Star of the Day - (you guessed...) Harry

Location - Morton Mains Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 14th September 2013
Star - Harry

Hopping in the school... the theme of the week was fillers.

Star of the Day - Harry

Location - Morton Mains Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 07th September 2013
Star - Harry

Harry continuing his grid work.

And for something different, cantering in the fields.

Star of the Day - Harry

Location - Morton Mains Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 31st August 2013
Star - Harry

First time trying a grid with Harry.

Spot the flying changes...

Start of the Day - Harry

Location - Morton Mains Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 24th August 2013
Star - Harry

Meet Harry, you will be seeing a lot more from him from now onwards.

And this is me for the first time ever (with Harry) trying to connect a series of jumps:

Road Safe

Above is yours truly after the successful completion of the BHS Riding and Road safety exam. Another step on the road to the BHS stage 2 exam.

Star of the Day - Mannie

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 06th July 2013
Star - Mannie

Me, pretending that I know how to do flat work properly and probably annoying Mannie in the process.

Star of the Day - Regent

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 29th June 2013
Star - Regent

Now for some fun. Pretty fun jumping lesson with Regent, including a mini-competition with jump-off (top video) and the full course (bottom video).

Star of the Day - Solo

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 09th June 2013
Star - Solo

Bit of jumping with Solo.

Star of the Day - Brooke

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 17th May 2013
Star - Brooke

Thanks to a good friend, I had this quite unique opportunity of riding a non-riding school horse. A great experience. And also a big thanks to Brooke who was super during the day.

Star of the Day - Osiris

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 06th May 2013
Star - Osiris

Flatwork lesson with Osiris. With this boy it's a lot harder than it seems...

Star of the Day - Cruz

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 27th April 2013
Star - Cruz

Flatwork lesson with Cruz.

Star of the Day - Bree

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 05th April 2013
Star - (little) Bree
A return to riding with Bree, this time not as extravagant as previously... :-)

Star of the Day - Duke

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 01st April 2013
Star - Duke

Jumping a grid with Duke.

Star of the Day - Chief

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 22th March 2013
Star - Chief

Jumping exercises with Chief.

Star of the Day - Duke

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 29th March 2013
Star - Duke

A practice run of the BD Prelim 7 dressage test.

Star of the Day - Rupert

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Competition - Fundraising Charity Show in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care
Date - 16th March 2013
Star - Rupert, who being is usual nonchalant self managed to win Class 1 (overall!), be second in the Topscore (ponies) and third in Class 2 (ponies). All in all a great day, hopefully with plenty of money raised to support the work of the Marie Curie centres.

Videos of the classes (top video of Class 1, bottom video of the Topscore Class):

Star of the Day - Mannie

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 02nd March 2013
Star - Mannie (Him being a big and burly boy, I still think he looks more like a Manfred than a Mannie)

More jumping lessons, this time with Mannie. A rather nice course to do, with a reasonable ascending spread and plenty of space for the approaches.

Star of the Day - Regent

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 02nd March 2013
Star - Regent

A jumping exercise with Regent.

Star of the Day - Ellie

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 23th February 2013
Star - Ellie

More scenes of lessons with Ellie, carry-ons included!

Star of the Day - Regent

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Competition - Winter 2012 Series (Open)
Date - 16th February 2013
Star - Regent. We did well, a clear round, second, third and fourth place. It's probably the third time I jump him, so, to get placed in all classes and only drop a single fence the entire evening was quite good.

Cool action shot and rosettes:

Plan of course:

Videos of the course, Class 2 (85cm), and Class 3 (95cm):

Star of the Day - Mannie

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 09th February 3013
Stars - Mannie

First jumping lesson with Mannie. Still trying to understand him, included are two near misses... doesn't help to be light when you are on a big horse... (excuses I know... :-) )

In Memoriam - Cloud

"Nothing is more sacred as the bond between a horse and a rider. No other creature can ever become so emotionally close to a human as a horse. When a horse dies, the memory lives on, because an enormous part of his owner's heart, soul, and the very existence dies also." - Stephanie M Thorn

Unfortunately, the week was not all about good news. Cloud is now running in the great prairie. 

It was barely a year from the first time I rode him, it was then December 2011, and I was far from guessing just how much I would end up relating to him. If there's one word that could define him, it would be honest. He would always give his best, and if there was one thing I knew was that I could trust him. Never guessed how much I would follow his lead and jump ever higher. Its difficult to describe, and I'm particularly bad with words, but with Cloud everything felt possible. 

 Images below are from Cloud (looking his best!) in a couple Common Rides.

Star (Champion) of the Day - Ellie

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Competition - Winter 2012 Series (Novice)
Date - 01st February 2013
Super Star - Ellie, who was superb in the evening and lead us to a clear round, two 2nd place, a 1st place, and the overall win the the 2012 Winter Novice Series! Well done to Ellie who showed she can deliver the goods!

Plan of course for Class 3 (red denotes jump off course):

Video of the course, Class 3 (75cm) , first video is the clear, second the jump off:

Star of the Day - Cloud (who else? :-) )

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 26th January 2013
Star - Cloud

More videos of a jumping lesson... fiascos included! And for the avoidance of doubt, yep, I do enjoy massively jumping with Cloud, he is an almost perfect partner. But he does need slightly bigger jumps than these to bring out the best in him.

Start of the Day - Cloud

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 12th January 2013
Star - Cloud

Assorted videos of a jumping lesson...

Star mix - Ellie and Regent

Location - Tower Farm Riding Stables, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date - 31st December 2012 and 05th January 3013
Stars -Ellie and Regent

A mix of videos of the riding lessons with flat work and some small jumps.