First of all why has no one ever told me about the magic of natural bristle brushes…..I have used synthetic brushes, probably in a pink childs set from the age of 2 until now with my grown up KBF99 blue set. Now don’t get me wrong, they last years and years and well they haven’t died yet so maybe decades and they brush really well, clean up nicely and basically get mud off my horses. But the revelation of using natural bristle swooshy brushes is next level amazing!

I got this set for my birthday and put them straight in the lorry to be my competition grooming kit….Azid went lame, COVID happened, they’ve never been used 16months later. Qantas has some skin issues and I don’t want to use the same brushes on him and the others, I don’t actually know if it’s a thing to have separate grooming kits for your horses?, maybe I should have had more sets all along. But anyway rather than buy new brushes just for him I thought why not just use my fancy pants set.

I’m a firm believer in most areas of life that you shouldn’t save stuff for best but use the stuff that makes you feel good, does a great job and makes everything feel like ‘best’. So why I tucked my brushes away in the lorry I’m not sure. Anyway here’s a link to the new brushes. I’d love to know any hints or tips from people who have used them before.

And onto the rain! So what was going to be Q’s first ever competitive ride got cancelled. I love the Red Dragon Ride, going back to my home country, riding through the hills, it’s breathtaking, it’s unpredictable, it’s an adventure and it steals your soul. But it just wasn’t meant to be. Myself and my family had all taken time off work for the competition so instead decided to go mountain biking together.

Red Dragon is renowned for it’s unpredictable and stereotypically welsh weather (rain) and the forecast didn’t disappoint, it poured down and it blew a gail. So instead of getting wet and cold crewing and riding we got wet and cold biking instead and actually I enjoyed every second!

My horses are pretty low maintenance…..or am I low maintenance and my horses are unlucky to have me? Whichever way around it is when I’m not riding after work I do very little in the way of horsey care. Granted that makes my autumn yard routine pretty boring but I wanted to put it out there that actually not everyone has complex lengthy uber fancy yard routines and it’s ok to be basic.

So obviously I have 3 horses and 1 stable, all my life my horses have lived out 24/7 and are rugged up for the worsening weather. They have all had stints of stabling due to injuries and Tissy was stabled in the run up to big races to get her used to it. This winter will be the first time I will actually have a horse in overnight.

Tissy is missing some teeth and has some TMJ arthritis which means she finds chewing hay and haylage pretty hard work over winter. The winter gone was the first time we noticed her tilting her head and really struggling with chewing, it meant she dropped quite a bit of weight and at the time I didn’t have a stable at the yard I’m at.

So I snapped a stable up when the opportunity came and thank goodness I did because I’ve had two of my horses on lengthy box rests this year but most importantly it means that Tissy will be able to come in overnight in winter to have a big bucket of speedibeet as a haylage replacement. Which we hope will be easy for her to eat and thus maintain better condition.

Anyway, seeing as the grass is still good enough not to need to supplement with haylage right now they’re all still living out in their summer fields, and will probably moving to the winter fields sometime soon. Which means all I do on a non-riding evening is grab their feeds, check them over, top up their water, poo pick and go home. What does everyone else do when they’re not riding? Am I missing out on horsey care?

I thought I’d give Westgate Labs worm count service a go. For many years I’ve followed the old school routine of Equest in the spring, Equest Pramox in the Autumn and never thought much about it other than to make sure I popped in my diary what I’d used and the date so I knew for next time.

But with worms becoming ever more resistant to the drugs available and a genuine interest in what’s lurking in my horses guts I thought I’d up my worming routine game. Now I didn’t do the Saliva Tapeworm tests, mainly because I was keeping costs down but I think I’ll do that one next time. What I did get was the pinworm and the red worm test kits from Westgate Labs.

The kit arrived really quickly, was super straight forward and easy to package up and post back. Now if they come back and don’t need worming I’ve saved myself £20 in total, as the wormers usually cost around £60, if they do need worming then I guess I’ve spent £44 more than I needed to. But money aside it will be interesting to see what the results are!

For the first time in a long time I had a weekend where all 3 of my horses came out the field to do something. Granted Azid was just a trot up for the vet, but still it’s something!

It was a pretty busy weekend, meeting new training buddies (Thanks Lucy), getting far too excited about a DIY rug rack (Thanks Will), grooming and trotting Azid up and generally bumbling around doing jobs.

Tissy had an awesome time at Prestwold. Qantas did 20mins of Pessosa and then we learnt a new lunging technique to help him with weight shift, balance and bend, we’re going to spend the winter really working on evening him up. And Azid…..well as you can see got quite exuberant about trotting up!

He’s not sound yet but he’s sound-er and actually looking pretty good generally. Things are on the up for him and as soon as he’s been field sound for 4 weeks he can start training/rehab….again. I’m hoping to send him back for a few weeks on the hydro treadmill….again. Maybe this time I’ll finally get to ride him after weeks of rehab.

The day to day equestrian life is pretty much 80% looking after your horse 20% doing whichever activity you bought your horse to do in the first place. So horse care is a daily thing, picking out and oiling hooves, feeding, watering, choosing the appropriate rug (the never ending checking of your BBC weather app to check whether your rug choice was the right one today), picking up their poo, grooming, patching up wounds and fixing whichever rug you chose to put on.

But then there are the extras, that aren’t a daily occurrence but are still an essential part of your horsey life. Now you can go bare minimum or every discipline, therapist, clinician and appointment you can think of.

For me my ‘extras’ are the farrier, who comes every 5-6 weeks. The equine dentist who comes every 6 months to a year. The vet, who comes pretty much monthly if you own a horse like Azid but definitely once a year for flu vaccinations. The Osteo/Physio/Chiro, who I get out every 3 months as standard or more regularly if we’re competing at FEI or there’s an issue and that’s about it.

What does everyone else have? What would you classify as extras?

How do people like to structure their canter training? I use it in four different ways. I start with interval training then progress to hill canter reps and when they start to do races and FEI I add in continuous and speed work.

• Interval: Ratios of walk, trot and canter that adapt based on fitness levels with a change in canter lead every 30s.
• Hill: Canter repetitions on a steep hill changing lead every rep
• Continuous: Picking a certain speed to train at based on the past speed pass rate for my next ride, I like to figure out the stats for each loop of my next race and then train at the speed they are most likely to complete at and also the max speed to win the last loop. I then change canter lead every 2minutes.
• Speed: I go to an all weather gallop for this one and change lead every set, with 1km steady canter and then a full blast 1km.

Canter training doesn’t even appear in my training programme until 3 months in and then towards the end of the season it probably accounts for 60% of my training. This is just because training is much more effective if you do it in blocks focusing on one element at a time, changing the stimulus and way the muscles are worked is better for fitness and strength rather than sticking to the same routine for months.

First of all just look at Tissy’s little ears in the video, there is no denying how much she loves being on the trail and I love her for it. Always keen, always forward and seems to have a never ending supply of energy, which I would very much appreciate if she spent less of it spooking at ridiculous things such as purple flowers……but still it’s great to have a pony who is speedy, sure footed and loves to run!

We’re starting to explore Cannock a bit more, mountain biking around the chase has given me more confidence in where to go and where I am, so I feel much better taking my horses around by myself. In all honesty I don’t know why I’m so chicken about going to new unknown places to train, with Tissy I feel like I can go anywhere, but with the boys I just don’t feel confident enough in them to safely navigate around somewhere I don’t know, and I don’t want to end up miles away from the lorry with a grumpy tired gelding.

But I’m starting to venture further afield from the yard for training now, looking for quality and variation. Mainly for a bit more fun and enjoyment. I tend to scout out a potential training venue with trusty Tissy and then take Qantas (Azid maybe one day if he’s ever not injured) later, once I know the layout a bit better.

Talking of one day Azid not being injured. He’s now back in the field with the other two and healing really well, we still have a way to go but seeing as the vet wasn’t sure he’d make it a few days past the injury, we are so glad to have his silly little face bouncing around the field. I’ve stocked up the first aid bags in preparation for his next exploits.

My firm favourite items in a first aid bag are:

• Cotton wool
• Softban
• Conforming bandage
• Vet wrap
• Saline or some sort of sterile wash
• Gauze
• A woundcream
• A topical spray like iodine
• A barrier spray like aluspray
• Hydrocolloid dressings
• Foam dressings
• EAB wrap

I’ve got a few other bits and bobs like scissors, clamps, syringes, suture kits, pressure gel pads, bite cream etc but I feel you can sort out just about anything with that list, at least tide you over until a vet arrives anyway. What would you say are first aid must haves?

It can be difficult to comprehend what you need to do to start Endurance and make it up through the levels, with so many different numbers and distances available, so here is a quick guide to progressing in Endurance.

Pleasure Rides

• Minimum age of horse: 4yo
• Up to 32km
• Pass a trot up before and after the ride
• Max speed 12kph

Novice

• Minimum age of horse: 5yo
• 20-50km
• Full vetting
• 15kph Max speed
• Complete 5 Novice rides to upgrade

Open

• Minimum age of horse: 6yo
• Up to 90km Graded Endurance Rides
• Full Vetting
• 18kph Max speed
• Complete 2x 65-80km (one of which must be 80km) to upgrade

Advanced

• Minimum age of horse: 7yo
• No maximum distance: Usually 160km in one day
• Graded rides capped at 18kph
• No maximum speed for competitive endurance rides

FEI

• To do a 1* your horse must be a minimum age of 6yo and have completed 2x 40-70km and 2x 80-100km at a maximum speed of 16kph
• To do a 2* your horse must be a minimum age of 7yo and have completed a minimum 2 out of 3 consecutive 1*’s.
• To do a 3* your horse must be a minimum age of 8yo and have completed a minimum 2 out of 3 consecutive 2*s.

Senior Championships

• Minimum age of horse: 9yo
• Must have completed 2x 3*
• Need to be selected by the National Federation to represent Team GBR

Please check the current rules on the Endurance GB and FEI sites as these may not be correct and up to date.

First of all I am no expert, but I thought it might still be interesting to share the elements that go into training my endurance horses. So we’re starting off with the most simple, Pessoa work. Now this is how I like to use it, there will be many other ways to do so, and I would love to hear your tips and pointers.

First of all I start by getting them used to lunging, the hind end piece and the front piece separately. Then I like to take them for in hand walks with the Pessoa on so they get used to the way it moves before moving onto lunging.

Once we get to lunging in the Pessoa I slowly start to introduce trot. So I would start with doing a max of 10minutes total, 8 minutes walk, 2 minutes trot and then work my way up to doing 30minutes of continuous trotting.

I use it mainly at the start of the season for the first 12 weeks, for the younger horses a total of once a week and once they have finished growing, are balanced and strong up to twice a week. Once they’ve moved onto the speed or stamina block of training I tend to use lunging much less as it’s more a foundation block for me rather than a fittening tool. I also love to add some poles once they’ve got used to it so that it encourages them to use their hind end even more.

It’s also a great way for me to see how they move, monitor their progress and for them to do some work without me hindering them with my own asymmetries. Taking video from that perspective and comparing it month to month is so satisfying because you can really start to see a difference.

Does anyone else ever get bored of the same old hacking routes? I grew up in an Endurance riders heaven. Literally hundreds of miles of open hill and forestry to explore, with hills and canter sections galore. Moving to the midlands was a bit of a shock to my system, when I realised a hack without a busy main road didn’t exist unless I boxed out 40minutes.

I don’t know any other endurance riders in the area and no one at my yard really hacks out and explores so I felt a bit lost when I first moved. I bought OS maps for the surrounding areas and every weekend tried out a new section of the map. I found that I was always doing 75% tarmac to get to a bit of good going.

Over the years I’ve slowly found a few good spots, but nothing will ever compare to the glorious welsh hills, rolling valleys, lakes and rivers of my teens. My biggest battle with the local bridleways is access, not many people seem to use them so they get overgrown so quickly and I’m not sure who to contact to clear them.

I’m still trying new places and exploring different areas in the hope of finding something exceptional. I don’t mind boxing out to get there, as long as it’s worth the journey and parking is almost certainly going to be available. I would love more than anything to have a training buddy and a good 20km loop to ride on, any takers?