Photo: Askeaton - Elli Birch - Boots & Hooves Photography

January certainly seemed like an incredibly long month and for most people a particularly dark start to the year. On 4th January I was having a dressage lesson with Duncan Gipson on Askeaton and still driving on with preparations to leave for Spain on 26th February. By the following day we were in lock-down and the implications of incredibly high COVID figures throughout Europe combined with Brexit were starting to become clear.

It was always clear that Brexit was going to be a problem, but how much of a problem only became clear just before the New Year, and feedback from those who had set off for tours in Southern Europe about delays in Calais was not encouraging. I realised that getting the lorry inspected both in the UK and the EU, and getting a Type 2 transporter certificate in the UK and EU all before we were due to leave on 26th February, made it most unlikely that I was going to get to the Sunshine Tour, and COVID figures made me think that going to Spain wasn’t a responsible idea for either me or April. Both the Tour and my AirBNB were incredibly good at giving my deposits straight back, and although not being able to go to Spain to show jump is a truly first world problem, it is still very disappointing.

I started writing this blog on 3rd February, but it quickly started being mainly about Brexit, and so got turned into my Brexit Blog. I thought about 100 people would read it, so I have been truly astonished that 11,500 people have read it all round the world, and that it has been published, and the figures used by several publications and even the BEF. You never quite know what will happen when you throw a pebble into a pond. It certainly doesn’t address all the issues, but it seems to have been a conversation starter and eye opener in several places, which at the present time can’t be a bad thing. The blog has enabled me to get in touch with some truly fantastic people who are far better than me in taking these problems further. Along with the animal welfare issue runs the equally huge issue of non-Eu citizens only being able to spend 90 out of every 180 days in the EU, and so many people are now working towards resolution of this issue. Our sport is not alone here, this issue affects, musicians, cyclists, tennis players, winter sports, Formula One, the list goes on. Among those working very hard to bring these issues to the right ears and eyes are equestrian journalist Pippa Cuckson, rider Heather Larson, Emmy Freeman-Attwood (mother of Lily) and rider Jodie Seddon. But please, please add your voice to the debate. Submissions to the select committee in parliament that is working on these issues must be made by 17th March. Jodie Seddon has posted on FaceBook with the links you need to write to your MP and to the select committee, and Jodie and I are happy to help people collate their experiences if they haven’t got access to laptops and good WiFi whilst traveling.

I have done three little surveys which, if you would rather be part of a group submission, I will make into a submission document. I started with one lovely, all singing, all dancing questionnaire but Survey Monkey understandably only lets you have 10 questions for free, and then it’s about £400 a year! The links are as follows:

Time taken to travel after Brexit: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GYYCBH3

Effects of the 90/180 day rule: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HVMPWN9

Cost increases after Brexit: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/H7YPNBZ

Meanwhile April and I have kept plodding on with the horses. We have done a lot of hacking and managed to get up onto Ashdown Forest about once every 10 days with Askeaton and Heidi. This keeps them fit and they absolutely love it - April and I had a hilarious ride jumping puddles, some of which were huge, on them, resulting in quite a lot of high jinks from Askeaton, but it’s fun for them and keeps them and us interested.

Heidi and April on Ashdown Forest on the puddle jumping day

At home I have been working away on the horses’ flat work and rideability, especially Khalissy who previously hasn’t been easy on the flat. She is super talented, brave and scopey, but she did a lot of competitions in a short time last year without so much time for changing a lot of things in between, and I would prefer to go forward in a more organised manner. I’m not a dominant rider at all, and Khalissy isn’t very submissive by nature, so this time has actually been invaluable for us to come to a better agreement about who might be in charge. It’s interesting that as she has become softer and more willing to work in a round outline she has actually become softer and easier to handle too. She’s always been quiet in the stable, but quite aloof, whereas she is much more cuddly now.

I have had a few lessons with Brian Cassidy which has been enormously helpful with my jumping. He has helped me carry my flat work to my jumping more consistently and so I am really looking forward to when we have the chance to hire some facilities and jump a proper course. The horses are very fit, very well and jumping out of their skins, so they will definitely be ready to go when shows start.

I have also been doing a lot of teaching which I thoroughly enjoy. Everybody is going to be more than ready when arena hire and shows start. Everyone has made good progress and people have been amazingly resourceful, especially when we have been locked down in the worst weather of the year.

Leaving the most important and exciting news till last: Sophie and Alex have welcomed beautiful Lila into the world. She made us all wait for an anxious ten days past her due date, but she is here now, and is just absolutely lovely. Hopefully Boris’ ‘Roadmap out of COVID’ will go smoothly and this summer we will be able to spend much, much more time together as a family. We saw far too little of all of our family in 2020 and whilst we have all been very good at keeping in touch, it’s definitely not the same as spending proper time together.

Salty the cat has made a brilliant recovery from her broken leg, she had a big operation to wire it all back together, and has been on ‘box-rest’ in the kitchen for seven weeks. She is now allowed to spend short times in the garden organising her own physiotherapy, and has two more weeks before she is allowed to go back to her proper outside life. She’s timed it brilliantly weatherwise. Thank goodness the worst of the weather seems to be over now, and hopefully we can look forward to a much better summer in so many ways.

Plodding towards the light