Thursday, 3 June 2021

Catching up with Bex Mason

We find showjumper Bex Mason in a positive frame of mind, as she updates us on her horses’ plans, and embraces the power of flexing your goals!

It has been a hectic period, as sadly my top rides Vancurtis, Pure Pleasure and Korenosa are all out of action with injury, at the moment.


Bex Mason & Vancurtis, show jumpers, horses, horse riding

It’s changed our plans dramatically – I do tend to build my competitive schedule for the year based around the more experienced horses – I can then pop the young horses’ weekday training shows in the schedule around the older ones’ events. 

But the injuries have thrown spanner in the works! This is horses, though – and I have been so lucky not to have experienced a great deal of injury issues in the years I have been competing. Luckily these are not old horses, and the time off gives them a chance to heal, iron out any other niggles or physical issues, and grow into themselves, at least in the case of Korenosa.

show jumpers, horses, horse riding, bex mason, showjumper


Finding the positives

I am finding the positives, and am excited to be concentrating on the younger ones.

For example, we went to Bicton Arena recently, and took four youngsters. I went with the goal of just jumping some clears, but each horse was competitive, with all of them placed most days. It is only a few years away until the youngsters are out jumping bigger things. I like to keep looking onwards and upwards!

A big goal for me was to jump a world ranking class, and even with the altered schedules, I still like to work backwards – I am being flexible with my goals, but still with an eye on working backwards from a big event when the horses are sound again, so consistently jumping 1.40’s in a big arena. 

My main goal for now is to continue progressing the youngsters quietly, and aim for British Novice and Discovery second rounds – it’s nice for them to get experience at different arenas. Because I want to ideally keep the youngsters that I produce, I am looking into syndication. I do have half shares in Vancurtis, Pure Pleasure and Korenosa, and having syndicated owners would help with our running costs! The syndication model is quite new for us, but I think it has many benefits for the owners and the rider, who gets to keep the ride on a horse they’ve invested time in.

 

show jumpers, horses, horse riding, bex mason,

Busy business plans

I am also developing a busines plan for the stables – I need my arena extended! We have been here for ten years, and it’s time for an upgrade. And I am currently focussing more on teaching and developing my clinics. I got more into teaching during the 2020 lockdown, and I love it – I like seeing client’s results and progress. It’s very rewarding, and I like to give something back and serve people. I have lots of projects I can get on with now that I have a little more time – I have over thirty training videos to edit and do voice overs for! There’s so many more elements to doing what I do, in addition to ‘just riding’, which makes it a really interesting profession.


show jumpers, horses, horse riding, show jumping, bex mason,

Powerful positivity

I think it’s important to be positive and live in the moment. It’s a mindset that serves me well. I listen to a lot of self growth podcasts, and like to maintain a good mental wellness routine. I for example start the day with gratitude affirmations, meditation, some body stretching, and some crazy music to get me into a positive emotional state. When I got particularly busy, I neglected this regime, and I could feel the negative results of it – I am back into it after a pause now though, and find that keeping on top of mental wellbeing is really the key to so many things – not least when it comes to dealing with setbacks and horsey challenges!

Bex has worked for many years breaking in horses and competing at an international level and specialises in producing competition horses. “I find myself expressing love for my Derrieres daily,” Bex says of the underwear range. “I openly discuss the results and versatility of the products, whether it’s to customers at my yard, or fellow competitors at shows; I don’t even realise I’m doing it - these pants change riders’ lives!”

Please keep an eye on Bex's social pages for details of forthcoming clinics - Insta: @bexmasonsj 

www.facebook.com/bexmasonsj


Shop the Derriere Equestrian underwear range today:
www.derriereequestrian.com 

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