Into the third month of lockdown in March. This period has been so different to the long lockdown last year as the weather has been so cold and wet resulting in very muddy fields and the horses and ponies having to stay in, with turn out only being possible in the schools. We ran on a skeleton staff to look after the horses and keep them fit and well. It was with great relief that we were able to start planning for the re-opening on Monday 29th March. and that we have been able to continue with our groups as before without any further restriction.

Regretfully the Government altered the status of the covered arenas so we are only able to teach adults in the outdoor school to start with although we can teach under 18’s inside! This will be changing again as the country makes further steps out of lockdown. Unfortunately it means we will be unable to run our dressage shows until May when the restrictions will have eased further.

A big thank you to everyone who made a donation to our Just Giving site, it really did make a difference and it was lovely to see the support for the horses.

Since we re-opened on 29th March it has been wonderful to welcome our clients back and to see happy faces and happy horses - they missed you all! One of our adult riders said that they felt like a 5 year old child on Christmas morning when they were getting ready to come. Horses and riding have such a positive effect on all of our mental health.

We started to go out competing again with India and Eddie (Escade) at Newbold Verdon in Advanced Medium 96. It felt a little surreal to be out doing the things we love again. They have the second part of the British Dressage Foundation Camp in April and we look forward to seeing their progress in Juniors.

We are pleased to announce that we will be holding qualifiers for the Midlands Connemara classes in May and June in our unaffiliated Thursday shows - check out the dressage dates page.

We are looking forward to April and hopefully better weather and happy riding!