"With the winter qualifying season now over, I was looking forward to things starting to quieten down, and for me and the horses to have a bit of a break from competing before we crack on again next year. The ‘quieten down’ idea didn’t last long, however, as the weather intervened, making our lives very difficult!

S'no easy job

We ended up with about nine inches of snow and only half of our staff as none of them live on site so only the ones that lived really close could make it. I managed to get out of the snow shovelling, thankfully, but while the others were making tracks around the yard so we could safely move horses and clearing the snow off the walker, I was mucking out. I mucked out 14 stables much to everyone’s amazement!

Frozen triumph

Not only did we get snow, but we also had freezing temperatures; one day it didn’t go any higher than -3^oC! This meant that all of the outside taps froze so Mum was out there with a kettle trying to get them to run. We knew when she had got one working as there was a cry of triumph every time! For some reason snow makes everyone go a little bit crazy, a similar effect to what it has on the animals I think!  

Foundation squad training cancelled

Not only did it make life on the yard difficult, but it also meant that my Regional Foundation Squad training session that was due to be held on Sunday had to be cancelled. I was disappointed, although completely understood as even if it was going ahead there was no way our lorry would be moving anywhere in a hurry, as I was really looking forward to my session with Jill and my ride on the mechanical horse, which is always good fun! I had planned to take Wiz (Wurlizer) to see how much of the Grand Prix work I could get away from home, but I guess I’ll just have to wait a bit longer to find that out.

Well life in the freezing weather continues, fingers crossed for no more snow and a few warmer days, but I’m not holding my breath!"