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 […]
In the horse world of late, I have noticed this word brandished about a lot: Brave. “Be brave” “Feeling brave” “Finding my brave”. And, ever one to rock the boat when I see it necessary, I am going to have to object. I don’t want to be brave! And this is why… When I think “brave”, I think of soldiers, lions, fighter pilots going into battle. When I watch Carl Hester, or John Whittaker, or […]
Jack has come in after a few weeks ‘holiday’ in the field. He has got a bit woolly, a little chubby and hopefully it has done him good. However, it is time to get back to work, and we have a lot of work to do. I was prepared for him to be a little bit bright the first time I rode after his holiday but he surprised me by being fairly chilled about it […]
My second love, besides horses, is musical theatre. Oh, and Joey of course. Oh and Jack. Oh god, and Pie! He should have been first! Ok, it’s one of my loves. Musical theatre is something I am often inspired by. I produced a version of The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown a few years ago and there was an audition song in it – Climbing Uphill. Cathy sings for an audition but we […]
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 […]
No blog post or YouTube video last week because I was treading the boards. I got rather sidelined with a week performing in “Showtime” at the Corn Exchange in Wallingford. I had a fantastic week but as always came away with lessons to apply to my horsey life. You can take the girl away from horses but…. So, what did I learn – surrounding yourself with positive people will change the way you think. The […]
As I walked out of the arena, a smiling stranger said “oh, chickening out!”, I smiled and muttered something along the lines of “ha, yeah, you know,” But in truth she really didn’t know. I was avoiding terrifying Mindy! Last weekend, it was the British Eventing Jumping and Style Finals at Hartpury College – supported by Baileys Horse Feeds. The wonderful Jack had qualified so Joey and I headed down to cheer him on. We […]
I jump the practice jump and the mother says “That’s the one. Let’s head down.” So, I walk him down to the entrance. We are ready to go in. Ready to jump round the course. If we do it right and come out with a clear then we are in the running to win. If we win, we get to compete in the championship in the main arena – a dream of mine for so […]
Firstly, thank you to everyone who reads my blog. It started a year and a half ago as a little fun focus but it’s actually inspired me, challenged me and on this occasion maybe saved me a little bit. I wrote about my horsey confidence meltdown. The support, encouragement and advice I received was truly overwhelming. People from all over the world read it, friends and total strangers wrote about their experiences and with their […]