One of the legs on our “British Tour” has led us to my aunt’s house, and a huge thrill for Lily has been riding my cousin Elder’s fabulous retired advanced eventer Whitey, aka Pebbley White Stuff. He’s the nicest horse she’s ever ridden and may ever ride by miles, and I’d be a liar if I said I’m not a tiny bit jealous myself! Whitey is the first horse Elder took to advanced, and just last summer they were sixth in the advanced section at Aston le Walls, as well as previously recording 7th place finishes in the 2*’s at Tattersalls and Hartpury among many other placings.
At the grand old age of 18, Whitey’s still got it and looks wonderful, and is now enjoying the good life doing the odd bit of show-jumping, and he may pass on some of his experience via a bit of lower level eventing next year with a very lucky novice rider, sadly probably not Lily, or me!
After a short hack down the lanes, (heaven, I miss the hacking, and yet used to get SO bored and dread it, what a brat I was!) Lily has been riding in the arena the last couple of days, and might have been the happiest girl alive. However, all’s not well that ends well! I should have known it was too good to last – we spent this afternoon here….
Luckily we escaped with nothing worse than a broken finger, and yes, it’s her right hand, so she’s hoping it will still be sore by the time she goes back to school and then she thinks she won’t have to do anything. Ha ha!
Lily was very brave, she did get back on and ride back to the yard, and is being spoilt rotten by everyone now. Thank goodness there’s someone here who still attracts more attention than she does:
Please meet Rocky, the gorilla Newfoundland puppy!
I’d like to also absolve anyone of any responsibility for the fall. It was just one of those unlucky things; riding Whitey will still be one of Lily’s all time highlights despite her tumble. Elder was at work, he’s a trader for Geoff Banks, the UK’s leading independent bookmaker. Poor Elder, I ask him every time I see him exactly what this means, and he told me,
“I suppose I’m responsible for monitoring and controlling our odds and liabilities for all sports in particular horse racing.”
Yikes! Needless to say, he’s brilliant at math, and gets to go to all the races, as well as being charming, handsome, sweet and generous. He’ll be home later to ride Gangsta, who’s running in the Intermediate Championships at Gatcombe this weekend.
Wishing him the best of luck, and we’ll be cheering him on every step of the way, and bringing you lots of reports of all the action. Thanks for reading, get back on, and go eventing!
