What Mary Has to Say – May 2022

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying the great spring weather. Although the warmth has been lovely we could do with some proper steady heavy rain for a few days, as the ground is getting pretty firm.

It has been great to get out eventing, and my young horses are progressing smoothly…with the usual ups and downs that you get when producing horses!! I got going properly at Bicton HTs with Seamus (King Seamus), Dobby (King Louis) and Barry (Kings Belief) who were all happy to be out. Both Seamus and Dobby were in the prizes jumping good double clears. Dobby’s earlier in the year lameness rectified itself luckily. Bicton was Barry’s first ever event, and having done a good dressage and clear SJ, I decided not to run him XC, but instead schooled him around the course at the end of the day. It was so much more beneficial for him, giving him more time and showing him some of the fences first…dear timid chap! Port Elliot was the following weekend, where Seamus won, Dobby 2nd and Barry put his brave pants on and finished 6th. He was unsure galloping between fences…but the actual jumps were no problem! Then Mendip Plains HTs was an event of ups and down..both Seamus and Dobby were in the lead in their sections after the dressage and sj, and Barry was lying 2nd. Barry went clear, but still quite wobbly, to maintain his 2nd place. I then ran Dobby XC and ended up stumbling and falling over in the water jump…poor Dobby. I was fine, but he cut his knees and elbow, so will be off games for a couple of weeks. I decided not to run Seamus a) because there was a huge amount of trouble on the course, and b) I had some clients who were keen to buy him.

I then ran Barry at Tweseldown this last weekend and he finished 2nd….and felt so much more confident…such a good boy!!

Seamus sold to a lovely home in Somerset…he wasn’t going to be a top horse, but will hopefully give his new owner a huge amount of fun at the lower levels. I went out to Ireland last week “horse shopping” and found a lovely 4yr old which I have bought! Keep an eye out in the future for King Jason!!

Badminton Horse Trials was fabulous…and a case of “so near but yet so far’ for Emily, my daughter. Having gone brilliantly XC she fell 4 from home. Luckily just bruised pride for her, and Valmy Biats her horse was thankfully unhurt. Their time will come…its a tough sport, but I’m sure she will make it to the top in time. Our thoughts and prayers are with Nicola Wilson whose bad fall has resulted in a severe back injury.

I attended the 25th Anniversary of The Calvert Trust last week – I had opened it 25 years ago! It is a charity run organisation which has 3 centres around the UK. It offers a wide range of accessible activities for people with disabilities. Calvert Trust Exmoor has 11 hardworking therapy horses who support 4000 people with disabilities each year.

Thanks everyone for your support.

Best wishes

Mary