My Monthly Horsey Update| A heart breaking sale…

Hello wonderful followers.

It’s been a hard month this month.  My lovely chestnut mare, Zara, who I totally adored had to be sold. Mainly due to the fact that I didn’t think she was going to Show Jump to the level that I would like her to. Whilst I knew it was the right decision, I was totally heartbroken as for me the horses are more than just pets and I always get so attached. It’s the reason we have still kept my old 148cm jumping pony, Bonoffee Toffee.

So with Zara gone to her new home, I’ve had some more time to concentrate on my youngster, Mr Snip a.k.a ‘Bluelands Cruise’.  I’m sure when I enter the Show Jumping ring most people think I’m riding an absolute donkey, but to me he does have something special. He’s, shall we say, an “uncut diamond”.  All that aside, he’s a lovely natured boy who I’m really enjoying. At the end of the day I think above all it’s important that we do ENJOY what we do, given the time and money we put into it.

It’s Snip’s first proper season since being broken and he’s been picking up consistent double clears during the three day shows at Bicton.  I’m hoping we will get all of our British Novice double clears by the end of the season. However, at the moment the main focus is on ground work and pole work and getting him to really start enjoying his job. I’m certainly in no rush to jump the big heights and want to ensure that he has the right education.

It’s been a bit of a strange month in the fact that I had started to question if I actually wanted to keep riding.  Mainly because I’ve been struggling to compete to the level I want to. The stress and upset of selling Zara also made me start to question if I actually enjoyed it… I remember talking to mum about how strange our sport is. Why is it that we expect these animals to jump over fences? And we select them based on how high they can jump? It’s a strange one and probably not worth thinking about to be honest.

However, it didn’t take me long to discover that yes, I really do love the sport and life is too short so you may as well just enjoy yourself and forget about the rest.

So my leaving message to all you out there is to do what you love.

We have an exciting month coming up with Barbour, Sporting Hares, Ariat, and Whale of a Time.

Lots of love and good luck to all those competing over the next month, especially those heading to Burghley next week!

Abi xx