Saturday, 28 June 2008

Off to Winkleigh tomorrow, with Felix and Conto, to do some XC - 2ft6 with Con, as a confidence builder, and open (3ft-3ft 6) with Felix. Its an affiliated course, so its always beautifully built and up to height :-)

Kelly and Dexter are going too - Dex went home last week and has apparently been going brilliantly, so it will be great to catch up with them again.

Friday, 20 June 2008

After ongoing connection problems, I have finally fallen out with o2 so have very very limited internet access at the moment - so if I am not updating the blog, thats why!

The good news (well amazing news really for us!) is that apparently Broadband is coming to Exmoor - at least it is going to be reaching the part other Broadband can't reach, and allegedly within the next 2-3 months...

Don't hold your breath, but if it actually happens it will revolutionise our lives :-)

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

I've updated the main website, mostly housekeeping but I've added some fun (I think!) pics of Dexter's feet as they were in Feb and as they are now. Actually they are even better now, as the June photos were taken a couple of weeks ago, but you get the picture ;-)

You'll find them at www.rockleyfarm.co.uk - just click on "Horses at Rockley" and then Dex's page.

Kelly, Dexter, Felix and I got back from our epic road trip to Sussex late last night.

We travelled up to Liphook Equine Veterinary Hospital and took Felix as it was a rather long journey for Dex on his own, which also invloved an overnight stay in Liphook's very busy yard.

Luckily for us we took our saddles and bridles, as there is lovely hacking round Liphook, and we managd to ride out on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning without meeting another soul!

Felix and Dex met many exciting new things, including the fast trains to London which zoom past every few minutes (they were bombproof!), lots of long narrow bridges on the bridleways (by the 6th bridge they were going over them like complete pros) and a large flock of Canada geese on the lawn of Champneys spa (we resisted the temptation to gallop across it!).

The boys could not have behaved better - they travelled perfectly, behaved beautifully in a very strange environment, and flew the flag for barefoot horses to the manner born.

All the staff there were very friendly and put up most patiently with our little entourage, and our giant builder's sack of haylage which we brought with us all the way from Exmoor :-)

Huge thanks especially to Ross Eager, one of Liphook's farriers, and Liz Rabinowitz, who does their behavioural assessments, and who both allowed me to spend large parts of the day watching them work.

I just got the pics of the hunter trial, through - I couldn't resist ordering one of Con since it was his first ride. He was being terribly terribly brave, and the photo of him is really lovely - trying his socks off and jumping way bigger than he needs to, but he actually looks as if he is very nearly enjoying himself :-)

Sunday, 8 June 2008

A frustrating week, for lots of reasons...firstly technology - we are not on broadband, or any sort of landline here, which makes an internet link desperately slow at the best of times. This week the whole thing ground to a complete halt, and eventually I worked out that the cable linking the PC to the phone line was missing most of its teeth (!). It took another 2 or 3 days to get a new cable, and I finally got back online yesterday...

Dexter also decided that this would be a good week to go offline...After his brilliant performance on Friday, he was in good form over last weekend but turn out over night at the beginning of the week proved too much for him, and unfortunately I did not spot it until Tuesday. We took him off the grass straight away but it took him a good few days in quod on the track with Conto before he was back to normal. Mea culpa.

The interesting thing is that Bailey, and the other horses, are all absolutely rock-crunching, despite being turned out at night.

On a more positive note, it was great to have Jane Tweedie down at the beginning of the week, and she did a great job not only of trimming feet but also of schooling me and Felix, Andy and Bailey, and of course Charlie, whom she rode herself :-) Thanks Jane ;-)

All the horses performed brilliantly - Dex and Kelly had the best result, with a faultless clear round, but I was also thrilled with Conto. I've only jumped him once before, last year at home over a couple of jumps, and so I wasn't sure how he would deal with a whole event. He found it quite a challenge mentally but was very brave, and ended up jumping well. We took all the easy options but his attitude was fantastic - what a little star :-) I am hoping this will have b-uilt his confidence for next time.

Bailey was great - calm and jumping really well, and it was the first time she and Andy had done a 3ft3 course, with some much bigger jumps, which she coped well with.

Jumping Felix is like riding a guided missile - once he locks onto a jump its just a question of hanging on, but unfortunately due to pilot error we had a misunderstanding about which jump we should be doing (!) - he had locked onto th fence in front, but we were supposed to be doing one at 90 degrees to the right...! He tried to change for me but the angle was too sharp and I came out of the side door...He is such a pro that he stood and waited for me to get up, catch him and get back on, then carried on a few round clear. I felt a bit of a muppet :-) More pics to follow...

Rockley Farm's Blog

A diary of whats happening at Rockley, whether its news on rehab horses or on our own horses hunting and competing. All the horses are barefoot, and the blog includes updates on hoof rehabilitation and information about barefoot performance.

You can find out more about research, rehabilitation and our horses on the pages above or at our website: www.rockleyfarm.co.uk.