It’s that time of year again, when the darkness rolls in, the wellies come out and we need to hunker down for winter. It’s actually one of my favourite times of year. I love the cosy season, wearing big coats, stocking up and getting ready for a few months of no competition and no real training. It’s a low pressure time of year for me and I love the wind down and then the excitement for a fresh start around the corner.

The biggest job is always getting the winter field ready and then making sure we have bedding and haylage for when we need it. I only ride 2-3 x a week and I take a much more relaxed approach to the horses. I often wonder whether it’s a sign I should be less competitive and actually do less all year round…but I think it’s actually the change in pace and the wind down before making new plans that I love. I’d soon get bored without a list, goals and plans to schedule!

Honestly, this is such a cool ride for many reasons. One the novelty that you’re in a city, but probably most importantly the tracks are incredible, the going was so good. Canter opportunities galore, the scenery is beautiful and you come across so many fun elements. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and was very impressed with the marking, it’s such a feat considering how many options of direction there are on a ride like this compared to pretty obvious routes in the countryside.

Estrid was pretty poor at the venue to be honest. We barely passed the initial vetting and then if it wasn’t for the lovely Sue Box bringing her horse in to keep Estrid company, we would definitely not have passed the final vetting. It’s been just over two months since her last outing and we haven’t been out and about much to train but she has regressed dramatically with her confidence and shaking, her heart rate and behaviour at the venue was nothing short of erratic. So that was a bit demoralising…but she was as usual angelic out on course and we had a lovely time eating up the km’s.

Fingers crossed our new training strategy makes next years vettings slightly less of a stressful lucky dip.

What a whirlwind welcoming our latest member to the family has been! It’s been a delight to be part of the journey of our puppy being conceived, to first scans, visiting every week, watching her eyes open and starting to form a personality. She’s been home for a few weeks now and she has been such a good girl!

So Welcome to the family Piper! I can’t wait for all our adventures together!

We’ve done a few groundwork sessions and clinics in the early days with Estrid but after our issues this season with getting her to relax in vet gates I thought what better way to try and improve our bond and get her to concentrate and stay calm in different environments than liberty training.

As luck would have it only a few weeks after our failed attempt at our FEI 1* an amazing Liberty trainer and trickrider moved into one of the studs that I Physio for, and it seemed very serendipitous that I’d been hunting for someone to work with and Giorgia Kolias appeared down the road from me!

So I booked a session and Giorgia came to work with Estrid…..and also me! This is going to be as much, if not more, a project on myself as it will be for Estrid, but even after one session I know this is going to help us so much and is the perfect solution to our vet gate issues.

Firstly I’m so glad that this ride managed to pull off being moved from August to October, it must have been a huge undertaking and I’m so so grateful. We were even graced with exceptional weather. This was Tissy’s last pony party of the season, and as with every end of season ride on a 28yo endurance horse, you wonder if it might be the last. If it is then it was perfect, we cantered along grassy stretches, bimbled through streams and through big arable fields, we got to chat to friends and came home with big smiles on our face.

Estrid has had 6 weeks off since she was lame in August, thankfully she was sound within a week but the timing was right to give her a bit of a holiday. Tissy has also had two weeks off while Dan and I went on a two week European road trip for his 40th Birthday.

Now we’re back and I had got the yard looking at least a little more presentable and organised it was time to get back on board and plan our next adventures! I’d like to take Estrid to as many random activities and places as possible and what better way to start than to a farm shop!

Thank you so much to TLC Farm shop in Hanbury for being so game for having a rather larger 4 legged visitor than usual…Estrid wasn’t the best behaved pony for our visit but it certainly added some fun to our day!

I’m heading into autumn optimistic that we’re going to have a good time! It’s my favourite season and thanks to some lovely ride organisers there are a few late season rides available. After our two week road trip to Slovenia it definitely felt like it was time to do a good reset, have a tidy and set us up for some brrrr month adventures!

It really has been a busy few weeks for Tissy after a slow start to her year and she’s thoroughly enjoying her little adventures. I don’t ever take a single minute in the saddle for granted as I really feel that we’re on borrowed time, saying that Tissy looks as good as ever and she’s still got a few outings left for this year.

The Elan Valley ride has been on my radar for a long time. Having grown up a mountain range over from the venue I have a rough idea of the terrain involved and I’m always longing for the hills! It was always the plan for Tissy to have a late season after Estrid had completed all her big rides this year and the Elan Valley ride was going to be our cherry on top.

For various reasons Tissy hasn’t made it to the two pleasure rides we had planned in July so this was her first outing of the season, and what an outing it was. Elan Valley is truly a bucket list adventure, it’s tough technical terrain, paired with the stunning views and dramatic landscapes make for an incredible experience. We had fog, rain, sunshine, wind and perfect still blue skies all in one day.

Best of all Tissy had a blast and I enjoyed being back in the Welsh hills, well worth the effort of the journey and so lovely to see so many familiar faces!

Tissy and I have not been to a stayover ride for a long time, I think 2018 may have been the last time, and there is nothing I love more than getting to see a different part of the world and camping with my pony! I can’t believe this is the case, but I’ve never actually camped with my van and trailer or gone to a stayover ride by myself without any crew. I guess it’s because when I stay over it’s usually for the longer distance rides. So a trip to Mid Wales for a ride we’ve never done seemed the perfect excuse for Tissy and I to go camping together!