This week we hear from Essex based event rider Sophie Hyde, a new member to the F&L team. In her latest blog she fills us in with news of her team of fabulous horses…
The 2021 season didn’t start as I had planned due to some awful family news. Sadly, my Dad’s cancer returned and it really did knock the stuffing out of me. It’s hard to focus on personal life and juggle competing so I spent my time supporting my family. My Dad has since had his operation and things are looking more positive.
Sonny’s first event was the BE90 at Borde Hill followed swiftly by the BE100 at Little Downham. He is such a genuine horse! We hadn’t hadn’t been to a competition since the beginning of July 2020 and I woke up to gale force winds on the day of our first BS show, at Codham. However, he came off the lorry as calm as ever and jumped a lovely double clear in the British Novice and a silly pole at the last fence in the Discovery as I got a little over excited and had my foot to the floor! I then headed to Felbridge Showground for their BE combined training where Sonny pulled it out the bag to finish 4th. We also headed to the fantastic facility at Poplar Park for cross country training with Michael Paveley.
It is safe to say that this element is Sonny’s favourite by far and he is the boldest horse I have ever gone cross country on, nothing had changed despite the 10-month break and he jumped everything I asked of him with his usual cheerful expression on his face. I have to admit I also didn’t stop smiling the whole afternoon and came home feeling really excited about our future partnership!
Pebbles has been on a strict diet as she got very fat seemingly eating her straw bed at night and after a few weeks of soaked hay and woodchip bedding she is now looking much more event ready. As is always the way with her just before I started jumping her again, she went lame on her front feet so a trip to Rossdales quickly followed. Luckily there was nothing too worrying on the X-rays and her front coffin joints have been medicated with Arthramid so she is good to compete.
Before she went lame, she was feeling good so I am really hoping the medication will sort the lameness issue out and she will be back firing on all cylinders, especially as I have recently bought her a new Amerigo jump saddle which I am desperate to have a jump in. The saddle is second hand, although very lightly used, and has an orange panel so of course I had to order a new Samshield helmet (if you’d like one to arrive before Christmas the cut off is the end of October) from Forelock and Load to match the saddle!
Oso is currently feeling great, and I have started some short bursts of canter work on the gallops and Oso is most definitely finding this very exciting and I have come very close to hitting the deck several times. I took Oso for a lesson for the first time since his accident in August 2019 and I am not sure who was more excited, me or him. We did some trot poles, but Oso was quite clear this was far too boring and he ended up jumping all 4 poles in one go, which just made me giggle! It was so lovely to take him out again and just enjoy riding him in an arena, something I never dreamt would happen again. I am hoping to be able to repeat this every now and again and perhaps do some BD on him if he continues to stay sound.
At my yard I have been very lucky that my landlord has built an amazing new arena for us, so this combined with our gallop means I have an amazing facility to train from. I really am lucky to have all of this in place as it means I don’t have to travel to use an arena, which allows me more time to work with the horses.
I have also received some lovely clothing for the horses from Forelock and Load, which I have been using with pride. They look wonderful and I am very grateful for the team’s support.
