I Have had a ridiculously busy 2013 and that is the only excuse for not keeping up to date with this newsletter. So far this year we have moved house (see contact page for address) we have re-located the horses. We moved out of Twin Oaks and are now really happy at Mills Stables, Amanda and Matt Mills are a really nice welcoming couple who run a friendly efficient yard and take really good care of our horses. Coco my sweet little mare has emigrated to the USA, very sad to see her go but hey ho no time to ride her and could not justify having a horse I ride four times a month.
The house move was interesting. I decided to save money and move in the horsebox with the help of my son, Aileen and our young friend Kelly. Moving from a five bedroom three story house dismantling furniture, garden decking, my wonderful massage chair, (approximate weight 150 kilos), rabbit mansion, garden furniture et all. The wisdom of my decision looked a bit optimistic. I must have walked up and down my lorry ramp about 500 times humping God know what, then the joys of unloading, rebuilding furniture (thanks Tom) then the ultimate joy of unpacking 200 boxes and not having anywhere to put anything. Did I mention that the house we moved from was a three story modern five bedroom three bathroom house to a 15th century three bedroom house with no storage, happy days. Any way we are now happy in our very cosy cottage still have twenty something boxes to unpack and our spare bedroom defies description at the moment. I am sure a lot of you will know exactly what I mean. The crowning glory of the move was the very last box I carried down the ramp, I triumphantly shouted yehaa, the last box, then tripped ass over elbow dropped the box and CRASH it was full of crockery. I didn't cry, I was a big grown up soldier and hid from Aileen for a while. Actually the only casualty was my knee and two old plates, sounded worse though.
Little Eleanor started school this Summer, don't know where that time went but she is very happy and at least now gets tired enough to sleep well. The fun bit of an infant starting school is the constant cold bugs she manages to bring home. I think we have had more colds in six months than we have had in last seven years. Well Aileen has colds, I apparently have "Man Flu"....!!
How about Scott Brash? From nearly zero to hero in less than four years. It is such a fantastic fairy-tale story and really does give hope to talented riders that success can come from hard work and dedication. Of course Scott has had the great support from his family however he did not have millions of £s to support him and having followed his career from when he was a very young lad I do know how hard he has worked. I wonder if the general public have any concept of his achievement, the youngest person ever to be World number one, Olympic and European team Gold medalist, Global Champions tour Champion, Leading rider at Paris Master's, Winner of World Cup Qualifiers, European individual bronze medalist. I spoke to his sponsor Phil Harris and he said he believed Scott to be the only young rider he has seen who comperes with a young David Broome, not a bad reference, and as my lovely partner Aileen Macleod keeps adding he is a wee boy from Scotland!
On the subject of team UK I have mentioned before how clever and what insight our team manager Rob Hoekstra has. He fielded an almost completely different team at the Europeans with Will Funnel and Michael Whitaker replacing Pete Charles and Nick Skelton and Ben Maher putting his faith in Cella, his London Global Champions Tour winner and they still lifted the gold medals. I do firmly believe that we have at last recognized the strength in depth of our UK riders. Great success this year from Hickstead Derby winner Philip Miller, great super league debutante Louise Saywell double clear round in Furusiyya, and of course we must remember that Ben also became the first UK number one in twenty years only to be replaced by Scott so we now have a UK one and two. Phew, the mind boggles..!
Nearer to home again Eleanor is crazy excited about Christmas and every night asks how many more sleeps to till Santa arrives. We did find a fantastic website which is Portal to North Pole, brilliant idea. Santa talks directly to Eleanor using her name and talking about her year, her pets her school and showing pictures. How on earth does he get all the information? The nativity play at school brought a wee tear to my eye, "Midwife Crisis" a brilliant plot about a midwife trying to find Bethlehem Palace where the new King was to born. Hilarious and brilliant.
I have been travelling to the USA and getting great support in New York, Texas and Virginia, hoping to start visiting Florida and possibly California this coming year.
I have been conducting a few three day clinics up in Inverness at the really fabulous Darkdeer, and the last one in November I did a Masterclass with David Harland which was well received and the gallery was packed to the ceiling, in fact I think the highlight of the evening was the raffle which gave prizes from a bottle of Malt Whisky (which just by chance I took home) through to a complete facial, but the star of the show was a jumbo tin of Vaseline, huh..? I will also be doing a couple of three day clinics at Ardmeddon in Aberdeen. I have been hiring Addington and having a lot of fun so if anyone wants to join us let me know.
So what are my wishes for the New Year? I want team UK to do the hatrick and add the World Championship gold medal. Scott to remain no.1 for as long as possible. Aileen to start jumping some BS shows. Eleanor to stop bringing wretched bugs home and to progress with her riding. Me to remember to update my newsletter more regularly. I want to get over my Man Flu which has been hanging on like a limpet.
Would love to sell more books err what's it called, oh yes, The Complete Showjumper. And of course World Peace..!
The house move was interesting. I decided to save money and move in the horsebox with the help of my son, Aileen and our young friend Kelly. Moving from a five bedroom three story house dismantling furniture, garden decking, my wonderful massage chair, (approximate weight 150 kilos), rabbit mansion, garden furniture et all. The wisdom of my decision looked a bit optimistic. I must have walked up and down my lorry ramp about 500 times humping God know what, then the joys of unloading, rebuilding furniture (thanks Tom) then the ultimate joy of unpacking 200 boxes and not having anywhere to put anything. Did I mention that the house we moved from was a three story modern five bedroom three bathroom house to a 15th century three bedroom house with no storage, happy days. Any way we are now happy in our very cosy cottage still have twenty something boxes to unpack and our spare bedroom defies description at the moment. I am sure a lot of you will know exactly what I mean. The crowning glory of the move was the very last box I carried down the ramp, I triumphantly shouted yehaa, the last box, then tripped ass over elbow dropped the box and CRASH it was full of crockery. I didn't cry, I was a big grown up soldier and hid from Aileen for a while. Actually the only casualty was my knee and two old plates, sounded worse though.
Little Eleanor started school this Summer, don't know where that time went but she is very happy and at least now gets tired enough to sleep well. The fun bit of an infant starting school is the constant cold bugs she manages to bring home. I think we have had more colds in six months than we have had in last seven years. Well Aileen has colds, I apparently have "Man Flu"....!!
How about Scott Brash? From nearly zero to hero in less than four years. It is such a fantastic fairy-tale story and really does give hope to talented riders that success can come from hard work and dedication. Of course Scott has had the great support from his family however he did not have millions of £s to support him and having followed his career from when he was a very young lad I do know how hard he has worked. I wonder if the general public have any concept of his achievement, the youngest person ever to be World number one, Olympic and European team Gold medalist, Global Champions tour Champion, Leading rider at Paris Master's, Winner of World Cup Qualifiers, European individual bronze medalist. I spoke to his sponsor Phil Harris and he said he believed Scott to be the only young rider he has seen who comperes with a young David Broome, not a bad reference, and as my lovely partner Aileen Macleod keeps adding he is a wee boy from Scotland!
On the subject of team UK I have mentioned before how clever and what insight our team manager Rob Hoekstra has. He fielded an almost completely different team at the Europeans with Will Funnel and Michael Whitaker replacing Pete Charles and Nick Skelton and Ben Maher putting his faith in Cella, his London Global Champions Tour winner and they still lifted the gold medals. I do firmly believe that we have at last recognized the strength in depth of our UK riders. Great success this year from Hickstead Derby winner Philip Miller, great super league debutante Louise Saywell double clear round in Furusiyya, and of course we must remember that Ben also became the first UK number one in twenty years only to be replaced by Scott so we now have a UK one and two. Phew, the mind boggles..!
Nearer to home again Eleanor is crazy excited about Christmas and every night asks how many more sleeps to till Santa arrives. We did find a fantastic website which is Portal to North Pole, brilliant idea. Santa talks directly to Eleanor using her name and talking about her year, her pets her school and showing pictures. How on earth does he get all the information? The nativity play at school brought a wee tear to my eye, "Midwife Crisis" a brilliant plot about a midwife trying to find Bethlehem Palace where the new King was to born. Hilarious and brilliant.
I have been travelling to the USA and getting great support in New York, Texas and Virginia, hoping to start visiting Florida and possibly California this coming year.
I have been conducting a few three day clinics up in Inverness at the really fabulous Darkdeer, and the last one in November I did a Masterclass with David Harland which was well received and the gallery was packed to the ceiling, in fact I think the highlight of the evening was the raffle which gave prizes from a bottle of Malt Whisky (which just by chance I took home) through to a complete facial, but the star of the show was a jumbo tin of Vaseline, huh..? I will also be doing a couple of three day clinics at Ardmeddon in Aberdeen. I have been hiring Addington and having a lot of fun so if anyone wants to join us let me know.
So what are my wishes for the New Year? I want team UK to do the hatrick and add the World Championship gold medal. Scott to remain no.1 for as long as possible. Aileen to start jumping some BS shows. Eleanor to stop bringing wretched bugs home and to progress with her riding. Me to remember to update my newsletter more regularly. I want to get over my Man Flu which has been hanging on like a limpet.
Would love to sell more books err what's it called, oh yes, The Complete Showjumper. And of course World Peace..!