March Madness!
What a spectacular month! I have been SUPER busy and my brain is fried, but it has all been worth it.
No jodhpurs in sight!
At the beginning of the month office manager Rachel and CEO Steve made the trip up to bonny Scotland to see me. It was lovely to see the guys again, I sometimes forget that I have only actually met them once because the one weekend that I spend down at Honeychop HQ, I felt like part of the family straight away. We headed to Broomhall Feeds in Perth. Broomhall are the main distributor for Scotland, there we met with Marshall, who’s the man in charge. It was great for me to be a part of this, I gained some new knowledge from the meeting and grew an overall better understanding of how the sales and distributions work throughout the country. Sadly Steve had to head back home the same day, but I got to keep Rachel a little longer! Over the course of 3 days we visited a whole heap of different stores covering, Edinburgh, Perth, Aberdeen and North. We met some lovely people and broke into the market with the Honeychop with most of them. It was fantastic, it is a really great feeling to know that you are making Honeychop more readily available to people. Seeing as there really hasn’t been much of a push up here in Scotland, we are now dedicating our time to get the brand better represented up here, making it easier for people to access the products and getting the awareness of the brand into circulation. We got a great response from the sellers up here, and I waved goodbye to Rachel feeling really positive about the whole situation.
Some Spring Showing
To Tigger! Master Moonshadow has rather been enjoying his new and improved feeding regime, complemented by lots of hacking and relaxed goings-on. We are chipping away at improving his weakness in his shoulder by stretching a few times a week, using the exercises specified by the wonderful Anna Armstrong Physiotherapist. I’m really focusing on trying to build him up a bit, both in muscle and in condition as he has lost a bit over the winter. I think with being out of work for a year before he came to me and then being brought back up to a reasonable level of fitness, he worked the worst of the flab off and now we are left with not much on the muscle side. Of course I have to factor in the moving of yards, changing of owner and travelling reasonably often as well to the loss of condition. However, he is happy and healthy and I know what I have to do to get him where I want him. Obviously to succeed in the show ring, he also needs a bit of extra substance, I’m sure I can get him there. I have found Allen and Page’s Calm & Condition to be very helpful, and also plan to get him on to a BlueChip balancer in the near future. The Honeychop Natural Choice has also and obviously, proved invaluable.
Isn’t he just the cutest?
I spent the middle weeks of the month in Dubai at a friend’s wedding, it was absolutely beautiful and was a well enjoyed break from reality. On return home I was interviewed for and started a new job, and attended another beautiful wedding, so really it has been all go with no stopping for air! We did however make it out to North East Riding Club’s ’Winter Woolies’ show, where I rode in the hunter class. Seeing as I had slept in after attending one of the weddings the day before, Tigger was literally walked off the box and straight into the ring! He however, did not let me down, putting on a beautiful display and riding well for the judge too. He ranked in 4th place and I got some lovely comments about how well he is doing for his age and it was mentioned that I should show him in the veteran classes, which I plan to.
So in the pipeline we have a charity fun show, a hack in the woods, the farrier, the physio another showing show and the more long term plans for The Royal Highland Show and Blair Castle International Horse Show. I plan to ride at the Highland but attend Blair with friends, both scenarios require lots of planning!!
So until next month, make the most of your four-legged friends, enjoy every minute.
Grace and Tigger x
A change from a horse! Dubai style
