Q SPORT HORSES - OUR NEWS ...
 

10th March 2010

It was a good day in Spain for our team!

Dave achieved the final double clear for 'Adermie' in the 5 year olds to qualify him for the final next week.

I have been jumping him up to now, but after I had to go home for the week, Dave was able to take the reins and get my last clear!

Skye was also celebrating getting her final clear today on 'Alaquillo' in the 5 year olds.
Both horses are owned by Charles Britton and Linda Wright, they will be coming out next week to see them jump in their finals.

'Damiro' also jumped well for Dave in the 7 year olds and was placed third,
Owner Simon Shaw was there to watch today.

'Cassandra' was also clear for Dave in the 7 year olds, jumping well again.

The weather was also very warm and sunny, so there was a meeting this afternoon to ask the riders to vote for where the young horse finals should be held.
Either on the grass or the sand arena's.

Dave voted for the grass, which is a brave move as our 5 year old's will be green enough to cope with this.
It will be the same for everyone at the end of the day, so we will do our best.

It was looking like they will be run on the grass arena's.

I have had a productive day again, lots of work done at the yard, our book keeper was here today, getting all our accounts up to date and I have had more bookings for the horse box hire.

A big night tonight for the football fans in our camp!
Man United take on Inter Milan, I think I may even watch this myself!

9th March 2010

The 4th week of the Sunshine Tour began today and despite overnight rain it all went ahead.

Still jumping on the sand, but it is still a good education for the horses as they keep introducing new fillers.
Strong tracks were built today, our horses jumped well but did not quite get clear.

'A Touch Of Blue' did jump clear, but jumping non competitive in a younger age class as he does not have the experience to jump in his age group of the 7 year old's.

I was very busy all day and I had an appointment this afternoon with Gwen Filpatrick, who markets Woof Wear products and sells products to retailers.

She wants us to put some of the Woof Wear boots to the test, in every way, even washing them and then we have to report back with our view on each type of leg boot or product.

We have some open fronted tendon boots to try, the 'Pro Oxy Boot' an also the back boots of this range.

Then we have the 'Kevlar' front and back boots, the outer surface of these boots is called 'Kevlar', it is a very tough material, although flexible and soft to touch.

The 'Kevlar' boots are wrap around boots, so an all round protection, it will be interesting to see what sort of a report we come up with to promote these boots.

We will also be putting the Woof Wear logo on our website with a link to their site.

I also had some customers for the 2 horse box that we hire out regularly.

In between all this I have been ploughing through all the paperwork, I still have a fair way to go on this!

8th March 2010

Sunday was a good day, not too much rain so the classes went ahead.

'Valetto', our grey 8 year old gelding, came up trumps again for Dave in the Big Tour C, he had an excellent double clear and was placed.

The Grand Prix was a big, technical course with a tight time allowed.
Dave jumped 'Ulot', he jumped a good round but faulted twice due a little inexprience on the horse's part.
We are sure he will get better and better now this tour and we are optomistic for the next Grand Prix's.

Scot Brash was a very convincing winner on the experienced 'Intertoy Z'.
There were many British in the line up, giving Rob Hoekstra plenty to hope for in his new role of performance manager, he was keenly watching the whole class.

Dom had a lovely clear and placing with his new horse 'Alegant', in the small tour B.

Maddie Cook had a great round on the mare 'Talusha' in the Small Tour A, Dave was appointed trainer today for Maddie and she enjoyed the day, then quickly had to fly back to England this evening for school Monday morning.

I also flew back to England on the late flight, quite a torturous flight being so late, all you can do is think of getting back to your own bed!
It was like returning to paradise when I got home, fresh milk, bread, vegetables, Typhoo tea and no rain!

Everyone one has been spring cleaning at home while we have been away, so it was great to see everywhere so tidy, Alena has been painting all the stables, Paddy has been developing our garden further still and steam cleaning everywhere!

He has been trimming all the hedges, mowing, tidying flower beds and many other finishing touches round and about.

It really is remarkable coming home and seeing all he has done.

Our house keeper has redecorated the outside loo! and tidied our large shed, all the jobs we just never get chance to do.
The grooms flat also gets a huge makeover at this time of year, the staff will not recognise it when they get back.

I have been flat out all day attempting to catch up on three weeks work, my guess is that I will need every minute of the four days I am home for to catch up.

And I heard that it has been raining all day in Spain, again, when will it stop?

6th March 2010

A nightmare again at the show today, a heavy storm all night meant the show could not go on today.

It was pouring all day long, the arena's were flooded.

The arena's do have a pumping system that can clear the water, but they do not seem to turn the pumps on in time and the result is poor.

So great disappointment again, they did attempt to run a couple of classes, but it would not have been safe enough jumping for the horses, so we saved them for another day.

Tomorrow, hopefully we may get to jump, the Big and Small Tour Grand Prix's are scheduled to go ahead.

I am going back to England tomorrow with Ella, it seems to have come around very quickly, then I will be back out at the end of next week.

5th March 2010

The weather has improved slightly!

It does seem to affect the internet, so we have limited connection, so e mails may be seen a little later than normal.

I do thank everyone for 'logging on' and checking out our news, as long as everyone enjoys reading it, we enjoy writing it!

On Thursday Dominic recorded his 5th clear in the 5 year old's with 'Arrola', he jumped three this week, which is very good going, well done to him.

Skye had a clear on 'Alquillo' in the 5 year old's, just unfortunate with time faults as she did not hear the bell, so the clock started ticking and she was on 10 seconds as she went through the start gates.

Friday, today, started well with 'Ulot' going clear in the Big Tour C.

Dominic had a place on 'Alegant' and 'Futuro', Skye had a good clear on 'Vigo', just missing out on the places.

Guy Williams won a class today, Pedro Venis won yet another D class on his very competitive grey mare.

The rain came again this evening, this makes the jumping on the grass less and less likely.

The collecting rings are still heavily conjested, no room to work horses and warm up for classes.

Even getting the washing done is hard! No way of getting things dry without some warm weather and the electricity is in limited supply to run clothes dryers!

3rd March 2010

Another 100% success rate today for our 5 year old's and some places.

Dom jumped his very careful mare 'Arrola', he had a good clear and claimed 11th place out of 60 starters.

I jumped 'A Adermie' for Charles Britton and Linda Wright, to another clear and a place, we now only have one more clear to get so we can qualify for the final on the last week.

Skye rode 'Al Alquillo' also for Charles and Linda, to another superb clear, the horse is very exuberant in the air.
She too now only has one more clear to get.

We had much rain again today, the evening was absolutely lashing down, this means still no jumping on the grass arena's, which is a shame.

Dave returned from England to Spain tonight, he was pleased with the latest horsebox at home that is just going to spray.

2nd March 2010

A day off for all the horses yesterday and we looked forward to another weeks jumping.

We enjoyed a quiet day after our celebrations and lovely meal out on Sunday night after Dom's tremendous 2nd place in the Grand Prix on 'Futuro'.

The sun shone all day, it must have been the best weather so far this trip.

Dave is back in England, getting plenty done.

Today (Tuesday) stared with stormy, windy weather.

The rain seemed to hold off this morning untill we had to jump the 5 year old's, then in came, very heavy rain indeed.

Skye jumped 'Aquillo' in huge rain, followed by Dom on 'Arrola', then myself on 'Adermie'.

We all were pleased with a good clear round and an equal first place for each of us, we are all close to a place in the final of the 5 year old's.

The horses jumped very well considering the conditions.

Dave was not here to jump his young horses, so they will have the week off.

28th February 2010

A day full of revelations and results to interest everyone.

Firstly, for us a new Grand Prix horse! Dave decided to jump 'Valetto' in the Grand Prix.
He rode a brilliant round and just had 1 fence down.

The Grand Prix was won brilliantly by Pedro Venis and 2nd was Jemma Kirk with 'Wexford', who went fantastically well.

Madddie Cook, trained by Chris Smith, whom we brought over the horses for, was 2nd on 'Talusha' in the Small Tour A class.
So this was a good one for our stable.

 We also heard the news that Rob Hoekstra was appointed the new team manager for GB.
Rob is a very talented rider in his own right, I am sure this will be an interesting new role for him, a surprise to everyone, but I am sure he will do really well.

Rob is here in Spain, so I congratulated him personally.

I had a look at the results from Gothenbourg this afternoon, Jessica Kurten is back on top with a win and Dermot Lennon is also in amazing form again with a 3rd place.

Our day had the icing on the cake when Dom and 'Ashdale Futuro' came 2nd in the Small Tour Grand Prix, trained by Dave.

A track built to the max at 1.40m. 4ft.7 to 4ft.9, Dom rode a round beyond his years and so nearly took the win.

Dave then made a dash for the airport, he is flying back to England tonight to check on everything at home.

26th February 2010

Thursday ended in the heavens opening again and Dave got well and truly caught in it.

He jumped 'Cassandra' in the 7 year old class, he had a good double clear in the driving rain.
I was watching under the grand stand and had  to wait before it stopped a bit to make a run for cover.

But today (Friday) stayed fine and it was a good day for the team.

Dave had another good clear in the Big Tour C on our horse 'Valetto JX', the fences were 1.45m and he is only a 7 year old.
He was bred in Scotland by Jane Maxwell and is by 'Kevin Z' based at William Funnells.

William has several horses by this stallion and they also seem to be showing much talent.

Skye had an impressive clear on 'Vigo' in the Big Tour A, this horse is really coming on and will be aimed at young rider classes for the rest of the season.

Dave jumped 'Ulot' in the Big Class, he had an unlucky rail, the first fence he has had down so far this tour.

Dominic then finished the day on a high, he was 2nd on 'Ashdale Futuro' in the Small Tour D, the big class for this tour, at 1.40m it was a decent track.
Dom had a great round, especially as he was unseated just before the start of his round and quickly had to get himself on again as the bell had gone!

Last night we had a visit from our next door neighbours, they are renting the house on the other side of us for the tour.
John and Claire Whitaker.
John just bobbed round for a beer, Claire brought him his tea and then they settled down for the evening!

So we heard a few stories from the past, which we always enjoy.

24th February 2010

An unlucky days jumping at the Sunshine Tour for our yard, but Dominic had a very good round.

Dom was clear with only a time fault on his 5 year old chestnut mare over a more taxing track.

There were only 18 clears today out of 60 in the 5 year old class, where up to now there has been nearly 30 clears each time.

It was a good to have a more challenging track. my ride 'A Adermie' went well, we just had the very last fence down.

Dave had a fence off in the 7 year old's on 'Cassandra', otherwise a good round.
Anthony Condon won this class with a good round on 'Wild Thing', this mare jumped very well.

It was a fine day again today, the grass arenas are drying out rapidly so we should be in for some good jumping in the weeks to come.

I still have a huge cold, so I had to rest this afternoon! I am hoping to get over this quickly.

23rd February 2010

Luckily all the jumping went ahead today and the sun shone.

Everybody's young horses looked better this week, ours included.

Last week got us all going and this week everyone seemed in full swing.

We had a great day with both myself and Skye jumping a good clear on the 5 year old's for Charles Britton and Linda Wright.
This meant we came equal first.

I rode 'Al Aquilo' and Skye was on 'Adermie'.


Then Dave had clears on both his 7 year old's, 'Cassandra' and 'Damiro', both showing consistency.

None of the grass arena's are being used yet, so we are all still jumping on the sand, so with the amount of horses here it makes space limited.
Warming up is very difficult, with people constantly out working horses, even when they are not in the class.

Most of the riders seem to have little or no regard to people warming up very young horses for the class, so we really are up against it in the collecting rings and there were a few falls today and last week as a result.

Dave has nipped to the town this evening to try and get a hair cut and I am a bit under the weather with a cold.

There are some great photographers here at the show, so I should have a good collection of photos on disc soon, I am looking forward to putting up on the web site pictures of the horses, some of which I have no photos of at all yet.

22nd February 2010

It is good to be able to finally get back on line and bring the news up to date.

Saturday was a good days jumping, the classes are incredibly competitive and most of our horses are very young at this level.

Skye, who is confidently competing in the Big Tour this year, was unfazed and jumped a super clear on 'Vigo' in the Big A.

She also jumped 'Jazzo' in the Big C, which was a sizable track at 1.45m, the biggest she has ever jumped and she did it for an unlucky 8 faults.

Dave had a super clear on 'Valetto', our 7 year old, he jumped his socks off, but not quick enough this time for the prizes.

'Ulot' sailed around the 1.50m Big D class, a double clear, listening to Dave nicely.
He just missed out of the prizes, but Dave firmly had the thoughts of a good performance in the Grand Prix in mind for this horse.

Then on Sunday morning, just when Dom was about to warm up 'Futuro' for the Small Tour Grand Prix, the show was cancelled to due relentless rain.

The show hopefully will carry on on Tuesday, but we had a huge amount of rain again last night.

We did not even have an Internet connection for two days, but the sun did shine in the afternoon, so Ella and I headed to the beach.

All the horses had a stretch out, but we will be working them today ready for tomorrows jumping.

We had a nice meal out last night for Doms Mum, Izzy's birthday, then we even had a look in at the Sunday night party down at the show.

We are sorry to hear that England is still freezing cold and snow on the ground, at least it is quite warm out here, but I have never seen it rain so much.

Dave dropped Doms father at Gibraltar airport this morning, now he is just nipping into Morrisons supermarket, so it will be nice to see some English provisions.

So lots of riding to be done today, without further delay!

19th February 2010

We had a good start to the first international classes of the tour.

Dave had a really good clear on 'Ulot' in the Big Tour C, the horse jumped out of his skin and 'Valetto' was also clear for Dave in the Big Tour B.
  These horses have not really done a big show in a while, so Dave gave them an easy first day.

Dom had a good 4th place on 'Alegant' in the Small Tour A and 'Futuro' narrowly missed a 2nd place in the Small Tour D (the biggest class of the small tour) he just had the last fence down.

Nadia Affie had a good win on 'Nintendo' for Simon Shaw, Guy Williams won the Big Tour C, James Billington is having a good show with a win and today a 4th place with a 'Cleopatra', a mare owned by Bill Gredley, bought from our yard.
Roger Yves Bost won the Big Tour D.


The sun shone all day, luckily, having rained all the previous night, which left the Small Tour sand arena completely flooded.
People struggled to jump in the bad ground, but it dried out during the day.

The power supply to the show has been limited with so many horseboxes and houses needing more electricity than normal in the damp, cold conditions, but hopefully soon we will have warmer, dryer weather.
Horseboxes and houses have had power cuts and no water supply as a result.

18th February 2010

The rain was even worse today, everyone was soaked this afternoon if they were outside.

We had more good results.
All our 5 year old's were clear again.
Skye on Charles Britton and Linda's 'Aquillo', myself on 'Adermie' for Charles again and Dom on 'Arrola' owned by his mum Isabelle.


Then Dave had a good time in the 7 year old class, he was 4th on Simon Shaw's 'Damiro' and then 6th on 'Cassandra'.

The class was won by James Billington riding for Tim Gredley.

We have a busy weekend ahead, the international show starts tomorrow, big tour and small tour classes.

All the classes will be jumped on the sand arena's because of the rain.
Luckily the sand copes with the rain very well and even after prolonged downpours, there is not even a puddle left on the ground.

A few more British riders have arrived, Robert and John Whitaker, Nick Skelton, Robert Bevis, William and Pippa Funnell and Peter Murphy, to just name a few.

There seems to be more British riders than ever this year, everyone trying to escape the cold weather.

17th February 2010

We have finally got Internet connection again.

The wind and rain has been so bad it affected the satellite signal near our house.

After two days jumping, I can report that we have got off to a nice start.

All our 5 year old horses have recorded their first double clears towards qualification for the final.

We need six clears to qualify, so 'Adermie' ridden by me, 'Aquillo' with Skye and 'Arrola' with Dom all got clear.

Dave had a very good result on 'Cassandra' in the 7 year old class, he was 9th out of 120 starters.
There are many young horses here this year.

So we have had a few early starts, we even have Sky TV in our house rental, so I can see GMTV in the mornings before we leave the house, so we know the cold snap has gripped England again.

We have one more day this week jumping the young horses, then we have the older horses to jump at the weekend.

15th February 2010

We all finally arrived in Vejer for the Spanish Sunshine Tour, the show ground looks good, as usual and the new improved main ring looks superb.

We have been busy since we arrived, we had to move into our hired house, which is close to the show ground and I had a few suitcases to bring from the horseboxes.

Lots of things to be done, from riding to taking the horse passports to the office, declarations, getting my motorbike out of the truck, unpacking and getting shopping in.

The girls and horses arrived Friday afternoon, so they got settled in really well and were busy riding all the horses on Saturday.

Skye and I jumped some horses around the clear round on Sunday, it was free for all and very beneficial.

All the staff and I had a meal in the 'office' bar on Sunday night, Dave had not quite arrived by then, but he did arrive sooner than expected.
He was meant to be taking a long boat from Portsmouth to Bilbao and doing an 8 hour drive to the show, but he missed it!
So I quickly booked him on another boat to Caen, so he had a longer drive, but he arrived sooner!

I could not complain as I somehow missed my flight from Liverpool, but I caught another flight from Manchester the same day!

Lets hope we have no more mishap's.

So it is raining like mad, everywhere is underwater now and it is Monday evening.
The jumping is due to start tomorrow for the young horses.

All is well at home on the yard, Paddy (Dave's father) is holding the fort.
Alena has just a few horses left to work and the horsebox work shop is in full swing.

10th February 2010

After returning home this morning from Cheshire we worked relentlessly all day on things on the 'need doing list!'.

There are very few horses left on the yard, so these got worked then the Spring cleaning commenced.

The whole yard will be washed and painted while we are away and we also have a builder doing some projects we had planned.

The horses are all travelling very well down to Spain.
They are making good time.
Yesterday and today are the hardest days, then the last two days are slightly shorter.

They have encountered heavy snow today on route, hopefully they will leave this behind very soon.

Apparently the weather at the show in Vejer was warm yesterday but raining today.
When it rains it makes taking care of the horses harder, when leg boots and bandages get wet it is hard to dry everything, then they can get mud fever.

They can also react to the sand, we have alot of experience with this now, but it can be hard to control when everywhere is so damp.

So we hope like mad for dry weather!

9th February 2010

We had an incredibly hectic day today, but a very good one.

This morning was an early start as this was the morning all the horses had to leave for Spain.

We have two lorries going and Simon Shaw arrived to pick up one of Nina Barbours horses and four of Billy Twomeys.

So in all 24 horses left at 1pm finally and three lorries.

The loading all went well, only a couple of horses refused to go in, so a little time spent encouraging them!

The quad bike was a tricky one, Dave nearly had to travel with it in the back of the trailer, when he managed to fit it in, he nearly couldn't get out!

We had last minute checks on tyres, a sink to go in, in one of the lorries! and last minute packing.

So with plenty of drivers, grooms and all the gear they set off on their way.

Isabelle, Doms mum came to see them off, as did Skye's Mum, Grandma, Nina Barbour was there to see her horses off and Anthony was there to watch Billys set off.
I thought we had a very interested audience until someone pointed out that they were in fact unable to leave as all the lorries were blocking all exits!

So it was a relief when they finally got off, then everyone left and Dave and I had a couple of hours before we had to leave to get to Manchester, in time to be picked up from my family home in Prestbury, to go to see the Man City V Bolton match.

We were spoiled to death all evening, as we were guests of Garry and Wendy Cook and we had an incredible time.
We had a lovely meal and then we settled down to watch the football.
Manchester City won 2 - 0 which was great, so we even got chance to celebrate afterwards aswell.

So we stayed in Prestbury for the night and then came back to Whitchurch in the morning in time to Ella at school.

8th February 2010

The staff were amazing today, no panic, just busy packing everything for the trip.

All the horses due to go were worked and most of them were jumped as well.

Between Skye, Dave, Myself and Dom we rode all of them and Lorna exercised the other horses.

Alena was helping with the washing and tacking up.

Then the vet arrived to do all the health papers for all the horses.
This took time and all the sections have to be checked, sometimes the vet has to stamp and we have to sign!

All the vaccinations have to be uptodate, but all this has to be done before now, the horses need a couple of quiet days after a flue jab.

Hopefully all our paperwork is in order now and everything packed.

All the horses are due to leave tomorrow morning, there is still quite a bit to be done would you believe and when the horses go we still have to get things done before we head off ourselves.

We are very lucky to have been invited to the football tomorrow night to see Manchester City play Bolton.
Dave will be delighted a he loves the game.

It has been such a busy week, it is a wonder how we fit it all in sometimes!

Dom was delighted today when he finally got his horse 'Alegant' doing flying changes.
He has worked relentlessly trying to get the horse to do this for a few weeks now and the horse finally rewarded him.
Well done Dom, all the work has paid off.

I saw Nick Skelton won again in Florida, this time on 'Carlo'.
Nick must be having an amazing time out there, winning away.

7th February 2010

We had a good night out last night with Charles Britton and Linda, a dinner dance at a Dance Academy.

We were treated to a display of professional dancers, so it was a change from Showjumping!

Yesterday Dave was teaching and I rode first thing, then I Managed to get some shopping done in the afternoon.

Today was a big day for washing and getting everything ready to pack the lorries for Spain.
Helen and Lynne, the main grooms for the trip, were busy all day sorting everything out.

The farrier was here yesterday, all day today and maybe even tomorrow, shoeing all the horses for the trip.

The back man Mark Windsor also came to check all the backs of the horses.

Dozens of bandages, rugs, leg wraps, saddle cloths, sheets and towels have been washed ready for going and are now all trying to dry!

I have packed one suit case full of riding gear, this can go in the truck.
Kim, our house keeper has been busy cleaning the living area's of the horse boxes.
Also getting all Dave's shirts ironed and folded, ready for packing.

We have two drivers coming tomorrow, they will drive the horseboxes to Spain.

Dave's family will move in to he house while we are away.
The horseboxes will be washed tomorrow, checked over and roofs loaded up.
We have all the feed ready, shavings and haylage.
There will be things we have forgotten I am sure, but it will not be from lack of trying!

5th February 2010

We finished the show at South View this evening on a high note.

Dominic had a great clear on 'Ashdale Futuro' in the World Class Potential Young Riders qualifier, he unfortunately had 3 time faults, but this did not detract from the achievement of going clear around his first ever attempt at a track this size.

Dave had a good clear in the Grand Prix on 'Ulot', watched by his owners on home ground.
He was unfortunate to have a fence in the jump off, but he jumped a good round.

'Valetto' jumped well again, he was clear and placed in the 1.30m class on Thursday.

Breaking news from Abu Daubi, the big show on at the moment.

Britain have won the Nations Cup and a total prize pot of 30,000 euros.
The team was Ben Maher, Guy Williams, Ellen Whitaker and Robert Smith.
They all had a near foot perfect performance, it all seems ironic when it looks as though we are going to be relegated down from the Super League this season.

Ella had a good time tonight at the pony club games practice, she rode 'Royal Mahogany' and he went super.
The practice sessions are at Tushingham Arena, just 10 minutes from us, very handy!


Please see the video of Dominics round today in the Word Class Potential Young Riders qualifier, on Futuro.

Click HERE For VIDEOS

3rd February 2010

We were at the show again today, the numbers were down a bit today, so maybe everyone will flock to South View tomorrow.

I made a mistake on yesterdays news, I denied Joe Whitaker of his win in the 1.40m open, I was misinformed that the winner was Geoff, so he was second.

Dave had a good clear today in the 1.40m with the 7 year old 'Valetto', he jumped an outstanding round.

The big classes have been strong tracks so far this week and a big ask for younger horses.

Skye had a good place in the 1.25m on 'Vigo' this morning, this horse is 8 years old this time and he is very competitive.

Dom had two good rounds in the 1.25m with 'Joop' and 'Futuro', both had unlucky 4 faults, but Dom rode well and the horses were jumping good.

Tomorow is the Grand Prix, Dave will jump 'Ulot', he had 4 faults today, so a clear tomorrow would be nice.
This week is proving to be a good warm up for Spain.

2nd February 2010

An early start today, they all left for the premier show at South View at 7.30am as we had a few horses in the first class.

Dave had a good win in the first class on the 7 year old 'Damiro'.

It was great to get the show off to a winning start, this horse by 'Damiro' beat 65 starters, he answered every call for Dave.

Skye had some nice rounds today, very unlucky with 4 faults in each round.

There were plenty of people at the show, the ground was very good and some fierce competition.

Geoff Billington had a good win in the 1.40m on 'Pedro'.  This class had a quality field, some top horses and riders.

The Grand Prix on Thursday should be a good one.

1st February 2010

This year so far is flying by and another down turn in the weather.

We had a nice meal out last night at the Pheasant Inn, near Broxton.
We really like this pub and it was a good way to spend a Sunday evening.

Today was an unusual Monday, as we were getting ready for the Premier show at South View all this week.
The show had to be moved to this week due to the bad weather in January.

Addington have just had a big show at the weekend, but hopefully it will not affect the entry numbers for Charles this week at South View.

We are taking eight horses to the show during the week, Dave will be jumping 'Ulot' in the bigger classes and we have plenty of young horses to jump aswell.

I will have to juggle going to the show and taking Ella to school and back.

We also have alot of organising left to do for the Sunshine Tour, so I may not be able to spend a great deal of time at the show.

I noticed the results from Wellington, Florida, to see Nick Skelton was 2nd yesterday in the big Grand Prix.
Shane Sweetnam from Ireland, Dave's friend, was so unlucky with 4 faults on 'Zamiro'.

30th January 2010

Temperatures have plummeted here in Shropshire over the past few days, I hope we are not in for too long a cold spell.

We have been doing lots of hacking this week, in between working the horses in the school.

We have not been riding much in the outdoor arena, but that will all change when the horses reach warmer temperatures in Spain.

We had a show today at South View, we took a mere eight horses, we jumped in the early classes, so we were able to get home and ride the rest of the horses at home.

We are fully staffed at the moment, so some of us can go to the show and some stay at home to do the yard.

I jumped 'A Adermie' a 5 year old for Charles and Linda.  He has really come on since Christmas and jumped nicely today.

I also rode 'A Touch Of Blue' for Q Sport Horses and Charles, he is a nice project for me.

Dave was busy training us all and is saving himself for the Premier show next week!

Skye had a lovely round on an outstanding horse we have to look after for Tim and Christy Fairburn.
This horse won the working hunter final at HOYS 2009, so a real joy to have him for our friends, while they build new stables at their new home.
He just had a time fault today in the 1.10m class.

Dom had some promising rounds today on his horses, 'Alegant' was showing vast improvement on his way round and 'Arolla' was good in the Discovery.

I was looking for good international results.

What an amazing result for Ben Maher in Zurich yesterday, he won the Rolex Grand Prix on 'Wonder Boy'.

The Geoff Billington and Oliver Townend tour has been doing very well, apparently they had 850 people to watch at Solihull the other night.

27th January 2010

A cold morning again, but nice and dry with us.

Dave had a busy morning, he was teaching away first thing, helping Skye and Dom, then he had to get ready for his 'Speed Awareness' course.

In case you have read in earlier news where I had said Dave was doing his course in Stafford two weeks ago, he missed that one because he was late.
So at the very last minute, he managed to book a new date!

The luck of the Irish again.  So he did his course and he seemed relatively relaxed this evening after it all.
He even cooked dinner for us, which is a fairly rare occasion.

Skye and Dom had a great day, they had lessons with Dave first thing, then they headed off to Richard Davidson for some dressage training.
They both relished their opportunity and enjoyed it all to boot.

The lessons are one thing, but the important thing is to remember what you have been told, work on it and try to put it into practice and improve what you have been told to work on.
Then you can hope to progress, which is the aim.

No matter what level of rider you are, there is always something you may want help or advice with, the best riders in the world would never be afraid to ask someone they can relate to, or someone they really respect.

Dave got home fairly late and he is now settled like a pig in mud, watching Manchester City and Manchester United battle it out again.

I don't think I dare declare which team he is supporting!

26th January 2010

It was a cold but pleasant day today at the yard.

Most of the youngsters were hacking out today, as it is only Tuesday, they still have all week before their next show at the weekend.

Dave had a long day today, he set off mid morning and he had some calls to make.
He did not return until this evening and then he had a meeting with someone wanting a horsebox build.

My lost suitcase from our holiday three weeks ago made a miraculous appearance.
It was delivered by courier this afternoon!
Thomas Cook have alot to answer for.

I was beginning to look forward to a nice compensation claim, just as I sent in the forms to start a claim, it turns up!

A coincidence I wonder.

It was announced today that Britain is officially out of recession, as from now.
That is great news, but they say the Government is skint.  So we look forward to high taxes here to stay.

The skint Government is starting to reflect on our roads, we have pot holes on our roads that I have never seen before on a main road.
Due to the icy weather lately, it has played havoc with our roads.

They do not bother to put the price of fuel in the news at the moment, we have been once again watching the price creep up by the day.
A year or so ago, the price of fuel was headline news and now you do not see a mention of it.

25th January 2010

We were back to it today, plenty more organising to be done for the Sunshine Tour, most of it had to be done in the office.

I was riding this morning, along with everyone else, all the horses seem to be in good form.

Dave was also busy with the horsebox work shop.

We are finishing off parts of our building at the moment, the front of the workshop and putting in new windows, it is starting to look really good.

We had a bogus enquiry for one of our horseboxes advertised for sale, it was a scam and everyone should beware.

It came by an e mail.

They were wanting to buy the horsebox unseen and pay a bank draft into our bank.
Then export the horsebox, all within a very tight time schedule.
The money can be put into your bank, which even shows up on your statement for a few days, then the draft fails to clear and the money is taken out again, meanwhile you could have let your horsebox go.
It is astonishing what people try to do.
These scams have to be reported.
Luckily it was obvious that this was not for real.

The decorator was also wall papering our downstairs cloakroom finally, so lots of work going on.

An amazing weekend for Irish competitors in Europe, Billy Twomey won the Grand Prix in Amsterdam, superbly, on 'J'taime Flamenco', for the second year running.
We have a mare in foal to this amazing stallion, 'Candle Queen'.

Also Jessica Kurten won the World Cup in Germany, the ladies were in form as Edwina Alexander was second.

Nick Skelton also did very well again in Wellington, Florida.  He was second in the Grand Prix on Saturday.

24th January 2010

No shows for us this weekend, shows are a bit thin on the ground at the moment.

We made the most of a weekend off and we all had a night out last night.

Ella stayed with her Grandparents and went out with her cousins and we went wild at a dinner party.
We had a great time of course, but we paid the price today.

It is far healthier for us when we have shows to go to, as we at least get to bed early!

Some of the girls from the yard also had a night out at the Wynnstay Hunt ball, I think they all were wild as well.

So plenty of hacking out today for all the horses, it was a nice day and the roads round us are very quiet on Sundays.

22nd January 2010

Today was spent working the horses most the day and then checking again what we need to order in for our coming trip to Spain.

We seem to be just in time with most of the things we wanted to order, so things can arrive before we leave.

I have also been studying web site's on garden shrubs and trees! As we also need to get some young specimens to plant in our new garden.
Paddy will be over soon and he kindly offered to do some planting for us.

Our decorator has finally found time to come to us, we are having the downstairs cloakroom and Ella's bathroom painted, just a few maintenance jobs to be done, but we have been waiting forever for him to come.

I had quite a bit of contact with the BSJA today, we have several passports that need to be changed to FEI passports, this is never straight forward and this time was no different and also quite time consuming.

I have been looking at the results from the big show in Wellington, Florida, on at the moment.

Nick Skelton had a big win and 2nd in the big class last Sunday, this week and last Shane Sweetnam from Ireland, has been very successful with 'Una Jonga' a horse from our yard and 'Zamiro' who Shane has had since the summer.

We went to Florida last January and we had a super time, we have missed going this year.