Well we haven’t sailed away or drowned, although it’s been a close thing as the glorious weather continues and more events are being cancelled. We’ve had a very mixed month with some very sad news but I shall start with a positive! A mention has to go to one of my pupil’s Jamie, who is based at my yard, and with her horse Frankie won at her Trailblazers 2nd Round with 70% and 85%! I have told her she needs to stop doing this now as it’s becoming a little embarrassing for her trainer (me) when her PB is beaten so impressively by someone half her age!!
This amazing result is in stark contrast to the rest of the month for us. I’m not afraid to talk about the negative side of things, I think it’s important to be honest as it happens to us all. Not long ago we lost my homebred gorgeous boy Rocky. After nearly 3 years of vet treatments we knew he probably wouldn’t live in to his 30s but we hoped he’s at least get to his teens. Sadly this was not meant to be and a few months before his 10th birthday he took a turn for the worse and we were left with no real options. This has obviously been devastating and we miss him so much. He may not have been around for that long but he was an amazing boy; such a lovely chap with a fab temperament and did really well in the competitions he did, in fact when I Evented him he did 3 horse trials and came 1st, 3rd and 2nd! A real superstar. RIP Rocky.
My other horses haven’t been having a great time either. Bertie decided he quite fancied April off thank you very much! It started with a strain from slipping in mud in the field, cue some physio treatments and tens machine sessions twice a day. The tens machine and I are not friends! There are things I am good at and there are things I am not good at – the tens machine is one of the latter! It can be a really useful tool but I’m not that great at using it effectively. Big thanks to my amazing physio, Hannah Complin from Vet Physio UK, who is so supportive to Bertie and I (as well as all the horses on my yard) and simply has magic fingers! Don’t know what I’d do without her. No sooner had Bertie improved and been back in work for a few weeks he got a knock in the field and needed another week off! As I say he clearly wanted a holiday and decided the April weather meant the time was now and a month off sounded good!! Fingers crossed we’re back in action now, I have some dates in the diary for May so I hope so!
Ruin has also had a quieter April! Ruin is a bit of a twit and has some very ‘interesting’ habits. One of his less desirable ones is the violent rolling he insists on in his stable…he has the biggest stable in the yard (the foal box) but still chooses the corner as the best location. The result? Regularly getting cast. It isn’t as often as it used to be; it was almost monthly when he was younger, now it’s nearer yearly. When he got cast earlier this month we just couldn’t flip him. Having had lots of youngsters over the years who don’t know their size or have control of all their limbs, you develop a good technique for getting up a cast horse. Unfortunately Ruin is just too big now and has quite a prominent wither so we had a really stressful time trying different methods to get him up with no success. In the end we shuffled him away bit by bit and he got up. Next day I was straight online buying anti cast strips for the stable! He was a little sore for a few days but after physio Hannah gave us the all clear we have cracked on again. This has been a challenge in itself as after only one day off Ruin tends to think he’s been retired (wishful thinking Ruin!) and takes several days to crank him back up in to working horse mode! We had to cancel a lesson and a competition in the meantime. May will be our month!!
I do believe things happen for a reason though and clearly I was meant to have a quiet April competing-wise…the reason for this has now become clear – to buy horses! Somehow I seem to have acquired another horse… Now I already own multiple horses, every day I ride multiple horses, I didn’t want another horse and I definitely didn’t need another horse… However sometimes you are drawn to one and it seems you’re destined to have them!! After seeing a video of this mare (completely unintentionally) it had ‘me’ written all over it and when she’s described as ‘very forward’, ‘handful’, ‘not an easy mare to ride’, ‘wild’…well unfortunately that’s pretty much right up my alley. She wasn’t expensive due to the above so went to see her, loved her, had her vetted and she arrived!! So everyone meet Grace, a KWPN mare, who has show jumped to date but her brain really can’t cope with it so is having a career change to dressage. I have had some interesting rides on her so far and let’s just say I can understand why the vet that vetted her kept questioning my safety with her n ‘did I know what I was buying’…thank heaven for a neckstrap, which I ride everything in and would genuinely even put on a mechanical horse! But she’s super intelligent and is already improving so much. She’s going to be my biggest test to date but I think she’s going to be fab so I can’t wait to see what the future holds! Watch this space…
A few days prior to Grace’s arrival we had another new member join the yard. Not mine this time! Emma bought a lovely young gelding called Humphrey – well named as he’s such a gentleman! He’s only rising 6 years old but has an amazing temperament and such lovely movement – win win! Can’t wait to see what this year has in store for them. Emma has another horse at my yard; Sidney, a super cute (and hilarious) rising 6 year old Hanoverian by Dimaggio. He has so much potential but has a lot of growing (up) to do so we’re taking our time with him. You’ll hear more about him another time; he has so much character he’ll need half the blog just for him!!
So it’s been a month of ups and downs, exciting highs and devastating lows. Welcome to life with horses! We may have shut the door on one chapter but we have lots to be thankful for and excited about. Spring really is beginning in May (hint hint) so onwards and upwards – bring it on!
