule and I think plenty of road work is very important to keep hardening up the tendons on their legs. I also think feed is hugely important, as what you put into your horse has a massive impact on helping them perform at their best.

In addition, I rely on a brilliant little microcurrent unit called - an ArcEquine - for both my horses and myself. It is ideal to have around if any horses acquire an injury as it helps to heal more efficiently and in a fraction of the time; I love it. I used it on myself when recovering from my operations and when I went back to the physio's, they couldn't believe how good my shoulder was and how far ahead my recovery was. Definitely thanks to this super machine!

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ArcEquine sponsored event rider Liz Halliday-Sharp wins at Rockingham Castle

Event rider Liz Halliday-Sharp, who is an enthusiastic ArcEquine user for her string of successful horses, marked the start of her UK British Eventing season with a commanding victory and double podium (May 22-24) at Rockingham Castle International where two horses competing at very different levels were in action.

It was the UK-based Californian’s first British outing since returning from her winter base in Ocala, Florida, where a number of horses resident at her Chailey Stud had benefitted from warmer weather training and competition.

Having racked up plenty of success Stateside over the past five months, it didn't take Liz and Blackie (Fernhill By Night) long to get back to winning ways. Following a debut appearance together at the CCI4* Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event in April, the pair were understandably amongst the favourites in their Open Intermediate section, and so it proved. 

Indeed, they were never headed after accumulating just 22.3 points for a highly accomplished Dressage test and would later finish on that same score thanks to going double clear in Show Jumping and Cross Country. After finishing with the best mark across all five Intermediate sections, Liz is now feeling confident ahead of her and Blackie’s appearance at Houghton International’s CICO3* FEI Nations Cup event this weekend (May 29/30).

“After a tough time in very wet conditions at Rolex I just wanted to give Blackie an easier, confidence-inspiring round on good ground, and the course at Rockingham was perfect for that,” she confirmed. “He found it all quite easy and I wasn't pushing for time, but it’s noticeable how much naturally faster he is between fences after competing regularly at Advanced level in the USA throughout the winter. He’s always responded best when being ridden positively, but we certainly weren't flat-out, so it's nice that he still found the time easy to make.

“It was a good pre-run for Houghton where I’ll be the sole US Team representative. I’m sure it’ll be a tough competition, but hopefully we can come home with a good result; I feel confident that if we put all the pieces together we can do just that.”

While Blackie has demonstrated his pedigree countless times before, stablemate Ozzy (Oskar X) remains comparatively new to both the sport and Liz, who had spent just two weeks working with the six-year-old prior to Rockingham.

Not that it showed at his first British event last weekend when the duo secured second place in their BE100 section. Lying joint-fourth after a tidy Dressage performance, clear Cross Country and Show Jumping rounds helped them pick up two positions and finish on their original score of 28.5, just 0.2 marks shy of victory.

“I was a little bit frustrated to miss out on winning by such a small margin, especially as I thought his Dressage test was better than the mark, but I can’t be too disappointed after spending so little time with him,” continued Liz. “He’s clearly got bags of potential and has a lovely temperament, too. He really tried hard in every phase and I'm thrilled with him! We’ll continue at BE100 for the next month or so before hopefully upgrading to Novice in July if he’s ready.”

Ozzy’s eventing education continues at Borde Hill this Sunday (May 31) just a day after Halliday-Sharp returns from FEI Nations Cup duty at Houghton.

Keep up with Liz by following her on Twitter – @lizhalliday – or on either her personal or Horsepower Equestrian Facebook pages. Visit the ArcEquine website at www.arcequine.com