So after a washout (iceout?) of a weekend it looks like a fairly busy week ahead. Lewie sat on Ollie (the wee grey Grade A we bought in Ireland) yesterday and they seemed to gel so he’ll be back on him a few times this week. Izzy has had a problem with impacted food and has been quidding a bit so she’s off to Dukes Vets for a wee op on Wednesday, via Ardene House vets for Cody to get measured before he goes off to Amy Beck’s to be produced as a future star! There’s no rest for the wicked…

The ice is fairly taking its toll up here in Aberdeen. The Pony Club rally at Tillyoch was cancelled, along with the Findon Riding Club show at Fountain Equestrian tomorrow and the two day BS show at Cabin. Here’s a pic of the car park at Oldfold – hopefully this will be melted by next weekend!

Continue reading A Cancelled Weekend →

Off we headed to Tillyoch this weekend for the BS Junior show.  It was freezing on Saturday morning, but Michael had salted the car park and the outdoor arena surface was perfect!  I feel I must take a little of the credit for encouraging Mike to run his winter shows outside, and it seems to be working extremely well with the indoor warmup.  The sun was shining and there was hardly a breath of wind.

First up was Lewie with Izzy in the 70cm Open.  He jumped a cracking double clear to win the class, but then had an unscheduled dismount in the 80cm jump-off whilst attempting an almost impossible turn.  Here’s a video of his 70cm jump-off:

Findlay has decided that 90cm and less is below him, so against his mum’s better judgement he jumped Maddie in the 138 Springboard which is 1m.  Fin has jumped a few unaffilliated 1m classes, but BS classes are a different kettle of fish!  Up to height with square oxers – he produced a copybook double clear to win!

Back on Sunday, there was a bit of a breeze with the wind chill making it feel like minus 5!  Arena was still perfect though.

Lewie jumped a lovely round in the 70cm but then missed a fence in the jump-off, doh!  He redeemed himself by winning the 80cm Open though, with a great double clear.  Charley Hamilton jumped on Millie’s pony Dakota to give her a wee spin round the 80cm (in the snow!) for 5th place – here’s a wee video.

Fin excelled himself again jumping two 1m classes, ending up 2nd in the Newcomers/1m Open to a very experienced Grade A pony.  We’re really pleased with Findlay’s progress, who’d have thought he’d be producing rounds like this 6 months ago?

2015 is looking like an exciting year for us!

Ok, so I’ve been extremely lazy and haven’t updated the blog in a very, very long time! Lots of things to report since last year.   Wee Lucy has gone to a new home where she’ll continue to Event, we went to Ireland in October and bought 3 new ponies (one for LeeAnn and two to sell on), and we have decided that Willow will be aimed at Show Jumping this year, not Eventing.

The boys have been improving greatly over the last few months.  Here’s a wee video of Findlay and Maddie from the weekend:

Not to be outdone, Lewie and Izzie have been jumping some interesting fillers (me!).

And finally, here’s a video of Willow from the weekend.  This mare just needs some miles on the clock, she’s got tons of scope, ability and technique!

Right, I promise I’ll try to keep this more up to date this year.  Have a great 2015!

Here’s a short video from the beach ride at the weekend:

The girls were both good on Saturday at FRC’s dressage. I wanted to get Lucy out on grass after her recent diva behaviour and she managed to hold it together to do a nice, quiet and accurate test that was only a little tense for 64% and Willow did her first ever test on grass for 70% (and a win!). I only did the Intro test on them (was entered for the 60 x 20 Prelim too) as it was mega hot and the flies were dreadful! On Sunday we took the kids to Balmedie Beach with Lewie and Fin riding Izzy and Maddie. Great weather and brilliant fun!

A bit of a mixed bag this weekend.  On Saturday Charley jumped Jack round a few classes and he got better and better with every round.  The last class was 1m and he jumped a lovely clear.  She schooled him round again on Sunday and he was better again!

He’s off to Wales with her to the Home Pony International so it will be interesting to see how much he improves over the 5 days there.

On Sunday, LeeAnn and I headed off to Hopetoun Horse Trials in the new wee lorry with Lucy.  I was feeling really positive about her dressage after Team Grant had worked their magic!  However, with my arena being next to the XC and the warmup the worst I have ever seen Lucy decided everything was far too exciting and completely blew up in her test.  More dressage practice on grass required!  We loaded up and headed home as I really didn’t fancy jumping her in the mood I was in.

The lorry did Edinburgh and back (250 mile round trip) on about £35 of fuel which is seriously impressive and we had time to stop at a car wash on the way back – shiny shiny!

Next step is to get the signwriting off!

The blue lorry went away this week to the first people who came to see it (too cheap I think!) and LeeAnn has a wee 3.5T arriving today which we bought from Sarah and Michael Hamilton at Tillyoch.

In other exciting news, I am now officially a shareholder in Willow, a lovely 16.2 6yo Irish mare that I will be taking Eventing later this season and next year.  She’s been produced for the last couple of years by my pal Martin Dargie and what a cracking job he’s done of her!