I can’t quite believe where the last 6 weeks have gone – but they have flown by!
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!
