Happy 2017! Did you see me on the cover of the Scottish Rider magazine?!

Scottish Rider – Cover girl!

Cold, wet, cold, wet, sunny, snowing, blowin’ a hoolie, 20degrees. Welcome to Scotland, where we experience all 4 seasons in one day! Thank goodness for rugs, an indoor ménage and big cosy straw beds. Tigger loves being in his bed and is stood by the gate waiting to come in every afternoon without fail.

This month Tigger has had his MOT! Kicked off by a visit from Anna Armstrong, Veterinary Physio who worked on some tight spots down Tigger’s left side, possibly from his previous injuries when he’s been over compensating. She used her muscle stimulating equipment on him, I had never seen it in use before and it was quite entertaining to see the horse’s muscles reacting to the pulses. Tigger was quite sensitive to the machine and when Anna put it on his bum, his whole neck was bobbing! That just goes to show how the muscles are connected throughout the whole body, quite amazing actually. The next day (poor boy) it was time for teeth! Our lovely vet Mhairi took no time at all to sort him out and he was very well behaved throughout and he was back to munching his haylage within seconds of the gag coming off his head! To round off the MOT he got a new set of shoes from the lovely Sam Lyon. Good to go!

New Shoes for Tigger!

The following weekend we were meant to be headed out to Findon Riding Club’s winter league dressage, I had planned to ride both tests in my side saddle but sadly due to extreme high winds, the show was cancelled.

The weekend after that we did make it out, we boxed up and made out way to Fountain Equestrian to compete in their own winter dressage series. Tigger gave me his best test yet for a score of just under 65% and for that we merited 2^nd place. I was chuffed with that, as we had some tough and experienced competition that day! After a day off we got out for a couple of good long hacks before I was back to riding indoors in the dark evenings. I have only actually had two lessons with Tigger since I got him, money and time play big parts in my ability to train as regularly as I would like, so I just have to make do with what I can. Though small in numbers, my sessions with Iona have already proved invaluable. Tigger is a quick learner and by the time you are on your third or fourth repetition he is quite happy to oblige and recognises what you are asking for. Recently I have been working on keeping him balanced through the corners of the arena and getting his hind end engaged more. The comments that I get in my dressage tests are normally all the same – “lovely horse, needs to be more supple” Tigger is actually very supple and can give you a lot more flexion than many horses ever could, but when he is towing me along on his forehand, it is very hard for me to engage said suppleness. Hopefully with some more training (and if I push the right buttons at the right times) the judges will actually be able to see this for themselves and Tigger will look more fabulous than ever in the dressage ring!

Dressage at Fountain Equestrian

Another competition at the weekend, a new venue for Tigger and with road closures in place we will have a long journey too, but hopefully it will all prove worth it with good scores, pleasant comments and the main aim is to get a bit more consistency from Mr T.

On the Honeychop front – the new products are going down an absolute STORM!!! You guys are loving them and they are proving worth their weight in gold for our beloved beasties. If you haven’t heard about them yet – check out the products page of the site, we have two new molasses free products, Honeychop “Lite & Healthy” and Honeychop “Natural Choice”.

I have my show schedule for the year all planned out and boy are we going to be busy. After Skip being whisked away so suddenly, I have realized that you need to grab opportunities while you can, therefore Tigger and I will be going all out this year to HAVE FUN and ENJOY our time together, you just never know what’s around the corner and I aim to have a happy, healthy and successful 2017 with my horse- don’t you?!