Winding down 2021 a really positive note. I love reflecting over all the years achievements. After the last 2 years of flooded hell to have a dry and warm December, with the beautiful sunny crisp cold mornings makes the dark mornings, and dark nights almost bearable.
I managed to get all the way to 19th December before their first night, with plenty of nights out in between when it hasn't been wet or freezing winds. The grass still has life in it, which means they are eating a fraction of the field hay to previous years and hardly being in has saved a mountain of money on straw pellets, which meant I had enough money this month to buy all the rails to finish the arena. Now we just need some warmer and sunnier weekends to get started on putting them up.
My friend had her gorgeous horse Rosko come back off loan, and currently has a broken ankle, so I offered to take him out to some fun Christmas dressage with Ben. He was such a good boy, who has done no schooling at all in his loan home and we still managed to get a score in the 60's in an intro! Ben had a stab at his first novice and despite going wrong (3 tests in one day was a step too far for my memory) we still got 63% and a second, so no looking back for us now, novice is where we will stay and work on, hopefully going affiliated by May and getting to ROR championships 2022.
Django is growing up so much and is looking like a real horse. I know there is plenty more growing and gangly stages left, but I love it when he levels up and a I get a glimpse of the gorgeous shape he will be.
I sorted out my rosettes which I keep on a board in my lorry each year, and it was lovely to see so many achievements. Trailblazer Championships, Tetworth Hunter trials, AQHA championships a few BD rosettes, some locaklshowing rosettes and lots of unaffiliated jumping and dressage!
Lets hope next year is just as much fun, but holds a bit more progression and a few less setbacks.
Equine insurance specialist now able to offer live prices and immediate cover. Equesure Insurance has launched a new insurance product for horse trailers valued up to £15,000.
The annual trip to Your Horse Live was completed and even my partner enjoyed a bit of it! Okay, he mainly enjoyed the cake stalls (and they were amazing – we took three bags of cake home with us), but also liked the rescue village and heavy horse yard. We got to go into the stable with two donkeys for pats and cuddles and we both loved it.
Five years ago, I had the absolute dream of having my own acreage, but this has honestly been the biggest learning curve, relearning so much about how to better look after our horses and what the land requires. Hopefully, I can give some insight into things I have learnt, mostly by trial and error and lots of mistakes.
After five or six years away from the British showjumping circuit, I’ve rejoined, and this time with my little Connemara standing just about 15HH – and he’s been amazing!