“Hello everyone, sorry about the lack of blogs but things have been rather manic of late.

Waterbaby

We took Ammiracle ZD to the Futurity evaluation at Tall Trees down in Cornwall. The day before the show I decided they needed a bath, and Ammiracle (or Dusty as we call her as she was on box rest on shavings for so long and perpetually covered in dust!) let me hose her all over with the warm water! She even put her nose in the stream of water and splashing it everywhere. She is a seriously domesticated little horse, which is lucky as I will have to keep those four white socks clean somehow!

Futurity time

The following day it took a couple of hours to get to Cornwall and and Dusty was pretty exhausted by the time we arrived. She didn’t show herself off to her best and was a little flat, but she gained all good scores and didn’t score below an 8 for anything. Lynne Crowden (from Woodlander Stud) said lots of nice things about her, gave her a nine for her walk, and an eventual score of 8.42 gaining her a good first premium, so we were very pleased especially after the rough start she has had. 

When it was time to leave she was lying down flat out and snoring! It was so loud that my friend filmed her and you can hear her snoring on the video! She wasn’t keen on getting up and was enjoying her rest – she was even happy to lie there with her head on my lap.

Back to reality

The rest of the clan is doing fine. Since I last wrote, Fab has been turned away for a month or so after we gave her a taster of work. She took to it really well and seemed to enjoy it. She’s coming back in from the herd this week to start work proper, so look out for a tubby bay that pulls funny faces in the 2011 young horse classes!

Amore's moment of fame

Twiglet and Amore are both doing well. Twiglet is progressing well in her work, and although she can still be nervous on very windy days, she isn’t ever naughty, just a bit tense, and is really learning to trust in her rider.

Her cousin Amore (they share Negro as a grand sire) is totally different and has full confidence in herself. She and I have been filmed by H&C for a new series about how to succeed at Prelim level – I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it is made.

Buckskin baby

We have a new addition to the Zest crew to report too – a beautiful buckskin filly by Treliver Decanter who we've called Laska. Decanter is by Dimaggio who is one of the best dressage sires we have in the UK. The filly’s dam is by Maestro, a grand prix dressage stallion and son of the legendary Matador. She is a lovely dainty little thing and boy can she move! 

British bred mares triumph

We took a day off last weekend and headed to the BD Nationals. I was very pleased to see British bred mares lift the trophy in both the four and five year old horse classes. The champion Woodlander mare Farouche is truly an exceptional athlete; it will be really exciting to watch her progress up the levels.”