After one too many times forgetting to charge my GPS, forgetting to put it on my wrist and then forgetting where I put it, I decided to give a horse activity tracker a go.

I’ve seen lots of people use Equilab and it gives a nice breakdown of the paces, transitions, turns and speed so I thought I’d test out its’s accuracy by testing it against my GPS watch. Turns out they matched up pretty well and seeing as I always have my phone on me it makes a great alternative to my watch for everyday training.

Although for big training rides and competition I’ll use my watch as it gives a current and average speed, current distance and also can be used as a HR monitor.

Also, exciting news, Qantas has been entered into his first Novice ride, the Red Dragon 42km at the start of October so fingers crossed viruses, horse injuries, human injuries, vehicle breakdowns or any other ride cancelling drama will remain at bay.

Qantas has been deemed ready for his first pleasure ride, yay!!! Two weeks out from our first 16km organised ride I decided to take Qantas on what is as close to the real thing as possible.

We gave him a mini vetting, passed horses, let horses pass him, rode in a pair and by himself. Crossed water, went past scary things and crewed him at the end.

So now he’s hit my criteria for doing his first ride:

• Well fitting and comfortable tack
• Loading and travelling well
• Easily achieving 8km at home
• Safe alone and in company
• Good at practice vettings
• Achieveing a HR under 64bpm within 10mins

Qantas really did smash all of them and I’m so excited to see how he does when we go on our first proper outing.

We had great fun at the Livery when Baileys Horse Feeds came to see all the horses, I hadn’t really realised that yard visits and nutritional advice was free so I jumped at the chance at getting to see Sarah from the Baileys Team when my ponies came out of lock down looking a bit on the chubby side of life and not in full training.

Over the years I’ve toiled over active ingredients, papers on efficacy, comparing products from different brands, making lists and lists of the optimum nutrition and the best products for my horses needs. It was so nice to have someone way more qualified take that burden away from me and plan my horses diets.

I wasn’t really sure what would happen at a yard visit so I thought I’d share the experience. I firstly looked on their website and found the body condition scoring page super useful. So I weightaped and scored my horses myself before Sarah arrived just to see how accurate I could be and compare where I went wrong with her findings.

When Sarah arrived she asked me all about each horse, temperament, training level, how they hold and loose weight, feeding regimes, their management, literally everything about them. Then she weightaped, scored and then weighbridged each of them. Now as with humans weighing isn’t really an accurate indication of fitness and health, muscle weighs more than fat so actually measuring the tummy and assessing muscle tone and fat deposits, just as we would with humans, is a much better and more accurate way to continually assess our horses than using actual weight, which is good new really, as I don’t own a weighbridge.

After that we went through their feed options, what to give when, how I can adapt it to training load and condition. How I can use feed during competition and the nutritional needs of my horses versus what each product can give. It was really nice to get another pair of eyes on my horses and have the backing of their knowledge to help me achieve the best possible feed plan for the results I wanted to achieve.

Sarah had lot’s of tips from what scoops and cups to use for which feed, the digestive system of a horse, how to make fussy horses drink, to how much a horses stomach can hold and easily absorb the nutrients within the feed. So here’s the video of our day, let’s hope the next time Sarah sees my horses they’re looking sleeker, fitter and musclier.

Azid has been on box rest for 6 weeks, 3 weeks on shavings and three weeks on wood pellets. After a few weeks on the wood pellet bedding from Blue Ribbon it’s safe to say it has delivered on its promises. We’ve only had to pop an extra bag in once a week which works out as £4.61 a week (individual bags are more expensive than a pallet), whereas on shavings I was spending £6.75- £10.12 depending on how much wet Azid was creating.

Pros:

• Sustainable
• Cheap-ish (Compared to shavings, that’s around a £200 saving per horse, per year)
• Low waste
• Next to no odour
• Easy to remove poo and wet (The wet is now a tiny amount and it kind of all holds together like play-do)

Cons:

• Can get dusty if you don’t add enough water
• Doesn’t look as pretty as shavings
• Heavier in comparison to shavings to throw up

So all in all we’re very happy after all our research that Blue Ribbon has met our expectations and wishes for a functional, comfortable bedding for our horses. Long may the lovely pine forest smell emanate from our stable.

After filming this I realised I do not clean my saddles enough….so what do people use to clean their tack? How often do you do it? and do you have any top tips? I need sparkly well kept tack inspiration. Now don’t get me wrong I’ll give my saddles a quick wipe fairly often and my bridles get rinsed down all the time, but an actual proper clean, well as you see in the video, not so much.

After research into bedding I found that https://blueribbonhorsebedding.co.uk/ ticked all of my boxes. It’s sustainable, natrual, the packaging is recyclable, it’s meant to be low waste, highly biodegradable, quick to muck out, comfy and not too dusty. I mean it sounds like the dream bedding.

I watched some set up tutorials from one of their ambassadors and fellow endurance rider, Bella Fricker. I would say when setting up we learnt that you need to leave a few inches of bag intact the whole way round so that water doesn’t seep out (rookie error) and actually we needed more like 7-10 litres per bag to stop it being dusty, with more water the bedding is a bit like memory foam, it’s not wet at all, but it kind of bounces back when you squidge it, very satisfying.

So the test will be over the next few weeks as to whether it lives up to it’s claims but on first impressions I like it a lot. Do people have favourite beddings? I know some love the look of big golden straw banks and others the ease of throwing up shavings, it’s funny really. Everyone has different needs, budgets, accessibility, so I guess there isn’t one supreme bedding to rule over them all, but I’m hoping Blue Ribbon does a pretty decent job at trying.

This little video also features a handy ‘how to set a corral up’ and the equipment you need for any newbies thinking of doing an overnight stop with their horse. Would be cool to hear how other people like to set up their corrals. I’d highly recommend setting up a corral and practicing at home too before you do it at an event.

I like to have the corner posts facing out so the foot pedal is facing in as that’s the direction the strain of the tape pulls, so they’re less likely to bend over and then the middle posts facing in so if a horse pushes on it for some reason it’s more likely to hold.

I have a pet hate about water buckets, I hate to see them in corners, dark corners of stables, corners in fields or in a corral. I think putting your head in a corner can’t be very nice and seeing as horses are prey animals I would have thought they’d prefer to drink somewhere with a decent view of the surroundings and away from scary stuff. Is this just me? Anyone else out there feel the same?

Azid is doing surprisingly well and is pretty happy in himself, each time the vet comes, which is every 4 days, he’s having to have more of the flap cut back because it’s healing too quickly and the skin won’t attach, this means we keep cutting through arteries and blood goes EVRYWHERE, we had so much the other day we actually scooped it up with a pooper scoop! Then we have to wait for it to clot before applying another bandage, it does make it look horrendous every time and you think you’re going backwards but long term this will hopefully mean less scar tissue and the skin will close up quicker. Azid is being very well behaved for everything but he always gets runny eyes when he’s sedated which makes him look like he’s crying as the vet chops bit off him, you can imagine that makes you feel very sorry for him and is a little bit heartbreaking to see. It’s just runny eyes though, horses don’t cry right?

For the first time in my 7 years of being a livery I have a stable, I’ve been on full 24/7 grass livery since leaving home. When I searched for liveries I really wanted somewhere with big open paddocks, that wouldn’t restrict winter turnout and that would allow 24/7 grass livery all year round. As a kid we never stabled our horses unless it was for box rest, although we had a stable block, we were lucky to have enough acres that we could rotate fields and the ground was a mix of sand and rock so never got super muddy.

I found an absolute gem of a livery in where I am now. They are super laid back in terms of how you manage your horses and allow you to make changes as long as they are beneficial to the yard or fields. It’s a small livery with 12 horses, the owner lives on site and everyone is super lovely. You know if anyone ever saw anything out of place it would be sorted and also you never feel judged about how you manage your horse or choose to ride.

So when a stable came up for grabs and I was in a position to take it, I did. Tissy is struggling to keep weight on in winter as issues with her jaw and teeth mean chewing is harder. So now is an ideal time to start bringing her in as soon as haylage needs putting out so she can be on a fibre replacement feed overnight and out in the day.

The stable we have is a lovely old brick stable with trough at the back and I wanted to give it some TLC so it could be fit for the Queen Tissy is. So we washed it, concreted the floors, painted the walls and now it’s even more bright and airy, it’s just a lovely space to be in so I hope she appreciates the effort.

Hydration is one of the most important but often forgotten elements of sport both human and equine. I train my horses to be good drinkers, although as the old saying goes ‘You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink’, I have found that with consistency you more or less can.

So in competition I offer three pony beverages:

• Plain Water
• Aqua-aide
• Sugar Beet water

The training starts at home, I always offer them a drink before I ride and after and I mix up what’s on offer from the three options. Aqua-aide is like pony squash, the sugar content means it’s very palatable, it really does smell yummy, and without fail they guzzle it up. I’m ok with offering something with added sugar if it means they instantly drink 15 litres. So I start with that for the first few weeks. Then start switching it out for plain every now and again. I’ll even wander into the field and offer it up, or mid way through a schooling session.

The consistency of when I give it to them seems to mean that more often than not my horses drink the whole thing whenever they’re offered a bucket. But you also need to get to know them. For instance Tissy will drink before a competition and in training whenever you give it to her but during the first 40km she’s not interested. Azid will drink whenever it’s offered, whatever he’s doing and Qantas is still a work in progress.

I guess I’ve been really lucky with my horses, never having a ‘bad drinker’. But if you do struggle with keeping your horse hydrated you can try this recipe from Baileys Horse feeds in the video below.

For about 33% of the time I’ve owned Azid he has been injured, his curiosity combined with lack of courage makes for a spooky, act now, think later, suffer the consequences attitutde. Which unsurprisingly quite often leads to some injury or other.

This time I broke my hand riding my mountain bike, just 6 weeks after breaking my ribs falling off Qantas filming the slosh bottle training video. For Azid we will never know what happened as there is no evidence in the field other than the pools of blood strewn across the land and the blood spattered rug.

When the vet arrived I was pretty worried that this was it for Azid, although the wound doesn’t look bad at first glance, you could put a finger down inside his hoof, two bits of loose bone were flushed out, he’d severed some arteries (which he was very lucky clotted in the field) and there was a real risk of joint involvement, infection, nerve damage and the coronet band was mushed. We’re crossing everything in the hope that the hood grows, the joints are fine, his nerves will be ok and later down the line not compressed by scar tissue. The future is pretty uncertain but for now he’s still with us and his silly little face makes me smile over the stable door everyday.

So here are the injury diaries of Azid for the past year…..

July 2019

I decided to be lame the week before Euston Park, I was meant to be doing 80km but I didn’t feel like it so I’m being lame on my right fore, this seemed like a good option because it’s also the leg I scraped on that branch the other day, so my human might think they’re related, plausible story right there.

My plan of missing Euston has gone a bit OTT. I’m still lame and now my human is taking me to the vets. Literally driving me there at 7:30am and abandoning me to their evil devices, apparently she has to go to work and can’t be at my every beck and call. Rude!

I refused to go in the vets stable or their scary barn…….Mwhaha! They had to bring all their equipment out to me in the yard. One of them breached my perimeter and now I feel very sleepy……it’s a full on invasion…..3 of them with their blocks and bone picture machine!

My human has arrived to take me home, thank god, this lot have made me trot up and down on every surface they could find and then not content with that made me do it all over again in circles. I couldn’t be bothered to do the left one so one of the vets had to run around the lunge pen with me while the other watched, at least I got my own back for them making me sleepy and he was a bit out of breath, would never keep up with me at a competition that’s for sure.

Home sweet home, though my field has shrunk considerably….hmmm. Tissy said she’s had to do it before and it’s called restricted turnout. I mean how am I meant to run and play and leap in a paddock this size, better get sound quick so I can go back to the life I have been accustomed to. I’m not happy with this new regime.

August 2019

I have been sound now for a couple of weeks and my human has started relentlessly taking me for walks, up hills, over poles, around the block, in the sand school, she won’t stop and she won’t let me have any fun, like trotting or spinning or basically anything, she’s so boring.

I am the best at stretches, I can get my nose all the way to my bum and I can do the bestest bow, my human seems really happy with this so maybe she might let me trot soon. My Physio is on maternity leave having a human foal so apparently this new person, an Osteopath, is coming to see me, this doesn’t sound good. I liked my Physio, she gave the best scratches and rubs, what if the Osteo-ma-pathy-thing is mean.

Osteopath lady has been, wasn’t so bad, she moved me around a lot and declared me ready for ‘increased work’, this sounds bad, I hope it means trotting though. It’s just I’m a bit busy to have increased work, with the grazing, annoying Tissy, snoozing, messing around in the field (which thankfully is back to full size) my schedule is just too full!

I needn’t have panicked, we’ve got rid of most the walking and now we’re trotting, yay yay yaaaay! Trotting is much more fun, I can spook and spin way better. Plus I think I look super fancy and handsome when I do this cool floaty trot and snort a lot, all the mares love it!

September 2019

I’m back in training, my human tells me that we’ve missed all the competitions now so I’ll have to wait until next year, she didn’t seem happy, it’s a shame because I like going to competitions, I get all the attention from everyone, I just have to whiney and they’re there will 3 types of food, 3 types of drink, rugs, massages, kisses, everything you could ever want. Maybe being lame was a silly idea. I won’t do it again.

November 2019

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ocuh, OUCH!!!! The worst thing has happened my back foot hurts, like really really hurts, no one has even been in this much pain in their whole entire lives, I might not make it to tomorrow. Tell Tissy she can have my grass.

The vets came again, said I was only ‘mildly lame’, the cheek, I was dying I tell you! They say I have side bone in all four of my feet, which apparently is weird for my age, breed, exercise schedule and everything. I always knew I was special. So they don’t think it will cause me any issues once it’s settled. My human has spent all day reading research papers telling me I’m going to have to change career, or I’ll be fine, or I might never be ridden, or I’ll be fine, or I might get arthritis, or I’ll be fine. Apparently the research is variable to say the least.

Anyway I’ve been told we’re back at square one. I mean this is hardly my fault it just happened and it’s almost winter anyway so who want’s to be out training in the rain and mud, I go all wooly and get rug mane. How is a handsome chap like myself meant to put his best foot forward (which incidentally is my left fore, never let me down that one) when I look like a scruffy bog pony.

December 2019

I regret the very day I let myself be a total wimp and went lame. A new horse has arrived. Apparently as a back up plan to me. I’m furious, I do not need a back up plan, I’m the most handsome, most athletic pony here, I have buckets full of potential, all the vets at the competitions say so. They say I’m a fine looking horse and you go and get a Plan B, who is he anyway!!!!

Qantas his name is, he’s all dashing silky mane, his forelock drapes over his eyes like he’s the pony Justin Bieber. Well I’ll show him who’s boss around here, I won’t let him eat at my hay station and I won’t let him talk to Tissy, respect has to be earnt around here Plan B!

I love Qantas, he is my best buddy, we play together, snooze together, eat together, sometimes we go for walks together. It’s the bestest having a buddy that gets me. Tissy just rolls her eyes and tells me to stop being such a boisterous boy then she swishes her tail at me and walks off. But Qantas grooms me and follows me around and I have to teach him everything I know so he can follow in my amazing hoof steps.

January 2020

Apparently I’m still on rest and I’m being left, LEFT I tell you, in Wales because the ground is better in these fields. I mean yes it’s not all deep and sticky and hard to move but still I do not deserve to be left anywhere, especially with this herd of Welsh mountain horses, what if they’re mean to me.

I watched Tissy and Qantas leave in the lorry, I screamed all day but no one came to load me up and take me back with them. I hate my human.

February 2020

I love my human, she came back for me and I got these treats that were amazing, they were called Stud Muffins, so totally made for me! We’re going back to the Midlands and we’re starting rehab again. I have to suffer the weeks of walking all over again.

The vets have declared me sound!! Woop woop! I told them all I was talented and amazing and I was totally going to be fine. I don’t know why they spent so much time inspecting and feeling and worrying and then watching me move and poking and prodding. I tried to tell them but humans hey!

My right front foot is ouchy, AGAIN! Apparently this time it’s an abscess, damn that clay mud! It’s burst out near the top of my hoof and it smells DISGUSTING! Someone get me the citronella spray to cover it up, no mare will come near me like this.

It took me a whole 2 and a half weeks to get over the trauma of having an abscess, the farrier said I would be fine but he doesn’t know the shame of being a limpy smelly pony.

April 2020

So I was meant to start trotting but erm Qantas broke my humans rib so it’s now delayed a whole four weeks. Like so not cool Qantas. Apparently my human could ride me really but she doesn’t trust me to not to be silly. I’m quite frankly deeply offended, I only ever dragged her along the road once and that was because there was something terrifying in the hedge, we could have been eaten if it wasn’t for my quick thinking.

May 2020

I overhead my human saying I was being sent to bootcamp. I’ve consulted Tissy and we have no idea what this is.

So we’ve been on the lorry for about 2 hrs on the way to this bootcamp and we get off the lorry, my human takes me to this barn with actual water in the middle, like a long giant puddle. I’ve been put in a stable (she’s abandoned me again) and I’ve watched as they’ve taken each pony out one by one and made them splash around in the puddle, they’re working their way along the stable line…..it looks like I only have a matter of time until they make me do the puddle thing, send help.

June 2020

I have had 3 weeks of this puddle thing, at the start it was super hard and I don’t know why everyone was doing it or why these humans were taking so much interest in me. But now I feel super fine, I look all fit and sleek, my muscles are hench and I’m feeling extra sassy. I mean I look amazing, like one of those FEI ponies we always see at competitions. I’m sure I heard I was meant to be one of them some day, is this how it happens? They get in the magic puddle and voila, extreme endurance race pony.

One of the other ponies opposite said he is an actual real life, been to the World Championships, FEI endurance pony and he laughed at me. Actually laughed and said I knew nothing and had a very long way to go. I felt a bit embarrassed really but I wasn’t about to admit it, I’ll show him, one day!!

July 2020

My human has recently decided to ride mountain bikes, I mean are we not enough! But whilst doing this has broken her hand. Which yet again has delayed my journey to being a fantastic FEI pony, can’t a guy catch a break. I’m ready, I’m waiting to be saddled up and throw myself into training.

I threw myself into something else, I’m not telling anyone what it was, I have left no clues so it will always remain a mystery, just as well because everyone seems a bit angry with me. They found me in the field, and I’m not going to lie, I’m glad they’d come to get me, my left foot (the one that’s never let me down until now) is super ouchy, my rug got sprayed in blood because every few seconds my foot spurted it out. I look like someone has taken a good wedge out the back of my foot, I can see all the bones and everything.

They called the vet, they spent hooooooours stitching me, there was a lot of blood, I have this stupid bandage on now and have to stay in a stable. It’s not even MY stable because the stupid human put a new concrete floor down in my stable just this morning so I can’t even use it.

I’ve been doing pretty well really, scraping my teeth on the bars, doing some digging, snoozing that kind of thing but I’m boooooored!! So today I thought I wouldn’t eat much, not do any wee’s or poo’s and see how much it makes my human panic.

It so totally worked, she’s taking my heart rate, listening to gut sounds, walking me around and giving me hand picked sloppy grass, I even got given the Aqua aide drink, which is my favourite so I drank it all. I decided after all their effort to do one poo in return. Everyone seemed much happier then. They said they’d tell on me though and the vet would know and that he’s coming back tomorrow, spoil sports!

Today I escaped, ha! I bent my knees extra low and commando pony’d under the stable chain while she was mucking out. I splashed in all the puddles, I trotted all around and didn’t let anyone get me. I ate some grass, munched on some tree branches, made my dressing REALLY wet because the lovely long grass had water droplets all over it, and it was so yummy. They got me in the end though, lulled me into a false sense of security with some scratches and then, boom, head collar on. I thought I was going to get the biggest telling off, she always means business when she calls me ‘HS Beyazid you little sh*t’, but actually my human seemed more pleased about how sound I am, winning.

They spiked me with the evil sleepy juice again. They took off all the bandages which was lovely, bit of fresh air on the legs! Then lots of prodding happened, the vet even took pictures of my wound, apparently he’s impressed. I mean what else do they expect I’m amazing and one day will be a fantastic FEI pony. Although there was some chat about me ‘not being out of the woods’ …..I haven’t even been in any woods recently and I’m most certainly not in one now, humans are weird. He bandaged me back up, which was a shame, I was hoping after the sleepy juice wore off I’d be allowed back out with my buddies, being in a stable is soooo boring, I have been in here forever humans!

Today they put this boot thing over my bandage and I was allowed out in the tiniest field you’ve ever seen, even tinnier than the field they put me in when we go away to competitions, barely bigger than the stable. But I’m going to be so good, I’m going to stay in my tiny field and be quiet and eat grass and they will think I’m the bestest behaved pony, I don’t want to blow this chance because it’s so nice to be outside and eat all the grass even if it’s not even big enough for a Shetland!

I just couldn’t do it, I tried sooooo HARD to be good. But there were ponies going on hacks past me and the pony in the next door field was going on adventures and I just wanted to run around and be free like the wind. I’m an arab, I was born to run with my mane flowing behind me and my nostrils flaring in the air. So I broke out my teeny tiny corral cage and trotted like the superstar I am all around the field, best day EVER!

Worst day ever, my human said due to bad behaviour I am now confined to my stable apart from sometimes when she has time to watch me in the tiny field. I knew this would happen, she just doesn’t get that I need to be free, I tried I really did, I wanted to be good but it’s just not in my nature and now I have to pay for being who I am. At least she brings grass in a big bucket twice a  day, otherwise I might die of starvation. I only have hay in a bucket and a haylage net, and carrots, and apples and swede on a string and salt lick and a molasses lick and feed twice a day. I might starve I tell you!

I’ve been given a second chance to prove I can behave and stay in the tiny field, after two days of confinement I will do ANYTHING to go out in fresh air and munch green grass and feel the breeze in my mane. I still get put back in the stable overnight and when it’s rainy because I have to keep this bandage dry and every 5 days the vet comes and blood goes everywhere but all in all I get lots of attention and cuddles so life is pretty good.

What tips and tricks does everyone have for fitting tack? Do you have rules of thumb? What do you look for and how do you decided whether something fits properly or not?

It’s not something I do often, I have one bridle for each of my horses and two spares (one for the crew car and one for the vet gate). So that means I only ever have to ‘fit’ tack once for every horse. Biothane tack lasts such a long time and my taste hasn’t really wavered from my navy and white combos for over a decade so I just don’t need to buy and fit tack very often. But well fitting comfortable tack is surely a major part of having a happy performance horse.

With Endurance tack the headpiece of our bridle isn’t very tight, it is basically a headcollar so we don’t have the complexities of which nose band to buy and anatomical fittings because they just aren’t causing any pressure. For me I’d like a fingers width of space behind the ears, a couple of fingers under the noseband and throatlash and a maximum 2 wrinkles around the bit for the headpiece tightness. If possible I like the headpiece buckles to be away from the eyeline too. I think I might need to get Qantas a slightly longer browband as there isn’t much room behind his ears or around the front, what do you think?

The breastplate is one of the most important fits for me. I want to make sure that shoulder movement isn’t being restricted, that they’re not put off drinking and putting their heads down, I don’t want any rub points but neither do we want too much flapping around and movement. I tend to have a hands width between the sternum and the strap, and 4 fingers width for the shoulder straps.

I’m really grateful to my friend Sue who got me the bridle for my Birthday from https://www.pioneerendurance.com/ and my brother who got me the reins for Christmas. We’ll see how the white padding fares, it will get a lot of use because I use the same tack for training and competition because I like to be totally confident in what I’m using, I guess I could get identical tack for home and out and about but I still think I’d prefer to race in what I know.