Yes that's right, I'm incredibly lucky to be having a custom show jacket made for me by the brilliant Ridir Clothing! I already have a few pairs of their jodhpurs, both for show and home use, and they are the comfiest jods ever and very hard-wearing too. I also have one of their show shirts and a stock so with the addition of my new jacket, I'll be kitted out head-to-toe in Ridir Clothing gear come show day. I'll be super comfy and looking super smart to boot! I've never had anything custom made for me before, so going to get measured up and choose the fabric and trims for my jacket was very exciting! You'll have to wait to see the final decisions we made but trust me - it's going to be fabulous! Thanks so much to Ridir Clothing for your support and belief in my riding goals. I hope Tech and I can do you proud while we're proudly flying the Ridir flag :)

So the silly season was very relaxed for me - we went camping for a week near Opotiki with the family and while I missed my cow pony (he was being taken very good care of by Lucy and Becky while I was away and kept in work for me - thanks heaps girls!), I really enjoyed the break. It's the first time in ages that I've done nothing for a week other than relax in the sun, read (Carl Hester's autobiography and Kelly Wilson's For the Love of Horses book - both great reads!), sit on the beach and eat way too much ice cream!

I know I say it every time but I really can't believe where the last month has gone! Christmas has crept up on us very quickly this year - probably because we've been incredibly busy...

We did pretty well at the Tauranga Dressage Ribbon Day towards the end of November. It was Taya's first time warming up for me at a show and she did amazingly! Tech was lovely and calm and nice and responsive by the time I got on, and apart from a momentary mishap where he decided that Rachel (who was stood next to the arena taking photos) was actually really scary despite already walking past her twice with no problem, we rode a pretty nice test for 65%. I felt like it was one of the most forward, active tests I've ever ridden on him, and the judge agreed with some lovely comments about our activity and energy. Just need to work on keeping Tech a bit more together with the energy because we start to lose it a bit and he goes a bit long. But that's partly because it's rather hard for me to sit to the bigger, more active walk too, so I've been working on my fitness and position to help us out on that front! It's so much about the team work between me and my boy - that's why I love riding so much. Especially when I have such a willing partner in Tech - I love my cow pony! :)

Our first show of the season, the Tauranga Dressage Ribbon Day, went pretty well. Tech was quite 'lazy' though so our activity marks weren't the best, but we were calm and accurate and I was pleased with the comments from the judges, with some great feedback to work on as always. I didn't think too much about him being so lethargic and hard to get forward and active until we arrived back at the paddock.We put him into his paddock and went to make his feed up, and in that short time he'd led down and was pretty much fast asleep! Very unlike him... he picked up when he heard us heading towards the paddock with his feed bucket but took a sniff of it and walked off into the corner for another snooze not really interested. This in itself isn't too unusual for Tech, as he isn't a particularly 'piggy' eater and often doesn't eat all of his feed or has a munch on some grass before coming back to his bucket, so I tried not to worry too much. But the next day he was the same and even refused his favourite treats - Big Red's Stable Snacks - which was pretty major for him so I called the vet out. They took bloods and were quite happy that it wasn't colic (thank goodness!) and we just had to keep an eye on him until blood results were back. It turns out Tech had a minor virus/infection but they couldn't pinpoint exactly what, so Mum and I kept a close eye on him and I gave him some time off until he was back to his usual self again. This is one of the reasons why I love my cow pony so much - even though (in hindsight!) he was obviously not feeling great at the show, he still put in as much effort as he could, looked after me during my ride and was very obliging. Bless him! Sorry I didn't realise you were sick Techy!

We've had a great couple of months with the weather being relatively kind to us and being able to get in quite a lot of riding time considering it's winter.

I'm pleased to say we made it to every practice day that the Tauranga Dressage group held this winter. They're so useful in building both mine and Tech's confidence riding away from home in the competition arena. Yes they're relaxed days, but I still take my test as seriously as if it was a real competition, and want to make sure we score well.

The first practice day in June went pretty well and we scored the highest marks for our free walk and our transitions which was great. I've been working really hard on this at home. I get quite nervous pushing Tech into his big free walk because of two reasons: one I find it hard to sit to because it really swings and it's so hard for me to balance to; and two, the fingers on my left hand are quite floppy and my middle two fingers are very unresponsive, so I find it really hard to get my left rein back once I've let it out. So it's been a lot of practice on the transitions to improve my technique with the reins, get used to the bigger swing, get my body to balance to it, and get the confidence that I still have control of Tech with my reins on the longest loop! It's all paid off according to the judges marks and comments yay!

First up was a day trip out to my friend's sand arena to get some good training in and also utilise their power supply so Tech could get his first haircut of the winter! (Neither of which we have at our paddock so very lucky to have friends nearby who let us ride and use their awesome facilities!) Becky set to work with the clippers and soon there was more hair on the ground than on Tech's body - always a good sign ;) Once Tech had been de-fluffed, we had a good ride working on the feedback from the judges throughout our season. I'm not planning too much down time over winter this year (apart from when the ground gets too wet and we'll be forced to stop for a bit!) as we had so much time off over Tech's surgery and recovery over the summer and we have lots to work on. It all felt good and like we're making progress so I was happy!

Yep, we scored some of the best marks of our season, and got a PB for our team test to boot! So proud of my Techy Boy and my fab crew!

We traveled down to Rotorua on Friday night, which was a bit of a novelty having such a short trip to a competition - it took us just over an hour to get there. (I'm sure Tech was wondering if there was more traveling to come having had such a quick trip in the float for once hehe!) We raced the fading light to get Tech settled and get the tents up, and working like a well oiled machine, we were soon sat in Camp Thorne waiting for dinner to cook with a glass of wine in hand - great start to the weekend!

Our first test was mid-morning Saturday and I have to say, I was a bit of a nervous wreck! It's the first time we've been to the Rotorua A&P Showgrounds, and I tend to get really nervous riding in a new place or away from home. So add that to my usual competition nerves and my stomach was doing somersaults! But I knew I had to keep a lid on my nerves so I didn't transfer them to Tech (he's so in tune with how I feel and what I'm thinking!). Lucy warmed Tech up beautifully for me and showed him all the sights and sounds around the arena - the speakers, the alpaca in the paddock nextdoor, the tractor towing a trailer full of tourists down the hill and the tourists stood at the fence taking photos of all the riders competing over this side of the fence! He felt great during my quick warm up and soon we were in business riding down the centre line towards the judge. He felt really nice and forward, and I felt quite happy with my test, apart from a couple of my shapes which weren't quite perfect. But I was quite proud of how well (I felt!) we had done in the new environment. It seems the judges saw what I felt too, and we scored 71% for our test which I was really happy with. Go Techy!

The weather was looking rather grim on Saturday morning, with rain forecast throughout the day but I didn't care - we look forward to our lessons with Manu so much that I wasn't about to let the threat of a bit of the wet stuff dampen our spirits! Faith and Kate met me at the paddock early Saturday morning to give Tech a bath to make him presentable for our lesson. He'd been naked through the hot, muggy, rainy weather we'd had all week, and had been pretty dirty all week. When Faith text me to say "He's GREY!" on my way to the paddock, I knew he'd had a lovely time wallowing in the mud pits he'd made himself the night before! Thankfully Faith and Kate made short work of getting him clean again (much to Tech's disgust - thanks heaps you guys!) and soon Mum was loading him onto the float and we were on our way.

After our awesome weekend at the Bay of Plenty Dressage Champs, we had a fab lesson with Manu McLean working on some of the judges feedback. As always, Manu got some fantastic work out of Tech and I, working on our straightness, square halts (we found the 'button'!) and half circles. We also did a bit of "moving his shoulders over" work which Tech responded to really well. At one stage we were zig-zagging up the centre line of the arena quite nicely using just my indirect rein. Lucy had a great lesson on Tech too so big smiles all round. Huge thanks to Lucy and Thea for being my crew for the day :)

The following week I had our local vet out to take a biopsy of a lump that had been growing slowly on Tech's stifle, which had suddenly grown really quickly. The lab results indicated nothing serious, but due to the size of the lump and the rate it had grown over the last month, I decided to get it removed just to be safe. Unfortunately the paddock surgery (as recommended by my local vet) didn't go as planned. Tech (being the stubborn Clydie that he is!), decided he wasn't going take things lying down, and came around from the general anaesthetic before the vet had even finished clipping the area to be operated on! After some very terrifying minutes (which seemed like hours!) of watching him flip around the paddock while he tried to get his legs working again, he finally regained control of himself and stood there shaking like a leaf. I'm so glad my Mum was there with me to calm me down, and also be there for Tech when he was so bewildered. We stopped everything and I booked him into Matamata Vets the following day. (Big thanks to Becky who dropped everything to take him over there with me.) Tech settled in quickly and the surgery was booked for the Friday. After a nail-biting morning wondering how things were going, I had a phonecall to say Tech's surgery had gone well, they managed to remove the lump and he came round from the general anaesthetic very calmy and quietly which was a huge relief after the antics from the previous day! He stayed at Matamata for the weekend and Lisa and I picked him up on the Monday. Tech then lived the life of luxury at Lisa's place for two weeks, being waited on hand and foot (thank you SO much Lisa!), munching on hay in his flash outside yard during the day, and tucked up in the stable at night while his wound healed up. Thanks to the amazing care Lisa took of my precious boy, his "shark bite" healed up wonderfully and I brought him home just before Christmas. Although I think he was a bit miffed that he had to fend for himself in the paddock again, with no hay being delivered to him at his beck and call, and no comfy shavings to sleep on at night!

I really appreciate your support and belief in us, and hope Tech and I can make you proud this season! It's so great to know that we have such an awesome company behind us looking after our insurance needs.

If anyone is looking for an awesome insurance company for their precious pony (or float/truck - they insure those too!), check them out www.horseinsurance.co.nz.