WOW! It's been over SEVEN months since I last published a post on my blog! ? Hopefully, you've been keeping up to date with us over on Facebook or Instagram, but if not, or if you just want to hear a snapshot of what we've done in that time, sit back & enjoy the catch up! Unfortunately, we've not been out to any competitions, although Good Friday we did head out to a local dressage competition for the first time since September! I'll post about that later... October gave us quite a few training opportunities, both on the flat and jumping. Cathy, our regular dressage trainer, now co ..read more

For anyone that knows me, over the last 18 months, I have become pretty obsessed with cleaning my tack after every single use - whether I have a hard session in the arena, go for a gentle stroll, or opt for a lunge session for Louie. I detach my bit, wipe down my bridle, girth, girth straps and saddle with a cleaner & conditioner every time - it takes literally five minutes (so no excuses with time!) Last week, I received the Sterling Essential leather cleaner and conditioner in lavender fragrance, and I was really excited to see how these products stacked up against my existing everyda ..read more

Although September means the end of the summer, I do love the autumn season, with all the beautiful colours that it brings and especially those fabulously fresh mornings - clear blue skies, sun shining strong but the ground is full of dew and the air is crisp and cool ? As the season changes, we all start to think about what we need to do to prepare for the coming months - clipping, what rugs we might need, feeding, turn out & field shelters. I popped a post up a couple of weeks ago with my top tips for horse care in autumn & winter. But for now, Louie and I have carried on th ..read more

It had been around four weeks since our last dressage training session and I'd been working hard to practice what we'd done in the last session in between - mostly keeping Louie's neck supple and improving his forward reaction off my leg. However, in between, we'd also been to our first dressage competition since the end of February, and we'd had a couple of showjumping sessions. If you caught up with our most recent showjumping training session, you'll have heard that we were struggling at home a little in between too. I was really looking forward to the session with Cathy - the last one ..read more

At the end of August, I headed down to Will2Win for our first "proper" showjumping training session since I'd got back in the saddle. It really was a great session - I was relaxed, Louie felt great, and overall it was very productive. We came away with specific homework to work on in between poles and using poles with a stride-distance to small fences. If you didn't catch up with us on that one, you can read about it in the showjumping training blog report that I published. Last weekend, we headed back to have a second session to build on everything that we'd done in the first session, plus ..read more

As the summer draws to an end, outside turns into one of my favourites times of year - autumn. With beautiful shades of orange, browns and yellows in fields and trees, and the fresh & crisp feeling of the air on a sunny autumn morning. It's a sure sign that winter is just around the corner and for many of us with horses, that can mean many changes to our routines and how we live our busy equestrian lives. Horses are very adaptive to any changes of season, and moving into autumn for them is no different, but as horse owners, we need to think ahead and plan how our horse care & routi ..read more

While International Helmet Awareness Day (lead by Riders4Helmets) falls on just one day, it is important to remember 10 key things about your helmet every single day. Firstly, a little about the campaign... International Helmet Awareness Day was founded in 2010 as a direct result of US Olympian Courtney King Dye’s accident, with the aim of educating equestrians on the benefits of wearing a properly fitting, secured and certified helmet. Retailers all over the world come together to mark the campaign and will often offer discount or incentives for riders wishing to purchase or renew a ce ..read more

Firstly, there is no correct single way to learn a dressage test. As with everything in life that we learn, we all learn in different ways, and what works very well for one person, might not meaning that learning and recall are improved for another. In this blog, I'm going to share five ways that I think you could approach learning a dressage test, but I'm sure that there are many of you out there that have other methods too. Why not drop yours in the comments at the bottom if it's not included here? How I learn a test Quite surprisingly, I don't know the letters of the arena well at all ..read more

Back when I first got Louie, I used to use the Weatherbeeta thermic quilt rug I'd had for years to keep him warm after I'd finished riding - I wrote a blog on how good it was back then! As he got older, stronger and fitter, I stopped using it, instead opting to simply cool him down when I was still riding. However, since moving yards, I've rekindled my love for this rug, and forgotten just how good and effective it was!  There's plenty of thermic quilt style fleeces, rugs and coolers on the market, all ranging in pricing, but I'd say that for £75 this is one is excellent, and it actual ..read more

The day had FINALLY come for my first competition back since lockdown & since my accident! I was SO excited and it felt like weeks ago that I put the entry in...I was slightly apprehensive the evening before - it was over six months since we'd done a competition so I was worried about forgetting my test, not being able to plait well, remembering to take everything that I needed... My times were 15.13 and 15.37 so I had a relaxed morning and decided to head to the yard for about 11.30. I wanted to leave at 13.30 so it gave me two hours to give Louie a bath & wash his tail, and plait ..read more