Claude on the mend

I'm sure this is tempting providence but Claude is on the mend, after 3 months of mostly box rest and some walking (in hand and under saddle) we have moved onto trot.

The vet was conservatively positive. It's a long road ahead, suspensory injuries are trouble and high suspensory even more so. With luck we'll be jumping again, when I don't know yet but I'm hoping that we'll be starting to jump early next year.

It's been a huge weight off my mind to know that he's on the road to recovery, nothing is assured and caution is the watchword. The last thing I want to do is cause the injury to reoccur or even get worse, so baby steps all the way.

Claude seems happier in himself to be doing more but it's quite hard, 3 months of idleness has taken a huge toll on his fitness and muscle, in fact he's lost virtually everything we've built up over the past two years and doesn't have the forehand strength he had when I got him either. But sticking to the positive, my horse is getting better and that makes the world quite a bit brighter!

Adios Mickey Gonzalis

Whilst Mickey and family haven't been living at Wellington for a while. We never actually said goodbye on the blog, so it would seem fitting that now Mickey has also got some new owners, that we say goodbye today, after returning once more for prize giving at the Dressage gala event today, and for Mickey and Caitlan to receive their Wellington winter series championships for the 2'6" and 2'9". Im sure you'll see Mickey around and we look forward to bumping into everyone from time to time. Adios.

Lindo has the final word

Perfect ending to a perfect weekend

Day two of our dressage clinics and Herman and Geoffrey were on form!

How do you cure sitting trot issues? Why remove the stirrups of course!

New travelling partners

Who would have thought it? Herman and Geoffrey went out for the day and had a lovely time.

Refreshments anyone?

stable tales

As some of you may have noticed Hogan is living in again and has a brand new stable door and wall . He has already been testing it out with some hearty well aimed kicks but so far both door and wall are holding firm . We found a selection of grooming items in the space between the old stable walls but sadly nothing of real value !
Many thanks to Jim Brown who built the wall and lets hope his promise that it is industructable holds true .

Fancy ribbons all round

Big smiles tonight at Saddle Club jumping - between the three of us we managed to place in each class!

Cara comes back to Welly

As most of you know Cara spent the summer relaxing, she has how returned and enjoying life over at Highfields where she has made new friends.

Amy and Rosie have been enjoying the lovely hacking at highfield.

A lazy Sunday afternoon

Well that was what we thought the unaffiliated show jumping might be yesterday , how wrong we were ! By the end of the day the rough estimate was that there has been some 120 enteries. What else does one do on a damp Sunday afternoon in November ?
Hogan and I picked up a clear round rosette as did Michelle on Charade , not sure about everyone else but did see Helen Freeman wearing a 4th place rosette won with Casper.
Many thanks to car park stewards ( ably assisted by Hudson ) and all others who found themsleves roped in to help . Be warned it the junior version next Sunday so you may want to have something else planned .
Note to all - advance enteries are a good idea.

Clara and Brighty go to Tweseldown!

On Saturday, Clara and Brighty took a trip to Tweseldown. We had a great time, and Clara found it all very exciting!

Brian and Claude's hunter trial start

Sorry Brian, but I had to return the favour.

I believe that the rest of the round was so much better. Congratulations, but you should have sent the video crew further round the course!

The Andalusian and the Llama

Geoffrey and Lindo paid a long overdue visit to Berkshire Riding Centre for more dressage clinics. For Lindo this means taking his lovely paces to the next level. For Geoffrey this means loads of fuss from his favourite person in the whole world, Martin Kattenbusch, and a polite invitation to relax and get his head out of llama position.

Hollie and Munchkin are back!!!

Not sure if we are still allowed to post on here as we are no longer Wellington liveries, but we thought we would let you know that Hollie is back in the saddle!!!! We went to the hospital today for another checkup and the Doctor was happy enough with Hollie's progress that he said she could ride - great excitement! However, no jumping for the foreseeable future. Here are some photos of Hollie and Munchkin on their first ride together for 2 months! So, we will be back at Wellington for lessons very soon!

Who?

Hi, Just a quick note, we have had to change our name from Bambers family to Mickey C's.

Bamber has now gone on to pastures new, and has settled in really well, and will have a life of riley now. In her place we have a new addition to the family in guise of Mickey C. Im sure there will be pictures to follow at sometime.

We'll keep you posted on how Mickey gets on overtime.

Your money or your life!

I couldn't resist making a special video in honour of Hugo and Princess Bea of their cross country session back in May.

Bye, bye Munchkin!

Today we moved Munchkin to her new home in Silchester. She has two other horses for company and after the initial excitement when we arrived she seems to have settled in well.





We will be bringing Munchkin back for lessons when the Doctor gives Hollie the go-ahead for riding again - hopefully in August/September. We have had a good time on full livery at Wellington, but are looking forward to 'going it alone'!

Clara and Maggie at Tweseldown

Last Sunday, Nadia and Maggie kindly let us share their box to go to Tweseldown for a sponsored ride. We had great fun, and Clara really loved the water complex!

Pony portraits!

Some very good friends kindly bought us vouchers to get portraits drawn of our boys. The end results are really amazing! Sandra, the artist, has captured them perfectly. Good idea for birthdays and Christmas pressies. ;-)


http://www.finepetportraits.co.uk/WelshCob2.html
http://www.finepetportraits.co.uk/HolsteinerHorse.html

Jumping our socks off!

Well the Chappell-Simms family have been busy. There's been the livery ODE (3rd and 4th place), saddle club show jumping (that'll be a 2nd place for moi), unaffiliated show jumping summer series (4th and 5th for Claudie including qualifying for the Swallowfield Show).

And here's a video of our progress... Important note to self: if all else fails, LEG, LEG and MORE LEG!

Gavin and Bea's flying visit

As well as Hugo, we also brought my new horse, Bea, to visit Wellington last weekend with these results. I think coming down the bank just blew her young little mind, she'll be back!

Little did we know that the air ambulance was about to get scrambled for Hollie. Hope you are doing better and that your be back on-board soon. After our issues coming back down the bank, Bea also found the coffin almost as challanging as Minchkin, she knew it would be daft to attempt to jump David's nasty horse trap!