Lauren Shannon’s eventing blog: young horses, spas and Delphi’s due date
After the excitement and bustle of Osberton Horse Trials last week, we have come back down and relaxed here on the Shannon Eventing yard!
With the mares now on a month’s holiday following their 3-day event, I only have the young horses to work at home. Therefore, we spent last week taking the babies showjumping, along with the working students’ horses.
It is nice to concentrate on the youngsters without having half a mind on the older horses, and they are all behaving impeccably — either as a result or in spite of the fact!
After local British Showjumping shows last week, I had the treat of heading for a spa weekend for a friend’s hen do.
Kerry Walsh is a very close friend, whose name should ring a bell as she is Louie’s (Zero Flight) biggest fan and looks after him at his big events — I don’t think she’d let anyone else near him, even me! Anyway, she is getting married in a couple of weeks so a load of us spent the weekend being pampered. It was a lovely change and my 1st ever spa weekend, so I think the horrid weather was a bonus as it made me enjoy being inside even more.
This week, we are taking the youngsters out cross-country schooling and jumping again, as then they can have a bit of a holiday too. We only have 1 horse from the yard going to Oasby on Saturday to mark the true last event of the season for us, so I don’t think we’ll have to be rushing around at all this week.
The most exciting bit of news I have had this week though has to be the foaling date for Delphi (my retired 4-star horse Quixotic) next year. She is due on 16 July, another late foal, but judging by the strength with which Alta is growing (she managed to kick me for the first time this week when she spooked and got a lead rope stuck under her tail!) it will be no bad thing!
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It’s so exciting looking forward to a new foal, and all the hope and prospects it brings with it. Fingers crossed good old Delphi can be as wonderful a mum the 2nd time around!
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.