To Pastures New

                 These are some of the horses who used to be in our team and have now moved on to pastures new.

                                                                                                   Czech WB by Radegast (han) out of Matika (han) by Faraday 

  Rubin or Neddy as we called him has found himself a new home with a young lady who lives not far from my mum's. This is great news to us, meaning not only will we be able to follow him on the web but it's also likely we're going to bump into him pretty regularly. ( Maybe I'll be allowed to go and visit in a little while, when I'm confident I won't dissolve into a sobbing wreck).

  Neddy has been a superstar for me, it has helped that he belonged to my mother so she has been covering some of his costs which has allowed me to keep him a bit longer before having to part with him. Neddy himself has been amazing in giving me the courage to jump bigger fences with confidence. There is no limit to Neddy's scope over a fence, indeed he only  gets into jumping mode at a metre before which he is convinced they are trot poles. Added to his scope he has a wonderful brain and the kindest most genuine character you could ever wish for. I have made ghastly xc errors and frozen in terror during the showjumping but that is when Neddy comes in to his own. Poor chap he could have done a far better job without me! That said Neddy finished 2010 with 3BE pts from only 2 novice runs;5th Gt Tew and 7th Longleat.He also completed 2 CIC* in France at Le Haras du Pins and Pompadour finishing his career with me on a super cv without a xc jump fault! The only blip being at Mount Ballan when I managed to get us eliminated in the dressage for forgetting the test 3 times, but that's a whole other story.

His whole history with me in photos is here;

                         (please click on following link)     RUBIN'S PHOTO DIARY

If Neddy had been the first young event horse I trained I would have thought there was nothing to it, he just went out and achieved results. We wish him the best of his luck with his new owner. She is going to run him alongside her other horse a year older hopefully together they can give her a strong start for spring 2011.

                                           Good Luck and please keep in touch from all of us here still missing Neddy. x

                                                                         MAUVAISE HERBE                                                                                                            Oldenburg by Night and Day (kwpn) out of Tettina (oldenburg) by Argentinus

Herby is now competing in England finishing 2010 on a real high coming 14th in the Lycett's 7yo ** at Osberton. He now has 24pts and we have been thrilled to watch him progress up into intermediate through the year.We decided not to take Neddy to the 6yo* championships in the UK as he had a couple of them in France, a lucky decision as it ended up being cancelled, but it does mean I haven't managed to see me dear old friend Herby since he left us. We do still sorely miss him.

Herby  came to us just before we moved to France. He helped me to test drive the competitions along with Wammes. When your french isn’t up to speed it isn’t easy finding out which classes you’re supposed to be in, even when you do find them it’s not the same as in the UK. A young  event horse here is asked a lot more in the dressage (which must all be done sitting) and the show jumping, which is much bigger, but the cross country is smaller and less technical, there is a lot more emphasis on the speed during the xc, even in the 4yo classes.

In 2008 Herby took us all over doing cycle libre (amateur 5yo classes), he was placed and qualified for the championships on every outing except the first where I got us eliminated by missing a fence xc. (Only 2 qualifying runs and another clear xc are needed to qualify).

Herby has a fabulous personality and fantastic attitude to life in general, he has always had a very relaxed and mature outlook. It proved invaluable to me here in the beginning and we gained a lot of recognition as he was very different to anything the french were eventing.He has fabulous movement which combined with his good looks make him a flashy package who can't be missed.

                                                                  Hopscotch

                                                                        by Aimbry Chester out of Red Fern

     Bred as an intermediate working hunter and junior eventer Hopscotch is a smart little horse with very flashy movement, no doubt helped along by his dad. He has a wondeful attitude to life and work, very keen without fizz. He's also loves to learn, he picked up long reining in a minute and took to jumping like a duck to water.

    Unfortunately for him and me given his not inconsiderable amount of talent he was born with a hock that has a bit of bony enlargement to it (or maybe was injured as a very young foal). Although the hock had never given him any trouble it seemed a shame to embark on a career that would place him under considerable duress when he was such a sweet chap he could provide someone with years of fun.

Luck was on our side from here on in, I was looking for him to find a lovely home with the right person needing him. Not only did we find that person but they live a few miles up the road from us in France and have since become good friends.(Lucky I had confidence in him!)

He is pictured with his new lady owner in the pictures to the right above; hacking around close to our homes on the Normany lanes. He is proving to be the horse she was after to restore her confidence and get her back in the saddle after a good break away from riding.

Hopscotch was only four when he went to his new home which shows what a genuine character he is. We wish them both many long happy years together as they hone their skills together.

                                                                            PASSEPARTOUT

                         Oldenburg by Cosimo (holstein) son of Contender out of Melisse by Meerwirbel(TB)

Bambi came to us about this time last year, he is a cheeky chap who loves people and being in the thick of it. He has fabulous movement and I think in time to come will be no mean jumping athlete either. I didn’t have much opportunity to do a great deal with him before he moved up to Cherbourg. We just did lots of schooling at home and locally round xc courses and sj courses with a few club and training competitions. Dressage came easily for Bambi too, he has lovely carriage and paces.

Bambi is now competing in France and we look forward to watching his progress in the young horse classes.