One of five to follow - Prime Equine announces Sian and Ceaser as one of their five!

I am pleased to announce that this week I was given the news that an online equestrian website has chosen Ceaser and I to be one of their "five to follow for 2012".

Prime Equine opened the nominations up at the beginning of March and anyone could enter. They were on the lookout for five riders people saw as up and coming and worth following in 2012 on their journey trying to get to the top of their sport.

I was more than surprised to have been nominated by a few people and cannot wait to share 2012 with both Prime Equine and their users. I am honored to have been chosen and thrilled to be a part of Prime Equine over the next year.

Having already gained six qualifications to various championship events for 2012, I am more than confident that 2012 is going to be every bit successful.

To follow our ups and downs please visit: http://primeequine.co.uk/news/sian-lovatt-dressage-rider/#more-3387

I would just like to say a huge thank you to Prime Equine for choosing me and to all who nominated me.

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My thoughts on the radio - Grand National

Following my recent blog posts I wanted to just let you know about the radio show I appeared on today to discuss the Grand National.

I was on the Peter Levy show on BBC Lincolnshire today at 12:30 and want to thank Peter for having me on. This is the second time I have been invited on to the show to discuss an equestrian topic and I am thrilled to have been the opportunity.

Equestrianism is something I have many strong opinions on and love discussing my views on the discussion in question.

To listen to the podcast of the show please click the following link and go to 33 minutes in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00qmqj7 

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Grand National. What will its fate be?

Following my most recent blog post on the Grand National on Saturday I have had many responses; some good and some bad.

I am very much aware that whatever an individuals opinion might be, the next person might not agree. We are all individuals that will always have different opinions.

The feedback I received for my blog post was some what fascinating. In just 3 hours I had just over 260 views on that particular post. It is evident that so many are interested in the Grand National and finding out what its fate will be for years to come.

I do not agree that the National should be "banned". Society and the general public who know nothing about farming and the equine industry have already managed to get fox-hunting banned. I wondered how long it would be before they took an interest in another sport that could be classed as dangerous and attempt to get that banned too.

Some messaged me following my recent blog post and asked why I compared horse-racing to football, rugby or any other sport of that type. Yes, football players can make up their own mind whether or not they want to play in a game but I also believe so can horses.

I don't know how many times I have to say to any individuals that do not understand horses, but in all honesty if a horse doesn't want to do something he wont! I remember last summer I had decided to take my horse cross-country schooling, before loading him in to the lorry he was full of beans and really on his toes. Upon arriving at the cross-country course he point blank refused to jump more than a few jumps. Usually he loves jumping into water and down ditches; that particular day he was having non of it and after an hour I gave up, boxed him back up and put it all down to having an off day.

If those race horses didn't want to race or jump I don't believe they would. We need to pay attention to those jockeys that pulled their horses up due to "not feeling right". Those decisions are one of the most hardest and disappointing to make, but if your horse isn't feeling like doing something, no one will be able to make it.

It all goes back to the saying "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!".

Anyway, moving away from the fact that horses are one of the most stubborn animals alive, I have also been questioned by a young girl about the use of whips on race horses. This is a good point that I wanted to cover within my blog and hope that by covering it I can answer some of her questions.

No jockey is allowed to be seen overusing the whip anymore and will not use it to "make the horse go faster and faster".

Jockeys can only use the whip a maximum of five times in the final furlong or after the last obstacle. Failure to comply to this rule will see them receiving both a financial penalty and ban from racing for so many days or races.

The controversial new regulations were brought in by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

Jockeys already use air-cushioned whips to minimise the impact on horses, but an extensive review of their use began last November.

Many riders are opposed to the automatic forfeiture of their riding fee and percentage of any winnings when incurring a whip ban of three days or more.

The general public can rest assured that jockeys wont be over-using their whip when racing but if they do so then there are penalties in place that makes sure they don't get away with it lightly.

The other point I wanted to address was broken legs in horses. Following Saturdays race I was forced to see many statuses on peoples facebook profiles about broken legs in horses and how it came down to money from race horses owners about whether or not the racehorse would be kept alive.

Sadly, horses aren't as fixable as ourselves. Although a broken leg doesn't sound too dramatic and if it happened to you or me we would be put in plaster for just over a month and then we'd be on our way. Unfortunately in horses this isn't the case and no amount of money could save a horses from a broken leg.

Horses do not just sustain injuries while racing. It can happen when they take part in any kind of sport or leisure activity, or even while they are messing around on their own in a field. However much they are loved and however much money their owner is happy to spend on them, there is no way back from the wrong kind of break.

Cynics assume that money is the issue, but regular followers of the sport know this cannot be true. Neither Barbaro, the hugely popular Kentucky Derby winner, nor Rewilding, who pipped So You Think in a thriller at Royal Ascot this summer, survived their broken legs. Both would have been worth millions if they could have been preserved for a quiet life at stud, but it could not be done

Horses bones are very strong to carry their weight, but at the same time very light for them able to go fast. Unfortunately this means that when a break does occur it usually results in the bone shattering rather than clean breaking.

There is very little tissue covering horses bones so sometimes when a break does occur the bone will penetrate the skin, causing an open fracture.

I'm not at all saying that in a rare case a horse couldn't come through a break and carry on to lead a normal life, but through the eyes of a horse, what is a normal life? Following a break or fracture the horse may not be able to go out in the paddock, it may have to be on box rest for the rest of its life. What kind of life is this for any animal?

I can be honest here because I have broken both my wrists twice each. In the winter I get a harsh stabbing pain in both wrists due to the cold air following my breaks. Would a horse be able to tell its owner of the pain its experiencing in the cold weather? No. Although it seems a horrible thought to put a horse to sleep just because of a break, we need to look at its quality of life after and sometimes the kindest thing to do is let the horse be pain free.

I am a big believer in making the Grand National jumps lower. I know the feedback from this will be that the jockeys and horses will only go faster as a result, but if you take in to account the speed they are going around the course and then having to jump, do they really have time to sort their legs out before landing after a jump? I may sound a little naive here, but surely the faster the horse is going the less time it has to think about the positioning of its legs and how to land? By making the jumps a bit smaller the horse it could prevent the horse from tripping upon landing.

Following this I do feel the field needs to also be made smaller. By making the field smaller it will lessen the chance of one horse falling and bringing down another with it due to the field being less crowded. In stead of 40 runners, why not only have 20? It would be interesting to see how many of the 20 came home safe and sound as appose to the few that came back out of 40 on Saturday.

At the end of the day as I said at the beginning, different people are going to have different opinions on each individual sport. Nothing will be right and nothing will be wrong. All we can hope for now is the racing officials get it right when making the decisions about next years national.

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Grand National: For or Against?

With two fatalities at this years Grand National it begs the question; are you for or against it?

Dating back to 1839, the Grand National is one of the most popular races in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is a handicap chase which contains 30 fences and is run over a distance of four miles and 880 yards (7,242m).

The Grand National is a yearly event that captures the attention of many, even those who are not interested in horses and who don't usually bet!

Last night, leading up to the Grand National I knew as a horse lover and enthusiast I would at some point in the next 24 hours be asked my opinions on the famous race. Of course I was right and I was asked whether or not I saw it as a blood sport due to my love for horses or was I all for it.

Personally, I don't have a real set in stone opinion on whether that particular race is cruel or not but what makes it ANY different, really, to another jump race? Yes the distance is longer, the jumps may be a little higher but take a look at show jumping. Horses are entered in to classes to jump in the region sometimes of 7ft.

We could say any form of horse-racing is a blood sport, as with dog racing. During any sport there will be risks and unfortunately that is life. No individiual person or group are going to be able to change the way in which our sports are ran. If horse-racing was banned due to being classed as dangerous then couldn't we say the same about football or rugby?

For example, the whole of the football community were recently saddened by the news that Fabrice Muamba collapsed whilst playing football - a sport that he loved. The intensity of running around a football pitch for 90 minutes after a ball could be classed as dangerous if we were to get picky. Since writing this, I have learned that a 25 year old Italian footballer, Piermario Morosini, has died following a suspected heart attack on the pitch.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that there is a risk in all sports. Everytime you take your car for a drive you are at risk of crashing or being involved in a serious accident. Life comes with risks and we all take them every day.

Although, with yet again another race of fatalities we do ask what can be done to improve the safety aspects of the national and is there a way in future years to come that such results as we saw today can be stopped.

Take the favourite, 'Synchronised', for example: Clare Balding was right in commenting how relaxed he looked in the parade ring, but as soon as he got on to the course it all began to go wrong. Unbalancing A P McCoy as they crossed the starting line at the beginning of the canter to warm up it looked as if both Synchronised and McCoys attempts at this years national was about to end as McCoy slipped and fell off.

Synchronised proceeded to canter steadily to the other end of the course which delayed the race starting by roughly 5 minutes. The question that needs to be asked here is: Was Synchronised fit to run after already clearing a good few furlongs? A quick vet check declared he was and off they went.

Unfortunately at the sixth fence, Becher's Brook, he fell and not long after had to be eunthanised after a suspected broken leg.

As a horse lover I want to ask why he was still allowed to run. Should it not have been more closely looked at whether or not he had the stamina and energy left to run another 4 miles after already becoming lose and running a good few furlongs?
Although, we cannot doubt the decision made as team of vets working at the Ntional are a 5* very qualified team. They checked the horse over and felt he was fne to run and had not at all tired.

Another argument that often crops up when talking about the Grand National is whether or not the horses are forced to run. Those that know horses will already know that if any horse didn't want to run in that race it wouldn't. All horses have very strong characters and no jockey nor trainer could force one to run in a race that it really didn't want to.

Look at those horses that lose their jockeys, most carry on to finish the race without a rider and often follow the rest of the herd to jump the required jumps. If that horse didn't want to be in that race or was forced to then it certainly wouldn't carry on without a rider geeing it on. 

It is possible that the goodwill of some spectators could be restored by a ban on jockeys using the whip to make horses go faster.

Arguments for and against this popular race could go on and on, like any other sport it carries its risks and no one can determine the fate of any of those horses and jockeys on that particular race day.

However, if we do look at what could be changed to improve the safety then one area I feel needs to be looked at is the age of the horses.

I would turn away runners as young as seven or as old as 13. Such horses struggle to cope with the National; no seven-year-old has won since 1940, no teenager since 1923. These age limits suggest themselves.

Most horses aren't classed as being matured until the age of 7 and by the time they reach 13 their owner usually starts to slow them down. So why still allow ages above and below these to run in one of the most toughest races?

Sadly, what happened to this horse couldn't have been foreseen, but, once again we end another Grand National day with two very sad losses.

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Review: Equisoothe

When I was first searching for this product I had in mind something that would enable me to stop bathing Ceaser every other day. Being a very boy-ish Skewbald means he loves to roll in the muddiest patches of the field and I end up with a pony that resembles a bay rather than a coloured. 


I knew when I was first looking for an ideal product I was setting my limits high. 


Something to get the poo stains off his hocks? 
Something to remove the dirt and grime from where he had rolled in the field?

Something that left a shine?


I wanted it all and I wanted my product to work. There are so many products out there on the market that say they do certain things, so we spend hard earned money on them only to find they don't actually do as it says on the tin and they are then shoved in the bottom of our grooming box until we feel like using them. 


This is until I came across "PRIZE" on Twitter. Prize is made by Equisoothe which is a British manufacturer based in West Wales. I was a little reluctant to spend money on a product I had never heard of before so I contacted the company and asked if they would give me the option to write a review for them.


So here I am. 


Admittedly, due to being let down by so many products before I was apprehensive and I did think "Well, will it really work?". I am happy to say, it did.


Although it doesn't remove Ceaser's stable stains, it is the only product that has left him looking soft and silky. Being a coloured that is mainly white I struggle to find something that will make his white bits look shiny. 


Prize did just the job. It is one of those products that never sees the bottom of your tack box and always manages to resurface after a few days. 


I am able to use it on my horses bodies, mane, tails and feathers and it works on everything I want it to. 


In just a few days I noticed that all of Ceaser's coat looked healthy and shiny in stead of just the brown patches on him having a shine. It also lifted the dirt that was bedded in his coat and brought it to the top which then enabled me to brush it off. 


The biggest noticeable difference I saw after using Prize was on my recently purchased bay New forest Cross, Frosty. When he came to us his coat lacked shine and despite endless brushing I felt his coat needed a little help.


I am pleased with the huge difference in Frostys coat after just a few days of using Prize and cannot believe how healthy it looks now compared to what it did before using Prize. 


Prize is described as a product that is mineral-oil based and will nourish you horse's skin and coat. Which I can honestly say it did a tremendous job of doing. 

When being used on tails it isn't one of those products that needs using every day to keep it tangle-free. I only applied roughly twice a week and all of my horses tails stayed shiny and tangle-free, which for me is a huge help as I have eight horses. 


I recommend Prize to any equine customer wanting something that keeps grooming efforts minimal when they don't have a lot of time without a huge price ticket. 


For a 500ml Trigger spray bottle expect to pay around £14.50 and up to £75.50 for a 5litre economy sized Jerry can.  Although this may seem a lot to initially pay out, I have had my 500ml trigger spray for roughly 6 weeks now and I still have just under half left. 


In my opinion this a product that soon could be one found in every tack box. 

(I have included a photo a Frosty before using Prize and a photo after using it for 2 weeks)


For more information visit: http://www.equisoothe.co.uk/

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Wow, what a week

This week has once again been surreal. Both Frosty and Ceaser have once again proved just how fantastic they both are and with every day that passes I am more sure Frosty is going to turn into a brilliant alrounder.

We set off for Faldingworth Equestrian Centre on Sunday at 7.30am last Sunday morning. Due to taking 4 horses it was an early start and a long day.

Frosty was the first to set everything off in the Unregistered Mountain and Moorland class. I am so pleased with how he behaved; apart from being a little wary of the judge walking behind him out his sight he was 100%. He did a perfect trot round with the other horses, a perfect individual show and then a very well behaved lap of honor. I am so pleased with how Frosty coped with everything and took all the atmosphere in his stride. I don't doubt for a second he wont make a good riding school pony but his confidence in people is something that worries me.


A few days after the show I was delighted to get a card in the post to say Frosty had qualified for the MIDARC Championships in August. Unfortunately I am unsure at the moment if we can go due to it clashing with some dressage championships I have planned for Ceaser.

Once again Ceaser excelled himself and took 2nd in the Ridden Coloured. He was good to stand from half past 8 in the morning until 4 o clock for his class. In the one outing we managed to qualify for the British Skewbald and Piebald Association Championships, Equifest and the 15+ Championship which is pretty good going. I like getting my qualifications under my belt early on in the season so then I know where I am and what I'm doing towards the end of the season in terms of championships.

The following week I also had my Dressage trailblazers 2nd rounds which is a qualifier for the finals to be held at Stoneliegh in August. Just a month later it will be the Petplan Area festival so Autumn is set to be a busy period for both Ceaser and I!

I am on a three week holiday from university at the moment so I have been making the most of my time with the horses. I must say its lovely having no lectures and spending most days with the horses is lovely. Frosty is still coming on leaps and bounds and this week I have been on him whilst walking. He is a completely different pony to the one that arrived and I am looking forward to seeing even more progress in him.

It has been a busy week preparing for Dressage, organising things at the yard and looking after one of my ponies that isn't well. The riding school side of our yard is expanding quicker than I expected it to and suddenly things are becoming very busy. We have just got another horse in for the school who is lovely.

Yesterday was the day of the Trailblazers 2nd rounds which is a qualifier for Stoneliegh in August. I was booked in to do the Prelim and Elementary test and unfortunately during the week I hadn't had time to practice neither tests. Ceaser went well despite me not riding my best due to me being in some pain having pulled a muscle (or cracked a rib - I don't know what I've done!) in my side. We were 3rd in our Prelim section with 67.08% and then went on to win the Elementary class with 63%. This result meant we have now qualified for the Trailblazers finals in August.

I am so pleased with our results throughout the past week and am delighted to have now gotten four qualifications already in just a few months. I hope the rest of the season goes as well as it has begun.

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