Category: General Blog

1. 2017, a year of two halves.....

   Posted on 11:45am Sunday 31st Dec 2017

   2017 A year of two halves….

    

   2017 has been a “game of two haves” to coin a phrase, the first 6 months of 2017 saw an epic battle to get my beloved Rocky right, seeing more of my vet and physio than I did of my husband! Tragically on June 28^th we had to admit defeat and let him pass over rainbow bridge, a day of my life I never forget.  

   

   Following that day, I sold virtually everything I owned equine wise, including my lorry, as I thought that was the end of my horse owning life, but as I was still coaching I could “keep my hand in” and that would be enough for me. This was all well and good for a period of time, but the evenings when I would go to see Rocky were still empty, as were the mornings when I would hand walk him, but I still convinced myself I didn’t want to own a horse again.

   Coaching had reached a new level, my riders were on fire, everyone achieving more than the goals we had set for the first 8 months of 2017, and during the end of the summer holidays I suddenly had the chance to ride some of my client’s horses while they went on holiday, which left me longing for more….

   I managed to hold off the desire to own once again, as my lovely clients were asking me to ride theirs, it seemed a win win situation! But the evenings were still empty..

   Some of my coaching highlights have to be:

   ·         One of my young riders exceling themselves in pony club, and being chosen to represent their club in dressage and jumping, very proud of you!

   ·         One of my very nervous riders who in February would only get on her lovely horse if I held the horse and led her round the school, but with perseverance, tears and tantrums (hers not mine lol) by August she had done her first online dressage competition and started cantering, doesn’t sound much to you and I, but let me tell you this was worth more than a gold medal to this lovely lady. Extremely proud of this achievement.

   ·         Another of my younger riders attending a pole work clinic with an International Dressage Rider and being talent spotted, ending with him asking her if she would ride for him! Not bad for a rider who literally hated Dressage!!

   ·         Seeing every single rider over achieve with their goals, meaning we had to adjust the end goals as we had already met them!

   While my riders were all out doing well I admit to feeling left out! My 2017 goals for Rocky were never going to happen and I was lost, physically and mentally, so my ever patient and caring husband suggested we go on holiday, he though I needed a break, and after some deliberating, we went to France for 8 days. I won’t go into details about that as I wrote a blog about it, click here to read about that.

   This brings me to the end of 2017 and what I hope for in 2018…

   While the trauma of the first 6 months of 2017 will never be forgot, that ad hoc holiday suggestion from Dean turned into a blessing, as on the 15^th November Harry arrived, meaning I have had to purchase most things again!  My mornings and evenings are once again full and although it took my body clock a while to adjust to the ridiculously early starts, I don’t regret a single moment.

   

    

   By the end of 2018 I would like to have Harry working, possibly competing Elementary, obviously this is subject to change depending on the training, but I think Elementary is a worthy goal, and would like to have him registered and competing BD. January will be goal setting time once again for my riders, and reviewing 2017, so they can all improve further and achieve much more.

   2017 certainly threw its challenges at me, and I’m not too proud to say it almost broke me, but with the support of family and clients, or I should say friends, I made it through and have accidentally (!) ended up with the most wonderful horse in Harry, and a new chapter to a new book.

   What are you waiting for, go and set your goals, make them achievable and make them happen, I know I will do my best to with mine!

   

    

   I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. x

   

    

    

    

    

2. So when you have time to think..... this happens.....

   Posted on 8:04pm Wednesday 15th Nov 2017

    

   While I was on holiday I had some thinking time, those who know me know this can be a bad thing!

    

   So, what did I think about? Well, I’m a nutshell, I reviewed my career and where it was, where it is currently and where I want it to be, which to cut a long story short meant I realised how much I missed riding, schooling and competing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a ball riding other people’s horses and am very grateful to the owners, but since I lost my beloved rocky in June, I’ve been in no mans land and totally lost. So, during our holiday my ever patient husband endured a week of my ramblings about the afore mentioned, and the decision was made that we should look for our next Equine friend.....

    

   I had no preconceived ideas of what I wanted, so the challenge was made somewhat harder to find that friend! 

    

   I basically spent 90% of our holiday perusing the internet, when I actually found signal (!) and seeing where my heart would take me, finally settling on something I’ve had before.... an ex racer. So contact was made to every rehoming place I could find to see what was looking for a new home, and the procedure I would have to follow to get one, which seemed to vary from easy to quite hard, but I know I can give a horse the 5* home they deserve so wasn’t put off by this. 

    

   A few weeks after the search began, I have to admit I was feeling defeated, with some pages advertising a new arrival and then being homed that very day, I had a change of mind, perhaps a rehoming centre wasn’t the place to look, until purely by chance someone had tagged a Scottish rehoming centre on one of the other pages, which lead me to immediately go check it out! 

    

   Not expecting anything at all, I looked through the page, saw a few lovely looking ex racers and for reasons only known to me, I messaged the page with my information and a plea for help to find my next best friend. I didn’t expect a response, but after a few moments I found myself chatting away to the person behind the page, Kevin, as I now know, who informed me of a potential that was arriving the following day, Sunday, and he would have more details once the horse had arrived and been assessed, so having heard a similar story what felt like a hundred times, I said ok, let me know, with a sinking feeling of “here we go again” and continued my perusing....

    

   Monday the horse was up on the page, and contact was made again, I watched some videos and saw pictures, there was something very attractive about this one, I couldn’t tell you what, just “something”, anyway my brain said don’t be stupid, he’s in Scotland, you are in Hampshire, you can’t go and try him, so leave it alone.....

    

   Meet Harry!!! 

     

   Yes, I know, what have I done?! I’ve bought a racehorse who had his last race a couple of weeks ago, totally unseen and a proper gamble, but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained yes? 

    

   He’s called Mercer’s Row, which is something to do with tailoring, but we thought he looked like a Harry. A 10yr old bay gelding who has spent his life racing on the flat, so I have some work to do to sort out the muscles and put them where they should be! 

    

   I can’t thank Kevin enough for his help, his organising the transport and putting up with a barrage of questions about harry and his history, think he should have a medal!

    

   Harry will never replace rocky, but hope he fills a very empty void that he left behind. 

    

   Can’t wait to start writing some blogs about his progress. X