Posts Written By Chloë

I have been trying to plan out my season this year and to kick off I have entered Soap for Moreton BE90/Intro on the 7th of March so we are gearing up for that, and I can’t wait to be out competing again! He had studs holes put in today because next weekend we have a XC clinic at Boomerang with Robert Stevens. I’m really looking forward to doing some XC again and meeting up with Rob to see how his winter has been. Jack has been making slow but steady progress so last weekend I booked to take him…

I think Soap must win the award for the ‘horse most dedicated to the pursuit of mess’ he comes in every day PLASTERED in mud, sometimes despite being in a full neck, deep length rug he even manages to get mud on his withers! how he does it only he knows. So I guess it shouldn’t have come as much surprise to me when I walked off to get my hat from the car and return to find this…

Last season I ordered myself a new hat silk from Treehouse, and spent all year scouring online shops and the high street trying to find a long sleeved green top that matched. Nothing I found was quite right so for Christmas I splashed out and ordered myself the matching event shirt from Treehouse, and today it arrived! It’s fab and I love it, and I think it looks really nifty with my new Kan Teq who are one of my new sponsors for 2010! Of course because it is new I will have to ride out in it before I…

As the season is fast approaching and I’m already trying to plan where I can take Jack for his first unaffiliated ODE I thought it might be a good idea if I got round to some XC schooling! I am very lucky because on the farm where our yard is based there is a small XC course. It’s only up to 2’9” but it has quite a variety of fences, and is ideal for initial XC jump training of young horses and reformed delinquents! This was quite a provocative location for Jack as along side the jumps is a long…

Ok so I think this may be taking my obsession with colour coordination to new heights! To match my GHE colours of harlequin pattern bottle green and white, I have found a tape to match! When this arrived the other day I got ridiculously excited about it, and couldn’t wait for the snow to melt so I could do a quick dry run to check it would be suitable. I love it! and when my belated Christmas present of a matching xc top arrives at the end of this month I think I might just burst with colour coordinated joy!…

This year is getting off to a great start because I have just submitted the first entry for my new column on Eventing Worldwide! EWW is a subscription site covering all aspects of eventing, there are course photos, videos, reports, reviews, competitions, regular columists and much more. If you want to join EWW it’s just £30 for a years membership, and having been a member since 2009 I would say it is definitly value for money. Before starting my 2010 column I had 3 articles published on EWW in 2009 each covering aspects of equestrianism that I have a good…

It seems only a few weeks ago since we had the last dusting of snow, and now it has come back with avengence! Just as I was getting excited about being able to use my 4×4 to navigate the snowy roads my 4 wheel drive went kaput! I have been parking near by, and walking up to the yard when the hill is impassable which is a little chilly, but I’m telling myself it’s all good exercise, and will help me to walk off all the chocolate log I munched last month! Ooooops! So as nothing can really be done…

Last night I was looking back through some old photos from my polo days and it reminded me about how I used to ride and lead the polo ponies. One day whilst exercising a string I ended up riding one pony and leading two more on each side! 5 ponies may sound like a handful, but they were so used to being worked like this that they were very well behaved, and it was great fun to take them out and canter round the pitches. So……..(can you see where this is going?) today I hacked out Soap and took Jack…

Several people I have asked recently to recommend a good equestrian book have suggested one called Celebrity Jumping Exercises compiled by Caroline Orme It is filled with SJ and XC jumping exercises submitted by professionals such as Pat Burgess, Matt Ryan, and Leslie Law. With the help of a few well timed hints I ended up unwraping this on Christmas day! (How on earth did Santa guess!?!) Today we attempted an exercise submitted by Yogi Breisner. To begin with you place 5 poles at bounce distances (10-12ft between each pole) in a straight line, and trot through them. These are…

Having missed out on our latest dressage competition due to the snow and ice on the steep hill from our yard making it too dangerous to drive on I was determined that it wasn’t going to stop me schooling at home aswell! I arrived at the yard on Thursday to find the menage full of even more lovely fluffy snow! The ground underneath wasn’t frozen so if I could clear the snow enough it would be fit to ride on. I car jacked my mother’s 4×4, attached the rake, attached a pallet to that for extra weight and got driving.…