Jack has recently had a few weeks holiday. Since the disappointment of HOYS, we all needed a bit of time to regroup and recover. Last week he came back into work but apparently had forgotten what a saddle was and thought he was 3 again. The mother wisely said “It was never going to be straight forward was it!” Jack is wonderful but a little bit high maintenance at times: with any horse that is […]
As it’s Halloween, it felt somewhat poetic to talk about something scary… Have you see the video from the French CCI5*, Les Etoiles de Pau, of the horse jumping into the wall? If you haven’t seen it, yes, it’s as scary as it sounds. British Rider, Jack Pinkney, ended up veering through a gap in the event’s fencing and the horse attempted to jump the very high wooden palisade wall, crashing into it and depositing […]
“It’s got a voice today”, “Get it ready and I’ll get on it in a minute”, “It just isn’t playing ball today” These are just three examples of things I have heard being said at shows over the last few weeks and I have a question for these people. How do you expect to have a valuable partnership if you don’t even respect your horse enough to use he or she? Two little letters, I […]
Seeing life through Joey’s eyes is quite special. Into the lorry he jumps, with his map in hand saying “Are we going on an adventure?” No worries at all. I wish I could be a bit more like Joey! I think I have underestimated the effect that nerves have on me! Just putting it out there. I know when I am having a proper wobble and the brain goes seriously to the dark side, I […]
Happy New Year everyone! I am a big fan of a New Year. I would even go so far as to say that I would chose New Year over Christmas. (Sorry Santa!) Less presents but more a chance to regroup and start afresh. Lots of big intentions for 2019. I apologise for being quiet on the blog for a number of weeks. I have been blogging for a few years now, and two or three […]
I have a new tool and I love it! I love a gadget but when it comes to grooming, I am usually a bit of a traditionalist; body brush, curry comb, elbow grease is the answer. However, I was sent the Furminator DeShedding tool and I was intrigued. Now, initially I thought it wouldn’t be much use at this time of year. However, with this ridiculous heat at the moment I have noticed a lot […]
Yesterday, I had a bit of meltdown. I’ll admit, there were tears. Once I had calmed, had some chocolate (fixes all things!) and regrouped, I had to say to myself – you are doing the best you can. Anyone else have to give themselves little pep talks? A week ago, we moved Jack to a new yard which was closer to home so Mum and I could spend some more quality time with him. Southerley […]
We took Jack to Wellington on Saturday to do some show jumping. I made an error at fence 8 and had it down. I was annoyed with myself but took the lesson and moved forward. Then my mother said 5 magic word “Look how far you’ve come.” A few months ago, if Jack had so much as neighed, I would have panicked and jumped off. Now, I am kicking myself about sitting too quietly into […]
What is this life so full of care, we have no time to stop and analyse things. Well, I am not very good at just staring or at least, if I look like I am just staring I am probably thinking. Overthinking can be a bad thing, but analysing is so important and something that some people just don’t do enough. I have just started competing again. It is very early stages but it going […]
Any regular readers will know I love a quote. I love it when you come across a quote for exactly what you are trying to say in such a perfect little bite sized snippet. Well, today the quote that feels right is “A bad workman always blames his tools.” Yesterday was a good day in terms of moving forward on my path to confidence. We took Jack to a small, unaffiliated show jumping event and […]