One season has ended and a new one about to begin. It has been a nice quite month or so after Adelaide which has given me the opportunity to work on my young horses that always get cast aside. I had a lovely Christmas with family and have had nice down time relaxing by the river for a few days. Plus we have also done a bit of work on our property with our stables lined, and water pipes have been laid. Still no hose bay but that will come.
We've been busy with working on the property (above) and with the young horses (below) - this one is my 2yo gelding by Riverside out of Raynick Arizona
This year however I have some really exciting news to share. With the help of the owners Julia Mclean, John Glenn and sponsors WOW saddle, Equestrian Australia and EANSW, I am super excited to announce our plans to work towards competing at Badminton Horse Trials in the UK in May this year. Sam (Algebra) has competed in four CCI**** events here in Australia at Adelaide. He has also done Melbourne, Lakes and Craters and Sydney 3 Day Event several times. Plus we also travelled to Warwick last year and Kihihiki NZ. He has been on two Trans Tasman Team wins, so there is not much more he can do here now.
WEG is held at the end of August, so by being in the UK, it would be great to be able to prepare for the Worlds to hopefully give it a good shot of being on the team.
It will be the most wonderful experience as I have never been to the UK. I have always wanted to go with a horse in tow since I rode Billy Bathgate almost 13 years ago. It will be a dream come true that’s for sure just to be there. Anything can happen between now and May, but we are hoping that we will be hopping on a plane by the end of April!!
Algebra and I hope to be flying round Badminton like this soon! Photo courtesy Equiscape Photography
I will have a few horses going up for sale over the next month or so to help pay for expenses over there plus a little bit of fund raising. See my website natblundellequestrian.com
Another bit of exciting news is that the super star little mare Girl with a Curl has just had a positive preg test to Prue and Craig Barrett’s stallion Staccato. It should be an amazing jumper, and if it manages to grow a bit more than Molly’s 15.1hh then it could be a superstar in the making!
Hope everyone has had a great New Year and we are hoping that the Year of the Horse, which is my birth year, is successful!
Cheers
Nat
