I am delighted that the new website is now live, hopefully a similar feel but more mobile friendly, new search functions on the course pictures and glitch free from my end. Big thank you to Adrian from Rose IT Solutions for the fabulous work. Please do let me have any feedback, thoughts, criticisms or suggestions via the contact me page.

So moving on I have encouraging news regarding Ellie's reassessment. The report and video of the examination has now been seen by Richard Hepburn, specialist vet from B&W equine vets and he was most encouraging. To quote his conclusions :-

"The examination shows significant clinical improvement in neurological function. The magnitude of improvement is really encouraging for 6 weeks post medication, I would fully expect complete neurological resolution to occur over the next couple of months. Return to normal exercise consistent with Ellie's level of fitness"

This is fabulous news and means we can resume a normal fitness programme for a horse that has had 2 months break and hopefully I will have a fully fit and functioning pony in a couple of months. Ellie's main wish is that her hair will grow back and stops looking such a freak!

Can someone tell me when we have had a relatively quiet winter why I chose this week to bring Ellie back into work. Yesterday I thought I would be blown from her back and today even I decided riding was a step too far!

Ellie can be seen here sporting her veterinary haircut. She is an angelic pony, considering the weather, she has been bright and bubbly but not actually put a foot out of place. At the moment we are only walking up to about 25 minutes and just slowly increasing this.

On my fitness front I am delighted with my progress. Since the beginning of January I have been hitting the gym hard both as something to focus my energies on and a good way of getting fitter. Today for the first time in my life I managed to run 2 miles on the treadmill, this is a miracle for my hip that used to prevent me running more than a few yards, I have also lost a stone in weight which should do nothing but help Ellie’s return to work.  

Well today I can announce a new supporter for 2017 I am the very fortunate recipient of Suregrow’s eventing bursary for 2017.

Suregrow specialise in grassland products. Their range of products include fertiliser, grassland mineral and trace elements and grass seeds specifically selected for horse and pony paddocks. This is great as unlike farm products it is slow release meaning there won’t be a sudden flush of grass. Also the products are safe to spread whilst still using the fields.

I’m hoping in the future we can share some grass management tips and best practices for getting the best from your grazing.

If anyone is interested in making a purchase then we have an exclusive 5% discount code available just pop in SJB5 at the checkout. See Suregrow Website

Rebel is seen here modelling some of the lovely goodies that arrived from Suregrow yesterday.

Sorry updates are not as frequent as normal. This is due to a combination of factors:-

• Less news
• Website issues
• Busy organising clinics and camps for Fred Scala

Day off today which was a bonus as trying to use some of my leave up. Good news first, I had my physio session today, the first one since September, my back has just been seizing up again although I am never pain free the physio certainly helped free it up. However my hip movement and strength since he saw me last has significantly improved. Hopefully all the pilates and gym work is paying dividends.

On the slightly more worrying note we had Ellie’s first assessment yesterday a month after her treatment for her neurological issues. At this stage she should be showing a 50% improvement and whilst on some tests she was improved a couple still showed significant symptoms. Now realistically neither my local vet or myself have enough specialist knowledge to be able to say if this is normal progress or we should be worried, perhaps my pessimistic outlook is coming to the fore. Anyway we videoed the examination and have sent it to the specialist at B&W for him to assess, fingers crossed I am worrying for nothing.

In any case unless I hear different she will start work next week.

I realise the blog has been a bit quieter but I don’t want to waffle for wafflings sake! On the other hand I did post on Facebook last week and followers have given me a few ideas on things that they would be interested in me talking about so I will use that for some blogs while things are quieter. Also please feel free to send me any questions using the contact me page and I will endeavour to answer them here. Now is a great time to get in touch if you have a burning question.

With winter kicking in it was time for foal rugs. They had a couple of nights in over the worst of the weather as it coincided with a little castration op for Tommy and they were introduced to rugs without much trouble.

Ellie is being assessed Monday week and then if all ok at that stage she can be brought back into work gently. My fitness and weight loss regime to compliment this is also going well with 8lbs off and for the first time since I smashed my hip I have been able to comfortably run a mile in the gym.

I think the most frustrating thing is that Posy has still not sold. I have to accept it is a difficult time of year and in some cases her BE record is putting people off. However she is a talented mare but just not my ride. The continuation of paying livery for her in a sales yard is causing quite a dent in my pocket. I am keen to look for something else for the season but can’t even look until the Posy situation is resolved.

As part of Ellie's continued rehabilitation I was fortunate to be able to call on the fabulous services of sponsor Morwenna Foster- Equine sports massage therapist. Ellie's veterinary report actually highlighted the need to loosen her muscles to ensure tightness in the neck did not slow recovery. Meanwhile Sarnie and the foals are doing well although weaning approaches in the next month or so. I keep trying to get some nice pictures of Kensa for popping on here however, as soon as the camera is whipped out all I have is a nose on the screen. As you can imagine this is not helpful, for the moment you will have to make do with a picture when I had her distracted with tea!

Kensa is allowed to share Sarnie’s bucket, but foster son or not Tommy as non flesh and blood is not!

Still struggling with boring weekends, tomorrow I have the excitement of taking the lorry out for a drive to ensure nothing seizes up or stops working due to lack of use. Then it is being tested anyway so fingers crossed that goes smoothly.

Posy is going really well in the sale yard but as yet no one has quite liked her enough to make the purchase which is so frustrating.