Over the past five months, Spencer and I have been the experts in the Your Horse Training academy. In each issue we have been showing training tips and exercises that we use with our horses. I have mainly used Master Eli and Andreas as my guinea pigs for the feature. The boys' first event was tied in for the final training article, so the Your Horse team were present for the whole experience.

The big day had finally arrived. It was a complete shock to the system when Emma (head girl - aka Sugar) and I  had to leave the yard all loaded and out the gates by 5.30am, oh early mornings how I missed you…  Nevertheless, the spirit was not dampened as this was Sugar's first event with me since Blair CCI3* in 2011, so we giggled, sang and ate our way down to Pontispool.

It was a real proud dad day, both boys did a good test and jumped double clears. I thought it was really grown up cross-country course for them so I was chuffed to bits with the feel they gave me from start to finish. On top of that, Alfie won his section, which was great as I did not want to look like a complete idiot for my training feature!

Last weekend I had a few days at the Espayo National Dressage Championships cheering on Spencer. All three of his horses performed well and they placed in all their classes, he was sadly pipped to the post in the Prix St Georges when he came second. It’s great to see Spencer and his team heading back up the ranks again; it’s been a long road for him since he was National Champion back in 2007. It just goes to show that someone of his calibre has to wait so long for horses and owners. Without being too biased, no one deserves it more.

We have also had lots of other things going on in our lives at the moment. Sadly Grove Farm (the yard we rent) has just been sold so we have managed to secure a new property that is being purchased for us to turn into something special. The new yard is not too far away from where we are at the moment but it has to have a lot of work done on it before we can have our horses there. The new yard is going to have fantastic facilities and I am thinking it will be like a taste of heaven when it is all completed and everything is established. The future is bright….but I am sure we have a few bridges to cross over the next few months!

Until next time, tiger cubs...

Jay