Hi guys

Sarah and Tippy here:

Hope you're having a fab summer hol. Isn't time just flying by?

Poor old Tippy! No one loves the old nag any more. She went on PC camp last week, as Poppy was going and she couldn't stop home alone, and even though there was a spare pony up for grabs no one wanted to ride her. Guess everyone has seen how naughty she was at a PC rally when I rode her at one this last spring. (Check out the September issue of H+P which is out now!)

She got well cheesed off standing in the field on her own watching everyone else have sooo much fun at camp. No wonder the old girl is in a bad mood at the moment.

Also, just heard, modern pentathlete and H+P fave Heather Fell is going to be pressing the big National Lottery button tomorrow. Catch her on the telly, BBC1, 8.30pm tomorrow.

Hi everyone

Hilary here:

Summer holidays are here and so practices have stopped for a while. However, we are all still busy.

The Royal Show was a huge success and H+P’s Sarah and work experience student Hannah came to see us and took some photos. We did a demo to celebrate The PC's 80th anniversary.

We all had a great day and even got to watch the Scurry ponies race (which included my old games pony Oscar). It is a shame that it was the last Royal Show – because it was fab!

Fundraising for the musical ride is continuing and this weekend we had a tombola stand at Tetton Horse Trials in Cheshire. We also had a Name the Pig competition and a Guess the Weight of the Cake competition. Everybody was very generous – we had one particular customer who supported us about 10 times!

A highlight of the day was meeting Oliver Townend who had won four sections! Not only did he take part in our tombola, but he also had a go at naming the pig and (there is more!) had his photo taken with us! We had a great time and are looking forward to the next fundraising event.

63 days to go now.... we are all getting very excited!!

Keep riding
Hilary

Hi folks

Sarah and Tippy here:

Hope you've had a cool ponified summer hols. Bet some of it included rocking on over to some shows, well H+P recently sent goodies over to the Pony Club Area 14 Grass Roots show. So, we thought we’d find out why going to a show is sooo much fun.

The Wilton PC team of Bethany Puzio, Hannah Sherborne and Mia Downes won and the Royal Artillery Lipizzaner team of Lucy Newman, Olivia Humphrey and Emma Pike came third, with the Portman Hunt team (pictured) in between in the runners-up place.

Here’s what the ladies had to say…

Rosie Gibbs: “The competition was great fun. I enjoyed the Team Dressage Test because doing it with friends made it really good fun. My pony Dewy was the best he’s ever been and I think he enjoyed it too.”

Annabel Vickery said: “I liked our group display best because it was fun and Hoby didn’t put a step wrong.”

Chloe Rideout said: “I really enjoyed Grass Roots, because there was a really fun Handy Pony and my pony Bramble walked over a stuffed body with a fluorescent jacket on. I was nervous but very happy because I knew the two people in my team and we had really fun day together.”

Hi guys,

It’s Sophie here! I have returned to Horse and Pony for another week’s work experience, and it is going great.

I have recently sold my pony Monty, and so I am now on the look out for a bigger horse. It is quite exciting looking for a new horse, and I think I may have already found the perfect one! His name is Sid-James, and he is a whopping 16.2hh! I am off to try him for a second time on Monday – this time to take him round a x-country course. If this goes well, then hopefully we will have him vetted and if he passes, then we will have a new horse in the yard! Apparently his only vice is that he is rather good at escaping, and so has to have three bolts on his door!

We had a bit of a disaster at the weekend, when Taz our two-year-old filly escaped from the field. She jumped out over a stile and then panicked and tried to get back in through a wire fence. Unfortunately in the process she managed to mangle herself quite well.
The vet came out to see her and she had to have 12 stitches across her chest and four in her back leg! She also has a huge plaster cast on her front leg and has been on box rest for the last week. This means she is unable to leave her stable, so as you can imagine she is getting rather frustrated and bored! However, luckily she appears to be making a speedy recovery, and hopefully she will be back to her usual playful self soon!

The summer holidays seem to be flying past so fast… only one more week and we are back to school! I can’t believe how quickly it’s gone, better do some last minute homework!

Sophie