Well Albie’s second outing of the season didn’t quite go to plan!

Last  weekend we were competing at Lincolnshire Horse Trials, so a relatively local one, and I started with four of the young horses on Friday.  All started really well until one of the young ones spooked and spun around in the cross-country warm up.  I caught my hand against their neck, at a funny angle, and thought I’d be ok to carry on.  Being actually quite sore I decided to be sensible to not run the young one’s cross-country and get it checked out.

Taking the doctor’s advice, I had to withdraw Albie, and my other horses, from Sunday. SO frustrating as they’re feeling so well.  I’ve now got a couple of quiet weeks with a fat hand and then, fingers crossed, all will be grand, and I’ll be back on track.

In the meantime, we’ve had a bit of a re-plan and Max (Warburton) has stepped in to help more, plus the girls at home are doing more of the day-to-day riding and Nini (French) is also helping with some of the gallop work.   Click here to see them at the gallops earlier this week. 

You realise how good your friends and team are at times like this.  Everyone’s stepped in to help and keep the show on the road!

With some quieter weeks riding wise for me I’ve lined up some sessions with Ali Cooper, who people may have seen on Piggy.TV, a couple of times a week, to make sure my fitness levels don’t drop.  More updates on that one next week.

Albie also has his treadmill sessions to look forward to, we’re making sure he’s got plenty of cross-training work, so he’s as fit as he can be in time for the big B.

Entering Badminton is so different to entering any other event, it’s a very special feeling.  When the entry list is published it all becomes more real.  I had an amazing trip to Badminton last year, and finger crossed this year will be just as special!