With the start of the event season kicking off at the start of the month, we were very busy at work getting everything ready for the first runs of the season. The horses were out nearly everyday training to allow them to be fully prepared to start the season as
well as they could. I was very excited to start seeing the results of Harry and everyone's hard work over the winter, Unfortunately due to the great British Weather Harry's first event was cancelled half way through. Not to be deterred, he continued to school the horses around the event (with the permission of the organisers) so that, to them, nothing had changed on the day.
Of course, I have to mention the current COVID-19 crisis as it is a pretty large part of everyone's life at the moment, and naturally we are all affected here too. We all live on site at the yard, and so are in lock down together here instead of at home. As much as it is hard being away from
my family in these strange times, I cannot ignore how lucky I am to be on lock down in such an amazing place - we are still outside all day everyday with the horses and we are definitely not limited on space! Our day to day hasn't particularly changed as all the horses still need the exact same care and attention as they always do, and I am so grateful that I am still able to do what I love. We are trying to keep the horse's day to day routines as normal as possible so that they can continue to perform at their best, even without any competitions in the near future,. That way, when the season does eventually pick back up again, they will come out stronger as they have continued to progress throughout rather than just staying the same as they are now.
About midway through the month, Harry and Rosie mentioned to me that they had
potentially found a horse whose owner was looking for somebody to ride whilst they were unable to due to an injury. Harry and I went to try her, and soon after that we picked her up and brought her here. Killaughey Belle (aka Belle) is a 16.2, 11 year old ISH out of Master Imp, and has competed up to BE100, ready to step up. The idea initially was for me to compete her for the first part of the season to gain some experience at a slightly higher level . Instead I will enjoy training with her and learning at home for the time being. I am also looking forward to taking advantage of having Harry around more often for training than he usually would be at this time of year. We've already had a couple of good dressage sessions together and I'm really enjoying getting to know her.
I'm really looking forward to getting to know Belle better over the next few months, and although its a shame we wont be able to compete it'll be great to see how we both progress together anyway.
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