It's (Nearly!) Christmas! Presents for everyone!

So, with Christmas just around the corner (30 days and 55 minutes to be exact!) I thought I'd start doing posts on Christmas gifts - whether it be for your horse, an equestrian friend or the yard groom, there's something for everyone!

For your horse (or a friends!)

A head collar! 

A great, relatively inexpensive gift for your horse, a friends horse or your favourite horse at the yard!

George got his present early...What do you guys think?

Beth

Favourite Photo of The Week!

I have thousands, thousands of photos of my horses as I'm sure a lot of other horse riders do too! So I thought once a week I'd post my favourite!

This was taken back in January, the first time both of my horses were in the school together! I was warming Aragorn up while my trainer was cooling Bentley off. He thought I was 'doing some weird kind of yoga' when infact I was sorting my spurs out!

What's your favourite photo of the week?

Back in the (jumping) saddle!

Slowly but surely I'm getting my confidence back - it's not fear of falling off, it's fear of what happens after falling off! I am 23 going on 93 (I will write a post on riding with injuries - hopefully it'll be helpful and maybe reassure a few people too!)

Jacket - Spooks

Breeches - Spooks

Hat - Charles Owen 

OOTD!

A lot of people ask what me and the horses are wearing in our photos so I thought I'd start doing an 'Outfit of the day' post!

What I'm wearing 

Shirt - H&M Divided Short Shirt - £12.99

Gloves - Mark Todd Competition gloves £18 

Hat - Charles Owen Wellington Classic Velvet from £120 

Breeches - Glööckler Silver Denim Royal from £80 

What Aragorn's wearing

Bridle - Mark Todd Patent Dressage Bridle from £80

Browband - Gift

Reins - Stubben Slimline Rubber Grip Reins from £75

Bit - Neue Schule Starter Loose Ring Bit from £65

Competitions, Training, Tantrums!

The last few weeks have been all go for me and the boys!
We aren't fortunate to have our own transport, but we are fortunate to have some lovely friends who help us as much as they can - so we've been out and about a lot recently!

The weekend before last Aragorn competed at the LAST EVER unaffiliated show at Patchetts Equestrian Centre (A place that will be dearly missed by many, I for one am sad to see it go!) We got a 3rd in our first class and had four faults in the second class - I was so, so pleased with how we worked as a team - especially as i'm still a bit "eugh" with jumping since our accident!
We also had a dressage competition last week in which we got 3rd in the Novice 28 and had a little bit of a tantrum in the Prelim 18! (A lot of people say Aragorn is like me, when he embarrasses himself he has a tantrum and it takes a while to "cool off" - He had a little trip at C and, because he embarrassed himself, proceeded to have a little buck - the rest of the test he had a real strop on but we still managed a 7th!)

I thought as they'd done an awful lot of dressage I'd take them to a Show Jumping competition, together - It's SO stressful taking two horses to a show - kudos to those of you who take two or more and make it look so easy!

It was George's first Show Jumping competition and at a relatively busy showground he behaved incredibly well! He won his class, Aragorn WOULD have won his class if I hadn't forgotten the course - he still got a 2nd (but hasn't forgiven me yet!)


Photos to follow soon!

Take Care

Beth

Animalife Vetrofen Healthy Antioxidant Support

The lovely team at Animalife - www.animalife.co.uk have given me a tub of Vetrofen Healthy Antioxidant Support to try!

I wanted to give it a fair trial and Aragorn has had a pretty hectic few weeks so I thought now would be a great time to give it a go!

More to follow! 

Revamp Old Boots / Fading Saddles for under £5!

There's nothing like buying a new pair of riding boots or saddle.
They often look so pretty you don't want to use them!
But, after a while, the colour fades leaving them looking...well, used!

I bought my dressage saddle second hand and the back especially was very faded, almost a greeny colour!
And my boots...I have worn them every single day for almost 3 years!

I decided to try Cherry Blossom Readywax Instant Shoe Shine Colour Enriching in Black.
It comes with a sponge on top, gently squeeze it and apply to saddle/boots - it dries within seconds too which is a bonus!
I applied one layer to the back of my saddle, let it dry and then applied another layer. I also applied two layers to the front of my knee rolls which were also faded.

I got a bit carried away and covered my boots in it - I am pleased to say it doesn't transfer and is waterproof!

(Unfortunately I got a bit carried away so didn't take a photo of my saddle before applying it, but believe me, as I said, it was a horrible greeny colour where it had got damp.)

As you can see my left boot looks almost new again!

Allow the first layer to dry before applying a second

 The colour of the seat was the colour of the knee rolls/back of saddle before applying

This brand retails for as little as £1! And has given my boots and saddle a new lease of life!

Happy shining!

Beth x

Retirement - Here's why I chose it!

I am lucky enough to have 4 horses - 2 of which are retired I often get asked why?

When I made the decision to retire Bentley, I was faced with the question "Why don't you just sell him? Make some money?" - Now, if I were selling horses as a business I could see this as a valid question, but I don't. The horses I own are my world, they're my universe.

Here's a little information on the two (very different horses) I have that are retired, for very different reasons.

Edd, The first of my horses I retired. A 15.2hh Irish Sports Horse gelding (in his heart, he was a stallion as he was gelded quite late.) I had the pleasure of owning him for 2 years, he's the first horse I felt I "understood." He was an avid head shaker and very "gung ho!" with the heart of a lion. Sometimes his speed got us into trouble, he would charge around a course of jumps faster than I'd like to think and despite my mum often refusing to watch me ride because it "scared her" I never felt scared because, despite his "gung ho" attitude, he took care of me and I really got to know him. Long story short, as he got older, a few injuries from his younger years surfaced - after consulting a vet, we were given a few options. 1) He'd be okay going for a plod every now and again, but nothing else. (This wasn't at all viable because plodding wasn't on of his gaits. 2) Sell him to someone that would take him for a plod. (Same as before) 3) PTS (This was never even considered) 4) Retirement

Retirement it was. I was unsure how he would "cope" with living out in a herd 24/7, 365 days a year as he was very selective of his fellow four legged friends.
Unloaded at his place of retirement, he took a deep breath with his ears pricked forward and trotted off to meet his new friends. (5 years later he is still his cheeky self!)

Bentley's story is a lot more complicated than Edd's.

Bentley is a 15.3 KWPN, who I got because the second I saw him, I fell in love with him.  He seriously underweight with a lot of physical and emotional problems.

After sorting out his physical problems (tilted pelvis, stomach ulcers, missing teeth) I began to see how parts of his past still haunted him.

He has the most incredible jump, one day we would be jumping 1.15 no problem, the next day he would see a pole and violently shake. So I thought the obvious thing would be to stop jumping him and concentrate more on dressage.
He would float round and I can't express in words the feeling he gave me, it was a feeling no other horse in the 20 years of riding has ever given me.
We were unable to take him out to competitions as travelling was another huge problem (he would often jump up and get his legs stuck!) But that didn't matter to me.
His problems would come and go, one day he would be calm and content and the next day he would be bucking and rearing.

One day I was practicing a dressage test and he reared vertically, twice. I landed on the fence on my back which resulted in a long night in hospital.
Usually i'd ignore his bucks and rears, I accepted that they happened, frequently and it was almost normal. But this wasn't, it seriously knocked my confidence and he was a horse that needed guidance and would pick up on any sort of nervousness. So I was left in a similar situation, a few choices to make about Bentley's future. 1) Sell him. (This was a hard one for me. Because of his quirkiness I was worried he'd hurt someone, and someone would hurt him.) Money didn't matter to me, despite people constantly reminding me that "he'd make a bit" - He was and still is my horse of a life time 2) Retire him (A no brainer for me. I can sleep at night knowing that, for the first time in his life he is living life as a horse. He gave me so much and it was time to give him something back. Again, the worry of "will he cope" struck (before we had him he had never been in a field)
Needless to say, in true Bentley style on his travel to his place of retirement, he got his legs over the partition.
After spending one night in a stable to make sure he was okay, the next day he met his new herd, his new family.

I am pleased to say both of them are doing incredibly well, and most importantly, are very, very happy.
I visit them as much as I can (they are a few hours away) but I get to see photos and updates everyday.
Yes, it still costs me, but I am a strong believer in giving these wonderful animals something back, after everything they have given me and it is totally worth the sacrifice of other, less important (to me) things.

Do you have a horse in retirement? Comment below! I'll upload some more photos in another post, Beth x