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Gilbert – Horse of a Lifetime
Some horse enter your life in the most unassuming of ways but once there change your world irrevocably. Wizard, aka Gilbert was one such horse. He was a 15.2ish Warmblood cross bred by a local stud ‘Riverside’, by the imported stallion Monopol famous for his ability to buck. I’ve sat down several times now to…
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Winning on a made horse
After a brilliant ride on Nonie yesterday afternoon I once again found myself musing an oft expressed sentiment in the horse world, ‘Winning on a made horse will never be as good as winning on a horse you’ve trained yourself’. I have to say this one really rubs me up the wrong way. Firstly, I…
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Celeris bespoke boots – Product review
I used to joke that top boots are the dressage riders equivalent of ballet pointe slippers, so I was delighted when I discovered Celeris Bespoke boots. In my opinion, these boots are the ultimate when it comes to style, elegance and comfort. I swore off top boots after an initial bad experience with another brand,…
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Hydration – The Other Equestrian Athlete
Fluids, not the sexiest of topics, but you know what is definitely not sexy? Dehydration. This week, as part of my series on nutrition and ‘The other equestrian athlete’ I want to talk about an often underrated topic – Hydration. Due to the format of equestrian sports food and nutrition plays a lesser role than it does…
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Blogger Recognition Award Pet Edition 2017
This week I was pretty excited to find out that I had been nominated by Bridle and Bone, Roosa’s Horsey Life and Team Tunnah Eventing for the Blogger Recognition Award – Pet Edition. These ladies have been blogging much longer than me and run brilliant sites, so it was a huge honor to receive…
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One horse threads – Product Review
At nearly 29 some people may argue that I am far too old to be wearing cute equestrian themed clothing. These people are not my friends, because honestly who needs that kind of negativity in their life? I discovered the American based company ‘One Horse Threads’ via Instagram and made my first purchase shortly after.…
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My love affair with dressage
I love a gallop just as much as the next person, ok maybe not as much as an eventer, as but I do genuinely love the feeling of thundering through the waves at the beach, the salt splashing up in my face. So why then do I ride dressage? Let’s assume that it isn’t because…
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Flying Changes and Mind Games
Toward the end of last year, Nonie and I started work on the flying changes. Flying changes!!! Being deemed ready to ride this brand new movement felt like a huge accomplishment. It felt like we had arrived! Having now started them, I can’t help but feel that my initial eagerness belied my naivety. I have…
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Equestrian Staples – Whips
Those who know me know that when it comes to my horse no reasonable expense is spared, and really when it comes to your horse pretty much everything is reasonable, right? One thing I have never been able to bring myself to spend much money on however is the humble dressage whip. After all how much…
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I’ll be a good rider when…
‘I’ll be a good rider when…’ This is a game I used to play a few years ago and it’s about as useful as its companion game ‘If only…’ At that time the script in my head was ‘I’ll be a good rider when I am competing at elementary level’. For quite some time,…