"I had an incredibly busy few days between New Year and January 5th as I was preparing for my skiing holiday. I always try and get away in January now as the weather seems to be worse than December and this year is proving to be no exception. I have a very good new girl, Gemma, who was thrown in at the deep end with a crash course in all the horses before I went. I was confident that between Becky and Gemma, they'd cope with any of the natural hazards thrown at them.

We worked all the horses the days prior to my holiday together so the girls would know exactly how I'd like them to be worked while I was away. This included lunging, schooling and even hacking. It sounds very particular but attention to detail is paramount when looking after top and potential top eventers. We worked them hard so that they could have a few days off if necessary if the snow came back, which I understand happened. I sadly missed my lessons with Anna, as my lane is not ideal for my big lorry to go sliding down once temperatures go below zero.

We left for Gatwick first thing on Tuesday morning, myself and my family - sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew, mum and dad, aunt and uncle and cousins and their partners. We had a fantastic chalet to stay in in Meribel, courtesy of the Clarke's due to us winning the auction at the Event Horse Owners Association dinner in November. We were all very excited as we all love ski holidays; there's no better buzz than bombing around on the slopes in the sunshine. Sadly, EasyJet decided to delay our flight by few hours. We were lucky, as travel chaos occurred shortly after we left and many flights were cancelled. We were really lucky on the way home too as the flight was on time. The only problem we had was our taxi from Geneva to the chalet - we had Sterling Moss driving us! Sean was ill on the way out and poor little Aimee on the way back. Winding around roads up and down at 50 mph is not ideal!

We arrived to find the most beautiful chalet. All rooms had en suites and we even had our own sauna. We were also well situated, a 10 minute walk to town, up and down hill which is good for my fitness. The skiing was superb. Quite icy the first day, and I had a good couple hard falls which developed into a a rather big bruise on my hip. That was all though, phew! I must admit when we're all hurtling down the mountain as fast as we dare, I do have in the back of my mind this could be serious if I fall... But only for a second though! My family are generally very good skiers so I have to keep up, the competitive streak comes out and I would rather not be last.

We had some great days skiing around the three valleys and you can cover some serious distance. We ski from 10am to 5pm generally, including a big lunch. I seem to be the only person who can go skiing and put on weight and I'm sure this year is no exception! The apres ski doesn't help either. We had a few really good evenings, the best had to be when we met up with my fellow team mate Daisy (was Dick now Berkley). There was a fantastic live band who sang everything and anything. Great night. Or at least it was until we found a lost dog on the way back to the chalet that decided he'd like to come in. Well, after several hours of barking and running back and forth to the all chalets on our road, we phoned the local police who weren't interested at all. Poor thing was outside all night, perishing, but not knowing what the dog may do I didn't dare let him anywhere near our chalet. After practically no sleep all night, he was still outside so we eventually managed to persuade the police to do something about him and was returned home to the next village. Following the ladies apparently, but I think he may have been disappointed with the outcome this time!

Well, a week wasn't enough; I'm never keen to go home, especially when we left bright sunshine behind. The girls have done a great job looking after everything, especially with the conditions and illness. Here's hoping the snow goes soon, and this rather horrid cold I've developed."