Reflections

It’s almost time to say au revoir 2017 & bonjour 2018….

Some folk find themselves in no man’s land between Christmas & New Year, whereas I kind of like those strange days as a way to say adios to the year, & enjoy looking forward & making plans for the year ahead.

Often when I’m out riding I daydream & earlier this week was a good time for reflecting on the year, thinking about everything that went pretty darn well & wondering what 2018 might hold.

I’ve picked out a few of my favourite moments…

Barley

Unlucky for some but finishing 13^th at Aldon BE 100 marked the end of a long & winding road, recovering from a benign tumour in his foot. It was an emotional return to the sport we both love & as we stormed round the XC gave us a huge adrenalin rush which we’d been missing for some time.

Barley doing the thing he loves best at Aldon… knees up, ears pricked! PC: James Pyne Photography

We’ll be wrapping him up in cotton wool over the winter & aiming at some British Evening & British Showjumping comps in the spring. He owes me nothing now & every time we head out I’m always grateful for being able to ride a sound & happy horse.

Jonty & Leo

We said a sad goodbye to Jonty in the autumn. After 7 years we knew deep down he just wasn’t going to be the eventer we so desired, so he’s gone off to a lovely home to become a dressage boy & strut his stuff.

Jonty strutting his stuff at Dorset County Show PC: James Pyne Photography

In November, we headed to Ireland & came home with a new addition to the family in the form of Leo a 4-year-old Irish Sports Horse. He’s one cool dude & we can’t wait to see what his future holds, so watch this space.

Oh hey there Leo!

SUP

SUP Yoga has become quite a thing in Dorset, so when Jez from Helios Colour Yoga started running SUP Yoga on the lake at Kingston Maurward College my friend Rachel & I jumped at the chance to have a go. It was pretty surreal to be striking a yoga pose whilst the sunset with swans swimming around you in the most amazing grounds.

Casually SUPing into the sunset with the swans as you do…

Once again I did a bit of solo travelling & headed to the Algarve in Portugal at the end of October for a week of surf, SUP & yoga as well as pretending I was 21 again with the gang at Tiny Whale Surf Lodge. One of the highlights has to be learning to SUP surf with Dave of Nowhere 2 Far SUP @nowhere2farSUP on insta, it gives you such an adrenalin rush when you ride a good wave into shore, I think I’m going to find it hard to go back to normal surfing!

Was worth the 5am wake-up call to see this sunrise…

Running & Tough Mudder

In the spring, I fell in to some friendly peer pressure & signed up to Tough Mudder. One of the main incentives apart from raising money for charity was that it was based on the hallowed grounds of Badminton Estate, so if I never ever get to go with a horse at least I can say I’ve been round on foot.

I actually got into my training & found my running mojo again, posting a new 10km PB of 51.25 at the Egdon Easy, & took part in my first night time trail race ‘Run from the Romans’ around Ham Hill with my bestie Rach.

Egdon Easy….was far from easy… PC: Dazma

Night time trail running in the mud is fun when you have friends like these by your side…

Oh & I completed that little race called Tough Mudder, probably for the first & last time. It was a great experience… although plunging into freezing cold water & being electrocuted at the finish line isn’t really my idea of fun. However, I’m keen to do some other obstacle races…so if anyone has any suggestions – let me know!

We definitely earnt that cider! PC: Tough Mudder

Blogging

I’ve had an up & down year with blogging. I sometimes had moments when I wondered if anyone really cared, does anyone actually read my posts & then when I do publish a new blog post & receive some lovely messages & my faith in blogging is always restored. At the end of the day, writing is one of my passions & makes me happy & if it can make some else happy too then that’s a pretty cool thing to be able to do.

I attended Blogtacular the festival of blogging in the summer & it was a whirl wind of colour, chat & creativity – as well as some blimmin lovely folk who all cheerlead one & other on with their personal projects via Insta.

A sea of colour & creativity – can you spot me? PC: Blogtacular

So, that was a bit of a quick low down on some of my best moments… I’ve left out some topics around love & career – as they’re probably worth a blog post on their own.

Anyways, 2017 you’ve been pretty okay, let’s see what 2018 brings with it.

What plans do you have for 2018? I love reading other people’s goals & resolutions so please feel free to drop a comment below.