The #Blogtober challenge seemed like a great Idea back in September. Looking back I can see I have Rhea Freeman to thank for this idea in the first place. I had already had a little go at blogging and kind of enjoyed it, but I had never really been committed to it. I am glad that I accepted this challenge, it has made me learn how to use IT tools that I have been overlooking for a little too long now. Huge thanks to Charlotte Miller of http://www.theforelockjournal.com/ fo

This is not a very old picture, but there is a bittersweet story to it. Meet Midge everybody. Midge is a 12.3hh new forest cross we're not sure. 20 years old now I first met him when he was about 2. Lindsey Roswell went with her friend Clare to the New Forest sales and they bought 4 foals. One of whom was Midge. Midge was backed, and is still very good to long rein, then went to work in the trekking centre run by Clare. He was ridden in both western and English style, mostly

Over the years I have worked with a lot of horses and Ponies. Hunters, Eventers, Dressage horses, pony club ponies, polo ponies, even had a go at polocross on my first Horse, Biddy, while she was up at Warwickshire college with me. One thing I have never done and would absolutely love to try driving, in particular scurry ponies. I remember watching the scurry ponies on the TV 40 plus years ago. The ponies with names like 'Sugar' and 'Spice'. Galloping around, with the comment

Testing the grey matter to stretch back to the far distant past! Very few photos from back then but my earliest pony memories are more than 40 years old. My parents were not particularly 'horsey', they still aren't to be honest. My grandfather, known to us as Dambie, took his twin daughters and their families on holiday to Sheringham. I must have been about 6. We walked from our hotel to the beach, which I remember as a really long way. When you got to the shore you had to g

Some of you who know me may find this hard to believe, but I have always been painfully shy. I was the child who hid behind her father's legs meeting new people. I still absolutely dread walking into a room full of strangers. If I arrange to meet friends in a pub I will always be a couple of minutes late so they are already there when I walk in. I find new places and new people absolutely exhausting, and I always have. Which may make my other 'secret' seem strange, because I

Where do I start? One single piece of advice or should I just write a book? No book writing today, I'm going to give you my most important piece of advice - Pay for EXPERT advice. There will be plenty of people offering you advice, all with the best of intentions but please, for the sake of your horse, please get expert help. The first question I ask is 'did you have him/her vetted?' I know it's expensive, and many people don't unless they need to for insurance. If they hav

There are so many things I could write about, and as I'm sitting waiting for my car, contemplating going home to try and get my laptop working, I'll see what comes to mind. There are so many things I used to do, and for varying reasons don't anymore. Jumping is one thing, I used to really enjoy, but lack of balance has stopped that. A little bit of me is very tempted to ask the guys at Talland if I can have a little go on one of their stage 2 horses over a tiny cross pole. Ma

Today has been a non starter so far, back pain & trouble standing, my friends with MS will understand. I'm off to deep water Aqua Fit later to see if that gets me moving. It had better, the Terriers want to go and see Midge. These two are used to being yard dogs so they get bored stuck in the house. Hopefully we'll get back to a yard, in the meantime they make do with visiting Midge in his field. This Friday is my Tysabri infusion day. Every 4 weeks I have an infusion of this

It's really late, so I'm going to keep this short. My tip today is to find the right person for the job. I was bored with my old logo, which looked a lot like the British Dressage Logo. I looked at Apps that design logos for you, but none of them worked for me. I looked at a couple of design sites, and took the plunge. Carla at ByTwig has done a great job. I had an idea, she made it work in I way I could never haved imagine, but I love it. I am very proud of all of my qual

Ronald Duncan wrote his beautiful poem, 'The Horse' in 1964. Many of us have grown up hearing the beautiful words being read at the close of the Horse of the Year show, often with a lump in our throats and a tear in our eyes. This video reproduced the poem with permission from the Ronald Duncan Literary Foundation. HoofRide is the BEFs campaign to encourage people to take up horse sports, something I try to do too. The horse is my motivation, my therapist, both physical and