Cuppage

Cuppage was the word of the day. Bear with, I’ll explain. Two brilliant lessons today. And we stayed dry for the most part.

Flatwork this morning. Working on encouraging Buddy to go rounder. Lots of leg yielding and straightness.

This afternoon, it was jumping. Building on what we’d done in our first lesson.

Really like Emily’s style of teaching. She explained things in a way I could get. Learnt a lot in a short space of time.

Back to cuppage. Emily put a number of jump cups and blocks around the arena to help us to get the right line in and out. When one of us missed it, cuppage was shouted across the arena. Made us all giggle.

We finished off the day with a swim, more food and lots more giggles. There was even more cuppage in the pool. But what happens at camp, stays at camp…

Railway children

We’ve arrived at The Grange for a 3 day training camp. Buddy has a huge stable, a huger bed and if possible, an even huger haynet. Right now he’s loving life.

He might not feel the same when he realises he’s got two lessons tomorrow. Eased him in gently with a leg stretch down a disused railway line.

There wasn’t a soul in sight. About a hundred partridges though.

After a huge Chinese (me, not Buddy), I’m snuggled up in the lorry. Listening to the rain. Storm whatever your name is, please breeze on by. Though I have brought lots of clothes. Just in case.

Hair you go

The woolly mammoth that was Buddy is no more!! Doesn’t he look sexy all clipped? And shiny after a hot towel off too.

The weather has been so mild, I haven’t needed to get him clipped. But his coat has grown so much in the past few weeks, it needed to be done. He was a right sweaty betty (or should that be Buddy) after our lesson last week. And was overheating on Sunday. He should be feeling much better now.

Time to break out the rugs as we’re bound to have a cold snap now. I love the feel of a freshly clipped horse. So soft.

Stepping up

Today Buddy and I did our first competitive 90cm show jumping class. It wasn’t pretty, but we did it. I’ve been wanting to step him up a level for a while. Our last few 80cm rounds haven’t been clear, so wasn’t sure if I should.

I was obviously having a good day when I put the entries in. And feeling brave (or stupid). The last time I competed at 90cm was with Murphy. That was at least 8 years ago.

This morning I wasn’t feeling like leaving the house (not even my house), let alone pushing our comfort zone! Still as I headed to the yard, I made a deal with myself. Go and do 80cm class and see how I felt.

Buddy was rather pleased to be out jumping and warmed up like a dream. Optimism was high! That quickly dipped when he entered the ring and spooked at the timing equipment. Cause he’s never seen that before!!

Still we jumped round in a lovely rhythm. Even jumped our first competitive triple too. The 2 we had down were my fault as I pushed him out of his rhythm. It was a technical course, so I was really pleased with him.

The last time we jumped in competition was at Hickstead. So not like we’ve been out much.

Then it was onto the 90cm. It was definitely a case of ‘we came, we jumped’. We left most of them up. Still had 5 poles though. Haven’t had a cricket score for a while.

So imagine my surprise when I was told we came 3rd! Apparently, we weren’t the only cricket score.

I couldn’t have been happier with Buddy. He tried for me and I know we’ll be getting clear rounds soon. We’ll both sleep well tonight.

Accident prone

I can always tell when I’m tired. I get even more accident prone. Even by my standards, I’ve excelled myself.

Today I’ve sprayed myself in the face with olive oil, tripped over the dogs on numerous occasions, nearly face planted after getting caught in a bramble, hit myself in the face with a cupboard door, hit my head on the stairs and parted company with Buddy. To name but a few.

I will be admitting defeat and heading to bed. The way my day’s going, I’ll probably fall out!

It must run in the family as my Dad was discharged from hospital today after taking a tumble on Saturday. Thankfully nothing broken. Of course it meant that Mum needed to be admitted too. She’s staying a bit longer so they can assess her further. It’s been a lot and many phone calls have been made. Again.

Colditz

Tonight was the first time I had to muck out in the dark. The yard owners have provided us with these amazing lights if we need a bit of extra light. Extra light?! Buddy’s stable was lit up like Colditz.

The only downside – you’ve heard of the phrase ‘moths to a flame’, well tonight it was ‘midges round a light’. Jeez they were everywhere!

Does anyone know what purpose midges serve?! Other than to make your skin crawl. I guess it’s an incentive to muck out faster.

Short sleeves

After rushing around so much, it was lovely to be back in the saddle today. An added bonus was being in short sleeves still. It’s October right?!

I needed to go and get the screen on my phone fixed. I’d dropped it one too many times and the screen was seriously broken. It’s had a mind of its own. Randomly calling people, opening apps and trying to delete things. So it needed to be done.

I had an hour to kill while I waited. Of course, that was a challenge without my phone. Didn’t really appreciate how much I use my phone to tell the time. I keep saying I need to get the battery changed in my watch. I’ll add that to the list.

It was bizarre walking around in the warm sunshine seeing Halloween and Christmas stuff in the shops. They’ll both be here before we know it.

Wristlet

Back home after an amazing weekend at HOYS. So honoured to be invited to join my friends Simon and Harry on their first HOYS adventure.

HOYS is the premier UK horseshow, so no wristband so for us. Oh now, we had wristlets. And two at that!!

It was surreal watching my friend ride around the International Arena. Somewhere that felt so familiar even though I’d never been before.

Reggie was a delight to look after. He’s such a sweet boy. But no-one tell Buddy that I’ve been with another horse (or two hundred). He’s still my favourite of course. Though there were a few showjumpers I’d have liked to sneak in the lorry.

I’ve walked a marathon in the past 48 hours. Literally! I ache all over, I am beyond shattered and I feel like I could sleep for a year. It was such an incredible experience and one that I will treasure.

HOYS

For many years I’ve been saying that I wanted to go to HOYS. Little did I know that my first trip would be as support crew for a competitor. Talk about making memories!

My goodness, the lorry park is vast. I’ve walked 8.5 miles so far. And may have bought myself some more riding tights. Got to meet the owner of the company too. I now have 8 pairs of her riding tights. She even recognised my name from the orders. Whoops!

Now snuggled up in the lorry ready for a 4am alarm. Oh how love the smell of show shine in the morning.

Uni-corn

Today is a bit of an exciting day. It’s the day the maize is harvested. As much as I love the maize, it gets so high that it nearly engulfs us when we’re riding by it.

Buddy will be pleased when he sees it’s gone. Of course he’ll be weirded out to start off with.

I didn’t get to show him today. But I drove past it a few times today. I’ve perfected the triangle between home, the yard and my dog sitting duties.

Buddy was very pleased to see Auntie Sam for his massage. He had quite a few tight spots so hopefully he’s feeling looser now. It had been a while since his last appointment.

Hopefully he’ll be nice and refreshed when I get back from my next adventure. More on that tomorrow.