August

Making hay whilst the sun shines….

The last few weeks have seen the remaining Farley fields cut for hay, and what a fantastic sight the English countryside makes in the summer. Hacking through the Estate has been such a pleasure, and with acre after acre of freshly cut grass the ground is perfect….what a good excuse for a canter!

Hi- Viz leads the way...

As horse owners we are well trained to use high visibility riding gear in the Autumn and Winter, but how many of us actually maintain this habit in the summer? Whilst driving down a leafy country lane recently, I struggled to see a bay horse and his rider wearing dark clothing, despite it being a sunny day. Wearing high visibility clothing makes such a difference as to how quickly car drivers, and other road users, can see you. This can buy you valuable seconds, particularly if that is the moment that your horse chooses to spook at a dustbin!

As part of my ‘one woman safety crusade’ I have purchased some rather snazzy ‘shocking’ pink tabards for the yard, and we have noticed a real difference in cars slowing down.

Fit to ride...

As the new Farley mascot, Ottie, continues with his fitness plan increasing his strength, suppleness and muscle tone I can’t help but think that my fitness could also do with a kick start as well. As riders we are guilty of putting all our time, energy and focus into our horses physical and psychological wellbeing, but do we take time to build on our own core strength, suppleness and aerobic fitness? We held a ‘Fit to Ride’ clinic at Farley in April, and we hope to repeat this in Autumn as well, which demonstrated how much professional riders work on their own fitness. Meanwhile perhaps I’ll be dusting off my trainers, so look out for an exhausted ‘jogger’ crawling up Wheeler’s Hill!

Happy riding (running)….

Nik

First blog

6^th July

Great weather and great clinics….

So finally we have a BBQ summer after some wonderful warm sunny days, although with flies and hard ground this is perhaps not the preferred weather for our four legged friends.

We have had a busy few weeks at the yard, including an insightful clinic with the eventing stalwart Mary King, which proved very popular with the riders and non-riding spectators. We regularly hold a variety of clinics here at Farley Hall Equestrian Centre, and there is a great buzz from them, although thankfully we don’t have so many that it becomes too stressful!

New gates and a new horse….                                                   

The Estate has recently made a significant investment into improving our hacking routes, with the arrival of lots of horse friendly gates. At the Equestrian Centre we are extremely fortunate to have acres and acres of private land to hack around, and these gates are fantastic as access has been much improved, without the need to hop off and undo large gates.

The last few weeks have also seen the arrival of a new horse for me! After several years of not owning a horse, I decided (perhaps foolishly) to take the plunge and brave the classified adverts to start searching the wealth of ‘horse- selling’ websites which have sprung up. My main criteria was for a horse who was fairly easy going, would live out and ideally had some competition history, and of course four legs intact. To cut a long story short I was sold on a second viewing of a rather scruffy, but nice, Irish hunter type who appeared to have spent the last few years stood in the field, not doing a lot else other than covering himself in mud. The horse gave a nice feel over a small jump, and then duly stood next to a very busy road with buses and lorries thundering past, almost brushing his whiskers without batting an eyelid, although my heart was certainly beating quickly. Having agreed to purchase the horse I then spent a rather sleepless night before his arrival thinking ‘what have I done’! However, Ottie appears to have loved his move to Berkshire, settling in straight away and enjoying the lovely warm water wash bays (he has had several baths since his arrival). We are enjoying the fantastic hacking and Ottie is certainly very keen on the tasty Farley grass.

On a personal level it is lovely to have my own horse again, and it is definitely useful to experience the yard as both the ‘manager’ and as a ‘livery owner’. It has also reminded me of the highs and lows of looking for horses, and I can only wish our clients who are currently searching for new horses the best of luck.

You will no doubt hear more of Ottie’s progress as his return to work continues - but so far so good!!

Go Farley Hall Riding Club Team….

Last weekend saw the first team outing for the newly formed Farley Hall Riding Club, complete with a glorious day and some sparkling new team numnahs. Very well done to all our members who took part in the show jumping at Wellington, over what sounded like a rather tricky course.

Well it’s back to work in the sun for me (before the rain arrives shortly no doubt), meanwhile happy Riding!

Nik

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