So it is just under a week until Jacob and I head up to Olympia Horse Show in London.
Where as last year (pictured top) I was stressing every step of the way I think this year I had already resigned myself to the fact we might not quite give the best account of ourselves, but that really doesn’t matter!
We have reached the stage where it is just too dark to ride in the morning before work regardless of how many lights I adorn round myself and Jacob — it just doesn’t feel safe riding on the roads before 7am.
With the rain we have had the fields are also out of bounds so for the last two weeks I have had to call in a reserve rider in the shape of my mum to keep Jacob in work! Aside from riding the odd horse on holiday I think it has been a good fifteen years since my
Me with Jacob
mum has ridden properly. Luckily Jacob is as safe as houses to hack and I think they have been enjoying their little mooches around the village. Thankfully mum has got used to his bouncy walk after her initial thought and question to me “are you sure he isn’t bucking?”
However the fact I haven’t been riding Jacob during the week does mean he is a little more portly than I would like. Regardless of what I feed he still seems to just love keeping hold of his belly — I think it is a Welsh thing!
Then we also have the coat issue. As we are doing the ridden section this year I thought I would take all the hassle out of the coat panic I had last year and just clip, so I didn’t really rug him in the lead up.
However when we came to clip we all realised it just wasn’t going to work. He hadn’t grown a long enough coat and being a bright chestnut I have always been worried about the the colour he would go. After clipping a bit we realised that he wasn’t going to hold his lovely bright shine so… I have been rugging him for the last few weeks! I hate it as, let’s be honest, one minute it is raining and then next it is wall to wall sunshine. Even the three weather apps I have on my phone all get it wrong!
So as I say I am resigned to us being a little fat, a little hairy and probably a little sweaty but regardless of that I cannot wait!
To be riding Jacob there really is a dream come true and I wish it was tomorrow and not a few days away. Let’s hope we make everyone proud and Jacob doesn’t just decide to ignore what I ask him to do completely — something he can have the tendency to do!
Aside from my Olympia prep Bam has returned home for her winter break, although she much prefers being a Princess than a mud monster!
Bam’s prize haul
She had a fantastic end to her season being crowned overall points winner at the South East Welsh Pony & Cob Awards, winning a beautiful cup and showing award at the Welsh Pony and Cob Awards and also winning at both the NPS Area 20 points and BSPS Area 14 points so I guess we can safely say she deserves her Princess crown. She is having some time off with my young Welsh section B Flute, who has fallen madly in love with her. They are both enjoying doing a bit of weekend hacking about while the young ponies I have for next year have headed off to be broken. Hopefully I will have a few photos of the babies for my next blog!
Chloe
