As I write this it's 6.33pm and would you believe it - I've got a gap whilst I'm waiting for my 1.25m showjumping class to start at Addington! We still have x7 rounds still left to jump tonight, expecting to finish around 10.30pm if we are lucky! It's been a good day to catch up on some admin.
...Le Lion and Pau certainly feel like I long time ago now!
But without a doubt - cause for celebration! Cookie and Cleo tackling the World Young Horse Championships both putting on wonderful performances over the three phases, Cleo to finish in 11th and Cookie to finish as the 3rd best 7yr in the world! My golly what a result, it was a very special feeling standing up there on that podium.
Charlie went on to Pau to tackle the 5* down there, but to be honest it was a rather anticlimactic finish to 2024 for us. Arriving on the Monday it was pretty apparent that the whole course was waterlogged.
After pulling out a brilliant performance in the dressage to sit 7th going into xc, the heavens opened and didn’t stop. If it had been the Olympics for sure you would have cracked on with fire in your belly to tackle the track. But in our minds, it didn’t make sense to risk an injury in bad going when our goals for him are for WEG 2026 and LA 2028. Yes, it was disappointing, but it was not a decision made lightly and not one we are likely to regret. Fair to say it felt like a much longer journey home than usual!
We had a period of time after Pau before we left for NZ where we kept most the horses in work, training some higher-level test movements and getting some end of season SJ practice in!
A month in NZ bookended with hens’ parties and Christmas was a great way to catch up with all our friends and family and get some vitamin D back in the system – thank goodness we did because it has been fairly bleak being back in the UK! We wizzed up and down the country in a fairly inefficient fashion, but it was in style thanks to Portage Cars who kindly lent us some snazzy wheels! Many of our friends and family are pregnant and it is such an exciting time for everyone, it seems we will be late to the party on that front, sorry to disappoint!
We are excited about some pretty cute furry babies though – fantastic to go and see Venus and her two mini-Me’s; Pluto (by ES Kalaska) and Astrid (by Daminos). We also have one in the oven by Duplexx. All of which will have 75% "blood" (thoroughbred) - we can’t wait for them to grow up and to see what we have in the future!
As we look towards 2025 we are even more excited for the season ahead than I have been (I am not sure how that happens every year but somehow it seems to be the case!)
Our stable is split into 2 halves – the A team and the B team, for the first time in my career I’m looking at potentially having our entire A team full of 4* horses by the end of this year – that’s some horsepower!
Charlie – Badminton, Aachen, Burghley?
Sooty – Badminton or Luhmuhlen
Quantas – Chaumont En Vixen, Blenheim, Boekelo
Darcy – Chaumont En Vixen, Boekelo
Luca (introduced later on) – Blenheim, Strezgom
Billy Alberto – TBC – a 14yr owned by Ali Spence (previously having done Blenheim 4*L with Sophie Fouracre and had a quiet year in 2024) who isn’t such a big fan of dressage, we are going to have a crack at improving him on the flat and seeing where he takes us!
Malibu – Blenheim
One significant furry face that we shall be missing in our yard tour this year is that of Mr Cookie Time, who headed to a wonderful Junior Rider at the back end of last year. I have loved being a part of their journey together so far and look forward to cheerleading them through the next year getting to know each other.
As much as we call ourselves professionals, it is never easy seeing a face leave the yard and Cookie was very much a stable favourite of ours.
It has however opened a number of doors for us, and in January we have been able to buy a “house”, better described as a shack, in our wonderful little village called Ham just 3 minutes from the yard.
It needs some serious renovations before moving in later this year, but we are on the ladder!
Cookie’s owners had a wonderful journey with him and have each chosen to invest in new horses;
Rachel and the Bessell Family have bought a “leg” of Delarado, the 11yr mare owned with Kate Maitland and ourselves. Having finished the year double clear in her first advanced in 2024 we are now looking forward to 4* together this year.
Neil and I have gone a bit further afield and have purchased a horse together from Finland of all places! Lucas Stone is 9yr 3* horse produced by Wilhelmiina Poikkeus. I actually found him through EquiRatings (perks!) I asked the team if I could do a search for horses with good jumping statistics who were not so good on the flat – having used that model with Charlie back in 2022 I am hoping I might be able to replicate it again!
We have a really limited number of shares available in just a couple of horses this year; including our new boy Lucas Stone and the final 12.5% of Quantas. Pop me an email if you would like to know details, or have a look at some videos of them here.
I have condensed my numbers this year, while Kaitlyn seems to be expanding!
Having got on so well with Cleo at the back end of 2024 I approached the Taylor family to ask if they might consider Kaitlyn taking the ride on for 2025. I wanted to both give an opportunity to Kaitlyn to thank her for all the hard work she does for us, and also to ensure that regardless of the horses we have in the yard, Cleo will get to go to Le Lion again in 2025 as she so richly deserves.
She has an international horse joining us – a 3* horse from Ireland who will be coming for some GB competition experience.
We also have a wonderful mare called Lusuela who has done an intermediate who will also be getting some competition experience in 2025.
Aida will continue with us this year with the goal of finding a new home or stepping up to intermediate if she is still with us!
We've focused on ticking our pre-season boxes including;
Saddle fitting thanks to Sederholm, with a new saddle on order!
Lorry fix ups thanks to Haynes Horseboxes and KN Autos
Alice (Andre Buthe) has come to do all our pre-season vet inspections, with products supplied by MerlinVet
Checked in with Sussex Asset Finance to get advice on financing for our little lorry
Jess from Keyflow has come to do our nutrition check
New gears from Beyond the Bit - ready to look the part!
All set for this seasons trot ups with Fairfax & Favor
Orders placed with Equine America for the start of the season
Jack (farrier) has wheels and stud holes on all the boys and girls and Alice Dorman has been for a pamper massage day!
This year will be a big learning curve for us I’m sure as between Brayden and I we look to juggle building our little slice of heaven whilst managing a yard of 15 horses, three staff, a part time job at EquiRatings, a full time job at Keyflow Feeds, a podcast that seems to have taken off, and some growing side hustles of Brayden’s.
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