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So after 2 false starts due to missing shoes and pulled bottom muscles (the horse not me!) we finally made it to Hoplands for some sj schooling and not a minute too soon as the previous day I had stupidly over-bitted Soap in an attempt to gain some control and as a result ruined his confidence to go forward into the contact. I feel awful for denting his confidence as he is so honest and willing, but I guess on the up side we overcame the issue whilst schooling today and this lesson now learnt will NEVER be repeated. So…

I am a bit of a stickler for matching XC colours and I have been on the look out for a new top to go under my back protector for a while when I came across a Canterbury base layer (like Ruth Edge wears!) in the exact same colour, even better you can get them personalised so guess what I had printed on my left sleeve?…..gifthorseeventing.co.uk!!!! snazzy huh?…

After time off due to a strained muscle, then brilliant but quite radical re-shoeing which made Soap ‘footy’ for over a week (cue me franticly dunking his feet in buckets of ice at every opportunity!) we ended up with just 3 days to prepare for our first ever PN level ODE! Not quite the run up to it I had planned! I spent the 3 days running through the BE Novice 111 dressage test we had to do which included counter canter, medium trot/canter, and rein back (none of these movements Soap is established in or has ever done in…

There is a lovely local show held every year by the Tedworth Hunt and even though I’m not a big fan of showing I usually go to do the odd class and a dressage test because it’s such a friendly and well run local event. My other half came along to take pics, and my friend took her young horse too for the experience. Here we are getting ready searching for the correct studs, and meticulously applying my quarter marks! Check out my Mountain Horse togs, very snazzy, but far too ‘look at me’ for the show ring! Into the…

I got home the other day to find a huge brown box with my name on it waiting for me! I was worried at first that maybe I had begun ‘sleep shopping’ and had been indulging in some nocturnal bidding on eBay, but thank fully it was a whole host of goodies form my sponsor Mountain Horse! Angie at Mountain Horse had posted me a load of lovely summer products including lightweight breeches, t-shirts, baseball cap, zippy top, and best of all some gorgeous leather long boots and the corresponding stirrups! I think Angie must be a mind reader as…

Hacking Soap out in walk to aid the recovery of his strained muscle is very dull so to kill two birds with one stone I invited my friend Shelly to hack out with me so that I could get both horses exercised, and have a bit of a catch up with her! Soap was feeling very michevious and as we were leaving the yard he decided that the little pony coming the other way was just too scary, and so he shot off back down the road bucking!!!! You can see the moment just before he turned tail in the…

In order to speed up the recovery of Soap’s sore muscle I called out Mel Gurdon NAVP. She is a top physiotherapist who has worked wonders on other horses I have owned in the past. Mel gave him a quick once over to asses him, and he seems to have already improved as he exhibited much less reaction to having the sore muscle manipulated than he did for the vet’s visit on Friday 3 days earlier, which hopefully points to a quick recovery! Mel then proceeded to set up what basically looked like a horsey Slendertone on Soap! It is…

Unfortunately when I brought Soap back into work after Mattingley he seemed a bit unlevel. I had the physio check him over, and she agreed that he was a little out behind. Soon after the physio he was shod and suffered a bit of nail bind on his off fore! I have been icing his foot for the nail bind and putting him in a magnetic rug to help with his muscles post physio, but then his leg blew up! So completely baffled at what the problem was I called the vet. After flexion tests, lunging, trotting him up, testing…

My laptop is doing its best to try and stop me uploading video but I managed to get it behaving long enough to upload my round at Mattingley. I was really pleased with the round as the rhythm was much better, and he got a good stride (not a flyer!) to each fence, even if we did end up with 3 down! He has fence 2 which I think is because he just ran on a little down hill, and then we get it together (despite him trying to snatch with his head into 5!) until the last 2 fences…

To activate Soap’s hocks and strengthen his back muscles so that he can produce a more active canter my SJ instructor Rosie Moss suggested that I work him on a Pessoa training aid. I thought ok I’ll give it a go, until I saw the price! eBay to the rescue once again, as I found this fantastic seller who makes an exact replica of the genuine Pessoa for a credit crunch friendly price. Click here to see their version of the gadget The instruction diagrams are very easy to read, and they have even colour coded the clips! I set…