I get a few questions about what life is like on a DIY livery yard. I’m not exactly the most experienced person to give a well rounded view as I’ve been incredibly lucky to only ever experienced one yard for the last 9 years and it’s been wonderful. Before that we had our own stables and grazing at home where my parents live.

When I moved away from home my prerequisite was 24/7 365days a year turnout, which I’m now aware I was very very lucky to find as most yards, although they do have 365day a year turnout do restrict grazing and stabling at night over winter is compulsory.

So at the yard I’m at we have both winter and summer turnout fields which gives the grazing that much needed recovery and allows us to have unrestricted turnout all year. I’ve heard many a story of strict rules and routines at livery yards but mine is very laid back, we get to care for our horses exactly how we want and the only input the yard owner has is to say when we move from summer to winter grazing.

We also get to do as much maintenance on our fields as we like and care for it as if it was our own, which I quite enjoy but also if you didn’t want to do that then you don’t have to either. We only have 12 horses at the livery and we’re super lucky that everyone gets on well, are very friendly and we all care for each others horses if needed. For me, especially when I moved away from home it was like having another family.

Now we don’t have fancy facilities like individual tack lockers, a solarium, horsewalker, wash bay, hot water, tea station and all the other amazing wish list items that you see on so many yards on social media but we do have a good all weather school, which because there are so few of us you rarely have to share, enough space for all our individual equipment, hay and bedding, alongside trailer/lorry parking.

We never have to pay extra for turnout or checking haynets etc as everyone just mucks in and helps out and everything is included in our monthly fee.

I do miss having my own yard and turnout, getting up in the morning and being able to see your horses out the window is a real privilege I didn’t appreciate growing up and I really miss good hacking. But knowing that several pairs of eyes would have noticed something wrong in a field or that there’s always someone willing to look after them while you’re on holiday is definitely a bonus.

I feel like I say this every month….but, I’m so proud of Roo. We went home to Wales over the weekend and I took Roo to do a fairly challenging 16km and he aced it.

Just to give an idea of the kind of hacking I like to do in winter. It’s more technical and slow, here are a few of my stats from the ride.

• Walk average speed: 4.6kph
• Trot average speed: 12kph
• Canter average speed: 18.3kph
• Walk time: 1hr 25mins
• Trot time: 38mins
• Canter time: 31s
• Elevation: 290m
• Gates: 15

For me winter is all about building skills so long slow work over challenging technical terrain is my favourite type of work. Roo really struggles with this kind of thing, he’s not quite strong or co-ordinated enough and his fitness isn’t quite there yet. But he never gives up! Some of the hills were long trot sections and not once did he ask to walk. By the end of the downhills he had really improved just in that one ride.

There’s something about hacking in the Welsh hills that gives me a peace no where else can. You don’t see a soul, just surrounded by views and open countryside. I love just pootling around with my horse, I think it really builds up our bond and there’s something so much more relaxing training on this sort of terrain compared to the easier faster training of the summer.

I wanted to take Tissy’s new Flex boots for a good test so we went out to the local woods that has deep sticky mud, hard gravel track, slippy mud, falling leaves, water to cross and grass to canter along.

Plus to make it extra fun Dan came on his bike, Tissy absolutely loves chasing him down and gets a bit carried away with her angry giraffe impression when she’s not in front. Regardless of her not so good behaviour (you’d think she’d know better by now), Tissy never fails to put a smile on my face.

The boots stayed put too. I’m recording every kilometre I ride in them so hopefully I’ll be able to give a good review in a years time. Tissy seemed pretty comfortable and I would say that although the tinniest bit slightly slippier than shoes on slick mud/leaves overall I didn’t really notice a difference.

I have had to cave and clip Roo….I could no longer ignore the hairy mammoth turned sweat ball every time we went out for a ride. So out came the clippers, it is at this time I have to thank past me for putting away the clippers in immaculate condition and getting all the blades sharpened in spring!

I am very lucky to have two sets, one corded that’s about 15years old and one battery powered that I had for Christmas last year. I clipped Roo with Heiniger cordless clippers and they flew through the job but I would say although much louder and heavier the Heiniger corded ones are faster. It’s nice to have both options though. The only thing I feel I’m missing from my clipping collection is some trimmers, just a small pair of quiet clippers that can do the face, bridle path and little touch ups.

I always try and cover myself head to toe when clipping as I hate all the tiny itchy hairs and I also bath my horses a day or two before to make the job that bit easier. I must say that grooming with my Sommer brushes makes the horses much cleaner than they normally would be so they haven’t been as scurffy this year, I reckon if you did a good in depth groom with those brushes you actually wouldn’t need to bath. Pair them with my flicky borstiq brush and I think I’ve finally found my dream grooming kit set up!

As some may know I’ve been transitioning Tissy to barefoot for a few reasons. One because she’s not being ridden as much, shoes turn out to be expensive for cost per use. Secondly living on clay fields over winter means shoes get sucked off an disappear on a regular basis and three because I am genuinely interested in the management and conditioning of a barefoot horse.

I’ve had lots of tips, such as asking my farrier to show me how to rasp rough edges and little chips in between professional trims. Using a specific supplement such as the Kevin Bacon Hoof formula. Taking things slowly and letting her hooves adapt to life without shoes, although it’s not new to her really, as she ordinarily spends three months a year without them and does her walk work barefoot.

Tissy has been doing really well but is a little ‘footy’ on stonier surfaces, and as we ride on a lot of them I felt she needed something to help. Now in my head I kind of thought if I’m going to use boots then I might as well just use shoes but seeing as one of my reasons was pulled shoes in winter, it actually didn’t seem like a bad idea.

So I messaged The hoof boot shop, who I’d seen were doing a run past us, and asked for them to come out to advise on what type of boots would suit our needs and to fit them properly. I’d done some research on boots and I wasn’t confident that I’d be able to order the right size and which boots were most suited so professional help seemed like a good idea.

Rachael was great and guessed Tissy’s size before even lifting a hoof. We tried three brands, equine fusion, Scoot boots and the Flex boots. We ended up going with the flex boots as I found the equine fusions a bit clumpy and didn’t like the structure around the heel of the scoot boots. It’s early days but I’m super happy with the fit and how easy they are to put on so I’ll keep you updated with how they ride.

I’m pretty lucky that my livery has a floodlit arena. So when those winter nights draw in and it’s dark by the time I finish work at least I have that option. But I don’t really want to spend three nights a week going around in circles so when daylight means my training routine has to change I like to switch between four different training sessions I can do when it’s dark.

Now if I lived somewhere without so much traffic or with more off road riding I would still hack in the dark with lights but the training around our livery just isn’t safe for night riding. So instead I have two types of schooling sessions I do in the school. I either school in the normal sense of the word, set a goal for our session and work on a specific area or I do laps. I usually do 5 laps each way of walk then 10 each way of trot then 10 each way of canter and repeat, I work on keeping a good rhythm, getting my horse to maintain the same pace and carry themselves without too much input from me. I actually find it makes a great substitute for hacking in terms of cardio fitness.

The the other two sessions I can do is either lunge which I’ll do a maximum of once a week or hill walks. There’s a hill just outside our livery about 300m long and I cover myself and the horse in hi-viz and lights and just walk or trot up and down the hill a few times, the uphill is great for their glutes and down works the thoracic sling.

Then on the weekend I’ll go for a hack in the day. I go much easier on myself in winter too, so if we miss a session it really doesn’t matter, my goal isn’t fitness it’s more education, improving the relationship with my horse, strength, balance and proprioception. It’s much more laid back and I really enjoy spending a bit more ‘ground time’ with the horses too, just grooming or sitting with them. What does everyone else do during winter? Do you keep the same routine or mix it up?

About two weeks ago we asked everyone on our YouTube and Instagram if they had any questions they’d would like me to answer. So many of you sent some really good questions and here are the answers…

I’ve really enjoyed my time riding different horses this year. I think it’s improved my riding, made me appreciate time in the saddle more and I’ve had lots of fun along the way. This year is the first time I’ve ever been Hounding, where you take the Bloodhounds out for exercise over a set course rather than following a scent trail, and I’ve really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Stuart and the loan of his lovely Norman I’ve now been out with the Four Shires Bloodhounds a few times and I even got myself a tweed jacket so I at least look the part! It’s actually one of my favourite bits, getting all dressed up and smart.

It’s lovely to ride a horse that’s been there and done that, Norman absolutely loves going out with the hounds, he actually shakes with excitement as soon as he hears them. The high speed in a big group took me by suprise at first, even though I’m used to big mass starts in Endurance the pace is much steadier and even, whereas out with the hunt it’s more like intervals of high speed and then slower sections in between. But once I got used to knowing where everyone was around me and started to get used to riding Norman I absolutely loved the carefree blasts through the countryside.

Everyone at the Four Shires have been so Welcoming and I can’t wait to go out on more adventures with Norman and Stuart over winter.

The start of autumn and spring always bring about big changes in the horses routine. It’s a natural shift with it being the end of the season and also they move to their winter grazing. I quite like the feeling of prepping for winter and planning some easier months of training or months off entirely.

This year Qantas will be spending winter in Wales, because of his injury he just won’t cope on the slippy, sticky, slopy clay winter field at my livery. So he’ll be much better off on the sandy only slightly muddy fields of Wales. I could stable him over Winter but he just doesn’t like the stable at my livery, he stresses, he rears and he does tiny laps creating some kind of shavings velodrome. Plus I truly believe that he’ll be better off moving and using his shoulder. In my head we stopped doing bed rest for human patients long ago and yes it’s much easier to tell a human to take it easy but I avoid box rest if I can.

Tissy is going to give being barefoot a go over winter. She always has a few months off without shoes every year but normally that’s because I’m not riding her. This year I’m keeping her ticking over so she doesn’t loose too much muscle or fitness but as the fields like to steal horseshoes on a weekly basis over winter and she won’t be doing that much, coupled with the fact her feet are really good, I thought I’d give barefoot a go. So any tips are greatly appreciated. Kevin Bacons horse products have kindly sent me their Hoof formula to ensure her feet stay in tip top condition and I’m excited to try something different.

I love having crew. You don’t need crew in Endurance until you make it up to 80km races but if possible I like to have them there from day one of a horses career for many reasons. Firstly it’s just nice to have a team around you, people to help, a smiling face if you’ve had a tough section, someone to cheer you when you finish and snacks are always much appreciated!

But mainly for my horses welfare and education. Now I am NOT saying that doing Endurance without crew is poor for horse welfare, not at all and actually quite the contrary, I think riders without crew ride slower, pay more attention to natural water sources out on course and ride to the terrain and their horses energy levels more than a rider who knows they can re-fuel at the next stop. But at the higher levels of endurance crewing is an enormous part of success.

A good crew will get a tired horse and rider around a competition where others wouldn’t by carefully managing their horse and rider throughout. But when the horse and rider are on form and the crew are experienced they can mean the difference between winning and losing. If they are drilled and efficient and know the horse well, you can overtake people and make up so much time in a vet gate. If they know the horse inside out they know if they need to slow it up and give it extra hydration or let it run through and just take sloshes to keep the pace up.

They know when a rider has lost their logic and veered from the ride plan and can put them right in a crew point or give a good pep talk to put them in the right mindset for the next loop. At a race a horse will have four crew buzzing around it and be expected to relax so I feel the sooner crew are involved in a horses career the better they will take that intensive care when they get racing.

If you can take sloshes without breaking your rhythm, you know which type of water your horse prefers at each distance, you know how their heart sounds and how the heart rate reacts to certain things, if your crew know the horse and the horse knows the crew long before you do your first race you’re setting yourself up for success.