15/11/08
Walking on Egg Shells?  Not quite, the solution to try and ease Sultan's Navicular pain is egg shoes, as seen left.  A first for Robert and for us, the difference to Sultan was quite astounding!  See the blog for more...

14/11/08
An exciting new direction may just be round the corner.... I wont say any more just now, but read the blog about the vet's opinion on Sultan's lameness.....

06/11/08
November has turned cold and grey after a lovely October.  Even so, with building pressures from Christmas, University and life in general we are pressing on with training for Jo, Jenny & myself.  See the blog for more details....

11/10/08
Tomorrow is the last event of the driving club season.  Today I am at home changing the website over to our Autumn/Winter programme.  We have slipped easily from our summer programme to our winter one.  The Fish Run was a fantastic experience and there are several blogs already on the website talking about it and more to come.  Jo has moved on from riding to driving and both she and Sue are making strides in their training and practice.  What picture to choose?  My favourite one from Chantilly, Daniel Brown leading his Suffolk dressed as Pierrot before he and his children take their part in our Pageant depicting the story of the origin of the fish run.

05/09/08
An extraordinary day.  A very rainy Friday.  Was there an August?  We missed it, but we have made as much captial as we can of the weather we have had.  There hasn't been much to write about except the rain, so I haven't been writing.  I will aim to catch up over this weekend.  The first blog will be the most recent... yesterday.

We have had some highlights, been in the national press even and we have met some lovely people over the weeks.  Some very brave souls who have sought us out despite the weather and we have enjoyed their company and sharing the horses with them.  We are in training for La Route du Poisson, a 28 hour cross-country relay, from the beach at Bologne sur Mer to Chantilly Race course just outside of Paris.  There will be another blog about that, and many more to come as well as a blog from Jo, she has made great leaps in riding the horses, as you can see.  Its an ill wind, as they say, that blows nobody any good, and she has used the small breaks in the weather to good purpose. 

27/07/08
A fantastic and frustrating weekend at Eridge with the Working Horse Trust - Obie pulled off a shoe on the journey and for once Robert wasn't on hand to put it back again, his new lorry isnt ready yet, so he has stayed at Harbridge haymaking this weekend.  Saturday we sat around glumly in the heat, wondering whether we should go home again.  Nevertheless, Sunday came and the Working Horse Trust's farrier came and gave us two working horses again.  Once that was done we were off...  You can read the rest in the blog.

12/07/08
A new venture for us, a second venture for the Horseshoe Trust, celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Brockenhurst to Lymington branch line, and the inauguration of the Lymington - Brockenhurst Community Rail Partnership.  It was a very exciting day and we were well received.  See the blog for pictures and more details.

05/07/08
Carnival time has arrived.  We had a lovely day today, taking the Ferndown Carnival Queen on a tour of her domain.  Rupert and Obadiah behaved brilliantly and we, and more importantly the horses were brilliantly looked after, the whole day. See the blog.

04/07/08
A momentous day, Sultan and Jack on the opposite sides.  Sultan has developed a persistent problem in his shoulder which seems to be related to his leaning on the pole, so to see if we can rectify it Steve has decided to try them in opposite positions on the pole, Steve's verdict on the result?  "We have a new pair of horses."  It was very exhilerating to see them go so well first time out, even if it was just around the field and then a tour of the local streets, but a great beginning.  More work to come, to get them back to pulling the buses, but they are both getting fitter and it is good news for the older pair.

03/07/08
Our first Explore the Forest tour with guests - a great day was had by all, a fantastic surprise present!  The weather was a little grey and we had quite a heavy shower at lunchtime but it was kind summer rain and we were all well protected from getting wet.  Spirits remained undampened.

10/06/08
A spiffing day, a group of mature ladies made it, celebrating Diana Trim's 60th birthday.  Our first Vintage and Modern tour, everything fell into place this time.  A blog and slideshow will follow.  For now here is my favourite picture of the day.

03/06/08
A disappointing day - we should have been starting our season with a group of Chinese Journalists, the ranger and a piece in the forest journal, instead, the front page talks of the floods we experienced overnight, causing our whole endeavour to be cancelled.  Onwards.....

31/05/08
From a field in West Sussex, Izzy and Charlie Bear go for a ride on Axel while we are all enjoying the technology - in the countryside.  We have had a lovely day competing and Obie and Rupert came third in the cones!  The best they have ever done.  Izzy goes to a local school and Charley Bear has adventures with all the children of the class.  This weekend it was Izzy's turn.  I wonder how many teddy bears get to ride on the champion stallion of any breed?  Axel is a Percheron, a working horse.  Izzy's dad and grandad use him to work on the farm.

The picture was taken as the sun was going down, so there is very little light left - about 9.30pm!  A late night for Izzy.

18/05/08
The first trip of the year, well 2 - see the blog for a brief story of the day - I am in the midst of exams so my mind is somewhat elsewhere.  It was a great day after a difficult week.  See the blog for tales of gates  too.

15/05/08
How did that happen?  Another 2 weeks has gone by.  I am in the midst of exams and the new bus has arrived, unfortunately we were too busy unloading it from the lorry to take pictures but tomorrow we are taking it out for the first time.  While I have been stuck indoors revising or taking exams, Jo and Steve have been busy.  Steve has adapted some eveners and fixed the brakes on the new bus so tomorrow we are going out on it.  We went off to Rockbourne last weekend and Jo was groom.  There are some pics and videos of her in fancy dress on the blog and a video of Rupe and Obie's first attempt at dressage.  They came fifth.  Not bad for a first attempt.  They didnt do so well in the obstacles or cones and were a second out on the cross country - you wouldnt think that was so bad but 7 teams came in exactly on time!

26/04/08
Our second event of the year and Steve and Sue came joint first in the cross country competition, coming in exactly on time again - it bodes well for the Fish Run later in the year.   Below is a picture of the beautiful location just outside Dorking.  It was a lovely weekend.  Jo is writing a blog , we had a great time, her first competition and she drove the lorry - that was an adventure all of itself!  Checkout the special events page for pictures of the competitions and Grozzie's surprise  present for Steve.  Jo is phoning home in the picture below and to the left.  Her first time away without husband or children for many years!  It is great that we can communicate even in such a remote location.  I am looking forward to getting the cameras set up and sharing more.

22/04/08
An eventful week already and it is only Tuesday!  Stephen spent the weekend looking at the omnibus.  It is strange to think of it as a new vehicle but last week we discovered that the angle of draught is wrong and was giving the horses pressure sores on their collars where the pull was incorrect.  Stephen has added eveners to the bus!. See the blog  for more information.  We have acquired a more substantial trailer and the new bus will be arriving this week or next!  Last and by no means least, the newest member of the team, Jason, came and spent his first day with us.  He seems a natural to me, but there is a lot to learn still.  We didn't scare him off and he is coming back today!  (It's Stephen's Birthday too!)

15/04/08
So we have begun the year again at Harbridge, a very different day, weather wise, to last year.  Sue, Steve, Jo and I this year.  Romana and Kat have moved on but we met three potential new grooms who all look likely.  The ball is in their court now.  We will let you know how they progress.

The horses have been brilliant.  Far better than last year, far fitter than last year, even Sultan and Jack.  We took both buses and paraded them both throughout the day.  See the blog for videos and more details.  The picture is Randy driving four in the foreground and the other teams waiting for the driving skills competition with the lorries in the background.  You can see how muddy it all got.

04/03/08
February came and went, very quickly from my point of view - we achieved loads, all maintenance!  The JCB ended up with a new starter, a mended tyre and some gunk in the engine which stopped water getting into the sump.  Steve has moved tons and tons of compost and Nick has found a home for it.  The lorry is stripped and nearly varnished, the Genny has had new filters.  The yard has a new surface, the field is cleared of scrub for now.  Harrowing has been done twice with the tractor and the lorry has been waterproofed, refittted inside and has new cushion covers and curtains.  All in all we have worked jolly hard.   To cap it all, Jo passed her HGV test at the first attempt, clever girl.  We have two articles in various publications, which we will include here  in the spring and interest is starting to be paid in this year's services.  Check out the blog for details .

03/02/08
The first month of the year is over, marked for us by rain, rain, rain and yet more rain.  Hopefully it means maybe we will get more summer this year.  Other than that, both Steve and I have had nasty lurgies.  In between times we have achieved quite a lot, had our second set of students, laid fifteen tons of scalpings which seem to be laying well, two attempts at clearing out the ditches, one with Steve and one with Jo, it was quite a fun treasure hunt, Jo won, she found a gate!  We have done the first lot of harrowing and cleared some more brambles in preparation for thinning of the overgrown hedge.  We have fitted new harness too and moved all the compost round.  Not a bad total for the first month of the year.  I am waiting to hear about the next grant application and doing more backroom stuff, reports, websites, the Horseshoe Trust leaflet and my Uni website - the advent calendar on here - check it out , it's fun.  Not quite finished as we speak, it needs tittivating, but it does have all the whizzy things I have done over the year on here plus one or two new ones.

19/01/08
It has been a little wet and I have been under the weather too!  We have managed to steal what few spells of sunshine, or at least no rain to do ground works and clear ditches, as well as keeping the horses supplied with hay.  Sue brought her grandson Rueben up to the yard too, last Saturday, he is barely bigger than Pruddi and just discovering his feet, but was a delight when he stayed overnight, apparently.  He certainly looks like an angel.  Check out the blog .

I have also begun a horsecam , at least set up the technical side.  Currently it is watching my daughter's meeces who theoretically were both girls but have subsequently had two litters of pups!  Mum and Dad are now living separately.  The first set of babies are quite active, as is mum, and the newest arrivals are chirruping quite prettily as mum proceeds to bury them deeper and deeper in the sawdust.  Hopefully soon, when the weather improves, we can experiment with the camera at the yard.  It should help with security as well as being interesting to watch what the horses get up to when we aren't there.

08/01/08
A little indulgence for me today.   I had a great day and wanted to talk about it.   See the blog if you want to see my irrelevant blatherings.   On the practical side, we relaid the floor in the shelter with planings, so we will wait and see how they stand up to the boys shennanigins!!!   It was good to give them a dry place to stand for now at least.

05/01/08
For whatever reason, my changes haven't saved.   you will have to check on the blog . We have had a busy new year so far, Jo took her theory test, you can find out if she passed on the blog. the horses have had their flu and tetanus jabs   and yesterday the whole team came out to wish the boys a happy new year.