I think most people reading this will be considerably wetter than they were this time last week after all the horrendous weather we have had! I cannot complain, we live in Leicestershire, on the Nottinghamshire border, and I think most storms tend to dump most of their wet stuff around the coast on the way to us.
There have been some remarkable pictures and videos of the weather this last week, and we are definitely lucky to be not taking any ourselves! Having said that, our fields are definitely too wet to turn horses out in, and I have had to take the horses that are on holiday to a very kind owners’ to graze on some lush hill fields.
It has been a quieter week on the yard anyway, as I had a bit of a run in with a steel stanchion last week — not something I would recommend doing. I was riding a young horse back from the school and he spooked at a mechanic underneath a car as we walked past.
Ouch!
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
It was fairly innocuous, except that my right knee and calf hit a steel on the side of a building as he spooked. It was one of those “nothing” things, but it managed to bruise quite spectacularly (pictured) right where my stirrup leathers would sit! Not ideal for riding, but as I was heading to the Hartpury BBSH Stallion Show last Saturday, it didn’t seem to matter much.
This is the first stallion show I have been to, and I have to say there was a lot to like while I was there. British breeding has come a long way in the past few years, and it is definitely looking up for the future. There were a few young stallions in the parade which impressed me, and it was great to see the older stallions like Carousel, Jaguar Mail, Arko III and Russell looking so well.
Personally, it was lovely for me to see Carousel in the flesh, as he is the sire of my retired 4-star mare Quixotic (pictured top), who I am breeding from now. I am still very new to the world of breeding, but I can’t help wanting to use him with another of my mares, as Delphi was such an amazing horse for me. It is very hard to keep sentimentality out the way in these things! Then again, sometimes I think that might be the way to go, as the results of breeding can be so arbitrary at times.
Anyway, the best thing I think I can do now is a lot of research to try and find the best stallions for my eventing mares. Delphi will possibly go into foal one more time after she foals this summer, and my other mare Gentel Lux will be put in foal this spring too.
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Next week, the work begins on our new yard here at home, which is quite possibly the most exciting thing that has ever happened! I’m starting to think I should have allowed for a few foaling boxes…
Lauren
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Event rider Lauren Shannon blogged on Horseandhound.co.uk from June 2011 until September 2014. Born in Brighton, she lived in America from the age of three to 16, returning to the UK to go to university after she finished school. After university she worked for Mark and Tanya Kyle before setting up her own yard in Leicestershire. Her best result to date was finishing 9th at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials with her top horse, Zero Flight.
