May was a brilliant month for us, and it is finally starting to feel like summer might show its face!
We started the month with a fantastic day out at Badminton thanks to our wonderful sponsors Horsemart. A great time was had walking the course designed by Eric Winter and taking some pictures and videos of the riders we saw along the way. It was brilliant to see so many young and first-time riders having completions, and eventing getting safer without losing any of the thrills. We had a quick look round the shops, and stopped to chat with a few friends and our lovely sponsors, Digital Horse who provided us with some new caps for our summer wardrobe. The next day saw us holding our breaths whilst watching the show jumping at home, and what a nail biting finish it was to see Piggy French stealing the win - by less than a second - from Oliver Townend! Find out more about our time at Badminton in our blog!
Speaking of being lucky with our amazing sponsors, we had an amazing delivery from Rentokil Initial with LeMieux saddle pads as well as base layers and rugs!
The same Monday saw us with trainers’ passes to Bath racecourse, courtesy of John O’Shea racing. We have backed Belle, Squirt and Ri for them, and have had Libby on livery for the whole of May on rehabilitation livery but we hope to have her up and running with the others when she’s feeling better! The day at the races was an amazing treat for us, and the team had an incredible day, with two winners and a runner up at Bath, and another winner at a different racecourse! We were even lucky enough to have a glass of champagne to celebrate Show me the Bubbly’s amazing win.
May also saw an influx of new arrivals! We welcomed Licci as a retirement livery, she’s happy and settled having put all of the others in their places!
We welcomed Alfie arrived for starting, he had a great month, starting out walking out in tack to get used to the area, and being leaned over already by day four, which is amazing. By day five he had a few steps with a rider, by day seven he was walking without a leader. Before long he was trotting out, although he had a few days where everything was very scary! He changed riders in his last week and had his first canter which he really enjoyed, he also had a few longer hacks. This culminated in his owner coming to ride him before taking him home.
"I felt my little pony didn’t need ‘breaking’ as he has such a sweet temperament - I didn’t want anyone to be too rough! When I saw the girls work and heard about them I was sure they would be perfect! I was not wrong! I was fully updated on his progress daily and when I came to collect him - I kept asking - “ do you want him longer?” they said no, we think he is ready! So off I went to collect him and I admit I wasn’t sure - could they have got him ready so soon? but I found my sweet little pony looking amazing, better than ever and he rode out beautifully - I was delighted and I am so excited to continue his education at home - I’m already planning to Book him in for jump schooling with the girls once he gets settled! Thank you for looking after him so beautifully and bringing him on so well" ~ Alfie's owner.
Charlie was also on backing livery this month, and was meant to be 11.3 but actually turned out to be 10.3! Good job Meg is absolutely tiny! He started out very spooky but is a quick learner. We did plenty of work on the ground, with walks out and long reining sessions in the arena before a rider was a thought. He also started being leaned over on day four, and although he was slightly more worried than Alfie, he was riding without a leader by day eight! He had a bit of work in the arena, and also started cantering in his last week. His little rider came to see him, but was very nervous and upset Charlie a little bit. He has one more week with us in June, and then he will go home where there is another little girl to ride him until his rider is a bit happier.
Macaroon also arrived, for a few weeks schooling livery, followed by sales livery! His owner had been concerned that a life of mainly being stabled, along with lots of hours in the arena, wasn’t really for him. The minute he arrived, he was turned out, and he had a whole week of hacking before we took him in the arena. We used lots of poles to keep the arena work interesting. He also hadn’t seen any jumps in a while, so the second week saw us jumping him over our fillers at home. He went out to a fun ride in the second week also, jumping all the jumps and increasing in confidence all the way round. In the last week he went to clear round at Moores where he also gained in confidence, jumping fantastically round the 80cm.
We had a session with Ross at Little Hesteyri, he was beautifully behaved and worked really nicely in the arena, settling nicely and being surprisingly unspooky with all sorts going on around him!
We caught up with one of our previous horses, Blue, which was really emotional as she's the only horse we have ever lost track of out of all of the horses we have sold of our own or client's. Her new owner called us out because he was having issues shoeing her which she had never had a problem with before. We travelled down to the New Forest to help out, and see the gorgeous girl! Blue looks amazing and has found a forever home with a lovely family!
Our horses are also all doing well. Sienna is backed and riding out really nicely in walk and trot. She a little Welsh Section A, five years old, and was involved in an RTA which left her a little bit worried. We restarted her, and she has been calm and well-behaved all the way through.
Kerry is as wonderful and golden as ever, he has been enjoying some lower level jumping including some tackless work.
Tom has been working really well at home and now just needs to replicate that out and about.
Rose and Swift are back in work, Swift is going to work on the flat for a few more weeks, Rose has started to jump and we are looking forward to a good season with her.
We are now on track to have an action-packed summer, and hopefully have a few more competitions! We have a few new faces, catch up with us in June to see how they go and check our For Sale page on our website for adverts and prices of some very special competition horses as well as family ponies!