The virus has made us all aware of things we take for granted. I have so missed teaching my clients and watching their progress and the worry of my family staying healthy, but on the positive side, the weather has been lovely and I have had time to do things I cannot normally do without the stress of time.
We have been home schooling – a bonus with Molly’s home economics is that we have had some lovely meals. At Easter we had a treasure hunt in the field with Delilah..and taught her how to ride her bike.
I’ve been spring cleaning the yard! The feed room has had a make over, I just need to power wash the feed buckets, which is on today’s list. Sorting out all those rugs – ugh. The staff room we had just done before the lock down, so Amy and Emily can now chat and clean tack in a sparkling staff room.
Outside we have spring cleaned our signs and lorry…the field has been fed, so the horse’s extra time in the field is not taking its toll.
I have been showing the girls the art of plaiting and polishing ponies…Molly is already better than me! What I have really enjoyed is I have been able to bath and polish my horses. Iggy is such a joy, he is very cuddly and grateful of your time. AND I have managed to fetch AJ back from his turn away rest. He looks wonderful, I can’t wait to really start work on him, again I am lucky with his temperament, he is so kind and soft.
The Pony club did a competition recently of ‘Guess Who’ from childhood photos of their coaches…here was mine it was great fun!
The exciting news is we have picked a stallion for Flora (Libby’s mum) so that is a lovely thing to look forward too.
I hope everyone can stay safe, and that we can all return soon to what we love to do…take care!
We are living in unprecedented times, but luckily our horses here at Chelwood Equestrian are none the wiser. We have around 50 horses onsite, and luckily most yard managers and staff live onsite, and we have been able to accommodate those who do not, therefore we are able to continue to care for the horses to the highest standard. We are so appreciative of the cooperation of our clients, during this difficult time, but have ensured we keep in contact, and regularly send video and photo updates of their beloved equine partners. Keeping the horses healthy and happy, minimising social contact by locking down the yard, and going through the daily routines in the safest way possible, is our tiny contribution, to ensure the NHS can continue to fight this virus. We continue to thank them. Our WhatsApp groups are also now regularly filled with some entertaining ‘lockdown videos’ that are circling social media, as I think it is getting a little boring for some!! A friend of mine is now graduating her medical degree early, to enable her to work on the NHS front line as soon as possible, and in the interim is volunteering in a hospital. In her words – it is ‘annoying that I can’t start properly working sooner’. How lucky are we to have people like this entering our NHS to care for us all, particularly in a time such as this – thank you all!
In my own little world, things have been going relatively smoothly, and Robin was feeling more than ready for the season. Though this has now been delayed, it has been nice to have some time to focus on the basics, and just spend some time together. We have so enjoyed hacking around the hills around the farm now the fields are dry enough, to help further strengthen him. We are so lucky. He was attending High Weald Horse Hydro once a week pre-lockdown, so I am ensuring I focus on strengthening work to try to make-up for this loss in his work, though I can’t wait for him to go back as it was so beneficial for him.
I have had some really helpful nutritional advice from Dengie Performance Horse Nutritionist Claire Akers, as we move into the spring/summer months. Our horses will soon be moving from their winter to summer fields, and will then be able to go out at night. We have found that the horses can get very loose droppings when we make this move. I will therefore be giving the horses a digestive supplement during this time to ensure gut health and hopefully resolve this issue going forwards. Claire also recommended introducing the new pasture slowly to allow the gut bacterial population to adjust to the change in grass quality. On the other hand we also discussed additions to diet when there is a lack of grazing. It has been so difficult to turn out over the winter with the crazy amount of rain (who would have thought it now..!) and Robin has a delightful habit of pulling shoes despite experimentation with many over-reach boot combinations. Furthermore towards the end of summer, the grazing can sometimes become more sparse. Claire suggesting using Dengie Grass Pellets in small amounts in treat balls and scattered in the field to encourage them to forage for their food, whilst soaking the pellets if feeding in larger amounts. I think this will make a great addition to our horses diets.
Robin is fed Dengie Alfa-A Oil before work to prevent acid splash in his stomach, to minimise the risk of gastric ulcer formation. I also wet the chaff before feeding particularly in the summer as Robin sometimes refuses to drink. At events he will tend to not drink all day, and then try to gulp a huge bucket of water all at once when we return home at the end of the day. He also particularly struggles in the heat due to his dark colour. Claire suggesting feeding Dengie Alfa-Beet at events between phases, to encourage Robin to take on more water, which I can also add electrolytes too. I think this will really help Robin, as I have also felt that sometimes it has taken him a few days to recover from an event on a hot day, which is a concern as we work towards long format events in the future. I hope this dietary addition will help him to remain hydrated, and therefore reduce recovery time. I look forward to having Claire visit Chelwood Equestrian later this year, to provide further nutritional assessments for our horses, so they can continue to look and perform at their best.
I hope you have found some of this nutritional advice helpful, and that you are all staying healthy and safe with your horses. I would highly recommend contacting Dengie yourself if you have any questions regarding your horses feeding regime, for friendly and helpful advice.
March was both quite a fun and successful month. CiCi is feeling better than ever and everything felt like it finally was coming together.
Me and CiCi headed up to Aston-Le-Walls for the 90cm Riding Club Junior Arena Eventing Finals. She jumped an amazing double clear just finishing with 1.6 too fast time faults being 4.8 seconds inside the optimum time, to finish 9th individually and help my team, Horsham and District Riding Club to win… it was a great day filled with fun with some of my best friends. What was even better, we featured in Horse and Hound magazine with a small interview that took place between the team manager and the interviewer.
A week later I had a fantastic dressage lesson. CiCi felt great and was feeling ready for what was supposed to be our first event of the season at Munstead. We worked on riding her up into my hand as she tends to become a little on her forehand and is now capable of working in a more advanced way.
Soon after we went on a trip to Climping Beach, where we thoroughly enjoyed jumping tide breakers and a leisurely canter up the beach. She had only been to the beach once before, where she was slightly concerned about the waves coming towards her, however, she had improved drastically.
The sad news came soon after with British Eventing understandably putting a stop to all events. So ever since we have been avoiding jumping, but doing some gymnastics exercise and focusing on our flatwork. We have spent the majority of our rides enjoying the amazing views whilst hacking around the farm.
Cici’s feeding regime is working well and her condition and stamina have improved. She loves Dengie Alfa-beet and now that the weather is warming up it is an excellent way to keep her hydrated.
Well, we are four weeks in now to a very different world, let’s all hope a temporary one, but I sadly believe we may be facing restrictions for a while. So what is life like at Shoestring HQ?
Both Mum and I work for Cornwall Council and are now based working from home. My job has changed enormously as generally, I have been a visiting officer going to Commercial premises and undertaking various health and safety enforcement and advice visits. All visits have stopped except in emergency situations and predominantly much of my job simply can’t be done. I am therefore part of the team enforcing the new Coronavirus regulations and for Cornwall a big part of this is ensuring that appropriate holiday businesses are closed in line with the regulations. Over the last week, the Council have had over 600 emails concerned that holiday properties are operating and I have been part of the team following this up.
Horse wise the horses are not at home, the yard is 10 miles door to door, but I am the sole occupant of my yard so I cannot delegate the horses to anyone else. I travel twice a day to see them and luckily see no one else pretty much, we have ensured we are isolated as much as possible. I have cut the girl’s work totally back and at the moment they are being ridden every other day, this will give me the opportunity to either pick them up or if circumstances dictate give them a holiday. With no school and the ground drying out this has really limited what I can do.
The first thing I stocked up on was my Dengie feed and the horses have enough for several months. Saying that when we met up with the Dengie team in January both were slightly above the perfect weight, I hate to think how they would be assessed now. With minimal work and the grass coming though, they are both looking more ready for the show season than an eventing one.
Ellie eats very little anyway so it has been impossible to reduce her bucket feed, but Fliss has had her Alfa-A ration halved and having a powder vitamins and min supplement instead of a balancer. She is finding this lockdown all rather boring!
We have had some fun times on Facebook if anyone wants to follow Shoestring Eventing. Quiz night on Friday, positive post on Thursday and then some Q&A’s as well as some eventing chat.
My name is Sarah Gormley, I am 18 years old and a member of the BD Youth Foundation Academy and I’m delighted to have been selected for the National Academy.
My horse is called Illusion IV (Alfie), he is a 6 year old, 17.2hh KWPN by Don Tango B x Jetset-D, whom I have owned for nearly 2 years. He’s a big horse who has taken a while to mature so we only started competing in April 2019. Together we have progressed from novice to medium, have qualified for the BD Winter Regional Championship / BD Winter Championships and Petplan Area Festivals. Currently our week consists of dressage training four times a week, two days hacking or pole work and then one day off, however, Alfie will have a light day before a competition day. Before a show, Alfie will get washed the night before, especially in winter with all the mud, then plaited in the morning before we set off. He’s still quite inexperienced and can be a bit nervous at shows, so we make sure he has plenty of time to warm up and get comfortable with his surroundings. In the Novice Winter Regionals we was a little disobedient but came home with 68+% and 6th place, but I know we can do much better. Our competition aims for 2020 are to qualify for the BD Summer Nationals at Medium and compete at the BD Youth Home International.
Alfie is a very good doer so is currently fed Dengie Alfa-A Original with a high spec balancer, linseed oil alongside ad-lib hay. At the BD National Academy he weighed in at 610kg and has a BCS of 3 which is ideal. Dengie Performance Horse Nutritionist, Claire Akers, advised on adding electrolytes to Alfie’s diet, especially as (hopefully) the weather gets warmer. The advice given to me and the other academy members has made a big difference, keeping it simple and thinking fibre first ensures that Alfie is fit, healthy and ready to perform.
Alfie’s confidence is improving with every outing, his revised diet is also helping him physically and mentally with the demands of training and competing. We had only our second go at a Medium test last weekend and gained 69+% and a second place; I’m so excited for the coming season!
Well this is a blog I didn’t expect to have to write…eventing is off!!! All the horses are on great form and have been busy galloping, xc schooling, jumping, hacking, doing dressage and had the new water treadmill sessions in preparation for their season to start next week! I’m still waiting to hear if the dressage nationals will run as Candy had qualified for the Medium Gold, but I can’t see it happening. It’s obviously gutting for the whole eventing community, riders and organisers, but the cancellation of all events is the most sensible thing to do in this crazy situation – people’s health is far more important than us crazy eventers getting to gallop over fences.
It’s obviously going to affect the whole horse community, hopefully just in terms of loss of competition and earnings, rather than lives. Currently I’m keeping all the horses in work as normal, but will back off the galloping for the time being. I’m hoping the extra time and training will mean they will all come out and do sub 20 dressage tests and jump double clear, winning every event they are entered in when we can get competing again – one can dream!
Luckily the horses are all on fibre-based diets (Dengie Alfa-A Oil or Healthy Tummy, Alfa-Beet and balancer) so their diets don’t really need to be adjusted to the lack of competitions! I will film some training videos over the next few weeks to share with you all, so you have ideas of exercises to play with at home while no competitions are on!
A month after our fabulous training day with Dengie we have really cracked on with training. Even with all the storms we have been out to competitions most weekends.
Cici has felt better than ever recently now she has her new feed plan, her coat looks shinier, she feels full of energy and is now in prime condition for our first event of the season in three weeks.
A week after the amazing training day I had lots of fun at the Crawley and Horsham Hunt relay in a team of three with two of my close friends. Cici was very patient as we had to stop for a water station and walk over a bridge – the team ended up 4th out of 20+.
The next weekend Cici was a star at Coomblands Equestrian when we did the NSEA 90cm for team 2nd and the 1m for team 5th. She was outstanding!
Then Storm Ciara and Dennis struck cancelling plans for the next two weekends, so we dodged the rain and did some training at home practising the tips given by Lucy Jackson. The main focus was on skinnies and keeping my canter around corners.
Meanwhile, during my half-term I participated in a Pony Club Showjumping competition with the team coming 4th in 1m. We then had a visit to the fab new all-weather cross country course at Hickstead with BE accredited coach Tracy Brown, where we continued with Lucy’s key training points of rhythm and straightness, which Cici thoroughly enjoyed.
After that we spent the day at Petley Wood for the South East Eventers League 1m Arena Eventing Finals. Cici jumped a great clear, with all our practice of skinnies paying off. She aced the dyke, steps and fences on the curve. We finished 12th in a very competitive field, I was so proud of her. The next weekend we went to Pyecombe for the 1m Arena Eventing Finals and she finished 8th with a confident round.
Her stamina has definitely improved with her new diet plan designed by Claire. Her weight has also improved due to the Grass Pellets and Meadow Grass with Herbs so she is now eventing ready.
Last time I blogged the ponies had just gone out on a 6 week break in the field and I was spending time getting to know Bracken, a 14.1 mare that I have been asked to event this year. The 3 boys came back into work at the beginning of December…..they were very hairy and extremely muddy, but pleased to get some attention and keen to get back into work. The first couple of weeks was spent just hacking round the lanes mainly walking and trotting, then at the start of my school Christmas holidays they were all clipped and the more serious event preparation work began!
Smartie really benefited from having some time off in the field, he came in looking and feeling much stronger and more confident. He has always been a bit of a worrier and he has a tendency to loose weight when he gets stressed so it was great to see that he had really filled out. We were keen not to lose any of the weight that he had gained whilst out on his break so he went straight back onto the Alfa-A Oil, balancer and Alfa-Beet plus as much hay as he could eat!! Felix has a tendency to go a bit overweight when he is not in work, but he actually didn’t look too bad at all after the break so he went onto his ‘in-work’ diet of Alfa-A Molasses Free with a balancer mixed with a small amount of Alfa-Beet. Chico also looked in good condition after his break so he also went onto the same feed as Felix. Bracken has been on a fitness regime since she came to us as she had most of last year off out in a field but the weight has been coming off her and she is now on the same feed as Felix and looking really well. It was great to have a visit from Andrea, our Dengie Area Manager who came and weighed and condition scored the ponies not long after they came back into work. It’s good to have an accurate measure of their weight and to know that we are feeding them the best diets.
During the Christmas holidays I was able to start schooling the ponies. We went to some Pony Club rallies, and then at the start of the New Year I took Felix, Smartie and Bracken to a BE Arena Eventing competition at Bicton. It felt great to be back out competing! Felix and Smartie did the 80cm class and both flew round (a bit too fast – both got a few time penalties, oops!) and unfortunately both knocked the joker fence down. I then did my first 90cm class with Bracken, she felt amazing and we finished right on the optimum time but unfortunately had the joker fence down…..again!! Although we didn’t come home with any rosettes all 3 ponies were looking and feeling really well and it made me very excited for the eventing season.
We have since been out to a few more dressage and show-jumping competitions. I have done my first dressage competition with Bracken and also jumped round my first 100cm Show-Jump course (we went clear and it was amazing except that i missed out a fence!!).
Keeping 4 ponies exercised during these winter months has been hard, my mum helps out by riding and leading the ponies from her horse and she also rides Bracken and Smartie if needs be. The ponies all get turned out for 4 or 5 hours everyday whilst I’m at school so it doesn’t matter if they don’t get ridden everyday, but we try to work them at least 4 days a week. Now the evenings are getting lighter though it is already so much easier! I did have lots planned for the ponies during half-term week but the awful wet and stormy weather meant that nearly everything was cancelled. Bracken and I did go to a Riding Club SJ competition where we finished 4th in the 90cm with 2 lovely clear rounds. We also did the 100cm class and jumped clear in the first round and just had one pole down in the second round where some of the fences were 1.05 and 1.10m! I’m so excited about this pony, she has wings!!
Chico is now looking for a new home as a dressage pony, we had hoped that after a break he might have changed his attitude to jumping but after a couple of good schooling outings he then went back to his old ways of napping between fences. He is obviously much happier just doing dressage so he will now be for sale as a dressage pony. Felix will soon also be off to a new home too, I have had the most amazing 4 years with him and he will always be the most special pony to me, but sadly I have now outgrown him so he is off to help another little rider start their eventing journey!
So, as I write this it is raining again and already some events due to happen this weekend have been cancelled. Hopefully, by the beginning of April when my Eventing season is due to start the weather will have improved dramatically and the next time I blog the event season will be in full swing!! I can’t wait to get out of the start box with Bracken and Smartie!
A month after our fantastic training day with Dengie I hoped I would be blogging to tell you how we had kicked on with training and were eagerly anticipating the season ahead. With storm Ciara and storm Dennis causing disruption eventing seems a long way off!
Surviving becomes the main aim and keeping the girls ticking over so they are at least fit enough to kick on when the weather changes. The lack of a school really does hit hard when the weather is like this and I can only dream of the luxury of one with a roof on.
To be fair we haven’t had a total disaster the girls have been ridden 4 or 5 times a week, plenty of hill work and different terrain, huge amount of water and bog practice and thankfully they are looking and feeling fantastic. Ellie’s change of diet to reduce the calories has been an easy transition, but I have to say she is still looking rather too well.
We did get out last weekend to Chard Equestrian a fabulous facility in Somerset for some BS jumping. It was supposed to be a 3-day show, but the third day was lost to the weather. Both girls jumped some brilliant rounds and it gave us an opportunity to try some different bits. I was delighted to come 4th in a strong Newcomers class with Fliss on the second day after just missing out on a placing in the 1.05.
We were also able to put into practice the great training from Hannah Esberger-Hancock with a dressage competition. I was delighted to come away with 2 wins and a second place, although as is often the case, the stunning work Ellie showed outside was not replicated in the arena when she was looking a few excuses to add the odd freestyle element. She doesn’t get that flying changes aren’t needed at Elementary.
Fingers crossed for the weather to remember dry days and our eventing season will start at Cirencester in March, we then hope to go to Portman, Bicton and Withington which should be a great introduction to the season with a variety of courses to get into the swing of things.
So the build-up to the start of the eventing season is well underway…four weeks and counting! To say I’m starting to get excited is an understatement, especially with missing so much of last year due to illness.
All the horses have been in work all winter as they didn’t have a hard season and therefore didn’t really require any time off! We have had a slightly different approach to the winter in that I have kept XC schooling over the winter with the aim to keep their eye in and keep them interested in their work over the long months. I have also introduced some work on the water treadmill which hopefully will be a great help in terms of a low impact way to increase fitness. The horses have to work really quite hard on it without the strain that galloping can put on them and it makes them really use the muscles over their back, so all-in-all it’s a positive addition to their other work.
The last few weeks has also seen the start of canter work on the gallops which is always one of my favourite parts of the fitness plan! Alongside all the fitness work we have started sessions again with Chris Bartle who’s knowledgeable eye is invaluable to helping myself and the horses improve and fine tune for the season.
Last Friday was the first major competition of the season and it was the British Dressage Winter Regionals at Morris Equestrian in Scotland. Candy was on great form and was placed 2nd in the Medium Gold with a whooping 70.41% and then 3rd in the Advanced Medium Gold where sadly a few costly blips meant we were not placed higher, but for an event horse to hold her own with the pure dressage horses is really cool and I’m so proud of her! Hopefully the Eventing season will go as well!
The horses are all looking fab on their Dengie Diets and it was great to have a visit from Dengie Performance Horse Nutritionist, Claire Akers prior to the Regionals!
