Winning start to 2010!

Yesterday we were having our first outing of 2010!
With Mum having been away in Scotland for the past week, Felicity and I have been in charge! With 7 horses competing at JAS, we had a manic day on Saturday trying to get everything worked and then washed.. it was a serious system we had going... Tack up, ride, pass to felicity to give them a make-over under the lights and on to the next!!
Then came the packing of the lorry... I have to admit I was rather excited when Philip parked the shiny new lorry outside the yard!!!
Sunday morning came and it was another manic session.. Grace and I getting the horses suited and booted for their travels, whilst Felicity mucked out and fed the ponies staying behind!
We loaded the big lorry and then the little lorry!... Off we went to Solihull.
I think I will be here all day if I try and go through each jumping round, so here is a short recap!!
UNO DI LANDRO jumoped double clear in the BE100 and the Novice, finishing 9th and 4th respectively.
NOBLE BESTMAN was a star and jumped double clear to win the Novice, we then had a minor miss communication and he turned too tight into a skinny and missed it! He still finished 9th in the OI.
JITTERBUG was on flying form, considering she hasn't been to a party since 2008.. she was on best behaviour! Double clear in both the Novice and OI, finishing 2nd and 1st respectively!
VANCOUVER was rather excited in the Novice and thought he knew best so wasn't really listening to me! He had one fence down and was HC as he has too many points! In the OI he redeemed himself and finished 3rd after a lovely double clear.
FWENHILL CRISTAL was a little shocked at how many fences were in the arena... his eyes were on stalks! He had one down and a stop (very unlike him) in the Novice and then 2 down in the OI to finish 10th.
All in all a good start to the year...

News Travels Fast

Happy to announce that our good news has reached New Zealand and mainland Europe today including our own Horse and Hound Website..... Looking forward to things come!

NEW ADDITIONS

Before Christmas 2 new additions came to the yard... NOBLE BESTMAN (Steve to his friends!) and NOBLE SKYBOY (Sky).
We bought the legendary pony NOBLE SPRINGBOK from Kelly Ward as an unproven 5yo, so when she called to say she had just jumped his 4yo brother we got straight in the car to have a look at him! Philip Walker drove and it was like a trip down memory lane for me... when we arrived Skyboy was in the same stable as Spring had been when I went to try him 7 years ago!!! It is quite scary how similar they look!!
Whilst we were there Kelly asked if I would have a sit on her working hunter.. NOBLE BESTMAN, he is clearly her favourite and she has had him since he was 3yo (he is now 9yo)
He hadn't jumped since HOYS and was rather pleased to be doing something!
After discussions on the way home, Philip agreed to buy Skyboy as a project for me to produce so Grace can do pony trials in a couple of years... We can't wait for the day when she is competing the 2 brothers against each other!! If he turns out half as good as Spring we will be happy!!!
Kelly wanted Steve to do some eventing so I have bought a share in him and he will start his eventing career this year... with a background of Working Hunters and Showjumping he will hopefully take to it like a duck to water!!!
Fingers crossed for the season ahead.... !

KILLINGHURST line comes to Membury!

Philip Walker has kindly bought the remainder of the 'Killinghurst' breeding line from John Studd.
Heading the pack is the very exciting ex Andrew Nicholson ride 'GINGER MAY KILLINGHURST'.. she has successfully competed at 4 star level. She has not competed since 2008 so I will be aiming her at Bramham CCI*** under 25 Championships.
'MARY FIVES KILLINGHURST' is a 16yo broodmare, she is out of the same mare as 'LORD KILLINGHURST' and 'GINGER MAY KILLINGHURST'... she will be our first breeding project!!
Then we have Mary's two daughters... both by the French sire 'KADASTROF'.. a 4yo called 'VOCAL KILLINGHURST' and a 2yo called 'KITTY KILLINGHURST'.
To finish the pack off we have 'GINGER JUNIOR KILLINGHURST', she is the daughter of 'GINGER MAY KILLINGHURST' and by the showjumping stallion 'FAVORITAS'.
We are all very excited about this new chapter and can't wait to see how the youngsters turn out....

SNOW, SNOW and more SNOW!!

We have had so much snow recently... Luckily the luxury of the indoor school has meant the horses havn't missed any work!
Having done circles in the indoor for a good few weeks now we decided to have a fun time in the field with them..the pics show how much they enjoyed themselves!! They definitely appreciated seeing the outside world!!