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With 2 horses to take through the winter and Christmas on the horizon I had a bright idea to save money on bedding and put that saving towards buying Christmas presents.  Dustry and Soap have always been on rubber mats with bedding created by Chipmunk Equine, it’s a mix of savings and chopped straw which has also had the dust extracted. I keep them on this bedding because I have allergy related asthma (dust being one of the allergens!) and I can happily muck out both boxes, bank the beds up, and then lay them back down without as much…

Since we couldn’t go xc at BCA I decided to take Soap to Larkhill for a hunter trial so that we could get the xc fix we had missed out on. I know that Larkhill is like the outer Hebrides even on a sunny day so I took along one of the new jackets my sponsor Mountain Horse had recently sent me (more blogs on my new MH goodies soon!) and wore that to hack over to the start box which is quite an exposed windy walk from the lorry park, bbbbrrrrrrrrrr! Soap was clearly VERY keen to be going xc again,…

Dustry’s flatwork is coming on really well so I thought it was about time he began his jumping education! I started slowly slowly doing all the baby pre-jump basics like lunging over poles, then riding over them between wings, but in his usual ‘Mr Cool’ way he was totally unfazed by it all and made me look like a bit of a wally for being so cautious, but better over prepared then under is my moto! Yesterday I popped him over his first little x-pole, I had a few poles as wings down the right hand side to begin with…

Soap’s 1st at Newbury Show the other weekend won us a ROR jacket, and today it arrived. Unfortunately when I opened it there was a little note inside saying they had run out of jackets so had sent me a gilet instead, and they had also run out of smalls so all they could offer was a medium….nawwww. I tried it on for size and if I’m 100% honest with myself I think Soap and I could easily fit in it! It’s a shame as it would have made a lovely addition to all my other green goodies, but it’s…

Today we set off for BCA BE90 and I thought we had allowed enough time to arrive with just over an hour and a half to spare before dressage. Our Tom Tom and traffic had other plans, we got snarled up in traffic and arrived an hour later than planned which meant when I arrived in the dressage warm up the number before me was already in!!!!! Poor Soap only had 5 mins (if that!) of warm up and then we had to go in, but he did a very good test considering. On the first trot circle I was…

I dread clipping every year because of all the little hairs that get all over you, in your eyes, clothes, mouth etc and it drives me crackers! For the past few years I have paid for someone else to clip Soap to avoid this, but having 2x hairy horses at the mo’ means I can no longer afford that luxury so it was time to get stuck in! I was feeling a little rusty so dug out a chalk block to draw a rough pattern in place. It’s easier for me to just follow the lines, and Soap doesn’t mind…

With our next event BCA BE90 on Tuesday I thought it would be a good plan to pop along to some local SJing as Soap hasn’t been over coloured poles for a while. Cholderton Equestrian Centre is a fab venue very handy to get to for me and now under new management they are holding a lot more competitions with regular unaffiliated dressage, SJing, and BSJA starting this month. I entered Soap in the 85cms as a warm up and planned on doing the 90cms afterwards. We warmed up and went in to do our round, after gawping at the…

I think I’m still in shock at what happened today so I’ll start at the beginning and maybe by the time I get to the end it will have sunk in! We arrived at Newbury showground and the size of the event suddenly dawned on me! We walked to get numbers and find out where ring 2 was, and generally get my many novicey questions answered by the secretary! We went back to the trailer and started to spruce Soap up, even after his bath last night he still looked dusty, and his 1/4 marks were not turning out well!…

In preparation for Newbury County Show tomorrow I dragged the unsuspecting Soap in from the field today for a make over. His default look is ‘scruffy urchin’ so it took some doing to get him looking neat and tidy, but after trimming his now fluffy ‘lug holes’, bridle path, withers, fetlocks, and whiskers the washing could begin. I think he actually enjoyed a nice warm bucket bath as his newly emerging winter coat is making him itchy. To try and hold our own against the pro showing peeps I decided the plastic 1/4 mark square had to go, and I…

I try my hardest to dispel the myth that all ex-racers are crazy, mad flighty, un-rideable, scatty loons, but look what I’m up against! It’s been lovely warm sunny weather for the last 3 days and today the drop in temperature, and a slight wind was enough excuse for some high jinks in the field. If I had to put my money on them in a head to head I think Soap would pip Dustry to the post, he is more of a speed machine where as Dustry is a big fan of prancey leapy on the spot antics! They…