This is a catch-up blog as I have got so behind. Apologies, I am going to write less more regularly in future though! Also, it's been a bit of a tough time and truth be told I haven't wanted to talk or write about it, for that matter, even though I felt horribly guilty about neglecting my blog!
In this entry then, I am going to talk about July. This was the month Bug came back into work, lots of handwalking followed by much ridden walking and after very pleasing reports on his vet check-ups he started trotting for a few minutes. He is so happy to be back on the yard and not abandoned in the barn with Womby (his punch bag). Poor Womby still has a squinty muzzle from the damaged facial nerve, but it is improving and despite his bad arthritis he leapt about with joy when reunited with his Yummy Mummies (pretty mares with their foals) in the field! Bug is also thrilled to be hacking again, and I am delighted to be riding my Aston Martin once more. He is behaving impeccably, probably terrified of being imprisoned again! He is also living out at night, we doped him a little the first time to avoid explosions, but he actually seemed to hardly know what to do with himself and hovered by the gate to start with! (Stockholm syndrome?!)
I was still a bit battered and bruised in July, my legs looked like an appaloosa as my bruises were so bad after the bike polo. The bruises have gone but I am left with a big hard bump on my shin! My strained ankle since April is still not sorted either, it is improving with physiotherapy and "wobble board" exercises but I have been told not to put my heels down too much and I am resisting the temptation to ride out on the racehorses for a while! I am also getting increasingly saddle sore from using various different saddles other than my own, I now have to always use a thick seat saver as sometimes I am so pinched I can't sit down or have to hack sitting on my hand! Why does no one else have such a problem with this as I do?!
On the non-horsey front, I met a lady involved in marketing who may be able to help me find sponsorship and this would be very exciting. First however she said I must launch my website so that I can can present myself in a professional way to smart companies! I am no web expert so it is all a little daunting, but I am convinced I can get the right website look without paying some of the ridiculous quotes I have been given! My website would only contain information and photos so really shouldn't be that complicated to set up, I just need good advice to get the design to look catchy and professional. It is hard to know who to listen to!
Whisky sadly went lame just before Barbury... goodbye to another of the season's highlights! I did go and watch all the same and caught up with a lot of good friends cheering myself up. I made several new friends thanks to my dog creche, Tiger plus 2 more I was dog sitting, attracted some attention as I tripped over dog leads! Unfortunately a vet visit the following week found a tendon injury, so poor Whisky has a long holiday ahead of him! So frustrating after taking so much care with his fitness and the surfaces I work him on! Unfortunately tendon injuries can just happen despite best efforts and I guess I had been pretty lucky until now!
A few days later I fell out with the dogs badly, after a long walk I left them looking angelic on the recently re-laid lawn, I next looked out the window a couple of hours later to discover a vast hole in the new turf, with little bits of it scattered the whole way round the garden! I hit the roof, it was the last straw after various other hassles, 3 is just too many for my tiny cottage! Admittedly Tiger was the only one with grubby paws, but I swear the other two put her up to it, she always sunbathes perfectly peacefully! Impressively she dug through the new turf, the old turf layer beneath, and the matting at the bottom!
Kiwi, Scar and Pennyz started the month with more Pre Novices. Stonar led to placings for 2 of them but Kiwi managed to catch me out with a very unnecessary stop at a coffin, I was furious with myself for trusting him and not riding him more strongly! I also ran a friend's horse there as she was having trouble with occasional silly stops, I advised her to just kick him more positively, I thought he was great, other than a little less responsive than thoroughbreds, and was a little disappointed that a double clear on a 33 only left us 6th.
The following week Eridge was very successful if rather manic. Ellie Still came to help me, she did so well as I had quite tight times but luckily Mel and Sarah were around to help later on so that I did straight swaps in the warm up between cross countries getting all 3 done in 40 minutes! I actually really enjoyed that manic bit! All three misread the awkward step out of water, actually Scar just tripped in the water beforehand ending up with a half-submerged head and then cleverly managed to jump up the step from a near standstill! For the first time all three came away with good placings, Kiwi best of all in 2nd place! Very exciting...
Pennyz and Kiwi then moved up to Novice at Tweseldown, this event was a bad choice, I was concerned Kiwi wasn't confident enough for Novice anyway so when I saw the horrendous SJ in the fancy main ring using the spookiest huge CCI show jumps ever I thought I better start kicking! Not only were the fillers spooky, but even the wings were terrifying, such as windmills! A big treble followed by wave planks were the icing on the cake! Kiwi was brave enough to keep jumping round which was a consolation for flattening most jumps in the process as I had to attack so strongly! Pennyz was rather surprised too, but being such a terrific jumper she just went extra high to be safe from all the monsters! She very nearly won, but got confused by a very skinny arrowhead XC, so we went home with homework to do!
Scar kept improving fast with another placing at Upton House, his jumping keeps getting braver, we just need to iron out the odd pole down, his dressage can still be a bit stiff however. His next run at Iping resulted in another rosette for 5th, and an impressively confident xc, one down show jumping helped me realize I really should have jumped him at home the day before to boost his confidence.
The other two had their second Novice run at Aston, once we had managed to squeeze into the lorry park... It was so full it took 20mins to get in and I had to squeeze in next to the loos! Pennyz's brilliant double clear gained her 4th place, whilst Kiwi coped better than last time. We rolled a few poles SJ, but at least he didn't feel as fazed (I had taken him SJ schooling lots!). Most of the XC he felt much improved in a great rhythm, but a huge trakener unnerved him leading to a stop at a similar fence right after, he also stopped at an owl hole, but the hole was so small he honestly just had no idea what to do first time. Normally I'd be very depressed, but many aspects were actually much improved.
Meanwhile I had been putting a fair amount of work into an exciting anglo-arab, George, who belongs to friends on the farm next door. Their daughter, Matty, is going into dressage so I am going to run George in some events so he can be sold with some results. He can be a little spooky but is learning fast. I gave him his first run in the Little Mattingley Intro and went HC; he would have been second so we were all thrilled (I have to be HC in Intros, as an Advanced rider), he achieved a brilliant 26 dressage, rolled one pole SJ but didn't spook too much and was terrific and brave XC. He so enjoyed himself, I knew he really needed a purpose, he will love an eventing career. Also, a website designer approached me in the lorry park suggesting a deal to our mutual benefit which was very exciting!
Between events I did quite a lot of teaching, Izzy and Zoe in particular are improving in leaps and bounds, although Josh, Izzy's horse is being exasperating about water jumps, we are taking him schooling all over and he happily does Intermediate water jumps, but naps badly at new waters competing, wasting good placings. 
And I have done some modeling which was a novel experience! The funniest part was photographing a coat with a skirt and not just jeans, I was persuaded to borrow a teenager’s white skirt that honestly better resembled a belt, we all got rather giggly as it was practically indecent! Everyone reckoned Jake Eastham (the photographer) was shaking!
The low point of the month in July was having a broken computer for numerous weeks making life very tricky, my laptop honestly spends more time in the shop than with me! My next blog entry will bring you up to date with happenings in August, then I'll be square!