Hey all!

Laura and Thomas here:

Yes you did read right! This week I’ve been down to London for a riding lesson - I visited Mudchute Equestrian Centre which is right in the centre of London. The lesson was part of the launch of the Petplan Equine National Riding Festival to encourage new people into riding – thanks for the invite guys!

For my lesson I rode a very nice horse called Danny who was a real gent and Jennie rode a cute chestnut pony called Pickles – by the end of the lesson me and Jen had definitely sharpened up our riding up.

Ever better still we got to watch the English vaulting team - and OMW they are some flexible peeps! The girls were twizzling around and jumping on and off their vaulting horse Geoffrey with such ease it was amazing. I used to do Prince Phillip Cup mounted games so I know how hard it is to vault on to a little pony let alone a massive horse (almost 18hh) like Geoffrey so I was well impressed.

The Petplan National Riding Festival will be holding festivals at different venues throughout the summer – click www.nationalridingfestival.co.uk to find a festival near you.

Laura

The English vaulting squad.

Acrobatics on horseback.

The girls showed us some of their group routine.

Geoffrey – the star of the show.