Hi everyone!
Laura here

New arrivals everybody! My two pet piggies, Jennifer and Clarissa (named after the 2 fat ladies!) have had little piglets! OMG they are SOOOOOOOO cute, there are 21 in total, running around the barn and causing trouble it’s really funny!

The horses (in their stables next door) think that aliens have landed and keep staring over the wall at the new arrivals. War Horse hates it when they squeal - it disturbs him whilst he’s munching away on his hay!

I guess that you’ve all been out and about enjoying the spring feeling in the air but watch out a it’s supposed to get chilly again:(

See ya peeps!

Laura

P.S. Pharaoh’s well on his way to recovery and just needs another week in the stables before he’s allowed to go out in the day, which will cheer him up no end. He hates being in!

Hey there everyone!

Laura here

It’s been a bit of a busy week for me. BOTH! Sisters are on their hols this week, Sarah’s in France, learning to speak French, (or so she says) and Louise is in Austria skiing, or trying to, anyway (from what I’ve heard she’s not getting to too well!) so poor old me has been left with three horses to keep fit instead of just the one!

STRESS, it’s all about the riding and leading at the moment which Thomas is not happy about as he likes to be special and go out on his own rather than with the others! So he’s a grumpy old man at the moment :(

Thomas has also developed a real taste for licks of late! He found Pharaoh’s in his stable the other day and went nuts. I didn’t realise he had such a long tongue! He’s trotting around the field now with the lick plastered half way up his face. The messy boy!

We’ve got a team chase coming next week, on April Fool’s day. Is it just me or do you think that it is a bad omen?! Hey ho never mind, it will be a laugh. I’m sure the ground is really soft anyway because off all the rain we’ve been having - so I should bounce well!

Hey again,

Laura here

Not much has happened in the last week really. I’ve been doing some last minute prep for the team chase on Sunday, plenty of steady canter work uphill and downhill ready for bombing about when the weekend comes.

The little ponies that we rescued are now all being worked again after having the winter to grow on some more. My sis Sarah sat on Merry at the weekend, although I think Merry was a bit shocked at the extra weight she had to carry around! Pippin came in last night, I tacked her up and led her round with her tack on, she’s still nervous of the saddle on her back so we’re really having to take our time with her, letting her get used to how it feels to be tacked up and walked around with it on before we get on her and Willow - well I think he’s a last cause! Doing any real work is obviously not in his life plan, any attempt so far to get him into the stable and away from his bestest buddy, George have been a complete disaster! Oh well we’ll keep trying!

Laura

Laura here

Hey there, I’ve had a top week - Bank Holiday off and I got to spend the day in the sun up at the yard doing all those little jobs you keep putting off until it’s a nice day and then you’re in the mood to be out and about. Me and mum took Pippin (one of the youngsters) to our local nature reserve for a look around at all the people who were out walking their dogs, she was brill! Didn’t bat an eyelid, not even at people flying kites!

Then I took a trip to Aintree to watch the racing which was ace. We walked the Grand National course and I tell you what, I wouldn’t fancy being one of the jockeys! Beecher’s Brook was over 5ft high, that’s taller than Jen! Crazy! I’ve had a bit of a flutter on the race; a whole £1 to win on Hedgehunter - the last of the big spenders that’s me. He won the race a couple of years ago so he might be in with a chance.

See ya later peeps!

Laura

Laura here

Oh what an exciting day I had! Last Saturday I was treated to a great day out in London for my birthday to see the Lion King. It was brill!

We went to the show and all the cool animals came past me. I was very excited, the Lion King is one of my fave film! After we went for a walk around London and saw all the big sites, the London Eye, the Great Tower of London, Regent's Park, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the lot!

On our way back through Horse Guard's Parade, I began to wonder….. where do the King's Troop horses live? I had a look around and could see no sign of equine life, so we walked on through the arch, me stopping at every gate in search of a nag until I emerged on the other sign and there it was! One big old pile of horse poo and the mystery solved was, I found the entrance to where the horses are stabled. I looked in to see if I could see any horses but no such luck!

Anyways I took a piccy of the horse poo in London to prove it was there and so was I. Don’t they poo-pick in London!?

Hey, Laura here

Not a good week for me. I have sad news to report. Kerry, one of the little ponies I learnt to ride on, had to be put down.

She was over 40 so had a good long life but it’s never nice to have to say goodbye. We have many fond memories of her and the fun we all had when we were still learning to ride.

Kerry sadly had a stroke and whilst she was comfortable and in no pain, she was unable to get over it. Bless her, it’s like the end of an era.

Very exciting news peeps! I went for my first ever carriage driving lesson today and OMG is there a lot to remember! It’s nothing like riding. Anne, my instructor, taught me how to drive in coachman style, so I drove with the reins in my left hand and the whip in my right. It was very odd!

I drove such a cute little pony called Gypsy. An odd coincidence as my first pony EVER was called Gypsy (but she was a girl!). He was brilliant, even when I got things a bit wrong or cut the corner too much, he just steered me round the cone and took us back onto the straight and narrow!

Gypsy is 19 years old (same age as Thomas!), grey and loves polos!

Hey, Laura here

FINALLY, after weeks and weeks of the softly-softly approach to handling Willow, the mad New Forest, we managed to get a headcollar on him. Once the headcollar was on, he tried to run back, rear up and generally cause me and mum some pain but managed to keep a hold of him!

Once he realised that I was just not going to let go he started to stand and with a few pony nuts to keep him sweet, we got him standing really nicely. After he was settled and coming to terms with us being around him, mum gave him a good brush over and groomed all down his legs!

We were both so pleased, as it’s been a really long learning process with him, trying to get him to accept us - but now he has it’s great! I went up again this morning and although it took a couple of attempts we managed to get the leadrope on his headcollar and lead him around the stable. It tok him a while to get used to the fact that he had to walk with me rather than run away from me but we got there in the end. I’m going back up again tonight after I finish work so I will let you know how I get on.

Bye

Laura

Greetings peeps

Laura here:

I hope you all had a great weekend, I know I did. I went to Badminton at the weekend to watch all the eventers do their cross country! It was great, I have been to Burghley before but not Badminton so going to a ‘new’ event was really exciting.

The ground was really hard as it hadn’t rained for ages, although typically it did on Bank Holiday Monday, so a lot of the top names including Zara Phillips, Mary King and Ruth Edge pulled out before the cross country as the European championships are coming up in July, so they are all saving their horses for that. But it didn’t matter to me as all the horses there were still top as they had qualified to compete.

Headley Britannia and Lucinda Fredericks won in the end, they were a good few points ahead after a just perfect dressage and no one ever caught up with them after that. Brit (Headley Britannia) is a mare, which is quite rare for a top class eventer so it was even better to see her beating all the geldings. She won Burghley in September 06 so she’s having a perfect season.

I also saw Janette Brakewell and Over to You, probably my favourite horse EVER! He’s 19 now and has completed Badminton a wicked seven times which is almost unheard of, the only other horse to ever do that was Ballycotton, so that’s some record!

Hope you all had a good bank hol, and enjoyed the extra day off school

Bye for now

Laura

Ps Thomas is fine, still on his holidays and completely uncatchable but lovin it and Willow is being a good boy, we can hold him in the stable and groom him which is ace!

My pics

There was Shettie grand national racing the morning, Carrie from radio one gave out the prizes, she’s in the grey jumper

Lucinda Fredericks and Headley Britannia cruise to victory, I just love her pink cross country colours !

Over To You, the old boy, just stormed round the course!

Matt Ryan from Australia with Bonza Katoomba, just flying

Hey there

Laura here

Are you all suitably bored of the rain and bad weather yet? I know I am. I’ve even put my flip flops away for the moment.

All the rain has made the grass in the field shoot up, so the ponies are in the starvation paddaocks at the moment - which they are not happy about I can tell you. We are just turning them out for a couple of hours a day at the moment until I can get the electric fencing up this weekend. I am so worried they are going to end up with laminitis and as they are only young I don’t want them to get it now and be stuck with problems for the rest of their days.

Pharoah are George are loving all the good grass though. Pharoah lost so much weight when his leg was injured in March that he’s got a lot to put on so is out relaxing, getting better and getting fat at the mo.

Thomas, Maddy, Jester and Cobby are still over at my uncles on their summer hols. Thomas is now completely wild and we haven’t been able to catch him for a week now! Bad Thomas.

Laura here

How exciting! Mum’s just bought a new little sheep dog pup. We’ve only just got her so she hasn’t even got a name but I will keep you all informed and hopefully have some piccys after the weekend!

I hope everyone is looking forward to half term, you’ll all be having a nice relaxing week but for all of us at H+P you lot being off school makes our job even more busy as we’ll be out and about doing photoshoots at some of the stables around us, so we’ll be really busy. But it's not all hard work, we’ll have Bank Holiday Monday off to chill out and relax - think I’m going to take Pippin and the new puppy for a walk - if it doesn’t rain although to be fair knowing my luck it probably will!

Keep us informed on what you do with your week off. Send us an email or write us a letter, we love to know what you’re up to!

See ya

Laura

Laura here

We’ve named the puppy! And guess what we’ve called her? Lexie, well actually it was an accident to call her that really. I got home from work on Friday and mum had almost decided but when I told her it was the name of H+P's cartoon helper, well, it was even better! So now our gorge little pup is kind of a mascot to the magazine too!

Hope you all had a top week off for half term and got to spend as much time as you could down at the stables!

See ya

Laura

Hey all,

Laura here

I just want to say a big thank you to Tina, Hannah and Saucey who have been sending in some great polls to put on the website. If anyone else has any they’d like to put up then send them in and they may end up on the site. Email them to me - laura@horseandpony.com

I hope everyone has finished doing exams and SATs. Now you can look forward to the summer and lots of great riding!

Bye

Laura

PS Lexie (the puppy) is in trouble. She ate my trainers last night!

Hi all

Laura here

Oh my gosh you will never guess what happened?! Someone broke the fence to the ponies field and they escaped. The naughty things tore across five allotments and caused all sorts of damage. Tut tut.

We eventually caught them and told them what for but it wasn’t really their fault some stupid person had dismantled the fencing. Hmmmm.

Ah well, I’m off to a wet and rainy Ireland for a break with my boyfriend now. Yay!
Speak to you in a week or so.

Hey all!
Back off my holidays now from sunny Ireland and a week of surfing, chilling out in the sun. Back at work and it’s not so sunny or relaxed and there’s deffo no surfing :(. Never mind at least I can see Lexie and all the ponies! I have put some pics of Lexie up for you too see, she’s so cute she has grown lots while I was away she’s quite big now. As you can see she has nicked one of the numnahs as her bed while she’s asleep against the AGA!

Hi all

Laura here

Well what a performance! The horses got out the other night (someone left the gate open) and they escaped into the field where we had some caravans parked for the night. Once they were out they thought they’d have a bit of a rave and in the midst of horsey break dancing knocked the wing mirror off a car and scratched a caravan! Oops. The owner wasn’t best pleased I just wonder how they got through? Think someone must have gone for a walk that way and not latched the gate.

Hey there you guys!
Laura here

I bet everyone has almost broken up for the summer now, if not, there isn’t long to wait. That’s the one thing I miss about school - summer hols. It was ace lots of riding, messing about with the ponies and going to Pony Club camp. So think of the Horse + Pony team when you're out and about this summer, we’re all stuck inside working!

Very excited, the last Harry Potter is out on Sat I may have to get up mega early before I go to the stables and get a copy! I love Harry Potter, went to see the film last night and it was ace!

P.S don’t listen to Jennie’s blog I was not being awkward she just asks too much of little old me, she treats me like a house elf sometimes!

Hey there you guys!

Laura here

How are things! Getting a tan? No me neither. I swear the last time I saw the sunshine was on TV!

Things are all bobbing along nicely in the H+P office. Keeping busy making the great mag for you to all read. Jen has discovered an important bit of fashion advice which should not be ignored. Crocs are great and uber cool but they have less than limited capabilities keeping your feet dry when it's wet underfoot! What a mistaker to maker!

Hope everyone’s okay and enjoying their summer hols,

Laura

PS Don't forget to listen to our latest podcast with Ellen W!

Hey peeps

Laura here

Finished Harry Potter. Wow what an ending! I would go into details but as there are prob loads of you who haven’t finished yet it wouldn't be fair.

Thomas is back in work now after his summer holiday out in the field and he is really not happy. Every year when he gets turned out for his hol he's sure he’s been retired to chill out for good and then there's always the shock that in fact he hasn’t and he's got to do some work again, poor old boy. Never mind he will get his head around being an active horse again soon I'm sure!

Hope you all enjoying your hols - at least it’s actually sunny now!

Laura

Hey there peeps!

Laura here

Long time no speak! I’ve been at the Pony Club champs and Ponies UK running the
H+P stand so it has been a hectic old time for us! All done now though so back to normal-ish!

Thomas is officially on my bad list, this is the third day in a row I have crawled out of bed, dragged on my jodhpur boots and headed out to the yard to ride - only to return 30 minutes later, having achieved only in exercising myself by running up and down the field trying to catch Thomas with no success! Any tips to catch a naughty, wise old horse would be greatly received!

Hey everyone

Laura here

Wow! Has anyone been on the Howrse website yet, the web address is www.howrse.com and it’s sooooo cool. You have an online stud and try to breed the best horses.

And October issue H+P readers get two free passes to get them started! All you have to do it register, enter the code on your voucher (lose in the mag) and you get two free passes to start off your own horse.

My first foal has just been born and she’s a Throughbred mare called Tinkerbell! She is steel grey and only six months old and her mum is called Morale! Now I just need to start saving up some points and then I’m going to make her immortal! Seriously you should all log on and have a go it’s so ace I’m addicted already!

Hiya

Kidding, not really going to sell Thomas, but he is deffo in my bad books.

We had the first team chase on the year last Sunday. It was all goin well, we were jumping a good round and all was fine and dandy. UNTIL we got to a hedge, (of all things to have a problem at he picks probably the most straightforward fence on the course!) My sister had fallen off at the fence before, just toppled off the side so her horse Coby was running about all over the place which took Thomas' mind off the job a bit and so I had got a little left behind.

Sarah and Tom (my other team members) were just ahead so apparently that was it for Thomas, game over. He couldn’t see Warhorse, his bezza field friend so that was it he stopped and I not so gracefully sailed over his head and landed on the hedge in question.

I mean can you believe it! What a wimp no one to follow so he just gives up! Bad Thomas. To make things even worse the other one team chases we were entered into for this year have been cancelled because of the FMD outbreak so my team chasing this season could start and finish with a fall! ( :

Hi

Laura here:

EEK! I’m running the Great North run this weekend and yikes I am scared! Thirteen miles that’s a good length sponsored ride and I’m going to attempt it on foot! What was I thinking entering it? All this week I have been living off pasta and potatoes storing up my energy for the weekend and I have got to say, I am well bored of it now I have to say!

Took Thomas schooling at the weekend, he was a very good boy, think he is trying to make it up to me after the fiasco with the hedge! So all is now forgiven!

Wish me luck for the weekend peeps, I will let know when I am back in the office if I get round!

Hey guys

Laura and Thomas here:

Way hey, I got around the Great North Run - 2 hours 37mins, not bad I don’t think although my big sis did beat me. Did anyone see me on TV? I started next to a man who was dressed as a tree and can you believe he beat me! Beaten by a tree, unbelievable!

George has gone away to be broken in this week. He has gone to a yard up the road. He is doing really well. He loaded up straightaway when we took him and wasn’t bothered at all about leaving Thomas and the others, but I think the are missing him!

Bye

Laura

Hey guys,

Laura and Thomas here:

Can you help this lady she is trying to track down her old pony Parvadean Tiger, she’s sent some details about him in, if you know anything email me at laura@horseandpony.com

"My name is Beverley Burford and I am trying to fine my old pony. I had him in 1983 and he goes by the name Parvadean Tiger. He's registered in the Welsh Section A stud book and he's a gelding.

Do you know this pony?

"I sold him to a lady called Zoe Taylor, from Alvechurch, nr Birmingham, who we have spoken to recently. She then sold him on but can't remember who to. She had him in 1988. He is very pale dapple grey with three white socks, and a white teardrop on his left shoulder (when looking at him). He would be about 23yrs old now - it’s a long shot, I know but if you know anything please help me find him!"

Hi there,

Laura and Thomas here:

I’m sleepy! I’m still recovering from the long, long weekend we spent at Your Horse Live.

'Hi' to everyone who came to say 'hi' to me on the H+P stand! I was certainly kept busy by all of you wanting to buy the goody bags we had for sale. My feet were definitely tired by the end of Sunday!

I did get a chance to sneak out and get an autograph from Geoff Billington and Richard Davison though, so my H+P is now signed by both of them which is ace! We also waved at William Fox-Pitt as he queued up to get into the show.

Anyway best be getting back to work.

Me on the stand!

Hickstead Derby winner, Geoff Billington autographing

My all time favourite horse Ted Clydesdale, with his owner Sally and Bevis (from the Devil's Horsemen)

Hey there

Laura and Thomas here:

As Jen has already informed you the stork has officially landed at the yard. In two days we've had two calves and 18 piglets born! Crazy and CUTE!

Seriously, came into the office on Monday morning and by the time I got home there were babies all over the place!

Trying to get some piccys at the moment and when I do I will put them live on here for you. All we need now is some names for them all - any ideas email me (laura@horseandpony.com) - and let me know. There are only so many names a girl can come up with!

Laura

PS Thomas is all okay although getting mega fluffy again so he will have to be re-clipped soon! There will be Thomas hair all over the place.

Laura and Thomas here:

Yuck! Fluff and hair everywhere, I took the day off last week to clip Thomas again as his coat had grown back no end! After an hour Thomas looked slick and dead smart and I, well - I looked like a had grown a chestnut coat! I was covered! The light wasn't very good in the stable either as when I rode him on Saturday it looked like I had clipped him with a blunt pair of scissors! Oh dear, I had to get the clippers out again and do over all the bits of coat I missed the first time! (Note to self, be more careful next time, or better still ask my mum to do it!)

Anyway, after several attempts to get all the coat off, my boy is looking dead smart again, even if he has been out in the field and covered himself in mud!

Laura

PS VERY FUNNY, the baby pigs escaped out of their pen and got into the barn with the horses. Thomas is now living in fear that he will have his stable raided when he is not looking!

Hey guys

Laura and Thomas here:

Guess what? Me, my sis and my mum are going to deliver our Christmas cards on horseback tomorrow (if the road aren’t too icy).

It should be lots of fun, we’re taking mincepies to eat on the way round. I am very excited and have bought some tinsel for Thomas’s bridle. I think he will look fab.

I hope everyone is ready for Crimbo and have bought their fave pony a nice pressie, I’m going to bake Thomas a carrot cake as they are his favourite.

Merry Christmas

Laura

Happy New Year guys

Laura and Thomas here:

I hope you all had a nice break and Santa brought you everything that you wished for! I got a great new grooming kit, all the same colour so that my sister can’t steal it – don’t you just hate it when you get the yard and all you stuff has gone missing?

I did plenty of riding over the hols to keep me fit after all those mince pies I was munching. I was went to watch the boxing day meet, there were loads of people out with their horses and they looked dead smart all plaited up. I didn’t take Thomas (didn’t get time to get all my tack clean)!

Has anyone made any New Year's resolutions yet? I did the same old one - to give up chocolates. It lasted about a day, and then I had to have a load more Quality Street. That’s got be some kind of a record. A New Year's resolution broken in about 15 hours, I think next year my New Year's resolution will be to not make and New Year's resolutions!

Thomas has lost a shoe so I won’t be out hacking out this weekend but the farrier is coming on Monday so it won’t be long until the wheels are back on.

Laura and Thomas here:

We have some fab new wheels at home! Just bought a new trailer and it is fab! It’s massive and can fit two big horses (like ours) in easily! Think we are going to take it out this weekend for a spin! Thomas is very excited, he thinks it's going to be ace.

If you read Jennie's blog last week you'll know that I went to see the Spice Girls on Sunday and it, indeed was fab! I was singing and laughing all evening. It was great and just so much fun. I was very pleased with myself for getting all the way through the London underground without getting lost, too.

I hope everyone is not too sad to be back at school!

Laura

Laura and Thomas here:

I hope Jan isn’t dragging too much for you. I am already getting excited about my hols – I’m going skiing in Feb. Yay! Thomas says hello. He is leaning to swim at the moment, his field is so wet and muddy it’s untrue. If it keeps raining we are going to have to buy him armbands!

Any of you who are regular readers of the mag will know we feature a pet page each month so any of you with pets. send us a piccy in as I am sure they would love to see themselves in the mag. You can email them to me, laura@horseandpony.com or put them in the post to, H+P Pets, 33 Broad Street, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1RB. Oh and if you get your pet pic featured you get an exclusive H+P purse too. So what are you waiting for?

Bye Laura

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

The Cotebrook Shire Horse Centre is celebrating after the arrival of a new year Shire filly born just last week. The centre has been breeding Shires for 35 years but this new arrival was still a shock! The foal came early which was especially strange as her mum gave birth on the exact same date last year. The centre reckons mum and daughter are both doing well but are now in search of a name for their latest addition.

The Shire mares at the centre are usually named after Scottish lochs but this year the centre is running a naming comp. Any suggestions must be received by the centre by Feb 4. The winner of the competition will receive a border fine arts model.

For more info on the centre and visit the website www.cotebrookshirehorses.co.uk

I’ve included a pic of the new arrival below too!

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

Oh dear, Joker (commonly known as Grumpy) - one of the horses at the yard is mega sad. He cut his left leg in the trailer last weekend while trying to take his travel boots off and is now on box rest for the next few weeks while the cut heels. It's on his pastern so it’s not healing very quickly and we can't risk turning him out in the mud and it getting infected.

Thomas is being a big meany to him as well. He keeps laughing at him when he goes out to the field past Grumpy’s stable, as if to say ‘ha ha you have to stay in’. Poor Grumpy I think I will have to take him some carrots to cheer him up a bit.

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

The sun cream is packed and I’m all ready. Slight problem with the suitcase, apparently all my clobber won’t fit but after at big squeeze and sitting on it for the whole of Hollyoaks last night it finally shuts! So I’m ready to go.

I have said my goodbyes to the horses and am leaving them in the capable hands of my mum while I’m away. I think Thomas is looking forward to a week off, out in the field chilling out, although I am sure he will miss me a little bit.

Joker's leg is mending well, it is still all bandaged up so that it doesn’t grow any proud flesh or get too sore but he can go out a bit more so he’s a little happier.

I hope those of you with your half term coming up next week are looking forward to your break, the weather is not supposed to be too bad so you can get some good hacking in.

I will have lots of pics to show you all when I get back!

Bye for now

Hey guys

Laura and Thomas here:

I’m back from my holidays now and it almost seems like I have never been away!

After landing in London last Sat, I skipped up to BETA (the trade fair) on Sunday to help out on the stand and then was back in the office again!

Now that the weather is finally on the turn I am doing some fencing in the paddocks this weekend to keep the ponies off the spring grass. If we are not careful they will be getting too fat - even this early on you need to be cautious. So let's hope that the weather is nice this weekend or I'll be stuck out in the field in the wet!

Wish me luck!

Laura

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

We best be getting our shoes shined! As H+P sponsors The Pony Club showjumping champs, we’re off to the Pony Club conference at Aintree next week and the Princess Royal will be there. Very exciting, I have practiced my curtsey ready in case we get an invite to shake hands. Ginger McCain, who trained Red Rum and Amberleigh House (Grand National winners) will be doing a talk along with Jen and Sarah from the H+P team so it should be a good day out.

But yet more exciting than mixing with royalty, it’s mine and Jennie's birthday next week. I become a grow-up on Tuesday - turning 21 and Jennie becomes a little wiser turning 24 on Friday, so it will be birthday card central in the H+P office!

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

Thomas has some new friends - six baby lambs!

They are all orphans so are being bottle fed and live in the stable next to Thomas, much to his delight, he does love babies! He keeps sticking his head through the bars to sniff them!

They don’t all have names (but I am working on it) so if any of you have any suggestions then please do let me know! Email: laura@horseandpony.com

These lambs need naming!

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

Got any plans for this weekend? No? Well now you have!

This Sunday March 30, Redwings’ Ada Cole Centre in Essex is holding a birthday party for one of their very special adoption ponies called Louie.

You don’t have to adopt him to join in the celebrations. Everyone is welcome and it’s free to get in to the party.

There will be birthday parade for the star of the show at 1pm as well as horse care demos, walking tours of the site and quiz trails going on all day. You’ll also have the chance to meet mascots Red and Wings.

The centre opens at 10am so take all the family along and meet the birthday boy plus more than 50 other rescued horses, ponies and donkeys.

For more further party plans click on www.redwings.org.uk

(PS As Laura didn't have time to write this before jetting off to Rome for the weekend - Jennie actually wrote this! Tee hee!)

Hey guys

Laura and Thomas here:

Another busy weekend for me last weekend, as a present for my birthday I went to Rome which was just great, and not liking to be away from horses for too long I managed to find some whilst I was there.

All over Rome there were people offering carriage rides to tourists, and unlike some other countries, all the working horses were in really good condition – which was great to see. There was a particularly nice horse in the Piazza Navona (a really pretty town square) who looked to be on his lunch break munching on his oats out of his nose bag! You see, wherever you go there are always horses!

A happy, healthy working horse in Rome.

Hi all

Laura and Thomas here:

Has you seen him? You can now get a Locarno 62 Breyer model – how cool!

For those of you who don’t know Locarno 62 (or Larry) is Ellen W’s gorgeous Holstein superstar showjumper. She’s won loads of things with him and now, thanks to Breyer, you can get one of your very own. Locarnos are on sale at tack shops around the country now.

Let me know if any one gets one!

Locarno and Ellen meet the model Locarno

Hi all

Laura and Thomas here:

Thomas has packed his suitcase, hoof pick, copy of H+P, his fave treats and skipped off on his holidays to my uncle's field in Northamptonshire. There is lots of grass there for him so he is having a well earned rest after a busy few months. Warhorse and George have gone with him so he won’t be lonely. He does love his trips away. He gets time to put his hooves up and really chill out. I bet when I go to see him this weekend he will have turned wild again and I won’t be able to get near him - it will be September before I can catch him again!

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

It's the Royal Windsor Horse Show next week and I'm going to be taking a cheeky visit. One of the things I'll be heading to see is the BHS lecture demonstration. Each day there'll be a different talk but I'm going to try to go and see the one by Yogi Breisner. He's the British Eventing World Class Performance manger and trainer of the Olympic Eventing team.

The Royal Windsor Horse Show is on from the May 8-11. Tickets are available in advance online at www.rwhs.co.uk or by calling 08701432208. Tickets purchased on the gate cost £16 for adults, £12 for concessions, £6 for children (age 5-16) and £35 for a family ticket.

Hey guys,

Laura and Thomas here:

Anyone out there after a new pet this summer?

The RSPCA is running their Pet Adoption Week from June 7-15 this year. The RSPCA take in thousands of animals every year and after getting them back to good health many of them are suitable to be re-homed with new families (like us). If you and your family are looking to get a pet then this could be your chance!

During the week there will be open days at some of the RSPCA centres so even you you’re not looking to adopt a new pet then you can go along to one of the days to just support the charity.

If you’d like to know more about the week and all the good work that the RSPCA do visit the website www.rspca.org.uk/

Bye for now!

Laura

PS Thomas is getting very fat on his holiday!

Hey guys

I made the most of the sunshine last weekend and took a trip up to the Chatsworth Nissan Horse Trials in Derbyshire. We went up on Sunday which was perfect as the World Cup Qualifier was on.

Oli Townend won the class after a perfect clear round in the showjumping on Flint Curtis. Over To You, who is my favourite horse ever (apart from Thomas obviously) was in the World Cup Qualifier too and even though he’s a veteran now he skipped around the cross country - like a walk in the park – bless him!

The British Olympic eventing team were all there too so I a got a great snap of them all together too - take a look below.

William Fox-Pitt and Parkmore Ed came 3rd overall after a great showjumping round – Parkmore Ed is one of the horses which William may be taking to the Olympics.

Olympia 2012 hopeful Laura Collett is only 18 and is already competing in the big time, Laura and her horse Rayef came 6th in the World Cup Qualifier – well done Laura!

The GB Olympic eventing team, Mary King, Zara Philips, Lucy Wiegersma, William Fox-Pitt and Sharon Hunt.

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.

Hey all!

Laura and Thomas here:

Can you believe it? Half term - a whole week with no school and what does it do? rain cats and dogs and ponies! Obviously we at the H+P office don’t get half term hols but we are always out and about snapping pics of you and your ponies for the magazine. We have been all over the place and never got out of the rain once. Yuk! I bet this has kinda spoiled your hols too? Not much fun riding in the rain even if you can play in the puddles.

I’m hoping for better weather over the weekend - I was going to go for a bike ride!

Anyway I hope you had lots of fun whatever you have been doing this half term.

Bye for now

Hey all!

Laura and Thomas here:

It’s official, I am longing to join The Pony Club again – this weekend it was my sister's birthday so we went cross country schooling at our local course and then had a picnic in the sun afterwards!

It was just great fun, just like being young again.

Thomas is still out having some time off so I took Pharoah who was very naughty, to say the least! Even though I’ve ridden him since I was 11 he can still buck me off when he wants to and Sunday was one of those days. TWICE I ended up hanging round his neck with no stirrups preparing to hit the floor. Luckily I didn’t fall off but it was close.

I don't think I'll be having as much fun in the sun this weekend it’s supposed to rain ):

Bye for now!

Hey all!

Laura and Thomas here:

OMW! You may not remember Mark Todd but when I was a mad H+P reader he really was one of the best eventers around. He retired in 2000 after winning, well, everything really, including Burghley five times and a pocket full of Olympic medals.

After seven years putting his feet up, he’s decided to give eventing another go – well not just eventing he’s decided that he would have a shot at the Olympics AND he’s made the team! Along with Andrew Nicholson, he’ll be going to his sixth Olympics this year on the New Zealand team.

Good luck Toddy – but don’t beat Team GB!

Hey all!

Laura and Thomas here:

There has been yet another baby boom at the stable yard, this time we have kittens - five to be exact. They are about three weeks old but their mum had them hidden away so well that we’ve only just found them now that they are a bit older.

Obviously, we can’t have six farm cats so we are trying to tame them so that they can find new homes when they are old enough to leave mum. We are having limited success handling them as they are angry little people and not overly keen on being tamed!

I will try to get some snaps of them and put them on here so watch this space!

Bye for now

Laura

Hi there

Laura and Thomas here:

As promised I now have MEGA cute video of the stable kittens – well just two actually as the others were camera shy!

They are getting much braver now though and will come outside to eat with their mum. They’re still teeny and really, really cute.

Oh, the feet in the film are my sisters - she had to stop them making a run for it while I made my mini movie!

Enjoy peeps !

Hi there

Laura and Thomas here:

You guys won’t remember Burrough Hill Lad. He was one of the top racehorses in the 80s, winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1984 and various other big races too.

Anyways, Burrough Hill Lad used to be stabled near where I live and is named after the hill where me and Thomas go hacking (Burrough Hill) so when any news comes out about him I always read it.

Burrough Hill Lad's owner Mr Riley is selling off a load of the stuff that his horse won during his career including The Gold Cup he won in 1984 and a set of his racing silks so I’m thinking of saving up to buy a few bits!

Only kidding, the Cup is set to make £6,000 or more, that’s a bit out of my price range but it would be mega if I could afford it though.

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

The Blue Cross centre at Rolleston has just got a bit busier, they’ve announced that they’ll be putting up the Coors' brewery horses after the decision was made to close the Coors Visitor Centre and Museum of Brewing which was home to the horses.

A final decision about the brewery’s future has not yet been made – so the brewery horses - Carling, Reef and White Shield will be moving in at the Blue Cross centre until a more definite plan is made.

The horses will have a couple of weeks peace and quiet at the Rolleston centre before visitors can come and see theme.

Carling, Reef and White Shield get settled in at the Blue Cross.

To get to know more about the Coors Brewery and their Shires visit www.coorsvisitorcentre.com or to visit the horses at the Blue Cross www.bluecross.org.uk

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

Well, Scout actually, but there's no alliteration there! H+P's fave showjumper Ben Maher has been awarded The Scout Association’s Equestrian Badge, as part of the celebrations to commemorate their 101st b-day.

He’s been announced along with ten other celebs including Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, Ray Mears and OMG The Stig (any Top Gear fans will be lovin that!).

Jamie Oliver was given the Healthy Eating badge - any of you enjoying eating school dinners will agree he deserved that - I haven’t seen a turkey drummer in months.

Ben and Rolette will be competing at the Olympics in a couple of weeks, so remember everyone to cheer him and the rest of Team GB on- spesh all you scouts out there!

The Stig has reportedly sewn his badge onto his racing suit - do you think Ben will sew his onto his Team GB jacket?

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

Yikes - for all of you out there who just love going to horse shows - I can officially tell you it’s not as much fun when you're having a stand at a show.

There’s a lot to think about. We have a stand going to the PC Champs next Sunday, so all this week I’ve been running round getting stuff together, packing bags, filling in forms and then unpacking to check I’ve got everything – it’s a nightmare. I remember going to shows and thinking it was fun, guess again me thinks.

At least it’s Friday now, a few days off but then it’s back to work for yet more bag packing!

Wish me luck, I hope I don’t forget anything!

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

The horse round-up that is trying to catch Thomas after his summer hols has happened and this time I’m the winner – yep, on the first attempt, after 20 minutes, taking every other horse out of the field and tempting him with my mum’s best home-grown carrots the wild beast was caught – one nil to me.

He is now in a much smaller field, he knows his chances of avoiding capture aren’t great in this field so he gives up relatively quickly esp. if you take all his buddies out of the field first.

So, getting fit begins. We have a team chase in October so I’ll be working on getting him fit again (on the days I can catch him that is, other days I will no doubt be watching him charge around the field like the wild Brumby he was in a past life – typical Thomas)!

Bye for now

Laura

PS off to the PC Champs on Sunday, so anyone going to the event come to the H+P stand!

Hiya
Laura and Thomas here:

For a lot of you, you’ll be reading this after your first couple of days back at school ☹

I know boo hoo not fair. Well it’s a bit like that in the H+P office, we have been so busy in the office with photo shoots, the PC Champs etc, etc - it’s like finally back to normal, back in the office.

I’d like to give a shout out to all the guys I’ve met this summer on the photo shoots, Emer, Libby and the girls at Park View Equestrian centre, Janni and Ida along with, Emily and Izzy, Emily and Rosie and everyone at Woodwalton Stud too, you’ve all been perfect models making my job much easier.

Now we’re back to normal I suppose I should be getting on with some work, there are a load of new VIP applications to go through and all your emails to read and reply to, that should keep me busy till half term at the least!

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

I’d like to say well to done to Jessica Cook, who’s 19, and just qualified for the SEIB Search for a Star Cob class at Horse of the Year Show. Jessica's cob Spartacus isn't your regular show horse - he was rescued, along with his mum, in 2004 by Millhouse Animal Sanctuary in Sheffield.

Spartacus's mum Tia came to the sanctuary after she was found on the roadside, she was very poor and weak after being neglected for so long. She had Spartacus (stable name Charlie) and Jessica and her sis took the pair on, unsure if either would make a full recovery. After some serious TLC, mother and foal got back to full fitness and last year Tia pulled out all the stops to win the Search for a Star Cob class and now Spartacus (and Jessica) is trying to following in this mum's hoofprints this year!

This is a pic of Spartacus as a young foal with his mum Tia, just after they were rescued.

Spartacus looks awesome now. This pic was taken as he qualified for HOYS.

Stories like this are great, they just show what a bit of love, care and TLC can do (and also what a great job all those charities out there do).

So everyone keep an eye out for the pair at HOYS. The show is running from Oct 8-12, all the top riders will be there along with some great displays too. Visit www.hoys.co.uk to find out more.

Hi everyone

Laura and Thomas here:

Thomas has a new friend and he is not a good influence!

Regular readers of my blog will know that when I’m not at H+P I spend, oh about all of my spare time trying to catch Thomas, who in a former life was a wild Brumbie (or so he thinks anyway).

Last weekend a new neddy arrived at the yard, a chestnut Thoroughbred with (strangely) no forelock!!!

Since the boys met on Monday they’ve become the best of pals and have taken up tag-team-no-catching! Thomas breaks to the left and Simon to the right and off they set around the field, leaving me in the middle, headcollars in hand with no actual hope of ever catching either of them. What’s more strange is that Simon is usually good to catch so this new found cheekiness is care of my horse.

I’m team chasing on Sunday so wish me luck!

Bye for now

Laura

Hey all

Laura and Thomas here:

I’m well pleased, we came 6th at the team chase last weekend which was really good – mega pleased!

After all of the rain we've had over the last few weeks, a couple of nice days leading up to the weekend made the ground really good for jumping.

I clipped Tom out on Saturday. I gave him a hunter clip, as his winter coat had grown loads recently and I didn’t want him to get too hot in the competition.

Thomas jumped really well although I think his new hair do made him extra streamlined as I could hardly stop him!

A big well done to Emily too, who was one of our team mates and it was her first ever time riding a cross county course so she did great.

Hey guys

Laura and Thomas here:

I am having a rant – when you all get the November issue of H+P (on sale October 4) which is hot off the press having just arrived in the H+P office, take a look at the less than fetching snap of me on the Stables confessions pages (p54-55).

Sneaky Sarah, and her sidekick designer Shaun, snuck in a less than nice headshot of me without me realising. I only noticed when the copies of the mag got to our office today.

I’m not happy - not that I’m vain or anything but no one likes to look at a shocking picture of themselves, especially when everyone who reads H+P will get to see it too.

I am now planning my revenge, any ideas peeps!?

Laters

Laura

Hello peeps!

Laura and Thomas here:

Did anyone hear the story about Peggy the horse who used to go into the bar of her local pub for a drink with her owner ? She actually used to go inside the pub with her owner for a drink at the bar. Her fave tipple is said to be a pint of John Smith's beer with a nibble on a packet of crisps!

Now me and Thomas enjoy the occasional pub ride and there’s nothing like stopping for a lunchtime coke at our local. Thomas is happy outside in the beer garden, tied up. I’m almost certain he wouldn’t like to come inside - apart from anything else I don’t think he’d fit! Thomas is a fussy eater too so I don’t think he’d fancy crisps either!

But poor old Peggy has now been barred. The pub landlord has put new carpets in and doesn't want Peggy hoofprints all over them, which is fair enough – it’s not like she can wipe her hooves on the doormat as she goes in is it? She now has a tie up point outside the pub so she can still go along for a swift half.

There’s a video on the BBC site which shows her inside the pub - click on the link below and have a look!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7642665.stm

Hello peeps!

Laura and Thomas here:

Well what a week we’ve had!!! You may have seen on the TV (if you live in the East Midlands area) that the Princess Royal opened a new RDA centre in Somerby, near Melton Mowbray.

Well, the centre was opened at my aunt's stable, Somerby Equestrian Centre and my mum got to go to the opening ceremony. It was shown on local TV that night and my uncle was in the back of the shot with my aunt, grandma and mum. I’m famous! (Yes, I know I’m not really but you know it’s close enough for me!)

Possibly more exciting is that we’ve also got some new calves at the stables - six in total - four girls and two boys all of which are very cute indeed. At the moment they‘re inhabiting a couple of the stables until we have time to make them a pen in the barn. At the moment Thomas is eating is brekkie next to them which I think he actually quite likes – perhaps he’ll adopt them?!

I’ll try to get snaps of them so watch this space!!

Hey guys

I’m afraid that for a while it will just be me blogging.

Thomas had a heart attack on Tuesday while we were out hacking and died – I’m heart broken.

We were just walking along the road when he went all steady, I jumped off and called to my sister to go home for the trailer as I knew there was something up. But before she’d even got to the end of the road he sat down and was gone.

It’s weird because we’d cantered up the field before and he’d be playing up, cantering sideways, doing little rears and all the silly little things he did that would make me laugh. He was feeling so well that it was even more of a shock when it happened, but at least I know that until it did he had been feeling as well as ever.

I’m not going to pick my fave thing about him – he was just perfect! It’s just not going to be the same without him.

Laura xx

Hey guys

If a cute puppy is top of your Christmas list then your luck could be in! Top band McFly, are supporting the Teenage Cancer Trust this Christmas by helping Andrex® launch a special Andrex® winter puppy – sorry peeps not the real thing like you see in the commercials but an uber cute stuffed toy (please see the piccy below confirming cuteness, and before you ask I’m talking about the toy, not Harry -although he is a fitty!).

Sooo cute! The pup's are mega cuddly.

The proceeds from this limited edition pooch will be going to the help support children and teenagers fighting cancer. The charity hopes to raise enough money over the coming months to build specialist units in hospitals to give patients the best chance of beating the disease. The find out more about the work Teenage Cancer Trust does visit their website www.teenagecancertrust.org

The pup will be on sale with special packs on Andrex® loo rolls and also online at www.andrexpuppy.co.uk

Peeps, I have some very exciting news!!!! I have a new horse. He is called McVity and he’s a massive 17hh. He is very cute and I really like him already, although we have only had him a week or so.

I am just hacking him out and getting used to him at the moment. Better still, my mum likes riding him too so he is going to be ours to share. This is good because it means we can share the work a bit too - always helpful but especially so while the weather is so horrible and there is so much to do.

There’s a pic of him below although it’s not great – I took it this morning before I came to work and I think he thought I was a bit crazy!

I’ll keep you all informed of my progress with him.

Hey guys

Happy New Year to you all.

I hope you all had a great Crimbo . I spent my New Year skiing in Italy. It was beautiful. There was due to be a big firework display on New Year's Eve but a massive snow storm was forecast, so we celebrated New Year's Eve on December 30 instead - singing Auld Lang Syne a day early was a bit weird!

Anyway, back at H+P HQ, I've received an email to cheer-away the winter blues. A lady who used to live in Kent, Gayle Lawie, and who emigrated to New Zealand, emailed to say that on Christmas Day her Thoroughbred mare gave birth to twin foals!

The reason this is a such a great story is that twin foals being born alive is very rare in horses! Isn’t that some good New Year news?

Proud mum Tarn has a colt called Rio and a filly called Holly. When they first arrived, Gayle nursed them both intensively with mum Tarn, making sure that they fed successfully. A week later the twins were well and causing mischief – a great result.

If you want to see a picture of the foals then click here:
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/01/010.shtml

Hey guys

We are two weeks into 2009 and who’s broken their new year's resolutions??
I have officially ruined all of mine. I had two; they were to eat more healthy and go to the gym at least three times a week.

Eating healthily went out of the window when I went to a girly sleep over and ate lots and lots of sweeties and chocolate while watching chick flicks – so that one I kept for about seven days and four hours.

The gym resolution I broke this morning, my alarm went off to get up and I snoozed, then I snoozed it again, then again and then I switched it off completed. So by the time I woke up I only just had time to do all the jobs at the yard and get to work. The gym was officially bypassed! LOL

OOPS I think next year my new year’s resolution will be to give up on making new year's resolutions completely – I think I may stand a chance of keeping that one!!!

According to our online poll at horseandpony.com around 60% of you have made horsey new year's resolutions so if you lot are anything like me that will be a lot of broken resolutions by the end of Jan!

Hey guys

Looks like it’s not just us lot that fall off!

TV's Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond took a tumble while riding and bruised his bum.

He was hoping to ride in the Hayes Golden Button Challenge ride in Gloucestershire but a fall from a horse he was trying out before the ride meant he couldn’t compete. In the end the ride was called off anyway as the ground was frozen so he and the other entrants ran the course on foot instead – energetic or what?

Everyone at H+P hopes he's back in the saddle soon and s not too sore, we all know how horrid it is to fall off and how it can knock your confidence.

Hi chums!

Laura here:

Well, you’ll be happy to know I am in a super-chilled and cheery mood. I’m full of energy and recuperated after a week's holiday in Devon. It was lovely. Whilst away, we saw a load of Exmoor ponies who live semi-wild on the moor, they were just munching at the side of the road.

Since I’ve got back there’s been yet more ponies roaming around – just down the road from the H+P offices of all places!

I was driving to work the other day when a Shetland pony stepped out on to the path next to the road. His fence to his field had come down and the cheeky little monster had squeezed himself out and was running loose! I stopped to help round him up and made a headcollar with my coat belt to hold him.

Eventually we got him back in his field out of the way of the cars. His owner came as soon as she found out and made his paddock safe again - so disaster avoided! He was super cute though, when I caught him I did wonder about taking him into the office and keeping him as an office pet!

A couple of cute Exmoors search for some nosh on the moor!

A few of the deer we also saw while we were away.

Hiya

Laura here:

It’s all going on! This last 10 days has seen a real baby boom.

We have had 10 new piglets and the sheep have started lambing - so the stables now look more like a crèche! Even more exciting is our new kitchen resident. Dorothy the piglet!!!

Yes, you are reading this correctly we have a pig living in our house. When the pig had her litter, piglet Dorothy snuck off on her own and ended up not getting any milk from her mum which made her poorly.

We found her in a bucket, nearly dead. We thought she wouldn’t make it but a spell under the hair dryer at home warmed her up and brought her back to life. However, she had been away from her mum too long by then so couldn’t go back to her. This means she is now being reared at home instead! How cool is that?

Not so good thought, McVity has been a bit lame. We think he must have pulled a muscle fighting over the hay (four horses, eight piles of hay and they still choose to fight over one pile – stupid creatures!)

When we went up to the field on Wednesday night he was really lame but today he is much better so I think he will be okay. Another week off and he’ll be up and running again!

Bye for now!

Hello again

Laura here:

As promised a little snap of Dorothy the piglet.

She’s progressing well - getting quicker by the day - especially on the carpet where she's got a bit more grip! Wooden and stone floors are still a bit of an issue. She tends to slip around but she’s getting there.

McVity is sound again, so as soon as the sun starts to hang around a bit more I will be off on some lovely summer hacks. Although, if we are going on the last few days then I may have a wait. It’s so chilly that Hannah has turned the radiator back on in the H+P office. She is a bit of a wimp when it comes to the weather though - she’s still wearing her winter thermals!

Hello peeps,

Laura here:

The Alltech FEI European Jumping and Dressage Championships are on the way this summer but who do you think will make the squad this year? In showjumping my money is on Robert Whitaker – he had a wicked time at the British Open and was the champion for the umpteenth time in a row. In dressage, I’m hoping it will be Laura Bechtolsheimer. She's really been in the spotlight since H+P first met her 2006.

You can now support your GBR team with the new range of Toggi Team GBR supporters collection in patriotic red, white and blue.

Including gilets, sweatshirts, shirts and baseball caps. You can look good for a good cause too as a percentage of the profits go to help support the British International Teams. Find your local Team GBR stockist check out www.toggi.com
or email sales@toggi.com or Tel: 0113 270 7000

TOP comp alert!!!!
Keep an eye out in the July issue of H+P, on sale June 5, as we’ve got a top competition lined up where you can win tickets to the Alltech FEI Jumping and Dressage Championships which is begin held at Windsor Castle on the 25–30 August. Wow!

Hello peeps

Laura here:

Just a quick blog today, off to Badminton Horse Trials this weekend to cheer on all the eventers at the first big comp of the year. I’m going to be cheering on Ruth Edge and Mayhem III. We went to meet Ruth at her yard a few years ago and she was so nice, although I’ll also give a big cheer for Oli T, who’s now an H+P columnist. He’s giving you guys some great advice. Check out the column in the June issue of the magazine - on sale now!

Have a good weekend you guys!

Laura

PS You can buy the June issue and all the other top H+P mags in our online shop

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/bpgmags_Horse-Pony-Magazine_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ131652119QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Hi everyone

Laura here:

Wow, what a busy few weeks we’ve been having. Since Hannah left, it’s been all hands to the H+P decks.

I seem to be up and down the countyall the time at the moment which is great but rather tiring too! You know you’ve been down to the south west too many times when you can find your way to the M5 without the use of a map or a sat nav!

First of all, we went to Badminton and how cool was it to see Oli win? He really did deserve it - well done to him and obviously to Flint Curtis as well, he couldn’t have done it without him!

After Badminton, we skipped on down to Cornwall to meet Spotty the Pony, who you’ll get to hear all about in the August issue, and there was also time for a bit of trekking as well, before dashing back up the motorway so I made it the my YFC competition day on Saturday. I was glad I did come back as my flower arrangment really wowed the judges and I won – get me, a florist, sometimes I wonder if there are any limits to my talents!!!

The theme for the flower arranging was climate change. Do you get it - melting ice?

Then on Monday, to Devon to meet the guys from the Dartmoor and West Spooners branch of the PC. One big 'hi' to Lauren, Sam and Lucy and their ponies Roma, Billy Whizz and Daisy. I also dropped in on one of team GB’s top Olympic athletes, who nabbed a silver medal at the Olympics last year... you'll get to find out who in the August issue of H+P!

Buy for now

Laura

Hi peeps

Laura here:

We've had another new arrival! Our farm cat gave birth to a litter of kittens a few weeks ago.

We’re not sure what happened, but something scared mum off her nest and when we went up to feed the horses last Saturday, she was nowhere to be found. All we could hear was the faint sound of one, lost and very upset kitten! She or he (we’re not quite sure which!) was hiding underneath the sheep trough, lost, very scared and very hungry. We took him or her back home for some TLC while we set out looking for mum. Sadly, we couldn’t find her anywhere and so now, it would appear, we’re raising the little kitten at home ourselves!

But, wait, fear not, we’ve located mummy cat – she’s been seen hunting for mice at the next farm along but as the kitten has been away from mum so long there’s no way she’d take her kitten back.

So now little kitten (name to be confirmed) is in our kitchen and doing well. We think he or she’s about 4 weeks old so we’re going to keep her at home and rear her until she’s about 7 or 8 weeks old and then we’ll find a new home for he or she. We’ve already got a cat at home called William and knowing him he wouldn’t take too kindly to a new friend about the house permanently.

Keep you informed of the little kitten's progress…

Bye for now

Laura

P.S If you’ve got any good cat names let me know. Email me at laura@horseandpony.com

P.P.S If anyone knows how to tell the sex of kittens let me know that as well!

Hi everyone!

Laura here:

Two weeks on and the rescued kitten is looking well. We now know she’s a little girl and she’s obviously feeling a lot better as she's turned into a real wild cat (the feline version not the HSM type)! She’ll now pounce on your feet when you walk into the kitchen and has taken to chasing my dog Albert – which he is very upset about poor darling. He thinks all the other dogs are going to laugh at him for being such a wimp and to be fair they probably will. I mean a dog who's scared of a cat – that’s ridiculous!

The little kitten has also been into the H+P office for a few days so I could keep an eye on her and has charmed our sub editor Andrea. She’s not going to be with us much longer now, her new owners are hoping to collect her in the next week so we’ve not named her.

Here’s another cute piccy of the kitty cat in the office!

Hiya

Laura here:

Phew! I don’t know about you, but I luv this hot weather! I've had a little trip away from H+P Towers to sunny Bournemouth and it was gorgeous. Sooo hot and warm, it was lovely.

It didn’t take me long to find some cute ponies to look at either. We took a trip out into the New Forest to spy on some of the ponies. As we went around the very first corner there they were! We ended up doing a bit of off-road driving to get round them as the ponies were resting in the shade and weren’t going to move car or no car!

Further along there were more ponies munching on a golf course and also spoiling a game of cricket by pooing on the pitch. (I wouldn’t have wanted to be the fielder going after the ball which lands in a pony poo pile!) Naughty ponies!

So if any of you are on your jolly holidays in the direction of the south coast, I recommend you and your rents take a drive to the woods. BUT be careful and drive slow, there are often accidents involving the ponies on the roads in the area so be very cautious!

Anyways back to work!

Hey folks

Laura here:

Whoop, whoop well done Oliver! Badminton in May and now Burghley – Horse+Pony’s celeb columnist really is on a roll!

Oliver led from the start at the Burghley and jumped a perfect clear round to get his hands on the trophy – I wonder if he can speak to Royal Mail and ask if they’ll deliver the Badminton and Burghley trophy to his yard at the same time ?! When H+P visited Oliver’s new yard in August he still hadn't got round to getting the Badminton trophy delivered there!

Check out this video - well cool!

A big well done to Rosie Thomas and Barry’s Best too, the pair were way down the line in 50th position after the dressage but after hoof perfect jumping in the cross country and showjumping they ended up 9th. Just shows what you can do eh?? Barry’s groom also won the prize for the best turned out horse at the event too – the grooms have to work so hard to keep these horses in good form. It’s the toughest job in eventing I think!

Our interview with Oliver, along with a gorgeous poster of Burghley winner Carousel Quest, is in our October 2009 issue of the magazine which is in shops now.

Or, if you don’t want to walk that far, you can buy it from our E-Bay shop too:

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/bpgmags__W0QQ_armrsZ1

TTFN

Laura

Hey folks

Laura here:

Well peeps you can now rest happy knowing that it’s not just us lot who fall off. Poor old John Whitaker will be laid up for a few weeks after he broke his ankle when he fell off his top horse Peppermill, at a comp last week. Get well soon John!

I don’t know about your fave ponies but McVity is getting very confused. It was so warm at home yesterday that he was allowed out in the field without his rug on and now he’s wondering how winter has passed so quickly and provided him with so little mud to splash in! Poor boy. But don’t panic Mac, it’s Britain so it’s bound to rain again soon enough and then there will be lots of mud for you to get messy in!

TTFN!

Laura

Hi peeps

Laura here:

Yes it’s back! Over the next few weeks there are going to be loads of sporty n fun events going on all over the UK - finishing up with the Sport Relief Weekend from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st March.

There are loads of celebs getting involved including Sam and Mark, Jenson Button, Fearne Cotton and JLS - plus you can get involved too! Take part in one of the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Miles on Sunday March, 21. You can walk or run 1, 3 or 6 miles. All you gotta do is ask an adult if you can take part then get them to visit www.sportrelief.com to sign you up.

Entry to the mile is £2 for under 16s which helps cover the cost of the event so get sponsored too and help raise funds for charity! You’ll find details of your nearest mile on the website site.

Why don’t you arrange your own fundraising event at the stables? You could host an on-foot gymkhana or do a fancy dress day at the stables. There are so many fun things you can do to help raise money which could change the lives of many people across the UK and the rest of the world.

There is also a load of brill Sport Relief merchandise you can buy to show your support too, including socks, bouncy balls and water bottles. You can buy yours at Sainsbury’s or from www.sportrelief.com

Have you got something planned already? If so let us know! Email me, laura@horseandpony.com

We want to know your plans!

Hi Guys!

You’ll see that my profile piccy has changed – it’s now one of me and my gorgeous Mac! Unfortunately this pic is already out of date. Me and H+P snapper Matt visited my yard on Saturday to get snaps of him, then on Sunday mum and me gave him a radical new hair-do!

McVity’s been hogged! (had his mane clipped off). There are a number of reasons why we decided to do it, one of those being that I’m RUBBISH at plaiting! Anyways he’s now got a new nickname - Grant Mitchell. My sisters think he looks like the former EastEnders character! I’d admit he does look like a tough boy now and someone you wouldn’t pick a fight with, but London gangster he is not. He still gets bullied by the other horses!

Hi Guys

Laura and Mac here!

It’s official, sping is here!

Whoop whoop! It’s spring - so definitely no more snowy days and hauling around heavy, wet, horse rugs.

Okay, maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself but it’s gotta be close now as we have a loada baby lambs running around the stables.

My mum's 37 sheep started popping out babies on Monday last week and since then the stables have been turned into a maternity ward, which means MacVity and the other horses are now living out – much to their disgust!

It hasn’t taken us long to get a resident house lamb either. Our pet lamb for this for this year is called Maud and she’s now happily snuggling up next to the Aga in our kitchen, trying to get the warmest spot and pushing the dogs out in the process. Maud’s mum had three baby lambs and not enough milk so Maud's moved in with us so that we can make sure she gets enough milk.

We’ve also had a set of quad lambs (four!), so there’s now a mummy sheep in MacVity’s stable with a lotta milk to make!

Hi Guys

Laura and Mac here!

The winter is really over when….

...The horses aren’t wearing rugs!

Mac’s rug came off this morning and he was so happy to have the sun on his back and some grass to nibble on too!

The lambs are lovin’ the sun too! These two were playing lamb-tag in the hay rack when I got up to the field this morning – they soon ran back to mum when I got the camera out though!

Hi folks

Laura and Mac here!

I've been happy to be a work this week - for a rest! Last weekend I had a spring clean of the stables, washing all the floors and scrubbing the mud off the winter rugs. By the time I'd finished everything was spotless.

Unfortunately now the stables are clean the paintwork is looking a bit rough so I think I’ll have to give them a lick of paint – more work!

Get well soon Oliver! H+P celeb columnist, eventer, Oliver Townend was away at Kentucky Horse Trials, in America, last weekend; competing to win the Rolex Grand Slam (winning Badminton, Burghley and Kentucky Horse Trials, one after another) Sadly Oliver had a fall from his horse, Ashdale Cruise Master, in the cross country and was unable to complete the event. He had to spend the night in hospital but is back on his feet and will be okay. Hope you’re feeling better soon Oliver.