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Living in the heart of ‘racing country’ it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the hype that surrounds big racing fixtures such as Cheltenham festival, and I’m not adverse to the odd flutter on Paddy Power myself when I’ve been given a ‘hot tip’! Although if left to my own devices picking a race horse because it looks like it could be re-schooled into a nice eventer is not always the best method when it comes to choosing winners 😉 I do think that racing in general gets a pretty bad press, and the physical and mental condition that many…

At the beginning of this year I sent my sponsors an email asking if there was anything I could do to help them in return for all the great support they have given me over the years. Angie from Mountain Horse came back to me and said ‘well actually there is something you could do….’ Fast-forward a few weeks and the day arrived for Dustry and I to be rookie models in a photo shoot for Mountain Horse!!!! Angie asked if I could find another rider, horse, and suitable location for the shoot, and after posting on facebook looking for…

I took D for his 2nd time at a little SJing competition today and I knew it would be a bit of a big ask because due to work and weather he has had very little work in the last 7 days, so things were set to be exciting! We arrived and the warm up was packed with tiny ponies,and shouty mothers but we had to just get on with it. D found this all very exciting and as a result we had lots of bucking and one rather spectacular rear (neckstrap worthy!) but actually he may have been on to something…

So the snow has stopped play, and the horses are pretty much confined to barracks. Dustry DOES NOT like limited turn out, and so to let him stretch his legs today for a bit, I turned him out in the arena whilst I sorted his box ready for the evening. Here is a video just to show how exciting he finds snow, he loves it so much he just has to shove his face right into it! snow facial! After letting him blow off some steam, I gave him a good grooming all over, then tucked him up for the…

After a VERY cold grid work lesson yesterday I was really not relishing the prospect of a Sunday morning 6am start in order to take D to his first ever show jumping competition, so it was with many layers of clothing, and a glove box full of ‘lorry snacks’ that D and I set off for West Wilts Equestrian Centre’s mini unaffiliated show jumping. Driving through the early morning darkness I consoled myself with a snickers and radio 4 for company as I had not managed to persuade a single soul to accompany me, I wonder why? was it the…

So I thought it was about time I did a little update on how Dustry has been getting on with his Atlanta Gumbits, his ‘secret weapon’. I started using these treats back in June 2012 (click here to read the original blog) because he had developed a habit of scrunching his bit in time with his movement! As much as this shows he has an obvious musical flair, it doesn’t bode well during a dressage test when this sort of thing will be marked down, and penalised as ‘tension’. His teeth and mouth are all in tip top order but for some…

Today after weeks of plans getting rained off, we went for a long overdue lesson! Dustry had helpfully thrown himself into the wettest muddiest part of his field just seconds before I arrived to get him ready. With only 30 mins to spare and him looking like ‘the creature from the mud lagoon’ I resorted to hosing his legs off and brushing the worst off his head, but it definitely wasn’t our most polished turn out! For once the weather was glorious, still, bright, and not too cold. We worked on bringing his shoulders more ‘up’ in the trot so that he can load…

On Saturday I hired a local arena and jumps, put on my grippy-est pair of breeches and reached for my trusty neck strap! Now that Dustry’s flat work has come on so far he can begin his jumping education in earnest. He really needs to learn to lower his neck, asses the fence and use his back and neck to bascule  over the jump rather than hollow and leap! Previous attempts at jumping have been…..well…..interesting to say the least, at one point I was level with the top of the stands riding what resembled a giant  jumping flea!!!! Not ideal! I was half expecting…

Dressage to me is like magical voodoo. One moment I can think I am on the right track and believe that things are going well and then less than 5 minutes later one little score can totally knock the confidence you had been building in your own judgement and skill. Last Sunday I took D for another dressage outing (his 2nd competition in the BD affiliated section) 2x prelim tests again, but this time in his new nifty dressage saddle! This was the first time he had gone from stable to lorry under the cover of early morning darkness and I wasn’t sure how hyped up he would…