Support crew

What a fab day at the BRC Arena Eventing Championships in Aston Le Walls. I wasn’t sure how the day was going to go when I woke up to snow and ice!! Turned up at the yard to find the lock on the gate frozen and my lorry door frozen.

But I needn’t have worried, by the time we got onto the main roads it was smooth sailing all the way.

We arrived in time to watch the first two members of the team do their rounds. Vicky and Becca were awesome.

Then it was time for Samantha and Halo to go in. And in typical eventer-style, the heavens opened. They absolutely stormed round!

Big smiles all round. And the team came 15th.

Now snuggled up in the Buddymobile. Belly full of soup. Wine in hand. Little heater packing out some heat. What a good day.

Today has made me even more determined to get Buddy to another Championships. And goes to show that you can get as much from being the support crew as you can from being the rider.

Stay warm

Second time this week I’ve ended up in the local camping shop on a mercy mission. Today it was to buy a heater for the Buddymobile. I’m on driver / groom duties this weekend. We’re sleeping in the lorry and there’s no heating in the living. It’s a tad fresh out there so hoping it warms up a bit tomorrow. Otherwise it’s going to be a cold night even with the billion or so layers I’m taking.

The weather has been random to say the least. Bright sunshine one minute, high winds the next, then snow storms. Interesting riding with snow blowing in the arena. I think I was more weirded out by it than Buddy was.

Still on days like this, I’m grateful for the indoor school. And tomorrow it’ll be about making memories. Let’s hope the little heater does the job in the little lorry.

Saddlery smell

I had an hour to kill today, so what better way to spend it than in a saddlery. There’s a wonderful smell about a saddlery. It’s the smell of leather, horse feed, lotions and potions. It’s hard to sum it up. But it’s one that’s very comforting.

I saw this card and it made me giggle. When you think about it, we are a little bonkers. We put our trust (and lives) in the hooves of an animal who’s terrified of a carrier bag (amongst other things). But it’s so worth it!

Snowflakes

I really wanted to hibernate this morning when I work up. In fact, Hugo decided that I should stay in bed by sleeping on my chest. At least he made a good hot water bottle.

I can’t say I’m thrilled at the return of cold temperatures. But I am thrilled that The Buddymobile is back. With a new battery, new gas bottle and most of the issues fixed. Apparently he has leaky injectors (whatever that means), so he’ll need to go in for those to be sorted. But at least there should be no need to jump start him every time I want to go somewhere.

After dropping him back at the yard, I walked home with snowflakes swirling around. Grateful that it’s only a short walk. Now thawed out.

Wide load

Well it’s not every day you see half a house driving down the motorway. Made me wonder where the other half was!!

Yes I’ve been on my travels again. This time a day trip to Birmingham to do a hotel site visit for a conference in 2024! It’s been a long day. But a very productive one.

Size matters

I took The Buddymobile into the garage today to get the battery issue fixed. I also had a bit of a list of other things that I wanted them to look at while it’s there. You know the silly little things that annoy you after a while.

One thing I needed to do was change the gas bottle. This has been on the ‘to do’ list for so long, Calor Gas have discontinued it. I kid you not. So I’ve had to change to Flogas.

Simple right?! Of course not! The Flogas bottle is bigger than the Calor Gas bottle. So while it will fit in the lorry locker, it’s too big to go through the door and turn. So they’ve got to cut a new door though the bench / bed so it can go in that way. I can feel a strongly worded email coming on…

On the plus side, I did get a reduction on the new bottle price at the camping place. And I finally took The Comedy Car through the handcar wash.

That’s also been on the ‘to do’ list for a while. The poor man tasked with cleaning it asked if I work on a farm. No, I have a horse. He was very grateful he didn’t have to clean the inside. 😂

Woofed

I got well and truly woofed this weekend. Simon and Harry’s dogs do love their Auntie Pip. And I love them all too.

Banys has grown so much since I saw him at Christmas. He’s grown into such a cuddle monster too.

Another wonderful weekend in Suffolk. Till next time.

Chicken dinner

Another full on day for me. Early start too with a jumping lesson at 8:15am. Not sure either us were at our best but we came, we jumped and we learned.

Then a speedy turnout to get down to Simon and Harry’s for a long overdue catch up. Anyone would think we were having chicken for dinner… Thankfully there was lots left for us.

Chatty woman

Today has been one of those lovely days where I’ve got to catch up and chat non-stop. First with a number of client’s at the chiros.

Then with Anni as I got to met her new puppy Ruby, who is as adorable as her photos. And we had our first ride together of 2023.

Finally I met up with some of my Virgin Ladies for dinner. I am all chatted out. Who am I kidding?! I could chat for England.