Hi everybody,

To say I am tired is an understatement, I have had it pretty easy since Archie arrived due to my C section.  But now I have some horses back in work and have been competing and doing night feeds, well I could sleep anywhere.

Andrew has got a quiet spell for a couple of months as Mr and Mrs JR Edwards horses have all gone home for a holiday; they are all wrapped up and out in the fields.  I would think that the sale of Polo mints will be sky high as Mr Edwards so loves his horses and they will have mints all day.

Left at home are Winnie belonging to his mother, Gillian, she is having a bit of a break also and the super Elektrik belonging to Mandy Hall, he will just have a quiet time as he had a holiday earlier on in the year.  All these holidays – I wonder when mine is coming!!

Andrew also has a couple of homebred four-year-olds to start playing with, they are broken and have started jumping so we shall see if they are stars for the future. Still with us of course is the stallion Sylvie, we cannot turn him away but as we have less in the home paddocks he can go out each day.  We did once try to turn him away, but he could not settle and paced the field for 24 hours, so we had to get him back in.

It does seem all change around here as our young stock have to come off the summer grazing and we have found some winter grazing with haylage and shelter miles away so Andrew will set off tomorrow with them.  The people who are having them are friends so we know they will be well looked after.

Now my new horse is here.  Mrs Twiston Davies has bought Midnight Scoundrel to be shown as a small riding horse.  He was champion at Cheshire County this year, he is only five and just beautiful.  Another by Kilvington Scoundrel, I seem to collect this breeding line.  He is being roughed off and will go out with Cob by the end of the week.

Horse of the Year Show was a real family affair as my sister Sarah and her husband Robert and my nephew Sam were all competing along with me in my one class!!

The week started off in good style with celebrations as Robert and Sarah were first and second in the Small Hunter.  On Wednesday I was sixth in the Mountain & Moorland with Des (Kilmannon Black Wizard) belonging to Gill Simpson.  I was slightly disappointed but that is showing.

I had driven to HOYS with Des and Rachel on the Tuesday and then competed Wednesday and watched the hacks in the morning before leaving on Thursday afternoon to go back home.  I so missed my baby, I couldn’t wait to see him.  On Friday Andrew, Mum, Archie and I left to go back to HOYS, empty, but bringing Cameron (Midnight Scoundrel) home.  We had a lovely weekend and had time to catch up with friends that I am usually too busy to stop and chat with.

Sarah and Robert continued their winning ways and then Sam was seventh in the Lead Rein Show Hunter Pony with his four-year-old roan pony.  When we eventually got home on Sunday night our feet ached with all the walking, in fact I still have huge blisters on my feet.  Archie was ok of course, being pushed around in his pram all the time.  Lots of people saw him for the first time and on one occasion I walked back into the Caldene Arena and there he was being cuddled by everyone sat with Mum at her table!

After coming home from HOYS I had a few days to get Des back into showing mode and off I set on my own to Arena UK for the Heritage Championships, leaving my baby again!  I met up with Gill Simpson, his owner, and we went to dinner with friends.  It is so wonderful showing Des because he is so easy, no lunging or hours of riding in.  Straight from the stable or lorry to the ring, five minutes of loosening up and he is ready. Having said that he works hard at home to keep his figure, he could become very blobby and fat (a bit like me after Archie) so he is kept fit and muscled up.

Our first class was the Blue Riband, in this the top six go forward to the next day and luckily I got through.  It was an early night as I was in the ring first thing on the Sunday for the Olympia Qualifier.  Guess what, we won and qualified for Olympia which was a big thrill for all his connections.  Then we did the Blue Riband final and won that.  No time to rest on our laurels, we had the Blue Riband Championship and Des was made Champion.  How super was that.  Then to make the weekend finish with a bang Des was made Supreme of the Show.  I cannot tell you how delighted we all were.  I hope we have a picture in Horse & Hound.  It did make the long journey back to Swansea on my own with no radio much easier to bear.

This weekend we are off to Harrogate with Wortley Imagination (Madge) for the last Olympia qualifier.  Fingers crossed everyone please.

Well that’s about it for now, my sister and family are in Spain lucky devils, our stables are reasonably quiet, will let you know how Harrogate goes.

Bye for now,

Victoria

Tagged as: equestrian, equine, horse, horse of the year show, horse show, horse showing, HOYS, showing, showjumping, vicky hesford