Bert took his duties very serious at Hickstead today. He decided he was to be the International Greeter at the show. He got so much attention. And not just people he knew!

He met a lot of new people. There are lots of people who’ve joined the Bert Fan Club.

It was a very long day for him. He dragged me to the arena for the start of the BRC Team of 3 competition. He dragged me round the Showground too. But overall he was such a good boy as he waited patiently by the rings.

He’s very tired now. So am I. It was wonderful watching all of my nine riders today. Everyone did our fabulous riding club proud.

It looked like a simple course, but it was really testing the riders. There weren’t many clear rounds.

Same could be said for the King George Cup. I was able to go and watch some of that too.

That’s another Hickstead done. I’m grateful that I don’t have to drive home after it. I’m staying at my Dad’s tonight. I’ll head down to see him tomorrow before coming home. He’s recovering slowly but I’d going to be in hospital for a while longer. I’ll need to be back here when he’s allowed home. Bert will be very happy to greet Grandad. He’s keeping his chair warm…

I made it over to Hickstead today for a few hours. I left Bert at my Dad’s as it was quite warm. He went for a lovely long run this morning. I needed to clear my head too.

I didn’t get the best night. Everything with my Dad kinda hit me. I’m so grateful that I came down yesterday. It could have been so much worse.

He’s going to be in hospital for a few more days so I will work out what I’m going to do when I have more information on Monday. They need to see how he’s responding to the emergency procedure they did.

Watching the Queen Elizabeth Cup today was a great distraction. Horses really are amazing! They clear those huge fences like they are nothing. It’s very inspiring indeed.

Looking forward to watching my riders tomorrow. Not the grand heights of the Main Ring, but an achievement nonetheless. I’m still so proud that we’ve jumped at Hickstead. Twice. Not sure if I mentioned it…

It’s my favourite shows of the year – Royal International at Hickstead. I’m not competing there this year, but I’m the Team Manager for those who are in the BRC Team of 3.

As Hickstead is on my Dad’s doorstep, I thought I’d stay with him. I came down today so we could catch up and have dinner together. I was going to suggest we go out. Sadly he needed to go out himself.

When I arrived, it was clear he was very unwell, so I called 999. They were brilliant and arrived in less than 30 mins. He’ll be topping up his NHS Frequent Flyer points for a few days.

Dinner plans kiboshed, I wandered to the local supermarket and saw this. I mean, I love pizza. But marrying one might be a step too far. I have to say it was very yummy. Also, not sure I appreciate being called chicken. Chick is fine though.

After a bit of an interesting start to my weekend, it was the giggle I needed.

I got an email telling me that I was getting a royalty payment for my Buddy book. How cool is that?!

OK, so I will have to be careful not to spend it all at once, but it’s still amazing. Not only am I a published author, people are buying my book and I’m getting paid as a result. Makes me so proud.

My next two books are with the illustrator. I love the way she’s helping to bring them to life. I’ve also sent the words over to the publishers for them to review. Fingers crossed they want to publish them as well.

I haven’t sold as many books as I’d hoped. I’m not totally sure how one markets a book. Yes, I know I’ve worked in marketing. My blind spot has always been marketing myself. The publishers are helping but I’d like to do my bit.

So if anyone has any bright ideas… I’d love to share my little boy’s exploits with more children.

Buddy was all ears when I told him. Well he could have been listening for the monsters in the maize. And yes, I’ve written a book about Buddy and the Maize Monster…

Buddy has moved house. He’s still on the same yard, but has moved to a bigger stable. He was a bit confused to start off with. So was I as I kept walking to his old stable. But then I’ve had that stable since 2012!

In that time, it was Murphy’s, then Phoenix’s and finally Buddy’s. It holds many memories indeed.

Buddy’s new stable has two doors. He was very much enjoying the dual aspect. It also means he gets fed earlier as he’s closer to the feed room. I thought I’d take a lovely photo of him looking out of his new windows, he was too busy stuffing his face…

He may have moved, but I still need to finish moving my stuff over. It’ll give me a chance to have a sort out and give everything a clean. It’s amazing how much I’ve accumulated in his stable. I’m so lucky that he rarely touches anything in there. Long may that continue…

Bert had another puppy play date with Barney today. At a new venue and one with water splash!

They both love the water, so were in and out. Michaela and I got a bit wet as they tore past and shook.

They were very excited to see each other. I guess they’ve know each other most of Barney’s life. He was tiny when they first met.

I’m glad I put a towel in the car. I’m getting quite used to the smell of wet dog. Bert had a blow dry on the way to lunch as I opened the back windows for him. His little Mohawk was wild by the time we arrived. It wasn’t that far either.

He did get another treat as I bought him a pig’s ear at the feed shop. He made short work of that. Well I guess he had burned off a few calories today…

I ticked another long overdue item off my to do list today. Well two in fact. First was my eye test. Still need reading glasses, but my distance is above average – for my age. Why does that need to be a factor?! Why can’t it just be celebrated?

I wasn’t best pleased when she used the words ‘people nearing 60…’ Thanks for that! I am so not ready to face that milestone. I have four years to get my head round it.

Who knows what the world will look like in four years?

The second was to put a trellis up to support my rose. This involved power tools, so always a risk in my hands. My aim was to encourage this rose to grow up the wall. The lack of trellis has meant it was rather tangled so it did take a little bit of time to sort it out. Hopefully it’ll be easier to train it now.

I have another tell us that needs to go up at the front. I didn’t want to push my luck today. Drilling two holes without issue was a success. I was happy to stand back and admire my handy work. And given my distance eyesight, that could be a long way back…

Oh my goodness me, I am such a happy bunny tonight. I think you can guess why…

It was Carleton Riding Club’s show today. After our time away at camp, I was feeling good about our chances. But never dreamed we’d win the 70cm. That’s usually a hotly contested class.

Learning my lesson from our less than successful outing for the Combined Training qualifier, I left early for my class. Good job too as it was gridlock on the slip road up to the venue. Thankfully a very kind person let me pull onto the roundabout and continue on our way.

I went to check how they were running thinking I’d a good 45 mins. Bit of a miscommunication meant I thought they were getting the course ready for the 70cm. So quickly went to walk the course, only to be told it was actually for the 60cm. Phew!

I’d already decided that after my unscheduled dismount at our last competition, I was going to go steady and see what happened. Buddy pinged round the course. He tapped a couple, but they all stayed up! I thought I might get a placing with a steady clear round. Little did I know there were only two clear rounds. We won by 0.01 of a second!

We even got to do the lap of honour to the Horse of the Year theme tune. Such a lovely touch. And qualification to the Sunshine Tour in September at Hickstead.

I was in two minds whether to do the 80cm class. After walking it, I decided to go for it.

Again, Buddy pinged round till fence 5 where he punched it out. At some point, I lost my left stirrup and couldn’t get it back so had to jump the rest of the round without it. Shows how much my balance has improved. Sticky jods help too.

For some reason, I thought I’d stop and try to get my stirrup back. Poor Buddy got a bit confused by it all. With hindsight, I only had one fence left to go, so I should have just carried on as I still couldn’t get it back. So jumped the last fence without it. Anyway we ended up 8 faults. I came out laughing about it all.

They say you’re either winning or learning – today I did both. It’s not often we come home with a red one. We’ve had two in July! I could get used it you know…

Check out the latest upgrade to my lorry. Smart huh?! It’s my valiant attempt to be better at timekeeping when I compete. I have a bit of a habit of forgetting the check the time on my phone. As simple as it sounds, I usually put my phone ‘somewhere safe’ before riding. Then lose track of time.

I also thought it would work when I wake up when I’m away and don’t want to check my phone. Sometimes the best solution is to go old school. I got one that is silent too.

Putting it up was really easy. Let’s hope my future timekeeping goes like clockwork too.

Yesterday evening I felt a bit overwhelmed with stuff, so I took my own advice and put the phone down.

I’ve tried really hard to set a rule with myself that I don’t check my phone till after I’ve had my breakfast. I’ve found it allows me to set the tone for the day by grounding myself first. At the moment, I’m having breakfast on the patio. Listening to the birds. Watching Bert play with his ball.

Clearly it doesn’t go like that every day, but where I can, I’ve found it works for me. Today I didn’t check my phone until after we’d finished our walk. I was content to just be with Bert. I obviously took it out to take this photo. The barley looked so lovely. Made me laugh as yesterday it was Buddy in the barley. Today it was Bert.

One of the things I love about being away with my boys is that a lot of horse places have rubbish signals. I don’t miss the constant pinging of my phone. So I’ve set the intention to be better with my phone boundaries so to speak.

As humans, we weren’t designed to be bombarded with so much information or be always on. Today I unplugged a bit. A stompy walk helped…