I just read my friends facebook status which said that she was watching "The Whitaker Family Master Class" which made me think I'd like to watch that, the more sj tips the better! I Googled it and saw it was on Horse & Country TV on Sky. I had forgotten that Sky had this channel because we have freeview, but guess what?....you can watch it for free online!

This is a fantastic resource for expert advice, and inspiration I can't believe my luck. Thank you Sky!

Click here for Horse & Country TV online

I have just logged off the Ann Allen page having placed my Intro entry for Tweseldown on 15th March! I used my March ballot sticker so fingers crossed we get in. Eeeeeeeeeeeeke I'm so excited about this season, it seems to have been a long time coming round again. Above is a pic of Soap and I last year at the Tweseldown unaff' ODE, he looks pretty stylish in this pic, but you should have seen the other one which we didn't buy!

I have been promoting my blog online and offline, virally and via mail outs for the last 3 months. I have had just under 1000 visits in the last week from places as far a field as Indianapolis, Argentina, Munich, Bucharest, and even Zagreb! Today I got my first offer of sponsorship, and needless to say I was a little overexcited!

I had a lovely email from Angie at Mountain Horse who has offered me some fab Mountain Horse products. I can't wait to get the goodies and try them out, and I was really buoyed up by the comments in her email as the numbers of 'nos' I was receiving was begining to get me down.

"I was impressed with the efforts you have made, especially regarding your website, to promote, and appeal to, sponsors. It is essential for riders to consider what they have to offer potential sponsors and this can often be overlooked. You certainly made a refreshing change!"
Angie - Mountain Horse

The abscess has been poulticed and medicated into submisison and Soap now has a full compliment of shoes back on :) I am really looking forward to my jumping lesson this weekend with Liz Peerless, will have to get a few schooling sessions in this week after work as he has had 4 days off but he is pretty fit so I'm sure he will be fine. Will try and get some pics of the lesson and post them asap.

With Soap off games due to his abscess I turned my attention to my feed shed which was getting a little out of control. Above are some pics of the make over. His foot is looking much better after, poultices, hot tubbing with saline solution, and hydrogen peroxide, fingers crossed we can get a shoe back on this week.

I think my colleagues might have guessed after 2 years that I'm keen on eventing! These pics make it a lot easier to drive home in the cold and dark and ride because they are a constant reminder of all the fun to be had as soon as the nights begin to draw out... can't wait!

Dave my farrier came up and dug out the abscess, and Soap has now been poulticed so we wait to see what comes out in the morning! He had with him a very nifty laser thermometer which he used to detect the specific area of heat. The foot with the abscess was a whole 10 degrees hotter!

I have started ramping up the training schedule for Soap in preparation for Tweseldown in March. I just bought his BE season ticket, and booked us a place on a BE CDT day at West Wilts, and this Sunday I had some showjumping planned. In preparation for this I joined the H&H forum to ask for tips on getting an improved tuck over fences, and how to make him slow his jump down. I got some fab advice such as trying grids on a curve, and jumping from walk which I couldn't wait to try out on Saturday before the competition......but guess what....he's gone lame!

Luckily the foot is very hot, and it was a sudden overnight lameness so it's pointing towards an absess which should (fingers crossed) be no more than a week out of action. Typical!

A little inspiration from H&H...

I saw this in the village shop and had to get it. The article really strikes a chord. I think John Price hits the nail on the head when he said "Where else can I chase an Olympian round a field" I don't know of any other sport where your professional idols are so accessible, and where you can compete on equal terms with them. It's magic!

I guess I should have seen it coming when I bought a horse called 'Playing Dirty'. Above is a litte 'before' and 'after' of what can be achieved after a whole lot of elbow grease, and a few buckets of water! I just don't know how he manages to get so filthy, yesterday he came in with 22 burrs in his forelock and a feather! Where did he get the feather?...

My very first sponsor www.RideMyHorse.co.uk has been rebranded. They have relaunched as www.EquineAdverts.co.uk.
The importance of a good url to drive more traffic was the reason for this re-brand. Promotional activity for them had been put on hold due to the re-brand but now it's launched we can get going again. :)

I am always looking for more sponsors, the more the merrier! So if you would like more details please get in touch.