Our last event before the winter lock down was Christmas Fancy Dress Arena Eventing. I was lucky enough to have a time next to my friend, so we could support each other. We had a great time in the 80cm, with just 4 faults in the show jumping (not the jump I expected it at) and a bit slow, but we always do struggle for time in the indoor arena.
While everything was frozen solid, we had to get water from the house for the feeds, so took advantage of being able to provide the horses with nice warm Fibre-Beet feeds. This helped to keep them hydrated; the horses tend to drink less when the water is freezing cold. This went down very well with all of them.
As so many Side Saddle shows, including the Nationals were cancelled last summer, the Side Saddle Association has put on a monthly Side Saddle Equitation Test Show over the winter, and we were thrilled and very shocked to receive our highest ever result from one of them. We scored an amazing 82.8%!!!!!
Aurora has continued to keep us entertained with her antics, one of which is her ability to climb the steps of my mounting block in the arena. We try not to shut her in the arena anymore.
During our hacking, we have experienced the devastation to our countryside of HS2 clearance of hedgerows all around us. And one of our hacking roads (not a lot of choice around here) getting hugely busy due to them temporarily (for at least a year) shutting another main road.
Every time Tilly has been ridden she has had her massage pad on, Tilly has enjoyed her regular massages.
We have also been back to the English Civil War Battlefield of Naseby in Northamptonshire for cavalry filming – the Naseby Battlefield trust. Having seen snippets of some of the shots we have previously done, I cant wait to see the final result. Anyone who says filming is exciting, has obviously never taken part in any, it seems to always involve an awful lot of hanging around. This time, once we had finished with our horses, it also involved lying face down in a field pretending to be dead, while some foot soldiers ransacked us and took our swords!
Stay safe and look out for our next blog.
Keep up to date with Jennie and Tilly’s adventures on their Facebook page.
