Buddy, Bert and I are back in our respective homes. It’s been a fabulous camp once more. We came home with three rosettes for good measure.

Everyone gets a Camper Rosette. I have nine of those now ( I didn’t get one the year I popped over to help). Buddy got a ‘in great shape’ one for having a pretty perfect body score.

And we topped it off with a red one for winning the show jumping competition.

Given our performance last Sunday, it was just the boost I needed.

Buddy will now get a few days off. I’m sure Bert will be very happy to go for a shorter walk tomorrow after all of his runs in the forest.

Me? I’ll be tackling the now traditional camp clear up. And they say the horse does all the work.

Grateful to everyone who made my decade of camps so special. Considering my first one was a bit of a disaster, I can certainly say that I’ve come a long way in that time.

My partnership with Buddy has too. I often look back at some of our early videos and the progression is incredible. Hard work, dedication and listening to top quality instructors really does pay off.

Here’s to the next one, but for now, I sleep…

We did something a bit different this morning. We did some unmounted groundwork. The instructor had set up an exercise to help mobilise the horse’s ribs. It looked really easy when I watched it…

When it came to our turn. The instructor took Buddy through first. I could see he was working it out. All he has to do was slowly walk from one side of the pole to the other diagonally.

She told me to park him for a minute so he could think about it all. Then it was my turn to take him through. I really struggled to get my body in the right place and my aids at the right time. So she suggested I park for a minute so I could think about it all. That made me laugh.

It worked as I was much better the next time. She’s been teaching us for 9 years now, so she gets us. And definitely me.

This afternoon it was course jumping. It was very hot in the arena. I rode in singing ‘feeling hot, hot, hot’. I know it’s usually for cricket, but it was very apt.

After my unscheduled dismount on Sunday, I wasn’t sure which Buddy I would get. Or whether I would be tight. I needn’t have worried. We were both on good form.

It’s been hard keeping us all cool. We’ve all had a lot of water – on us and in us. I’m so glad I bought extra electrolytes. There has been a lot of sweating.

Last day tomorrow. Always bittersweet. It’s been another brilliant camp.

My lorry has a lovely skylight in the living. I love it, it brings in so much light. A little bit too much sunshine at the moment though. So in true Practical Pip style, I found a solution with a sheet.

It’s really helped to keep my lorry a bit cooler. I might have done a ‘Monica’ in front of my fridge a couple of times.

It’s been rather hot here at camp. We’ve all coped though. This morning I took Bert for a run round the forest before my first lesson. He then retired to sit in front of the fan while Buddy and I went off to sweat.

We had a flat lesson first. We were working on my position and our connection. Interestingly I think I was hotter than Buddy. I’d love to say that I retired to the shade, but there’s always something to do at camp.

After lunch, I did get to chill out in a shady corner and found some breeze, before it was time to tack up again. This time poles. But with wings so kinda like jumping, without the actual jump. It helped work on straightness and positioning. And changing the canter lead. I even got a flying change from Buddy.

After an interesting talk, more chores and dinner, I took Bert back out in the forest as it was cooler. I didn’t see a soul. Bliss!

One of the instructors posed an interesting question today. She asked why I keep coming back to camps. Not in a bad way, but in a curious way. It really got me thinking. I can’t say there’s one reason. There are so many. It’s the learning. It’s the instructors. It’s the venue. It’s the friendships. It’s the time away from life. It’s the lack of responsibilities. It’s the strengthening of my bond with Buddy. It’s the adventure. It’s being fed. I could go on…

We’ve arrived at Big Camp. Decided to come earlier to beat the heat, it’s toasty but there’s a nice breeze.

I’ve got hook up so have had the fridge and the fans going all day to keep Bert cool.

He’s been tearing around and tearing up his toy. There was stuffing and sawdust all over the horse area. His toy had clearly gone in his water bowl too. It was a tad soggy.

Buddy is all settled in too. Eating hay and haylage like he’s never eaten before. He’s clearly happy to be back here, just like me and Bert.

We had a BBQ and a quiz tonight. I was quite impressed with how much I know. Helped it was multiple choice.

Today is an ease in gently kinda day. Tomorrow the lessons begin. The sweating has already started…

Do you think I’ve bought a big enough bag of recovery mash for Buddy?! Not to be outdone, I’ve got more electrolytes for me too.

Do dogs need them?! Sure Bert will be happy to eat some of Buddy’s. Buddy, on the other hand, doesn’t share his mash. In fact, he can’t eat it fast enough!

We’re all packed for Big Camp. This year I will be celebrating a decade of BHS Camps. My first one will forever go down in the history books – for the wrong reasons. Thankfully they let me come back. The eight I’ve done with Buddy have been wonderful (he missed one when he was injured, I still made an appearance).

I’ve met so many wonderful people in that decade. Sad that I won’t see some of them this time though.

Camps really are my happy place. An escape from the chaos of the world. I love learning too, so my brain will be in sponge-mode for the next few days. Let’s hope I don’t need wringing out at the end of it all. At least I have the electrolytes if I do.

Bring on the learning…

I headed over to the Norfolk Showground to help out at the first of the BRC qualifiers Carleton Riding Club were hosting. Today it was dressage and I was stewarding.

If you’ve been on this journey with me for a while, you’ll know how much I love a clipboard. And stewarding. So I was a happy girl. It was funny how many horses wanted to check out my clipboard too. It has a certain charm it seems.

I started with one Arena, ended up with two. Greedy or efficient, I’ll let you decide.

The numbers were down on previous year, which was a shame. Understandable though with the weather, economy and all manner of other stuff going on.

I’m back tomorrow for the second qualifier. This time for the Combined Training and I’ll be competing. Buddy will be there too. Haven’t told him he’s going to do some dressage. At least he gets to jump afterwards.

It’s been quite a while since we did a dressage test on grass. Hell, it’s been a while since we did a dressage test full stop. I’ve decided I’m going to go and enjoy it. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day. Wish me luck!

I was meant to meet a friend for coffee this morning, but she had to postpone. So I thought I’d take advantage of the cooler temperature and a clear diary to take Buddy out for a long hack.

It was so tranquil. We didn’t see another soul. Well that’s not quite right, we saw a deer. I say we, Buddy was ahead of me there. I could tell he’d sensed something, but wasn’t sure what it was. Then the deer shot out of the long grass and took off up the hill. Thankfully Buddy didn’t take chase. Good job I wasn’t with Bert. He might not have been able to resist.

After two days of peopling, I was feeling a little drained. But also missed people. Being with people really does give me energy. Time with Buddy and Bert do the same. They definitely put a smile on my face…

It’s been a long day today. I left my house at 7:45am and got back home at 7:45pm. I was covering the Receptionist at the Chiro’s. Peopling twice in one week no less.

The Chiropractor is on holiday for a few weeks, so I’ve been working with a new Chiro. She adjusted me this morning and I found it really interesting how different she was. And the same. Variations on a theme.

Cause I knew I was going to be working, a lovely friend came to Bert sit for me. She sent me this photo earlier. You can see he’s clearly traumatised by the whole experience.

Thankfully the clients weren’t traumatised by the different Chiro or seeing me on a Thursday. I did get a few comments, all positive though. Seems I’m Positive Pip when I’m peopling too.

I got a letter calling me for a breast screening appointment today. I love the precision of the time. Not 9:30am. Not 9:35am. But 9:33am. Wonder if they will be late.

I also like the fact they had to say am rather than pm. Though who knows huh? I was laughing about it today when I was peopling this morning. One of the clients asked me to write her next appointment on a card. It was 10am, when I wrote it down, I joked that it wouldn’t be 10pm!

Better to be precise huh.

We headed over to Blickling this morning to meet up with Katie and Archie. Lovely to be back there, catch up with her and in the saddle by 9:30am.

We thought we’d beat the heat and we did. Sadly we didn’t beat the horseflies – who were on steroids it seems. They LOVED Buddy. Poor boy was covered in them. And yes, I put fly spray on him.

At one point, it was like whac-a-mole as I tried to kill them. My karma rating dropped a few points there. The longer we rode, the less flies there were. Weird huh?! It was like they were all hanging round the car park.

I did a few favours for people during the rest of the day so hoping my karma rating has gone back up.