Fiona Iszchak freelance instructor/ event rider

Fiona Iszchak freelance instructor/ event rider BHSAI, BSc Equine Science. I am based Luton & surrounding. specialise in training the partnership

Never even thought I'd be riding her again, never mind strutting our stuff down the centreline!! So pleased with Miss Ri...
17/06/2026

Never even thought I'd be riding her again, never mind strutting our stuff down the centreline!! So pleased with Miss Ricky for doing a beautiful dressage test despite not having been out in over a year or ridden in an arena either. Here's to miracles and the power of dr green and time.
Got to love an evening trip out to R.C dressage.
Ricky will be getting some shoes on Friday and I'm tempted to try some ridden show classes with her.
Still no jumping yet, but shes feeling stronger all the time.

01/06/2026

Our next exciting outing was a trip to the r.c arena eventing Championships at Aston le Walls, just 6 days later.
Our team had been offered a wildcard entry after coming 2nd at our qualifier back in February.

Luke and I prepared with a trip to Keysoe to play on their arena eventing training with the rest of the team, kindly supported by our Riding club.

We then were able to grab a lift to the champs with our friend and Teamy Katy and her horse Peter who had similar times.

Luke and Peter became best friends on their trip up the m1 and were happy chatting while Katy and I showed our horse passports at the secretary and picked up our finalist plaques.
We just missed the course walk but watched afew horses and paid special attention to the route through the water where several riders had been eliminated earlier that morning.

Luke warmed up a little flat so we didn't do much. He'd only hacked twice in the week due to the heatwave and recovering from Tweseldown.
We jumped a super clear round in the show jumping and continued straight into the xc phase. We were absolutely flying until the penultimate fence where coming down the ramp to a skinny arrowhead he went a little green and tried to run out through his left shoulder.
I thought we'd managed to wobble over it despite knocking the flag but we were given an unfortunate elimination for missing the fence! Looking back at the photos it is quite clear only 1 leg went over the fence 🙈.
We jumped the joker fence and just tapped the top plank down as we went through the finish.
As far as Luke is concerned he was a good boy and had a lovely time. I was super pleased with him and can't wait to do some more AE with him, especially as no dressage is required!
Sadly our whole team had issues so I was in good company with my Elimination !
Enjoy the video of our round

01/06/2026

We managed two Eventing outings over half term! Buckle in...

23 May was meant to be Princethorpe 2 day RC team event however it had been cancelled due to lack of entries. I decided to enter our 2nd BE90 of the season instead and head down to Tweseldown in Hampshire.

The weekend turned out to be the hottest on record for May bank holiday and I prepared the best I could by fully clipping Luke and bringing lots of water and rehydrating mash.
My lovely friend Natasha came along as wingman.

We arrived just in time for a short dressage warmup. Luke warmed up nicely and then strutted down the centreline feeling the most ridable and relaxed between the boards he'd ever felt at this point.
I came out absolutely thrilled by his performance and was devastated to later learn we'd actually received our worst score ever and the worst in our section. I did query with the scorers who were super polite about it but disclosed the judge had awarded us 4s 5s and even a 3!!

After a sulk I was determined to put the score behind us and ride as best as I could in the jumping phases. Luke jumped a nice SJ round for just 4 faults, where i took an unnecessary late pull down a distance to an oxer and caught a pole.
Cross country was twisty in places and I was clear I wasn't going to repeat the same mistake as Tetworth and miss a fence so I left myself detailed voice notes for each fence and studied the course photos before starting.
Luke went really well despite the heat now creeping upto 30° and finished really well, clear just inside the time. The event had provided water at the finish to cool the horses down with, which was under a really nice shaded tree canopy.

Our jumping efforts pulled us upto a 10th place for our 1st BE finish! Hurrah
The journey home was fraught by the car making an awful noise but we made it back around the m25 without drama.

Car is sadly still in the garage with a seized brake calliper and wheel bearing issues.

The Cat is out the bag, most of you know that I'm stepping away from freelance riding and teaching and was super excited...
10/05/2026

The Cat is out the bag, most of you know that I'm stepping away from freelance riding and teaching and was super excited to be offered a job in Education working for Haddon Training. So I will eventually be coaching & Training equine and animal apprentices.
I cannot wait to get started with this, but my first week has been mostly Training.
Meanwhile I'm adjusting to working full time and seeing the horses evenings and weekends, but it's actually been really nice and quality time x
Anyhow I ought to figure out how to change the name of the page?
As for the eventing side, more exciting news is our Riding Club team managing to get a wild card qualification for the arena eventing champs at Aston le walls at the end of May.
Super excited for this for me and Luke. The team were 2nd at Dallas Burston afew months ago having pulled out all top a 10 strong performance, so we have a good chance.
Horsey news... Ricky is feeling really good and is staying sound in light work.
Peachy has gone completely Feral but Toad is super friendly and is absolutely thriving. He is getting really long now, he was all smooshed up in Peach like a concertina!

Pants news that our next Event planned has been cancelled! And an absolute highlight event too. However quick pivot and ...
30/04/2026

Pants news that our next Event planned has been cancelled! And an absolute highlight event too. However quick pivot and I have rerouted to Tweseldown on same date. Lucky just pipped the ballot, which is today.
Not been in about 13 years, but I remember it being a good challenging cross country track, which will suit Luke. I should book some dressage lessons in then.

Little updateMare and foal have moved to a nice quiet secure field over the way from my lot, which belongs to a lovely c...
30/04/2026

Little update

Mare and foal have moved to a nice quiet secure field over the way from my lot, which belongs to a lovely client turned friend of mine. An ideal solution to keep her mare company. Little man is getting very confident and friendly now. Is wearing a headcollar and letting us handle him, they marched up the ramp no problem for the 2 min journey to new yard 😀
Peach is all recovered from her ordeal and is enjoying all the grass, and some peace from Luke.
The others are missing her, she was very much their emotional support pony. But are adapting and making new friends in their herd.

My apologies if I didnt make it over to you this week. Most of my clients know that we had a surprise arrival on Wednesd...
25/04/2026

My apologies if I didnt make it over to you this week. Most of my clients know that we had a surprise arrival on Wednesday afternoon.
Little Peachy pony, my youngest daughter's pony, has given birth to a coloured c**t.
Its quite the surprise, as she wasnt particularly showing, and I'd actually had her pregnancy tested not long after I bought her last summer.
Apparently there are two types of test, one checks for early pregnancy upto 45 days and one is good from about 90+ days... and she would have been about 2 months 🙄
Anyhow just to create chaos during my last week at work, here comes Toad!
He's a big healthy chap, Sire looks likely to be a heavy feathered cob. Peach is being a super Mummy and the best girl, although she had me worried when she didnt poo for 24 hours.
I don't blame her really, not wanting to push to poo after having pushed a ginormous baby out.
Lucky we have a week where I only have some light riding to do, before I started my new job!!!
(But there will be a whole other post on that. )
We will get them moved to a suitable nursery, where Luke wont keep jumping in to come and see his step child!

One of those not a great day on paper days but still a really fun day out.We headed to Tetworth for our first BE event, ...
12/04/2026

One of those not a great day on paper days but still a really fun day out.
We headed to Tetworth for our first BE event, well my first one in 8 years.

Plan for dressage was a good canter round the park, a lollop on a long rein then work on putting him back together with some transition work. Luke was going beautifully until we left the safety of the warm up and into the test arena. Held the anxious needy Llama together for a 40.

Onto Showjumping which has been much improved recently. A really unfair 4fts as he'd already landed and ridden away when the pole he breathed on fell down. He also jumped the 2 stride double in 1, in classic Luke style. He was really adjustable and kept a lovely rhythm.

Cross country I had walked the day before but I probably should learn to count properly as we took the direct route from 7 to 9 , entirely missing the whole other loop to 8 both when I walked it and when I rode it too.
However there wasnt anything that phased or taxed him in the slightest and we coasted home with 10 sec to spare (might have been bang on with the extra jump) 😉
As far as Luke is concerned we jumped a clear round.

Saw lots of friends and had loads of support today which is what makes eventing so special.

Our next event will be Princethorpe 2 day event and possibly some dressage practice before then.

Busy couple days training in preparation for our 1st event of the season.A trip to Fox farm for a show jumping lesson wi...
31/03/2026

Busy couple days training in preparation for our 1st event of the season.
A trip to Fox farm for a show jumping lesson with super trainer Doug then Monday I taught from horseback at Milton Keynes Equestrian Centre on their amazing cross country course. Ruby and Harriet had a great time with their ponies and Luke popped round most of the 90 options and had a splash in the water and a good gallop up the hill.

Managed to get photos of all 5 of today's rides. Golly what a day getting all these done and a lap of South beds, and so...
31/03/2026

Managed to get photos of all 5 of today's rides. Golly what a day getting all these done and a lap of South beds, and sorting my lot both ends of the day too.
Nice hack for Danny and then Tikka after she had shoes.
Then Dragon had a play down the field trotting & cantering up and down hills overlooked by the Whipsnade Lion.
Bella enjoyed some polework and I rode through my eventing BE90 dressage test with her then a lovely hack on Melody accompanied by Rocket and her owner.
Now need a pile of biscuits and coffee !

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Eversholt
MK17 9FB

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07727231731

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