Tara's Show :)

Tara has been in and out of work for the last two years due to a tendon injury and pregnancy. She had a foal while she was off work, something Trudy and Sophie had always planned, and as Tara was rather bored it worked well. She made a great mum :) Rio was born just over a year ago and Tara has recently come back into work. Last Sunday, Tara went to her first show in two years! :)

All smart and ready to go! :)

Tara seemed slightly overwhelmed by the show at first. We put her in a small 2ft class to begin with so that she could get round and have a look. She wasn't really concentrating and we had a stop at the third fence. After that she seemed to enjoy herself! 

Enjoying ourselves! 

The second class we did was an open intermediate at 75 cm. We jumped much bigger at home before the competition so it seemed nice and friendly! Tara couldn't wait to get back in the ring and neither could I! She was so excited and very strong! We did a lovely double clear in this class and I am very proud of her for being such a good girl :) Bring on the next show!! 

Couldn't be happier after our jump off! 

Team GB's Olympic Success! :)

Anyone involved in horses cannot have failed to notice the fantastic performances given by all the riders at the London 2012 Olympic Games! In particular, team GB has the chance to celebrate after accumulating many medals right across the equestrian disciplines! I felt the need to share :)

Eventing Silver Medalists: Nicola Wilson, Zara Phillips, William Fox-Pitt, Mary King and Tina Cook
(Photo from Daily Mail)

Show Jumping Gold Medalists: Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Peter Charles
(Photo from the Telegraph)

Dressage Gold Medalists: Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester, and Laura Bechtolsheimer
(Photo from anorak.co.uk)

Dressage Individual Gold Medalist: Charlotte Dujardin

Dressage Individual Bronze Medalist: Laura Bechtolsheimer 

Thought Process of a Fall

Today I took a bit of a tumble. Due to my instructor's endless efforts to make me sit down properly in the saddle when I was 15, I don't fall too often these day. However, when I do, I do it in style!

Instead of stopping at a jump like a normal pony, Diesel decided to panic a bit and run straight through the jump wings. We were jumping a pretty decent oxer and he ran through one jump wing, and I, being slightly off centre due to him slamming the breaks on and whipping to one side, got literally wiped off on the other!

If you ever wondered what goes through a rider's head when we fall off, here is what goes through mine:

OWW!!!
Ok, so what hurts? Ribs, knee and shoulder.
Anything broken? No! Excellent!
Can I breath? Yes! Just....
Am I going to cry over this? I can feel tears....Shall I use them? No, its not that bad. I only crashed through a jump wing! That probably looked quite funny! Now I'll start laughing!
Can I move? Possibly.... One minute while I untangle myself from the jump wing... YES!!!
Where's my horse?