It’s that time of the year…

When most people in the horsey world decide on which society or club to join or think of a goal for the forthcoming year.

I will again be joining my local riding club, Gwennap (http://gwennapridingclub.tumblr.com/) as that is where I started out showing and it is also only down the road, which is handy if I want to hack to a competition like I did a lot last year! The club not only does showing, but holds open show jumping and dressage days and evenings, cross country competitions, a derby day and even an adult gymkhana evening (alcohol allowed!) It’s a proper grass roots club with something for everyone and although I don’t do the showing there anymore, it is an excellent place to take the babies out, either ridden or in hand. I really enjoy the dressage evenings they have on and they usually have the clear round on at the same time over the working hunter course, complete with water splash! There is a dressage day next Sunday (13th) that I am aiming for, both with Harry and George and the club have gained the use of a new indoor school nearby for the winter, enabling them to have club events for the whole year.

Splashing about!

I am undecided on joining any other clubs or societies as yet. BSPS has always been too expensive to do, although they do seem to be the new society to be with if you have an M&M as, under their membership, you can compete in RIHS and Olympia qualifiers and also HOYS. The NPS have a fabulous combined Dressage/Spring Festival in April but it is too far away for me! It is also the time to start planning shows and events and this year George and I will be doing a lot of variety and mother will also be wanting to take her Shetland out, especially now he is gelded and is an absolute angel!

I also did my good deed of the day – helping a friend find her lost horses. They had escaped from their field and poor Emma was very worried so rang me to ask to spread the word. Naturally, I put it on Facebook and within 15 minutes, another friend, Hannah, had replied that they were shut in her field. Emma and Hannah were connected by me and it all ended happily!

Happy New Year…

Happy New Year – how fast did 2012 go?!

Highlights for me included having my writing published in Horse & Hound (twice!!), winning dressage competitions on Mr Porge and doing live blogs from HOYS and Olympia on the NPSW website – www.native-pony.com – which led to the website passing over the 100,000 hits mark in just six months! Unfortunately, that meant I neglected my own personal blog!

So hear is my New Years resolution….to actually keep my blog updated at least once a week! 2013 looks to be an exciting year for me, though I am one of those people who takes each day as it comes! I hope to have lots more of my writing published – I am yet to get over the excitement of seeing my name above a report in a magazine or newspaper. My last report of 2012 was on the M&M supreme at Olympia and happily, Western Morning News also used my photo to go with the report. That is another aim for me, to take more photos! I think I might attempt a photo a day on here – horsey of course! I am also hoping to start an NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) fast track course in February. I passed the pre entry test, where I had to do a two hour exam, and I am glad it is only taking place at the college 15 minutes away from home, so I can finally get George fit for the early competitions. With George this year, I am not sure of any specific aims, but I would like to do more dressage and achieve higher scores – our highest last year was 68% but I know it can be better. We also love jumping and just having a lot of variety to what we do – some of the best things are going for lovely long hacks with your friends and family in the sun (!!).

Anyway, hope there weren’t too many sore heads today from last nights festivities and you all have a happy, healthy and horsey 2013 🙂

Magpie x