Ampney Update

It's been a few weeks since my last post and there has been a lot happening and a lot for me to fill you all in on. The first couple of weeks were pretty average with not much happening so didn't have much to write, but the next couple of weeks were flat out and I didn't have any time to write! I've got the day off today so after my couple of extra hours sleep I'm ready to write :)
In my last post you all found out that I employed my first groom, Will, who is a perfect member of the team as he has his own aspirations in eventing and is eager to improve in training, while still working hard on the yard as he knows (as any good groom should) that success only comes with the good foundation of correct horse management and care.
We have spent the last few weeks looking for a horse for him to start the next eventing season on. We traveled some serious miles to see horses and finally, only 50 minutes up the road in Chipping Camden, we found the one. His name is JJ and he was with Bill Levett, another fellow Australian. I had never met Bill before but he was a really nice guy and rode beautifully, and Will and I both fell in love with JJ as soon as we saw him. The next week, he was in my little lorry 'Sabrina' and we were off home with another new team member!

Chad being lunged before riding... Have to get
a few bucks out of him first!

Chad has also just come back to me as well. I'm pleased to say his little break has done him the world of good and he is looking and feeling a lot stronger, especially from behind. He just powers himself uphill naturally and has a good strong neck carriage coming out from his shoulders, none of the curling in business that he was doing before to avoid using himself properly. He is a horse that is so full of life and always has fun with his work, so he is such a pleasure to ride and I can't wait to do more with him like some hacking and a bit of jumping.
That means we now have five horses in the yard with two more stables free - one for Bertina (who will come back after Christmas) and one for a training livery. Will and I have almost doubled our workload in less than a week but we are coping, and even managing to make the odd Christmas party or two! I think it's so important to work hard but still make time to do fun things to make each week different. For example on Monday night I took Will to a psychology seminar by Charlie Unwin, on Wednesday after finishing the yard super-quick we did some Christmas shopping in Cheltenham, on Friday night we had the Ampney Park staff party and on Sunday afternoon we went for a Christmas lunch held by one of my clients. Doing little fun things like this really stops the days getting monotonous, and of course with horses there is something different every day so we are always motivated on the yard even when its freezing and we can't feel our fingers or toes!


Christmas is fast-approaching and as usual everyone is running around trying to get presents/cards/meals/parties organised, but this year it feels pretty different for me. For the first time ever I'm not with my family over Christmas. It was pretty sad putting up the Christmas tree without them, and it's looking a bit sad with only a couple of presents underneath, but they will all be here in January so I'm looking forward to seeing them then. This year I've made a lot more friends and have a bigger network from just doing my business with the horses so I've had a lot of offers from people to spend Christmas with them which is really nice, as I'm now finally starting to feel at home here in the UK.
Over Christmas I will be the only one on the yard, as Will is going home to the Isle of Mann to see his family. I will be very busy but hopefully I'll have a part-time girl to help me a few afternoons a week. I'm really looking forward to next year though, we will be very busy with competitions and I love it when things are full on!