Well that’s less than ideal. I’m still at a loss what happened either. I was mowing the lawn and heard a very loud bang. Turned round to find this!

First thought was that a bird had flown into it. OK that wasn’t my first thought. My first thought was crap I’m going to need a new conservatory. And wanted to throw up.

The outside pane is intact. It’s just the pane inside. I say just. The whole panel has gone crackled. It was making a very weird creaking noise to start off with too.

The only thing I can think is that while I was mowing the lawn, a stone flicked up and hit the glass. Given I wasn’t close to the conservatory at the time, it’s a bit of a one in a million shot. Only me huh?!

I’m sure the panel can be replaced. Well I really hope so. If not, that’s why I have home insurance. For now, it’s on the ‘things to do before winter’ list. I’ve covered it with. Bin bag for now.

Trust me to have a smashing time.

Given that Bert is borderline obsessed with balls, I thought he’d find the tennis rather interesting.

He was more interested in his bone. He wanted me to throw it for him. I declined. So he kept putting the rather soggy, chewed bone in my lap. Subtlety isn’t on me of the Baby Sprocker’s strengths.

The tennis match was a real rollercoaster. It was the men’s final from Queens. Not long till Wimbledon now. I can almost taste the strawberries and Pimms.

Wimbledon has been on my bucket list for a long time. I’ve been in the ballot for many years. Not got a ticket yet. One day I’ll get there. Till then, I’ll just have to be content with watching from afar and my own little ball boy.

My everyday riding hat was getting a tad pungent, then I remembered the liner is removable. So brought it home to wash.

Pungent was the right word. I guess the clue is in every day, I wouldn’t want to have seen the colour of the water washing this one.

I have some hat deodoriser, but clearly it needed a bit more. After our rather sweaty ride today, it really needed it. Buddy got a lavender wash down and I had a shower. It’s pretty humid still, so hopefully it dries quickly.

And hasn’t shrunk!

I popped over to watch a few friends riding in a clinic today. Gosh it was a hot one. I had thought that being near the coast, it would be cooler. I was wrong.

I ended up being a walking hydration station to make sure the riders kept drinking. We ended up having an interesting conversation about hydration. As riders we make sure our horses have electrolytes, but rarely ourselves.

This is definitely something I’ve been working on. I keep electrolyte tablets in my lorry so I can have them when I’m out and about.

Of course, that didn’t help me today as I didn’t have the lorry with me. At least I was able to have some when I got home. I may have sweated a bit. And I wasn’t even riding!

I washed Bert’s bed the other day and think more stuffing came out than was left behind. It was his first bed, so had been chewed considerably. Funny how you don’t notice the holes till there’s stuffing everywhere.

He’d been using another old one. But that had seen better days too. Definitely time to get him a new one. I’d been holding off till I was sure we were through the ‘chewing / destuffing’ phase. Needs must though.

I had to run some errands today and accidentally fell into a local garden centre. They had a pet section, so new bed for Bert.

It hasn’t made it into his crate yet. He’s claimed it already. He seems very happy on it. Let’s hope it’s still intact in the morning.

After a few busy days, today was a catch up day. The beauty of doing a mini-camp is that there’s nowhere near as much stuff to sort out and wash. Good job too as I woke up to rain.

I checked the greenhouse to find this treasure. I’ve only been away a few days, but clearly Mother Nature has been on good form! I get so exciting seeing something I’ve grown. OK I may not have grown it per say, but I definitely played my part.

Buddy, Bert and I are back from our mini-camp. I took Buddy for a leg stretch in the forest before our lesson this morning.

Bert had always been for a run round so only seemed fair. I even hacked in my dressage saddle. Not sure that’ll happen outside of camps. It did feel rather odd.

We had a baby horse in our lesson. It was her first real experience of being riden away from home. She was very sweet and Buddy soon put her at ease. My little boy is quite the babysitter. She was very happy trotting around with him.

Her canter was a bit more forward than his, but he led the way, then let her go on her own. It’s quite the compliment to be asked by another rider to support her homebred freshly backed baby horse. Buddy rose to the occasion.

As always, we came home tired, but good tired. We learnt a lot in a short space of time. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces. And meet some new ones too.

In case you haven’t noticed, I do love camps.

Guess who’s having a mini-camp?! Well clearly us. Buddy, Bert and I headed over to Forest Edge for a dressage camp.

Yes, you read that right. Dressage camp. Two words I wouldn’t have thought I’d be saying. I didn’t think I could do the full six lessons, so we’re here for two and a night away in Toby.

We had our first lesson this afternoon and we’ll have another one tomorrow before heading home.

Not the best planning on my part with Buddy jumping yesterday, so he was a little confused when I brought him in from the field and lead him towards the lorry.

He seemed very happy with his camp treats. The arena here seems vast with no jumps in it. That fact wasn’t lost on me or Buddy. Still it was a lovely lesson and we learnt stuff as always.

Bert has been for a good run round the forest. So many of the campers have watched him grow up too. He came for his first camp when he was six months old. He’s as much of a pro at these as Buddy and I are now.

I may only be here one night, but it’s good for my heart and soul. My legs may be telling a different story tomorrow of course…

Buddy and I headed over to Easton College today for our first show jumping competition of 2026. I can’t quite believe it’s June and we’ve only been to two competitions this year.

I know why. It’s not been plain sailing this year. Still we made it. It wasn’t without faults. But once more, I know why.

I left myself what I thought was lots of time to get there. It wasn’t enough as they were running early. So once more I missed the course walk for the 70cm. I watched a couple go so kinda got the course. It didn’t necessarily help my cause that the person in front of me fell off! So that was my last opportunity to see how the course rode.

It wasn’t the smooth round we’ve been working on as I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going. Poor Buddy definitely trusted me as I threw him at a few fences. The lack of actually walking the distances and lines meant we ended up on 12 faults.

I wasn’t missing the course walk for the 80cm! Good job too as it was a very twisty turny course. Having nailed the course in my head, we had a rather long wait till it was our turn. Buddy had totally switched off by the time I rode him in. Still he gave me the most amazing feeling round the course till we got to fence 9. I got greedy and overcooked my turn. He had it down but we recovered well. Sadly by the time we reached fence 11, I could feel his tank emptying. He had that down too and I nursed him to the final fence.

Overall it looks like another bad day in the ring, but I am really happy with my little boy. I know he’s not as jumping fit as he has been. It was our first 80cm of the year. So to end on 8 faults is OK in my book. He tried so hard for me and it wasn’t that long ago that he would have jacked it in if I got it a bit wrong.

And Operation Get Us Jumping Fit is on…

I had the weirdest dream about my Mum last night. Couldn’t tell you where it came from, but it really unsettled me this morning. So I took Bert out for a long walk to try and process it.

Being out in nature really helps me to clear my head and sort out some of the random thoughts that exist up there.

I didn’t draw any conclusions but did have a few realisations. I’m making some changes that will be beneficial in the long term. I feel like for the past six or seven years I’ve been swimming against the tide or treading water. This will allow me to float for a bit.

While it’s what I have been craving, it also feels rather scary. Hence my subconscious having a bit of a field day I guess.

It’s amazing how much we can deal with but what tips us over the edge. Buddy is a prime example. Today he held it together when a car speed past with a very rattely trailer went past. But a crow on a pile of manure was a step too far for him. Thankfully he walked past in the end.

And I guess that’s the point. It always works out in the end.