Heels Down, Kick On

What an amazing time my oldest bestie and I had yesterday at #yourhorselive2017 and Carl Hester’s 50th birthday gala #carlhester #oneononeatfifty. Yes, the queues were horrendous and yes, we had a bit of an incident with a chocolate crepe, but we shopped ‘til we dropped and, most spectacularly, managed to meet, chat and get pictures with every member of equestrian royalty that was there. First was Charlotte Dujardin. We didn’t get into the queue early enough for Charlotte’s signings, but we did manage to stand very close by and marvel at how immaculate she looked. When I’m around horses, I’m rarely made up, unless I’ve been at work first - and even then, the stresses of the day have caused my make-up to mysteriously drop off, stress spots on my chin to develop and my hair to go as flat as a motorway-crossing hedgehog. She was every inch the star, but most importantly, was as down to earth as the rest of us. After her afternoon training demo with the utterly STUNNING grey mare, Flor

On January 9 th 2016, I wrapped up warm and headed for a yard on a working farm about a 5-10 minute drive away from me. Arriving on time (for once in my life), I got out of the car at 9am, breath visible on the freezing air, and walked towards the barn that housed my potential new loan horse: Flora. I can’t even tell you how excited I was. After 11 years of barely even riding anymore, this would be the closest I’d ever come to my ‘own pony’, at the grand old age of almost 32. All the whining and begging and pleading in my younger years did me no good whatsoever – horses were expensive, enormously tying and that was that. To this day, I’m still regretful but grateful that I never had my own when I was younger. I can guarantee that I wouldn’t have done as well academically, nor had as much freedom socially. I definitely wouldn’t have lived on the other side of the world for three years and experienced any other cultures. There’ll be many people out there that could’ve juggled all t