And this everybody is why you need to always wear high viz out riding

This came up on my newsfeed today, and it took me a moment to realise there were horse riders in the photo!

This is a great visual reminder than everyone when out hacking, no matter what the conditions rain or shine, needs to wear high viz

Horses and riders blend into hedgerows so easily they're easy to miss 

Photo by Wendy Hopper

Dressage, what's dressage?

Georgie has done a boo boo and entered a dressage competition only to realise that she's away on holiday!
I get a text today asking did I want to do it..
Hold up, i've not done a dressage test since I gave up pony club at about the age of 14 or so. I'm now 27.. 13 years!
So safe to say i'm just a bit nervous!
Beanie is beautiful and lovely and I trust him, but i've also never schooled him. I've ridden out and jumped him once but never actually schooled him and got him really listening to me...

So with that I've now got to memorise Intro A 2008 walk and trot test and try and not to cock it up. If worse comes to worse then Mum can call it for me and I can focus on riding, although it's not too difficult so hopefully I can engrain it in my brain!

He is a beautiful boy who can go really well so here's to making him go like this

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it's a horse with jet legs apparently

So this is a super short post, but this pictures popped up on my facebook news feed a couple of days ago and I honestly said out loud "oh my god that's the biggest jump over an enormous hedge I've ever seen"

Serious, it's huge! Just look at it. Contemplate that for a second...

Has that horse got jets for legs, who knows but frickin hell that's one big jump 

BBC Northampton Inside Out Investigation on Horse and Road Safety

So last night this popped up on my news feed -

Following my post the other day, I'm extremely pleased that  prime time TV programme run by the BBC will be giving a lot more publicity on Horses and Road awareness!
Everything in the above poster is spot on. A lot of drivers don't like horses, others are just in so much of a rush that they don't care or whatever other reason.

I think the whole of the UK just needs to slow down and pay more attention and stop rushing. A friend summed it up to me not that long ago.
She said "Everyone is in such a rush all the time that they don't think anything will happen until it does and they've had an accident and hurt someone. And then they're all remorseful and sorry after being taken to court or charged with dangerous driving and only then does it hit them that they caused that accident and hurt someone or something and at the time they were so busy rushing that they didn't care"

I really believe what she said is true. We read about all these statements from people who've been charged in court and they're so sorry to the family and friends on the people they've hurt, but actually at the time they were driving they're getting cross and impatient in the car cause they're running late because they're disorganised, do something completely unsafe and bam..

Sadly i'm East Anglia based so won't be able to watch it but I'm hoping I can watch it on iplayer or something.
May do a post with my thoughts later if I do manage to watch it

Over and out

Riding hats. Why we should always wear them and the arguments for and against

Although to some, this post it going to be a little frustrating and maybe what I am going to write will be a tough pill to swallow.

This week alone i've seen two very scary hat related stories I wanted to make you all aware of so there they are -

First is this Race Post photo that is of Edgar Prado's helmet after falling off while racing..
Just look at it for a minute and let that sink in...

Then today a good friend of mine and fellow equestrian Alix sharing this -

All of these in one week.

Now I know that in the world of showing and hunting, a lot of people still wear beaglers, bowler hats, and top hats. They are 'correct dress' traditionally and are still 'correct dress' and allowed in the show ring.

Less and less people are choosing to wear them though due to stories about the above. Plus a lot of show societies are not allowing them in classes anymore.

See this article by Horse & Hound about SHB (GB) after they banned hats without a strap here

Now, don't get me wrong, I think that top hats, bowlers and beaglers look absolutely beautiful, they really do. They're traditional and all. But, saying that, I do think that whenever on a horse you should wear a riding hat up to safety standard which cannot come off your head if you were to fall off..

The above photos are from two completely different situations one is a professional race jockey, the other a amateur rider. There have been dressage riders who have had accidents. Even Charlotte Dujardin said in this interview that she has suffered from a fractured skull from riding without a hat and won't ride without a helmet on again. Same for Courtney King-Dye who rode without a helmet, the horse tripped and took her with it, she also suffered a skull fracture..

So with a top hat, bowler or beagler, just how much would they actually help in a fall while wearing one? Who knows, and i'm certainly not going to try and find out..

I've seen this video with someone showing a Charles Owen Beagler coming off and a Patey staying on, then again I've seen photos of a Patey coming off in a fall too! So really with the risk of it might come off, why do people continue to wear them? As the H&H article above writes, is it vanity or tradition, or both?

My vibe I get from reading more and more on the subject is that non safety standard hats are on the way out. See here and here for examples of questioning why everyone should wear safety standard hats.

Many a time in facebook debates people have argued "It's my head, my decision" in the sake of argument in wearing a top hat, beagler or bowler but had they stopped and thought of the long term of who would look after them if they were to suffer a debilitating fall which left them disabled and unable to look after themselves? 

The stories i've read are that those who have had accidents have had husbands and family to look after them, but what if they didn't? And what if they had been killed, leaving family and friends behind.

I think it's definitely a thinking point to ponder on... So on that one, I'll leave it there

Riding out on the roads and does there need to be changes to the law?

Morning everyone,

Yesterday lunch time I had a long conversation with my colleagues about horses. They all know that I ride and that my family owns horses and over the time i've been at my job I get asked a lot of questions about all things horse related.
Anyway, so we got talking about horses riding out on the road and a variety of topics came up which I wanted to share with you, the reader and hopefully hear your thoughts..

Also, very sadly, it coincided with Horse & Hound publishing this article Teacher killed trying to remount her horse
This lady had to get off to shut a gate while out hacking with friends, her horse bolted (which was mentioned to have a history of doing when trying to be remounted) and sadly she died from her injuries. My thoughts are with her family and friends, it's so sad. I'm sorry.

It got me thinking though as it was something mentioned while discussing horses on the roads.
So many of you will remember a few months ago that a poll was conducting asking people if they think that horse riders and owners should pick up their horses poo if they do it on the road while out riding. Now if you're a horse owner you'll obviously scoff at this as being ridiculous and completely unsafe!
But many of the people signing that poll were (I assume) non horse riders or owners, and they wouldn't understand how dangerous it would be to dismount a horse on the road, or they're just ignorant. Who knows?

But what really got me thinking during this discussion and also the open admissions that,  a lot of people just do not understand how to interact with a horse they encounter on the road, whether they are on a bike or in a car.
When mentioning that Georgie has to wear a headcam while out riding due to the amount of near misses or just plain silly drivers and cyclists they were shocked. Shocked that people would honestly try to endanger a person and an animal by them getting too close, going too fast or just plain trying to frighten a horse (we've been there with idiot teenagers in a car trying to purposely frighten Beanie but thats for another day). But then it got them asking - "when on a bike, how do you pass a horse safely?" to which I mentioned that it was much like passing a horse in a car. Slow right down, pass nice and wide at least 2 metres, and if you can do so safely and without scaring the horse, let the rider know you're passing.
Which then also got them asking "won't that frighten the horse". My reply  was that you wouldn't shout as loud as you can, but either ring a bell, whistle or just speak up and say "cyclist behind you passing". But what do others think, should cyclists let you know they're behind you? Would that spook your horse, or would you and your horse actually prefer to be aware by a whistle or ring of a bell?
I know that when Georgie and I encountered a cycling club cyclist whizzing past Beanie as fast as he could without so much as a warning we concurred that cyclists on quiet road bikes should make an effort to let you know they're there. Horses are flight animals after all and their instinct is to run away from something they perceive as frightening or a danger to them. So by a cyclist flying past really quietly is going to spook a horse!
Now saying that, some horses are pretty much desensitised to almost everything and anything. They could have a bus go by and let it's air brakes off and not bat an eyelid, or pass roadworks or speeding cars and it not faze them at all. But as you may know, not all horses are like that.
Horses have different personalities, temperaments and have had different experiences which all affect how they would behalf on the road out hacking. Talking of which..

The conversation then steered into them asking did I think that the government or some governing body should assess horses before they are allowed on the road? At the time I wasn't quite sure what to answer..
I mean there are two sides.. Well at first you could answer, yes perhaps that would be a good idea. It could stop horse owners whose horse isn't ready for the road to give it plenty of training etc ready for the assessment and when it's finally ready, be allowed on the road.
But then on the other side, you could say that actually horses don't always react in the same way every time. There could be other factors which could one day mean the horse was absolutely fine on the road, and then another time it be very jumpy. Very windy days for example, as strong winds make some horses jumpy.
I don't have a definitive answer, even after sitting down last night and really thinking about it.

I wrote a comment on the H&H facebook and got some interesting replies -

Obviously my post here is an expansion of my comment on there, but really.. something needs to be done about the lack of awareness and consideration of horse and rider on the road.
There hasn't been a good safety awareness commercial on how to safely pass a horse on the road in a very long time. Years in fact!
And it needs to be put in between prime time tv programmes, not late at night or at some stupid time where no-one is going to see it.
We see a lot of "Think Bike" adverts, but why can't there be a "Think Horses" advert about how to pass a horse properly, and a fictional example of the impact of what an accident will have on people's lives. If a motorist hits and kills a horse and rider they have to live with that for the rest of their live. That is something I just cannot fathom people haven't thought of when driving inconsiderately on the road!
Plus also the impact a death would have on the the family and friends of the killed rider.


Here are a few photos which I found on a horse and rider road awareness group on facebook.
Follow them here

Use these pictures to put on your facebook to educate drivers by this simple picture of how much space you need and how slow they need to go.

And always always where your high viz! Us horse riders may look completely uncool but i'd rather look uncool than injured!

Micklem Bridle and Myler Short Shank Combination Comfort Snaffle, our view and info

When we first got Beanie, we noticed very quickly that he likes to carry his head very low, especially when jumping or galloping..

How you position your hands has a good deal of effect and we found that by having elevated hands that we'ren't right down near the pommel of the saddle and more up in a 90 degree angle, it really helped B not be so on the forehand all the time.

But not only that but we also used bits that would help him from leaning and encouraging his head to be more 'up' at the normal position.

First we tried a Myler Bit, the Short Shank Combination Comfort Snaffle Low Port. As pictured below -

Now B is also very strong, which doesn't help when he also has his head low down! But with the myler it helped bring his head up while being a more gentle bit. It encourages self carriage natural lightness, which is something Beanie really needed. By it also working on nose and tongue pressure it stops you having to constantly tug at the reins. Now this really did help Beanie, but while we were at a 1 day event we were talking with new friends in the box next to us who happened to be wearing a Micklem bridle. This was back when they'd just been released and were rather unknown at the time. We'd never seen one so we asked them about it and they explained about the benefits of the micklem. We happened to mention that B is a leaner on the forehand and is also very strong when keen. They recommended we try and Micklem..Now if you haven't heard of or haven't used a Micklem then they work on fitting the horses skull more comfortably. Here is the Horseware Irelands explanation:This unique bridle has been designed to comfortably fit the shape of the horses skull, avoiding pressure on sensitive areas. It can be used as a bridle, lunge cavesson or as a bitless bridle Here is a photo of that from Horseware which actually shows the position of it on a horses skull -We've really found that Beanie is a lot more confortable in a Micklem bridle. He doesn't lean and end up on the forehand so much and it's much easier to get him off the forehand with the micklem.
Obviously not all horses need one, but if you're having problems with your horse and you've established that it could be improved with a Micklem or you just want to give them a try then you can rent them before you buy. A quick google search found - http://www.hireamicklembridle.co.uk/ and i'm sure other companies do them too.
Here's a video on how the Micklem works! Hope it helps

ROR hosted vet talk to NEH in March

Looking forward to this talk with the fantastic vets at Newmarket Equine Hospital, hosted by the ROR.
Not the nicest subject but at the Christmas winter meet up we discussed talks and this was on that was bought up and asked about. Obviously loosing a horse is a very very sad occasion but when we lost Marcus NEH were so quick in getting him on pain meds and into theatre. Sadly we lost him but they were so quick to act. I'd really like to learn on what to do when a horse is colicing and what to do in the lead up in those vital minutes when either a vet is on the way or you're getting it into the hospital.
It's a free talk, although donations would be good on the door.
See you there!

Katie Jerram ROR Show Preparation Clinic 2014

So this is from a little while back in March last year but I really wanted to share this as we had such a lovely day.

ROR and Katie Jerram held a grooming and prep clinic at her yard in March 2013 before the show season started, so Georgie and my mum Wendy and I booked in and attended. My mum grew up working at a well known hunt yard in Cambridge with Miss Pickard so she's very good at turning out horses for hunting, showing and everything else but it's always good to learn new things.
We learned the best way to plait to improve the neck shape and length, plus a different technique than we usually use to sew plaits in. Also the best technique and tools to use to pull a tail, how to do quarter marks, the best equipment to use etc.
Katie, as many will know, is a very successful show women and all the knowledge we learnt from her was absolutely invaluable!
She recommended we switch to a red and gold browband which she thought would suit Beanie's very copper chestnut coat, so we ditched his old navy and chick yellow. She also noted that the saddle Georgie was using back then covered a lot of B's withers and wasn't really showing him off in the best way. So recommended we try on one of her saddles, which we did and it made a big difference!

She really helped show us that even the littlest things made a big difference in how the overall appearance and picture to the judges.

I'm wondering if she'll hold another one this year, but if she does, I'd absolutely recommend going. Her family and grooms are such lovely people and are really friendly! It felt more like a day at a friends yard than it did a professionals show preperation clinic!

Here are some photos and a video of Katie giving Beanie a ride in the school.. Enjoy

All photos taken by Jo and copywrite to Katie Jerram

 Beanie look like a beautiful show horse after all the training prep and into the school. This is the borrowed equipment and he looks a million bucks.
We definitely did invest in a show saddle and it looks great! Oh and a new browband!

 Learning the new plaiting technique. And I made very good friends with Dunbeacon. I'd just love to take him home. Most lovely chap!

 Beanie was weighed by Spillers and was found to be a very good weight!

Beanies lovely bum having quarters marks demonstrated on

Videos I've made

Back in October I made this little video of some footage of Georgie I got at both Brent Pelham Hunter Trial and Ely Event Centre.

Have a little look and see what you think! 

Cambridge University Drag Hounds, Semar November 2014

So while I'm on here blogging about horses and what not, and as mentioned below, G does enjoying going out on a good old fashion drag hunt.

That way, you know where you're going so hopefully no boggy heavy ground, and you have an idea of what hedges you'll be jumping!

So above is my video that I recorded at the Semer meet with the Cambridge University Drag Hounds back in November 2014.

I do love  the sound of all those hooves on the road!

Beaglers! My new one and some advice if looking to buy one

My new Beagler. Temporary Aspinal bag so it doesn't get ruined. My favourite gloves ever, the Chester Jeffreys roper and my show cane made by my lovely Dad back when I showed as a child!

Late year when I knew i'd have to be entering the ring a lot to groom and strip Beanie for the judges I bought a beagler. Rushed as I hadn't had a riding hat on for years, but measuring my head came out as 59cm or in riding hat sizes a 7 1/4.

I had a look round and found the Charles Owen Beagler and the Beagler Classic. But without having £155 odd quid to fork out I kept looking and stumbled upon the gatehouse Beagler.
Yes, Gatehouse do one too!

We I purchased one and soon dawned on me that despite me measuring my head I did in fact need a 7 1/8 but just did not have time to get a different one so padded it up and got on with it.
Old faithful did me well but decided that I needed to sell it to someone it would actually fit and not near slip off my head in the ring. God, how embarrassing would that have been!

So I went on a fact finding mission and with the help of a few purchase reviews on the internet and the help of the Equifest group users i've decided that I needed a Beagler, not a Beagler classic.

I put some feelers out in a few groups asking if anyone had a used but in good condition navy 7 1/8 Beagler and much to my surprise almost immediately I got reply from a lady down the road saying she had her old showing one that she used a handful of times and she'd like to sell it to me.
So I paid my money and it arrived and my god I love it! It is perfect! It fits perfectly and is no way going to fall off my head. Georgie is the same size so can borrow it for in-hand showing, win win!

My advice for anyone looking to buy a hat, beagler style or not, always try it on first!
I'd read reviews online and asked owners if theirs came up small or large or were an odd shape! It's always good to do some investigation before forking out for a new hat. Don't do what I did and get one that doesn't fit and you don't have time to get a replacement!
The Charles Owen Beagler Classic does fit in a completely different way to a Beagler so if you've read this and are thinking of getting one, try and ask your local saddlery if they can get a couple in for you to try or ask around and see if any of your friends at the yard etc have one you can try on!

Introductions

Alright so it's January 2015, I haven't had a blog since I was about 22 or something so I figured rather than forever spamming my news feed on facebook with horsey related outings, i'd write about some of them here.
Who am I kidding, i'm totally going to continue to update facebook with lots of horsey photos, but I can so do what I want..

Anyway, as my little blurb about me writes, I am an amateur groom. I don't have my own horse right now as buying your first home by myself doesn't leave all that much money to invest in a horse. But i'm patient and I know i'll either get my own horse and a shared one soon enough, when the time is right..

I live in Newmarket, and basically every weekend i'm out doing some sort of outdoor activity. It's great and it stops me being a lazy so and so and laying in bed all weekend. I am notoriously sluggish as I just love sleep. But I mean who doesn't aye?!

Little intro for Georgie. Georgie aka G is my older sister by 2 years. Me and Georgie have ridden since we were little dots. I've been quite lucky really, Georgie used to get a pony with a quirk and then it would get handed down to me a couple of years later and presto, perfect (or near enough) pony! I lost interest in Horses from about 15 - 23 so we didn't do all that much together, but now we're very close, we do quite a lot of stuff together horse and non horse related and we're firm friends. Georgie works at a very well known equine hospital in Newmarket and leaving in the middle of nowhere down the road from me!

At our parents Georgie keeps both her horse and her daughters pony. I'll do them little introductions cause they're little people too.

First is Beanie, aka B or his official racing name of Historical Giant.

Beanie is by Coolmore's famous multiple Group 1 winning stallion Giants Causeway.
Beanie has shown to do rather well in showing as he is rather handsome (if I do say so myself), last year we really focused on seeing what Beanie could do in the ring. He'd proved himself successful when he won the TARRA classes at Great Gransden Show in 2013 and took overall TARRA Champion. Michael Gunn was judging and gave Georgie some really good feedback on him and encouraged us to take him to more events in 2014 as he was in his words 'A lovely horse'. So we did, and Georgie and Beanie has gone from strength to strength in the 2014 show season. They entered and were picked by ROR to compete at the Burghley SEIB Race Horse to Riding Horse HOYS qualifier. We've attended multiple shows and Georgie and B were always in the ribbons, and in August 2014 G and B qualified for Hickstead 2015 in the ROR Tattersalls Show Series at Wayland show. Lot's of late evenings and early mornings prepping but I do love grooming and I am competitive so seeing Georgie and helping her reach her goals is wonderful.
But Beanie is not a one trick pony..
He also has a very scopey jump and absolutely loves to do it. Whether it be cross country or show jumping!
So stay tuned for more Beanie related showing and other events posts in the future. There will be plenty..

Now on to G's other pony, little Millie! Millie is a Shetland cross, well at least we think she is. We don't really know. All I know is is that she is small enough to be a Shetland but looks a bit welshy at times. Maybe a little welsh in there? We don't know who her Mum or Dad is unless I can find a Sherlock, I don't really know!
We first got Millie to be a companion for Beanie back in 2013, but when Georgie had her first daughter Francesca it soon became clear early on that Frankie was very much a horsey girl.
Before Francesca started riding I took Millie to a couple of little amateur shows and she really does scrub up well! She even on her first outing qualified for Equifest!
But as Frankie has become better and better at riding and more confident myself and Georgie have decided that this year we're going to do some lead rein showing. Nothing too fancy but something for Frankie and I to do together.
So that's grooming and getting Beanie ready, as well as Millie!

So now you've met the horses and got a bit of background about me and Georgie feel free to follow our adventures on here!