I never thought for a second I’d be writing this to you all. Maybe sometime in the future but certainly not this week. I made the decision to sell Tiny. For all his amazing points there were a few things that just didn’t work for me. I could have carried on and worked through them, many [...]
Hello again! I've deliberately kept things a quiet lately with this series. The hunting season ended in March and we've been ticking over ever since really. Instead of turning him away for the summer the plan was to keep him ticking over with just hacking for a few weeks and then start on some flatwork, get [...]
Ever since Tiny came home I've been riding him in one of Tony's saddles. The fit has been 'ok', definitely usable, but not ideal long term. An 18" seat for a 5'2" small legged person isn't ideal. I've basically been swimming in that saddle since October. We always knew that if he was staying around we'd [...]
It's been quite a while since I blogged specifically about my return to riding and the journey with Tiny, my ex-racehorse. Not through a lack of desire really, but more from the fact that not an awful lot has really happened since I last updated you all in the middle of January. To be honest much [...]
The last horse I had at home with me before Tiny appeared in my life this past autumn, was in October 2006. Whilst I've owned horses since 2006, they've mostly been youngstock who were kept away from me on the stud where they were bred. They were never any closer than an hour from where I lived and [...]
When you are desperate for some consistency in your mental approach to something, being delayed from even being able to try can be really difficult to deal with. Patience is required. Particularly when horses are involved. So is the ability to put those issues to one side and just carry on with 'normal' stuff is what's [...]
All has been going well with Tiny and I at home. He's not put a foot wrong and we are slowly building our relationship together both on the ground and in the saddle. However things in my head have been somewhat unhelpful lately and despite my strong desire to be much further forward with my return [...]
My main competitive years growing up was in the Show Jumping arena. During my teenage years I was really lucky to be in a position to ride and own some pretty speedy accurate and jumping ponies. I rode in affiliated junior competitions from the age of 13 through to 16 years until I grew out of [...]
We've reached the month point since I've been back in the saddle with a new horse of my own, Tiny, and it's starting to feel like second nature with the daily and weekly routines. One thing I think most of us probably can appreciate is that life is frequently about compromises and making the best of [...]
At the entrance to a cross country schooling facility I was giggling like an idiot. I’m not sure why really as deep down I was somewhat terrified at the prospect. Bar 2 jumps out hunting when Tony wedged me in behind him and Hugo recently I’ve not left the ground for over 15 years. I can’t [...]