“It has been a ridiculously long time since my last blog, for which I apologise. Time has flown by this winter!

I had the pleasure of being asked to judge the ‘London Cup’ in December. The London Cup Horseshoeing Competition is an annual competition between the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. The London Cup competition first took place in 1990 when The London Cup was presented by the Worshipful Company of Farriers for this competition. It has been run with barely a year missed with great success and this year was no exception. This year it was hosted (and won!) by the Kings Troop RHA in North West London. 

Long, cold winter

I think we must have worked in some of the coldest conditions this winter (hopefully they are now behind us). The snow made it very difficult for us to get to many customers – the lanes were impassable and treacherous – and coupled with the freezing temperatures, it made work a little difficult to say the least. A number of clients had shoes removed and turned horses out until the Spring – horrendous weather conditions coupled with the rising cost of fuel etc is making it very difficult for some. Unfortunately, we saw an increased incidence of laminitis – in some cases due to the cold, hard and frozen ground, in others an excess of hard feed whilst horses were not being worked thought to be the blame. Goes to show that managing horses in this weather can be particularly tricky and we need to be extra vigilant.

At last though we are beginning to see some sunshine and the temperatures are rising. Many customers are bringing horses back into work and starting fittening programmes – looking forward to showing and competitions ahead!

Prices remain the same

Our prices have remained the same since the VAT increase at the turn of the New Year although we are unsure how long we can sustain this for. In the last 12 months our gas costs have gone up 50% and our steel 200%. Over the next few weeks we will be examining ways in which we can try to keep our costs down. Encouraging our clients to keep booking ahead, sticking to appointments and giving us plenty of notice if there is a change is one way in which we can make travel more efficient, saving time and fuel.

My new tablet PC is up and running and I have been weaned off my faithful old paper diary. It is already proving a good investment as many x-rays have been emailed to me by owners and/or the vet and I have been able to view these with the horse stood in front of me. The diary is synced (and backed up) on Claire’s laptop – not sure is this is such a good idea as she knows where I am all the time!

Busy times

The new website is currently under construction which is very exciting. Hopefully we will have something to publish in the coming weeks.

Harry completed a successful college attendance last week and signed off his NVQ portfolio. He will now sit his ‘finals’ in July to gain the Diploma from the Worshipful Company of Farriers before he will be fully qualified. His apprenticeship of 4 years and two months does seem to have flown by. Lewis successfully passed his forging exam and we will be putting him forward to begin his apprenticeship in the next in take in July.

Looking ahead we have a few clinics and demonstrations to attend already… Team trials are coming up and the first competition of the year will be in Ipswich at the Eastern Counties Championship for Harry and Robbie. Busy times ahead!”