Hey all,

My name is Sophie and I am here at H+P on my work experience. I’m 14 years old and I love ponies!

I have recently bought a new horse and her name is Chilli. She is very gentle, but she has to be as she stands at a whopping 16.2hh! Although this makes her very good at jumping, it also makes it a nightmare trying to put her rug on her.

Also on the yard, at the moment, is my Mum's horse, Mazz. Mazz is an ex-racehorse, though he still likes to go very fast! This is unlike Charlie, who is an 11hh chestnut pony who we have on livery. Unfortunately, Charlie is laminitic so he is on starvation rations at the moment, which he is not happy about, as he loves his food!

We have recently had a new addition to the yard and that was the birth of baby foal, Tizzy. Tizzy is only a week old, but she is already running around, unlike her Mum, Amy who is taking a well-deserved break! Tizzy is of course receiving lots of attention from us and she loves it!

My old pony, Monty is still at the yard because my younger sister Zara is now riding him. Monty is a little piebald pony who loves jumping, though he is not so hot at his dressage!

I am currently enjoying doing showjumping and one day eventing on Chilli, and I would love to compete at pre-novice level some time in the future. It has taken me quite a lot of time to get used to Chilli after Monty because of the huge difference in their strides.

This week I am going to the East of England Country Show to meet a scurry driver. I am looking forward to this as I have never done anything like this before. After this, I will be interviewing them and I will get to meet the pair of cute ponies who pull the carriage! I can’t wait!

See ya

Sophie
xox

Hey all,

Today, I have been working in the office preparing my questions for my interview with the scurry driver. I have also been helping Laura package and send lots of envelopes!

As soon as I got home I went out for a ride on Chilli, which was lovely. There are some empty grass fields round the farm at the moment, which are brilliant for having a good canter round. Although, Chilli loves this, we wont be able to do it for long. This is because once the grass has been cut it sets off Chilli’s pollen allergy :-(

After this I went to feed the foal her dampened nuts. Unfortunately, Tizzy is a very messy eater, so more of it went over me than she actually ate!

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to going to Peterborough show, which should be great fun!

See ya,

Sophie
xox

Hi guys,

I have been very busy at H+P, writing up my scurry driving experience, and helping out round the office. I have discovered that I can type a lot faster now!

I went out on a long hack on Chilli at the weekend, and ended up getting very wet! When will the rain stop? It is making all the paddocks very muddy, which is not good news as Monty loves rolling and is currently black and brown, instead of black and white!

The foal, Tizzy, is growing fast, and has just discovered a new hobby: chasing Balloo, my dog, around the field! She’s just going through the stage of losing all her baby fluff at the moment, and growing her proper coat through. This means there is lots of Tizzy hair everywhere!

I hope the rain stops soon, so we can all look forward to a great summer with lots of riding!

See Ya

Sophie
xox

Hey guys,

I have just been out to see the foal and she’s nearly lost all her baby fluff! She has also grown amazingly fast, and her legs are now taller than her mum's! We hope that she will be about 15hh once she is fully grown. We are currently getting her used to having her feet picked up. This is so that when the farrier comes, it won’t be a problem for him to trim her feet.

As the weather has been sooo horrible, Chilli and I have been unable to attend all the events we had planned to. Last Sunday however, we were able to compete in a one day event. Chilli was very good and we jumped a very spooky fence on the x-country course that consisted of a trough filled with fresh fruit and veg!

I am currently practicing a dressage test on Chilli. It is very confusing so it is taking a long time for me to get it right! Although dressage isn’t mine and Chilli’s favourite event, (we prefer showjumping!) we have to do it, if we want to compete in one day events!

Hopefully the rain will stop for good, and we can all get on with riding again and enjoying the summer hols!

See ya!

Sophie
xox

Hey guys

I have just returned from my holiday in Cornwall which was lovely! However, the down side is that Chilli has had a week off, and I need to work hard on her schooling this week to get her fit for competition.

Amy (our brood mare) and Tizzy (her foal) have now been moved into a different field with another mare and foal. The mare is a grey connemara, and her foal is called ‘Ugly Betsy’! Betsy is only a month older than Tizzy but she towers over her. Luckily they both seem to get on very well and have become the best of friends!

Before I went away, I went x-country schooling with my friend Annabel. We had great fun and by the end we had jumped over coffins, ditches, arrowheads, steps, logs and even had a splash through the water. Since it had rained so much we had to be careful jumping into the water. It was so deep, it tickled Chilli’s tummy as we went through and she was not too keen on that!

I am now making full use of what is left of the summer holiday to get Chilli ready for a Hunter Trials.

See ya,

Sophie
xox

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