I have been working 6 days a week full time on the yard with our apprentice and although we have had many empty stables we have still had ca. 18 horses stabled & 4 living out full time. It’s been hard work & I have loved (nearly) every second of it. It feels like its been quite a long time since I have been at this end of the business & I felt that the yard had slipped a little out of my control; but its all back to how I like it & the ship has been righted. I think the hardest thing about this period is keeping the hope & belief that things would turn around – at one point it felt like everyday someone was handing in their notice or leaving. All for very good reasons, eg. injured horses, travel time between home & the yard, just taking their horse home as they have stables in the back garden; but it doesn’t make things any easier & I am not good at goodbyes!

But over the last 14 days we have filled back up to the point where I think Zie Zie & another are going to have to winter in the old stables – the change around has been dramatic! Technically here we have 3 barns, split into an older barn with 9 stables, a newer barn with 17 & overflow old stables with 2 usable when we need or have colts in. The older barn is now booked up for the winter with DIY horses & the newer barn has a mixture of training liveries, full liveries & part liveries. It has made a huge difference to our work having the older barn completely DIY; it means that we have gone from a 28 stable yard to just 19 – it means we can be full for the winter without having to increase our workload and costs dramatically – the ideal situation.

So once again the buzz is starting to come back to the stables! We have 3 horses booked in for full time training this winter by us & my 2 I think I’m going to have fun.

Tommy & Hero have sold too. Tommy is off tomorrow to his new home & Hero gets to stay with us longer while we break him in & train him for the family that have bought him – its so exciting & I’m so glad he gets to stay.

The plans are still in progress but we are looking at running unaffiliated dressage here throughout the winter – not only shows but run a club with evening talks, quizzes, bbq’s, trips out & lots more!

Training wise with Gio & Hubert K they have been having a very quite few weeks while I have been sorting everything out. Lots of hacking for Hubert & Gio has had a mixture of lunges & school work but nothing intense. So they are both very happy campers at the moment. Certainly no shows at the moment while things are so up & down with the yard – I feel like we need to get things right at home before I can concentrate on competing again (but I can’t wait I miss it soooooo much)

Finally we have decided to look for another apprentice to work 4 days/36 hours a week – we can’t offer accommodation at the moment but can offer lots of riding this winter & great education from Broadlands.

I promise not to leave it so long next time!

Anna-Lisa x

NB. I can’t find any photos to attach on the laptop but there’s loads on Instagram!

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As I am sure everyone does we analysed what the differences have been when he has been out to shows or training; his first unaffiliated show in January was the first time I felt him be a little naughty, Keysoe training (which was very busy with BYRDs camp going on) he was nervous but trusting, Ferry Farm BD he was a good boy & Sheepgate was a nightmare – there was one difference – Nupafeed MAH calmer. The first show and Sheepgate he wasn’t on Nupafeed but he was for Keysoe and Ferry Farm as I had a little bit left over from my old mare. So Thursday morning I had a delivery from Horse Health with a new bottle of Nupafeed and started to load him up again. Sunday we went out to Easton College unaffiliated dressage and rode one novice test to see if he behaved – it worked! Yes he was worried a little, yes it was a VERY rough and ready test, but I could put my leg on him without any antics. So now there is no doubt in my mind that at the moment Hubert needs the Nupafeed to help him get over his anxieties and concentrate at a competition – so back to Plan A and regional qualification.

The rest of last week was spent juggling Hattie as Ben had to work extra, and working with the youngsters. My back has been injured for a few weeks now and before Sheepgate was on the mend but after my fall from Hubert it was very sore again last week meaning that Giovanni W (Gio) had to start to concentrate with Ellinoré riding and me training them on the ground. It worked really well and he made some real progress and even got to go for a hack at the end of the week with Becky on foot (just in case!)

Again because of my back Hero and Tommy (Hilfiger) had a light week of loose schooling and for the first time we jumped them both, safe to say Hero is not going to make the best jumper but after a while he was brave enough to take himself over 40cms (to be fair on him thats braver than Bvlgari ever was!), but Tommy jumps amazing! A proper jumper clearing 1.40m easily and enjoying himself. We will loose jump him this week again and get some video this time.

Mondays is often spent in the office for me organising the week ahead but instead of looking after Hattie after feeding I helped turn out this morning as the horses moved to their summer paddocks! They were so excited as they realised they were not going to their usual fields and we have a good amount of grass now so there wasn’t much running around – heads down eating!

The sun is shining now and the forecast says 22 degrees today so fingers crossed – time to go work some of the horses #LoveMyLife

Anna-Lisa x

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