I think Soap must win the award for the 'horse most dedicated to the pursuit of mess' he comes in every day PLASTERED in mud, sometimes despite being in a full neck, deep length rug he even manages to get mud on his withers! how he does it only he knows. So I guess it shouldn't have come as much surprise to me when I walked off to get my hat from the car and return to find this...

Last season I ordered myself a new hat silk from Treehouse, and spent all year scouring online shops and the high street trying to find a long sleeved green top that matched. Nothing I found was quite right so for Christmas I splashed out and ordered myself the matching event shirt from Treehouse, and today it arrived! It's fab and I love it, and I think it looks really nifty with my new Kan Teq who are one of my new sponsors for 2010! Of course because it is new I will have to ride out in it before I compete in it just to get rid of any jinx, I'm superstitious about using new stuff for the first time in competition! Now if only I could find some green and white harlequin gloves...hhhmmmmmm... click images to enlarge

As the season is fast approaching and I'm already trying to plan where I can take Jack for his first unaffiliated ODE I thought it might be a good idea if I got round to some XC schooling! I am very lucky because on the farm where our yard is based there is a small XC course. It's only up to 2'9'' but it has quite a variety of fences, and is ideal for initial XC jump training of young horses and reformed delinquents! This was quite a provocative location for Jack as along side the jumps is a long grassy stretch where his previous owners used to gallop him for his point 2 point fitness training, things could get interesting! To begin with I cantered Jack up and down past the jumps to test out my brakes, and to take the edge off him. When I nearly swallowed his ears a few times I took this to mean he was a bit over bitted so I moved the reins up the rings, and he settled more but even when I tried a totally loose contact he was still backing up and shaking his head about so I put this down to old habits and excitement. I started with a little rail and barrels fence of about 2ft and jumped it a few times to get a feel for him, and his way of going over and between fences. He started a little fussy and opinionated, but I just kept calmly asking the same question and eventually he settled really nicely, and we finished on a fab note with him soft, round, light, and in a lovely even rhythm. I was very pleased with him considering the last time he jumped anything rustic was racing about 2 years ago. After the session he chilled out and walked home loose and relaxed and I had a big smile on my face. Before we started I made sure I popped on my Kan Teq back protector just incase, but thankfully it wasn't needed. I have entered Jack in a XC clinic with Robert Stevens at Boomerang on Feb 13th (let's hope that's not unlucky!) so between now and then I need to work on finding a nice XC bit he likes, and his straightness as he has a tendancy to twist his head and neck. Below is a little video of todays antics and I think you can see a real progression as he realises what I want and settles into his work.

Ok so I think this may be taking my obsession with colour coordination to new heights! To match my GHE colours of harlequin pattern bottle green and white, I have found a tape to match! When this arrived the other day I got ridiculously excited about it, and couldn't wait for the snow to melt so I could do a quick dry run to check it would be suitable. I love it! and when my belated Christmas present of a matching xc top arrives at the end of this month I think I might just burst with colour coordinated joy!
Check out Soap's sexy legs (no pun intended!) click images to enlarge

This year is getting off to a great start because I have just submitted the first entry for my new column on Eventing Worldwide!
EWW is a subscription site covering all aspects of eventing, there are course photos, videos, reports, reviews, competitions, regular columists and much more. If you want to join EWW it's just £30 for a years membership, and having been a member since 2009 I would say it is definitly value for money. Before starting my 2010 column I had 3 articles published on EWW in 2009 each covering aspects of equestrianism that I have a good deal of experience in, and this year I will be writing all about my eventing season in the monthly 'EWW amature riders column', but if you aren't an EWW member don't worry you won't miss out coz it will still be business as usual on GHE. click images to enlarge

It seems only a few weeks ago since we had the last dusting of snow, and now it has come back with avengence! Just as I was getting excited about being able to use my 4x4 to navigate the snowy roads my 4 wheel drive went kaput! I have been parking near by, and walking up to the yard when the hill is impassable which is a little chilly, but I'm telling myself it's all good exercise, and will help me to walk off all the chocolate log I munched last month! Ooooops!

So as nothing can really be done with the horses I have made a little video of my winter wonderland, enjoy!

Last night I was looking back through some old photos from my polo days and it reminded me about how I used to ride and lead the polo ponies. One day whilst exercising a string I ended up riding one pony and leading two more on each side! 5 ponies may sound like a handful, but they were so used to being worked like this that they were very well behaved, and it was great fun to take them out and canter round the pitches. So........(can you see where this is going?) today I hacked out Soap and took Jack as a tag along. After a few initial teething problems where Jack wanted to tuck in behind, and when I lent back to pull on his rope Soap sped up we had it cracked. We hacked around the farm in walk as the ground was still frozen, but they were both very well behaved so hopefully we can progress to trotting, and I can use this method to exercise them both when time is tight.

It's good fun riding and leading and as we walked towards home across the hill, with the sun starting to go down, and a cool winter breeze blowing I thought to myself......'It might be quite nice to be a cowboy!'... click images to enlarge