This blog has been a work-in-process since late last year and is finally seeing the light of day – or screen! As is often the way in life, best intentions are there until a curve-ball comes along, and for me that was a broken collarbone.
Luckily it was my right clavicle and we were in the middle of breeding season and I scan the mares with my left arm! Crisis averted – all the mares have been put back into foal. We have nine due for next season and I still have one to preg test. I was kept busy doing other non-riding jobs whilst I was out of the saddle including scanning mares, mowing the lawn, doings lots of office work and driving Shane crazy 
Our property had a (one-handed) fresh lick of paint which turned out to be pretty good physio! This included our client waiting area and we are proud of that nice cool, clean space to chat all things equestrian with our lovely clients, while taking a break from the intense heat. Our other summer job was to continue with the living area in the truck – it is almost finished now and I am pretty excited about not having to sleep in the back of the float!
Breeding season is always an interesting time as we never really know how the day may turn out – one minute I am on a breaker, then I have my (good) arm up a horse, next minute I am teaching a lesson before I have to collect a stallion. The days are certainly varied and that’s what we love about our business.
The week after my fall I was meant to be competing down at Equitana in the eventing whilst Shane was in the World Cup class. I had to sit this one out but the silver lining was I was invited to join in commentating a few events including the World Cup class with Tim Dreverman on the Friday night. This was lots of fun and really a great way to still be involved in the event. We also had time to catch up with our sponsors CopRice, Proteq and the Australian importers of Schockemohle Sports, Chaballo.
2017 started with several clinics and some very hot weather. As you will all have seen recently we have had some record breaking weather this summer and have missed out of most of the summer storms, so like many of you, I hope that we see some more rain in the coming weeks! We started out at Toowoomba SJ Champs in January and I was happy with Gwendolyn taking 3rd place in the 1.30m and APH Charlie Brown 3rd in the 1.10m. My first event for the year was Sydney where I had three horses.
Kinnordy Gwendolyn had an easy first run back in the One Star and took home the win. APH Charlie Brown did his first One Star and felt great cross country having a steady run. Jaybee Vigilante continues to be a lot of fun to ride and won the Prelim class 10 penalties ahead of 2nd place! This event was a bit of a milestone for me as it was the first time that I had taken our semi-trailer on a trip by myself – driving an 18 speed road ranger is certainly a challenge and certainly requires 100% attention at all times! I almost pushed clutch through the floor of the Ford Fiesta when I came home!
Last weekend we competed at Fig Tree Pocket CNC with 5 horses – Kinnordy Gwendolyn was 3rd in the Two Star, Jaybee Vigilante 3rd in the Prelim, our little pocket-rocket Chanelle D 5th in her first Intro, and Paris Auer’s Dicky Ticker (this horse has the best name ever) 9th in the Intro. APH Charlie Brown had another clear One Star run and is qualified for Melbourne 3DE. Ewan Kellett has been working with the FTP club to improve the cross country course and it looked great. I highly recommend riders from down south come up and check out FTP CIC in July. The club has good yards, great amenities and a really lovely atmosphere.
That’s all from me for now – looking forward to what the next few months have in store
