Absolutely Flying - Georgie & B tackle Horseheath 3ft Open

Sorry it's been a bit quiet, as some of you will know I went on holiday! Woop, first holiday abroad in 6 years and it was absolutely joyous. I got sun, sea and sand.. oh and a nice tan too! 
The lovely ladies over at Pinks Pet Sitters  looked after Erik brilliantly, highly recommend them for your pet and horse sitting needs..

Any way, I got back at 3am on Saturday morning but with that in mind and not having jumped any cross country fences yet (my jump saddle is being fixed) I thought better of taking Erik to Horseheath unaffiliated hunter trial cross country but with B an old pro now Georgie and I got him ready and loaded up in a flash on Saturday afternoon.

With no official times to go by it's always hard to know when to get to an event so while we brushed and got B ready we had a text to say only 25 people left to go in the class before. I said to G get herself pretty much completely ready while I put boots etc on B and loaded him in the trainer. As fast as safely we could go we travelled to Horseheath in good time so while G went and had her hat and back protector checked I tacked up B. It's safe to say he absolutely knew what he was there to to and was a little tinker being walked around but in no time at all G was back and with a quick girth tighten and a leg up she was on!

G certainly had his game face on in the warm up and looked every bit an eventer, or so I'm told from kind strangers who walked passed and said how awesome he looked! As it was a non BE or pony club event I had got permission for Georgie to wear her hat cam and we certainly got some cool footage.

Read on for how they got on and to view the footage below!

At the start Georgie was in the start box and ready to go so I ran off on to the course with my DSLR to get some photos! I'd got it all charged up, long lens on and ready go so while they made their way round I clicked away excited to see my photos! 
Georgie and B really do have the best partnership and he's so confident with jumping they were absolutely flying round making easy work of the full up 3 foot course of ditches, hedges, combinations and tight turns! G unfortunately caught up to the starter before her some way towards the latter part of the course as they had multiple stops so when it came to the water complex Georgie went as wide as possible hoping the ladies horse would pop straight in. Sadly it refused at the jump in to the water and when Georgie came through to jump it was impeeded by this rider! B jumped in and over the brush fence at the last and whizzed through the finish but we were all a bit disheartened at their round being interrupted with a rider experiencing problems.

Having got back to the trailer we washed off and chatted of how B's round had been so awesome any way and how such a good boy he was, as he hadn't done any cross country over the summer (before he did the eventer trial a couple of weeks ago of course) and he's flown round still! He's a real jumping machine that horse!

Later on that night after doing evening stables and getting home Georgie text me to say that she had in fact come second and that the jump judge hadn't indeed marked Georgie clear and that her being impeded hadn't affected her marks! We we re of course over the moon and B has been on flying form and clearly very happy with himself recently. 

Also, you know I mentioned about my camera and my awesome pictures I got, it turns out my brain was clearly half asleep from my holiday as I forgot to put my memory card back in  my camera, so alas, no pictures! Absolutely gutted and I am a very silly sausage.

However Georgie's GoPro footage came out well (despite being on her hat instead of her normal chest mount) so I edited it; I removed the stop and impediment from the rider in front as I don't want to embarrass anyone) and put it on Youtube - 

Hopefully I'll get my saddle back from being fixed next week and Erik and I can start doing some proper jumping and training over the winter!
Sadly the clocks go back this weekend so it's going to be a lot darker in the evenings which means I will be doing a lot more schooling under flood lights and a lot less hacking. Boo, hiss!

This weekend I am dressage writing at Horseheath British Eventing Horse Trials which I have never done me before so wish me luck and if you see me there, say hi and give me a wave!

Sophie x

Soggy Side Saddle and Eventer Trials

Why is it that in the week when we're stuck at work in the office that it's glorious sunshine and warm and then come the weekend it's wet and cold? Oh that's because it's sods law of course, and because it's autumn too!

We've had a beautiful couple of weeks with dry warm weather but Saturday came and the forecast showed as a thoroughly miserable day of basically rain all day with it only getting more rainy as the day progressed. Great, just what I wanted for hosting beautiful elegant side saddle lessons with the regions RoR's and Georgie had an eventer trial at Keysoe! 

I started the day dry with the Side Saddle lessons and can say they went fantastically! I had never ridden side saddle nor had I hosted these lessons before so was nervous but excited for the day. We were all in the extremely knowledgeable hands of Clare Simper, Side Saddle Association certified instructor. Having ridden side saddle for 25 years and having just got her own RoR to introduce to side saddle I was confident she was the best person for the job and it seems that I was very much correct, phew!

Our lessons were for a full hour and included Clare fitting the side saddles to fit the range of sizes and shapes of RoR's who attended and they ranged from 5 to 21 years old which is absolutely awesome. Sadly as the day went on the weather man was indeed correct and the rain became heavier and more 'driving' in it's deluge so that anyone stood outside for more than 5 minutes became positively drenched. Everyone however soldered on like troopers and absolutely aced their lessons and their horses did too! 
Each of them took it completely in their stride and didn't bat an eye lid at their riders all now sitting to their left and not straight ahead like they're used to!

Clare taught each person individually and watched them warm in astride to see what she'd need to teach them on and I can say she was absolutely fabulous. All riders said how much they enjoyed it and I was thoroughly impressed with all of the RoR's in how they coped so easily like it was any other lesson. I will certainly be holding another date in the future soon. 

After getting thoroughly soaked I made my way down the yard to make sure my horse was all tucked up in bed out of the rain, all the while Georgie was at Keysoe getting equally if not more soaked!

As readers of last weeks blog will know we were showing in the beautiful sunshine so this was not only a stark contrast to that with not only the weather but jumping and big jumps too!
Georgie had booked in to do the 100cm open class at Keysoe before I had announced the side saddle lessons which meant I was sadly unable to attend both but Mum and Georgie loaded up B and made their way there. From what I understand it was an extremely busy competition and Georgie was given her time for her round as 4.30pm! Upon arrival Georgie went to walk the course of both the show jumping and cross country and from what Georgie said it was a very full up 100cm course for both disciplines. In her words "I got out the car and saw the show jumping course and gulped" so while Georgie went off and walked the course Mum looked after Beanie in the rain, what a wonderful Mum we have!

With her start time fast approaching Georgie was dressed and ready for her class. In the warm up B had had some silly poles down in the collecting ring so they bother made their way in to the ring hoping the knocked poles stayed in the collecting ring. The show jumping course had been a cause of problems for many all afternoon it's poles and stops aplenty but Georgie said B got going and positively sailed round the course clear! She breathed a small sigh of relief after landing and making her way on to the course for the full up and technical cross country faze but in true style B whizzed round it with no problem at all and Georgie crossed the finishing line on a superb double clear. 
I rang and checked in not long after and Georgie was absolutely over the moon with how he went so I was extremely stoked for Georgie to call and tell me later that evening that she had won! 

Wahoo! From prancing round the show ring the weekend before and winning to sailing over big and technical jumps and courses to win the eventer trial, well, I cannot say how proud I am of Georgie! Those two have such a close bond and partnership that really shows. 
What a dream team!!

The rain cleared and we had a nice sunny Sunday so yesterday afternoon I spent some time schooling Erik and am pleased to say he went beautifully and we even had a pop over some little fences! G gave Frankie a little lesson at the same time which was great experience for Erik to realise he has to work around other horses and concentrate and not rush off and try and always be in front. 
A lovely weekend, albeit soggy, before I jet off for a week in the sun! 

Erik will be expertly looked after by Pinks Pet Sitters and my wonderful Mummy!  

I look forward to continuing our training when I get back and hopefully have my new jump saddle back from being repaired so I can get jumping and hopefully/maybe do some jumping competitions with Erik. 

I'm off to go and pack for my holiday

S x

Smart Grooming Review - Smart Mane &Tail thinner, the Multi use tool

It's been rather a long time since I did a smart grooming review, naughty me!

Then again the Tattersalls sales have started and horse aren't going to transport themselves, that's my excuse anyway!

So where was I? Oh yes, my very favourite horsey company Smart Grooming. Georgie and I aren't brand ambassadors for nothing, we genuinely do believe in these unsung heroes and their wonder products. Showing season may have ended but I well remember getting up at 4am to plait, wash and spruce and their wonderful products make it quicker and easier to get your horse show ring ready. 

A little while back they sent me a couple of mane and tail 'Smart Tails'. Sadly I haven't been able to try it on Beanies tail yet but I will - Georgie keeps beating me to it and I'm not there to take any photos. Saying that, in the mean time I have had to thin out his name, so rather than pull his mane (which often makes horses head shy, or reluctant to be plaited because they always think you're going to yank their hair out) I'd see how the Smart Tail worked. 

You what I'm talking about, you're mid-way through the perfect plait, but you have to pull it tight to get it to stay in..only for your horse to have other ideas and shake their head, or fidget. So, I tried to Smart Tail on thinning out his rather thick mane, which has a tendency to get pretty heavy in the middle.

First of all it was given a good wash and shampoo. Then conditioner was put in and that was brushed through, making sure to remove all the tangles. Now it was nice, soft and tangle free it was towel dried to remove most of the water, then I brushed the mane onto the 'wrong side' so the underside of his mane was now on the outside. Then with a Medium thickness Smart Tail I brushed it lightly through the mane to remove some of the thickness.

By doing so I wasn't removing big lumps of hair from the root like I would do if I was pulling the mane, which could leave you with a patchy thin mane. And that is absolutely not what you want! It took out some of the weight and thickness, without taking too much out. That's the beauty of having the different teeth and blade strengths.

Without taking too much hair out, I evened out the entire mane until it was one uniform thickness, thus eliminating a thick middle mane and the subsequent golf ball plaits that would have resulted if I didn't thin it.

All the while not pulling the hair from the root, and not damaging the hair follical - It's all very well in the summer when you horse has lovely thick aerated hair follicals, but come mid-winter when you horse has a neck cover on 24/7 and you've got suffocated hair frolics (making the hair more likely to die and fall out) and rubbed patches, then you'll wish you hadn't pulled it so vigorously all summer!

The result, a nice even thickness, and because you're not hurting your horse it means they're less likely to fidget and pull away from you every time you come to plait, and when you do need to plait up, your plaits are even and uniform in size.

To finish, take your thinning scissors and give the ends a trim to make your mane all one length, without it being dead straight.

The Standard Smart Tails come in course, medium and fine and are £15 each 

I even spotted Smart Tails in my local tack shop - Gibsons Saddlers in Newmarket. Oh and some whisker trimmers too!

The 'yellow handle range' (above) Smart Tails are £22 and come in course, medium, fine and super fine.

Or if you're feeling like splurging then the wooden handle 'professional range' of Smart Tails are £30 and also come in course, medium, fine and super fine.

All can be found in the new Smart Grooming Site - Totallysmart.com

Final Shows of the Season

With Autumn very much upon us it signals the end of the showing season and time for winter! it won't be long until the clippers are out and we're all moaning about having horse hair on every thing so with that in mind Georgie and I had our last shows this weekend.

On Saturday we went to one of our favourite shows;Gransden and District Agricultural Show. It's help in this small village outside of Cambridge and is a lovely well established show for all varieties of Livestock, I even think they show chickens there! We have been going every year for the last few years and always really enjoy it. It's well organised, has fair judging and a nice atmosphere. Unlike last year  we were not up and plaiting in the dark as we decided that the riding horse class and the Retraining of Racehorses classes are just too far apart with one being early in the morning and the RoR classes being one of the final classes you can spend hours there waiting. Despite leaving later this year and only doing the RoR classes we still waited hours! They never released a rough time table so it's pot luck whether you arrive super early, late and miss your class or arrive when you think it might be and still wait 2 hours. The latter was us, we arrived around 1pm hoping that by 2/2.30pm the classes would start and we'd have plenty of time to work in. 
We got stuck in large amounts of traffic in Gransden village and once we arrived everyone's blood pressure was up and B was a sweat box!

We got him uploaded and cooled off while he relaxed and ate grass and we soon realised that fellow competitors were getting dressed and making their way to the ring, so I got dressed for the In Hand class while Georgie schooled B and got him warmed up and soon made our way down to the ring. We needn't have rushed as it turns out there was so many in the driving classes, followed by a Western Display that we ended up waiting well over an hour! B, bless him, behaved so well and waited patiently and had a sleep but it would seem that long wait was costly. In the warmth of the autumn sun B had got a bit too relaxed so when we did get in the ring he was half asleep. No amount of clicking, clucking or squeaking could wake him up and he didn't have his usual sparkle. I was however pleased to still get a third place and a little bit of prize money! It was cool to do an In Hand, B and I hadn't done one together in years!!

After leaving the ring it was like a formula one pit stop to get B's saddle on and Georgie on board but in no time G was back in the ring for the RoR Amateur Ridden Show Series class and now with a rider on his back was a lot more perky and he had his usual 'sparkle' back! 

Georgie rode him absolutely impeccably and he didn't put a foot wrong in the go round so I was really pleased this had been noticed with him being pulled in the first place spot for preliminary judging. Georgie came out and did a lovely show but annoyingly in his extension B just lost his footing slightly and his back came up. Luckily it didn't interrupt his flow and they finished their show nicely. 
I was so pleased for Georgie to keep her placing and win her class! We've had a hard summer with it being so hot and the extremely high pollen and fly levels really upsetting B (he is a chestnut and from what I understand have much more sensitive skin that other colour horses) and Georgie has had a disappointing showing season so with this final win in the bag she really deserves it.

Sunday morning while mucking out I decided to take Erik to a final show for him after our disappointing Ashwell Show a few weeks ago. We plaited up in near record time and made it to the show in a bit of a rush! 
Frustratingly there wasn't any where for show horses to warm up (the collecting ring was jam packed with ponies cantering around for the show jumping) so with only a small space behind some horse boxes and the call for my first class we made our way in. 
I was astonished to see the ring absolutely rammed with ponies and a few horses; a total of 18 in total! This proved to be a bit of a disaster..

With nowhere near enough room for a trot and only one lap of the ring in walk each competitor had to line up along one side and trot down the long side... which happened to be next to a house building site! As you can imagine Erik had no time to get accustomed to anything and his trot was not on the bridle and very much in front of the vertical! I was therefore not surprised at all to be pulled in right down the bottom. After waiting about 15 minutes we were able to do our show but by this time Erik had got pissed off and didn't go well at all. Unsurprisingly we didn't come anywhere.
Upon leaving the ring it was quite clear Erik was going to be silly and the lack of warm up showed! We went back in to my second and final class without a hope really as he was tense and frustrated and we were pulled in in last place.. no surprise there and I was already regretting my decision to come to the show all together.
He did however do a less rushed show and generally behaved himself and I was relieved to get a kind third place!

I had a lot to work on over the summer with Erik as he gets very anxious and tense when other horses leave or go in another direction without him and he thinks he is being left behind or starts napping! Very odd as it's something he doesn't do at home so we'll see how winter goes.

Shame he gets so upset cause he looks gorgeous! 

Thank you to Chantal for the photos! 

#SSTimeItRight; Are you doing what you can to reduce worms in horses?

We recently teamed up with the folks at HorseDialog to raise awareness of their #sstimeitright campaign! They've created a wonderful web page loaded with information about why you should conduct faecal egg counts, especially in the spring and summer months! Making sure our horses have little to no eggs or worms is something we take very seriously to keep our horses happy and healthy!They've got some great advice on ways to help you ensure the lowest possibility of contracting worms in your horse. Take this awesome 360 interactive video  on ways to help reduce the possibility of contracting the eggs which develop in to worms! 

Just a couple of months ago we collected poo samples from all 3 of our horses and took them in to Newmarket Equine Hospital to have them checked under a microscope for their worm egg count and they came back all clear! Wonderful news obviously, but that is due to good pasture management; Georgie and I poo pick daily or every other day and make sure to get as much of the poo from the grass as possible. We also endeavour to rotate and rest pasture also so they're not constantly eating in the same place all the time. 

So during grazing season (March to October), how often should you do faecal egg counts? Every 8 to 12 weeks apparently (Source Hallowell- Evans C and Hallowell G (2017) Vet Times, April 24)

Now that we are nearing the very end of Summer is it the last opportunity to do these checks before autumn and winter set in, and if your horse does go in to winter with worms they'll drop off condition more quickly due to them battling the worms inside them eating the nutrients from the food they consume, which they need to keep themselves warm, which will therefore eat in to their fat reserves and they'll drop off condition quickly. 

Many horse owners make sure the horses have top quality feed but don't check faecal egg counts enough from poorer pasture management and wonder why their horse (s) are dropping condition and this is likely why!

To help you with your HorseDialog also offer a wonderful app for Apple and Android devices to record your horses worming treatment, but not just that you can log feeding, medication, ridden work, any suppliments the horse has, yurn out schedule, and other exercise; you can download it from the AppStore or Google Play!

Another area to think about, espeically for yard or livery owners is new horses coming on the yard and their potential spread of parasites. 

 As the banner above informs you, new horses should be stabled for 48 hours to avoid bringing parasites that are resistant to wormers on to your premises. Make sure to muck them out thoroughly and if using matting spray it with a disinfectant until you're satisfied they're ready to be turned out in pasture. 

With that in the time to get a last faecal egg count in before the autumn if you haven't already. COntact your vet for advice on whether a visual check is sufficient or whether it needs to be under a microscope! 20% of horses can 80% of the worm burden so while in the grand scheme of things that's fairly low, but it's a lot worm eggs! (Source - Matthews JB. An update on cyathostomins: Anthelmintic resistance and worm control. Equine Vet. Edu. 2008; 20(10): 552–560.)

Your horse will thank you for keeping them healthy and free of parasites!

Riding For Macmillan

To say I wasn't a little muscle sore would be a lie.. cause I am stiff in my bum and thighs but that is to be expected after riding 20 miles for 4 hours straight right?!

Why did I ride for 4 hours you ask, well... each year Newmarket town hosts a sponsored ride in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support in which riders pay a small fee and raise sponsorship money to ride either 8, 15 or 20 miles from one end of Newmarket and back while walking in various areas that are usually only used by trainers and riding staff to exercise in training race horses. 

I've always wanted to do this ride, for years in fact and had never been able to beg, borrow or steal a horse to do it on so when I got Erik I said to Georgie it was one of my goals to do and I am so proud to have done it. Erik and I did all 20 miles, in the wonderful company of Georgie on Beanie, our long time friend Emma on her horse Mav and our other wonderful friend Hanako on Jerry. The horses were all fit and ready to go when we arrived early on Sunday morning, a bright beautiful day and having an early time we were one of the first to go!

By this point we were nearing the top of the Rowley Mile drive and Hamiliton Road and I found it very interesting to walk along the backs of the yard, as I drive down Hamilton Road every day but only see the front of the yards! We crossed over Hamilton Road along the horse walks and was really amazing to me to see Newmarket in a completely different way, as I had never walked along them before. We were soon in the centre of Newmarket and again crossing roads and up horse walks til we were at the Severals trotting rings! At this point we were about 7 to 8miles in at this point and it was awesome making our way round on the lovely springy rubber horse walks til at least we were at the bottom of Long Hill. I had been here a couple of times and always on foot, so to have another canter up the side of Warren Hill gallops sure was fun. For a big horse Erik can motor and we took along the GoPro to get some footage, which I will edit ASAP!

 Before long we were about half way round and at the top of the hills in Newmarket and my goodness the stunning views. What I'd do to live in the houses at the top and wake up to those views every day, absolutely stunning!

We bumped in to a couple of people we know so as we ambled along we nattered away and caught up while we could, before they peeled off to do the shorter 15 mile ride while we soldered on and made our way all the way out to the train tracks and along before we crossed over and were at the bottom of the Al Bahathri all weather gallops. 

This is an area I'd driven passed but had never been to before and it was awesome, we decided to have a decent speed canter up the gallops and Erik was determined to keep up with his pal B, but when G asked for more B soon eased in to gallop and was away but I am super proud of E, he cantered and a great pace for 9 furlongs, what a good egg!

Despite my water bottle saddle pack and home made saddle bag with a choccy bar in for everyone in our group, I was pleased to see the water and rest stop at the bottom of the gallops. G kindly jumped off and hosed the horses mouths with water as they weren't overly keen with drinking from a trough and we were given a nice pint of squash to refresh us! 

Now for another experience I was excited about, and that was walking down Bury Road horse walk, passed the wonderful Bedford Lodge and the other wonderful yards of Newmarkets top trainers! The traffic smiled and waved as we walked passed and we nattered away now on the home stretch! We retraced our steps where we'd come before and were soon at the top of Rowley Drive and on the final straight of the ride. Others decided to canter home, but with 19 miles under our belts on a warm/hot day we decided to trot home but E decided by this point he was keen to canter home with the rest and I had to hold on to him while he refused to trot/walk and found cantering on the spot or near on the spot much more impressive.. 

He soon tired and all of us sauntered back to the trainer for a well earned burger but not before washing the horses off first, they were very itchy indeed!

I had such a wonderful day and I am so pleased with how Erik coped and same with B, it can't be easy walking all our old haunts from when he was in training without getting excited but he was a total dude!

I raised £180 in total and Georgie just under that at £160 so we're so pleased with our efforts and thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who sponsored us!

The horses are now having a few days off to rest and recoup before a walk out later this week!

Now, what to get up to this weekend.... we shall see

Sophie x