A look back at competition successes, yard improvements and everyday life with our horses and team.
Nicola made a fine start to the new dressage season on her young horse Quite Easy, in the BD Novice 22 at Pachesham, producing a personal best of 70.34% in the non-qualifier. The result was featured with a photo and report in Horse & Hound.
This year the British Horse Society TREC Championships of Great Britain were held at Hilton of Beath Farm in Fife, Scotland. Bob and Moley (Jupiter's Gold) won the Level 2 Individual British Championship — this photo was taken on their triumphant return to Chalkpit Lane Stables.
The BHS magazine British Horse carried a report in its Sept/Oct 2012 edition, and Horse & Country TV ran a news report including an interview with Bob about their success.
Nicola went to the showjumping at Greenwich Park — and what a small world. Chatting to a couple of the mounted police women, she mentioned that we had sold a horse to the Met Police about fifteen years ago. It turned out they knew him: Norman is a legend with the Met Police Mounted Branch and everyone's favourite. Due to be retired, his service was extended for the Games. This photo shows Charlotte Dujardin (on a break between winning Team and Individual dressage Gold) meeting Norman on duty.
We celebrated 30 years at Chalkpit Lane Stables by taking a group of our clients, friends and family to a private viewing box at Hickstead for Nations Cup Day at the Royal International Horse Show. A great day was had by all.
Our facilities upgrade is now complete. The final item, the hot and cold water wash-down area, is fully operational and proving popular with horses and owners alike. The equipment and water heater were supplied by Kylix Ltd, with the heater fitted by Norton Mechanical Ltd. Earlier in the year the horse exerciser was refurbished by M. Paterson & Son (Builders) with rubber-tile flooring from Claydon Horsewalkers Ltd.
We also acquired an additional acre paddock right outside our front gate, and Nicola and Mr Amati topped the Dressage Masters League (Medium).
After a great deal of hard work, Jess qualified Rockey Broadway for the Sunshine Tour Championships at Great Bookham Equestrian Centre, where Rockey was made Reserve Champion in his dressage test with a score of 67.8%.
Great news as Moley returned home to us after a very nasty problem following an allergic reaction to treatment for a sarcoid, spending two months hospitalised at Liphook. He is well and getting back into work, and has grown quite used to wearing his protective cradle while the wound heals. Bob and Di have done the very best by him and we are so pleased to have him back.
Nicola competed on Mr Amati in the dressage at Hickstead, coming second in the Elementary class — enough points to qualify for the Dressage Masters at Hickstead this summer.
A few photos of the yard on Royal Wedding Day. We had the flags and bunting out, and Diane and Pat went out for a hack to enjoy the lovely weather — with Jes keeping a watchful eye in the background.
Laslo competed in the Non-Native Coloured Horse Championships at the Hickstead Derby Show. Finishing 5th, he qualified for the parade and Supreme Championship held in the International Arena.
Well, did we have a cold one! Well done to our team for keeping everything going so well and caring for the horses through a difficult spell — and to our clients for battling through. Hot drinks all round, winter rugs on, and Kasha loving every minute of the snow.
Sadly we lost one of our German Shepherds, Kayley, after a short illness, and Kasha missed her greatly. We keep German Shepherds to back up our alarm system for added security, so we found two rescue pups, Lilly and Sadie, who are now learning the ropes from Kasha and settling happily into life here.