If you remember, a couple of blogs ago I mentioned that I had entered Diva into a virtual show in aid of the Shetland Pony Welfare Trust. Well, an amazing sum of £1200 was raised by the show. I had also sneakily entered by sister’s pony Melland Jackson Jive without telling her, so when the results came out it was great fun to let her know how well he had done.
Diva held her own with a sixth in the Three-Year-Old class and a fifth in the Open Solid Coloured class. However, Jackson showed her how it was done with a win in the Open Gelding class and a second in the Open Solid Coloured where Diva was fifth. He then went on to be Reserve Champion gelding of the show.
My friend Ginny and I had a chuckle whilst we were trying to get some photos of Diva trotting. She was a tad fresh and not very cooperative! In the end I sent in ones of her trotting loose in the school despite about twenty million pics being taken! Trust me, this is only a slight exaggeration!
In the meantime, Julius Caesar, the mini-Budweiser Horse, enjoyed more success in a real show ring with a win in his first Ridden Cob class despite having to endure torrential thunderstorms.
I don’t have any plans to have Diva out in a real show ring this year as all the ones I had pencilled in for her have been cancelled for 2020. She is such a fun pony to be around that I am enjoying just spending time with her at home.
A friend in the USA has recently experienced a storm with 100mph winds and ended up without power for five days. I can’t imagine how scary that must have been and though we are due the chance of storms in the next week or so, the windspeed will be far below that endured by Karen.
Diva and Mabel will be brought in to their stables in the barn until the storm passes so I know they will be safe and sound. They’ve enjoyed some lovely evenings out in the field this summer and I have included one of my favourite photographs.
Diva is now on Instagram, so please feel free to follow her on there #divatheshetland to see photos of her on a regular basis.
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!