OK its been a long time since my last update and a lot has changed.
Baby has arrived, and completely taken over everything (hence lack of update).
At first this was really tough, I could not see Sofie with Rachael in tow, and I could not be away from Rachael. The few attempts to do both went disastrously wrong with Rachael screaming, Sofie stressing and me being utterly flustered and having to ask for help to put Sofie back in the field. Luckily we had the lovely Lillie looking after Sof so she was not neglected though I felt awful for not being able to see her properly.
But as Rachael got older I was able to sneak a bit more time away and started to ride once a week. Lillie was doing a lot of jumping with Sofie which they both enjoyed but it became clear that Sof wasn't quite up to the job. She started going more uneven, causing her saddle to slip and running out of fences. Fearing that we could be damaging her I had to ask Lillie to stop jumping and understandably she looked for another horse to progress her riding. As it happens Samba (Sofie's besty) needed a jockey as her owner was pregnant with a second child so that worked out well.
But I had a new problem, the yard was a reasonable drive and all the good hacking took 40 mins of road work to get to. My visits had to be within feeding breaks which generally gave me 3 hours tops, which just wasn't enough to ride to the heath. In addition the yard was struggling to be financially viable and I feared for its long term future.
A chance encounter at a straightness training clinic got me in touch with South Warren Farm. I used to ride Tonto past it and always thought it is such a fantastic location. As it happened they had just built a new stable block and had spaces. I was super nervous about moving Sof, but it was nearer, cheaper, on the doorstep to some amazing hacking and too good to miss. In the end we took some friends with us as other liveries were fearing the long term prospects of the current yard. So in April 2019 Sof arrived at south warren, best friend Samba in tow. This made the whole thing far less stressful for Sofie.
And it turns out the move was just what we needed. Its a new start for both of us. Time to recoup from loosing T and gaining Racheal. It is so relaxed and peaceful and I love being able to enjoy the hacking on our doorstep. The field is a short walk form the yard and no need to walk past other horses which Sofie hates. She is so much more relaxed and happy now. We have some lovely sharers. Polly, who I want to keep forever, and my friend Helen who rides occasionally.
There has also been a global pandemic (in true equestrian style this is simply a side note to the more important stuff of horses). But it has come with a huge silver lining, far more horse time for me as Nick is home and able to watch Rachael whilst I ride. Life is pretty much perfect :)
Baby has arrived, and completely taken over everything (hence lack of update).
At first this was really tough, I could not see Sofie with Rachael in tow, and I could not be away from Rachael. The few attempts to do both went disastrously wrong with Rachael screaming, Sofie stressing and me being utterly flustered and having to ask for help to put Sofie back in the field. Luckily we had the lovely Lillie looking after Sof so she was not neglected though I felt awful for not being able to see her properly.
But as Rachael got older I was able to sneak a bit more time away and started to ride once a week. Lillie was doing a lot of jumping with Sofie which they both enjoyed but it became clear that Sof wasn't quite up to the job. She started going more uneven, causing her saddle to slip and running out of fences. Fearing that we could be damaging her I had to ask Lillie to stop jumping and understandably she looked for another horse to progress her riding. As it happens Samba (Sofie's besty) needed a jockey as her owner was pregnant with a second child so that worked out well.
But I had a new problem, the yard was a reasonable drive and all the good hacking took 40 mins of road work to get to. My visits had to be within feeding breaks which generally gave me 3 hours tops, which just wasn't enough to ride to the heath. In addition the yard was struggling to be financially viable and I feared for its long term future.
A chance encounter at a straightness training clinic got me in touch with South Warren Farm. I used to ride Tonto past it and always thought it is such a fantastic location. As it happened they had just built a new stable block and had spaces. I was super nervous about moving Sof, but it was nearer, cheaper, on the doorstep to some amazing hacking and too good to miss. In the end we took some friends with us as other liveries were fearing the long term prospects of the current yard. So in April 2019 Sof arrived at south warren, best friend Samba in tow. This made the whole thing far less stressful for Sofie.
And it turns out the move was just what we needed. Its a new start for both of us. Time to recoup from loosing T and gaining Racheal. It is so relaxed and peaceful and I love being able to enjoy the hacking on our doorstep. The field is a short walk form the yard and no need to walk past other horses which Sofie hates. She is so much more relaxed and happy now. We have some lovely sharers. Polly, who I want to keep forever, and my friend Helen who rides occasionally.
There has also been a global pandemic (in true equestrian style this is simply a side note to the more important stuff of horses). But it has come with a huge silver lining, far more horse time for me as Nick is home and able to watch Rachael whilst I ride. Life is pretty much perfect :)
