I must apologise for the lack of recent blog posts, this has not been through laziness, I have simply (and unfortunately) had nothing to post!

However I was playing around with George in the field today and got mum to take some photos. I hope to get him out and about eventing this season but he still has a few physical problems that we are struggling to get to the bottom of. If it turns out that he won't manage the eventing (hopefully not the case!) I aim to take him P2P next season!!!

I am sad to announce that my Christmas holidays are over and I am now back at Uni and facing exams! As much as I wanted to see my Uni friends I was really sad about leaving the V.W. team and coming back to the grind. 
I love my job and below are some photos taken the other day which may help explain why!! After a few days of horrific and fairly miserable weather it settled and the floods became more manageable so on the horses non-work day we took a few 'special case' horses down to the meadows for a splash around!

In between work I have been riding George and he is coming on nicely. Since his work has upped he has now been clipped and I also attacked his mane & tail so he no longer looks quite so feral! Tim will come back at the end of the month and hopefully give us the all clear to start jumping.

Today I persuaded my brother to come to work and take photos of us all up the gallops! Below are a selection, the rest can be seen at:- http://www.masterplan-photography.co.uk/gallery/111226-Racing

Well it's all go at the moment! Life is very hectic what with Uni work, Uni societies, horses, work and general socialising! I feel like i've hardly had time to breath over the past month...let alone sleep!

I have been coming back most weekend to work for Venetia/Tor, go hunting or to meet up with groups of friends back home.
Last weekend I went Hunting which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have hardly hunted over the past two years due to eventing and injuries and have missed it so much. I got to hunt the delightful Rosie who felt brilliant and had an awesome time. I'm going back this weekend again because it's our hunt ball on Saturday night, so will hunt again on Saturday.

Meanwhile George has been having regular sessions with Tim Bradford and has been coming on in leaps and bounds. He has now progressed to long reigning and in a few weeks I should be able to start riding him again. He now has so much more movement through his back, it's very impressive stuff!

Finally, on a different note, I had a day off today because my lab session was cancelled and decided to do something productive with the free time. So I drove up to the Brecon Beacons and did the iconic Waterfalls walk. It's a 15.3km/9.5miles low level walk with some very impressive waterfalls along the way. At one point you even walk behind a waterfall! The guide book time for the walk was 6hours yet I managed to do it in 3h20mins!!! (I am a very fast walker and was on my own so didn't have to wait for anyone or faff around!) I  had a great time and will definitely do some more routes when I have the time. 

I did rather different to the norm activities this weekend! Having seen the results from a friends photo shoot with Pierre Lemond I was desperate to have a go. So when they rang up asking if I was interested I jumped at the chance. I took my friend along as part of her 18th birthday treat and we had a great time. Bar all the waiting around...! Although MacDonald's on the way home made everything seem okay! 
Below are the photos, I hope you like them - it will probably be the last time you see me looking like that and not covered in bits of straw and muck! (Click to enlarge)

I realise I haven't made a blog entry for a while so I thought I would do a quick post and update you on what's happening. 
George is having his end of season holiday and so has joined Jack in the field! In a few weeks he will have some physio and then come back into work with the aim of re-building his muscles more correctly and thus making his back end stronger. Currently I am just starting out at Cardiff Uni where I am reading Medical Engineering. So far, so good, bar our first lab session which we had yesterday - It was stressful to say the least...!

I have joined the Cardiff Mountaineering (CUMC) and Sub-Aqua (Diving) societies, so I will be having lots of fun! The other weekend we (CUMC) went down to climb on the Gower. I haven't done any pure climbing in years and really enjoyed it. (See photos below).
I also did a 'test dive' yesterday with the Sub-Aqua society to see if I wanted to sign up to the course, it was really cool so come next week I will be starting by BSAC course and by the end of the year I will have my Ocean/Open water diving qualification.

Today was just one of those days where nothing really went as planned! My last run at Somerford had gone really well and so I was hoping to do a repeat performance in the Dressage and XC and hopefully improve the SJ. Both times I have been BSJA with George we have had just 4 faults in the Foxhunter. So I know a clear is within our reach!

Unfortunately George was very tense in the Dressage. A combination of a long time since his last outing and some strong wind meant that although he went sweetly enough, there were lots of errors. Trot instead of walk, canter instead of trot...you get the idea! We finished up with 41 which was fair.

The Show Jumping was causing quite a lot of problems but I wasn't feeling particularly nervous. We went in and actually did probably our best round in competition yet. There was minimal running into fences by George and we hit most things on a good stride. I was therefore absolutely gutted to have three fences down....George has a very good jumping record but is very quirky and tricky to ride. I think I just need to spend the winter getting used to him, stopping his bad manners that I've let him learn and just generally learning to push the right buttons. I have no doubt that the clears will come, but it will take time.

Finally the best bit! When I walked the course I wasn't worried and thought it was fairly straight forwards. However when I arrived at the start box, the starter asked me if my horse was good XC. I said yes normally, he then replied saying ''so are you going to get through the finish''. I was like yes I hope so, are not many people completing?! He was like...No....not many! This obviously filled me with confidence just before my round! George didn't give me as good a ride as at Somerford but we went clear with just 10 time faults so that's what counts! Although unfortunately I had to do a long route (my first EVER long route on a XC course...literally EVER!) At the second water you did a big drop in, then a 90 degree left turn, up a slope and out over a corner. As I landed in the water I went to collect up my reins and completely lost my left rein and was clearly totally unable to turn him left to the corner so had to think very quickly and go long!

So all in all not our finest day! But on a good note, the SJ and XC caused lots of problems so I managed to come 6th and gain 2 points!
Oh and I also found out that I have got into Gatcombe 2*! So I will be doing my Dressage first thing on Friday morning!

To earn some money before I head off to Uni I have started working back at Venetia Williams Racing. I thoroughly enjoy riding out for her as the lads & lasses are such good fun! I am desperate to have a proper go at pointing and riding out again is making me crave it even more! So I have decided to turn into a racing bean......check out my hat below!

First things first, sorry for the rather length delay in writing this report. I have been very busy with work and seeing to George who is based with Tor at the moment on DIY livery and I haven't been getting home till quite late.

I have never been to Somerford before but will definitely go again. It was a lovely event with a very big show jumping arena (on a surface), and a fantastic long, big and tricky XC course!

The week up to Somerford George had been based with my trainers on DIY livery so that I could get some lessons and he had been going brilliantly, both jumping & on the flat. So I was really hoping to see some of this improvement coming through at the event. And by god it did! George did his best test to date with me and got a brilliant 35.9! By far our best mark!

I wasn't sure how the Show Jumping would go. I know we are both capable of a clear and we jumped a Foxhunter well a few weeks ago with just 4 faults but we are both a lot more tense in competition. True to form we warmed up brilliantly, but had a disappointing two down in the ring. I just let him run on down a related distance and we then had the following fence down as well. The course did cause a lot of problems so 8 faults did not look out of place, but ideally I want no worse than 4 faults at the moment.

Finally was the Cross country! I was a bit concerned as it was a tough track and only our 3rd course together. However I needn't have worried, he gave me an absolutely foot perfect round. He was absolutely flying, didn't touch a fence and was as straight as an arrow! Consequently, even though I very nearly jumped the wrong 2nd last fence and went on a bit of a detour, we still had one of the quickest times of the day!

So all in all a very good day. I was especially pleased with the Dressage & XC. I know the show jumping will come, it will just take some time before we are fully in sync in the arena. Overall we finished 5th which I was thrilled with! Although my 2 fences down did prove very costly!!
Our next stop will be Pontispool OIU21 and then Gatcombe CIC**.

I am currently on holiday in the Alps on a downhill biking/mountaineering holiday and since we have had a few days of very wet weather I decided to put the free time into making a video for Jack.

I just wanted to say a little thank you to my superstar horse who took me from Novice to Advanced in one year including double clears & placings at Intermediate/2* level along the way!

Jack is now fully retired and mooching around in the field at home! He has no shoes and looks very feral...! He also enjoys the company of George in the day time! I'm not going to lie...I really really really miss riding and competing him and I think he misses it too! So I plan to jump on and have a play in the field with him at some point.....shhh don't tell anyone though!