So 2019 is here! I can not believe we are already into 2019… It is so scary how time flies. I am so excited to forge ahead into 2019. The winter has been fairly relaxing with keeping the horses going and Maisey has been modeling her wardrobe of coats around the yard. For those of you who do not know who Maisey is. She is a 7 month old border collie welsh sheepdog cross that I got at the end of July. She helps out on the yard and loves to watch the horses. I am super lucky to have her by my side and apart of the Sophie Hulme Eventing team!

In mid january I went to BETA and met some amazing people!  I saw some incredible products that will be hitting the stores this year! It is going to be super exciting when they all launch, I know I have my eye on a few things! I love attending BETA and feel very fortunate to have been able to go the last 4 years. It always is an amazing place to network and meet new people in the industry.

This week has been mental! The horses are all doing well. We have definitely started to amp up the training. We went cross country schooling at Oxstalls on monday and had a blast. We were so lucky to be able to get out so soon as we normally do not have good enough ground until February. Oxstalls did an amazing job with their ground and were so nice to let us get out schooling on it earlier than normal.  We then went on to course hire Summerhouse Equestrians outdoor arena on wednesday and got to jump around some courses that had been apart of the British Show jumping show the day before. A great learning opportunity for the horses and myself as it is so different to go outside of home and jump around. You can only do so much prep and training at home before you need to start pushing the boundaries a bit more away from home as well. Thursday morning was busy with equine simulator and helping with PhD research being conducted at Hartpury. Thursday afternoon was packed with a photo shoot and interviews for Hartpury’s international department. Followed by an amazing lesson on Annabelle with academy director Lizzel Winter. Friday was also packed with ponies and I took Fintan for a gallop and hack around Badminton. We are so lucky to be able to drive 10-15 minutes down the road to the legendary Badminton Estate. It has amazing conditioning tracks and is absolutely stunning! I do have to say I have to pinch myself when we are out there sometimes. Saturday we went to Hartpury for some British Show Jumping and I am pleased to say the girls jumped double clears in their classes! The weather was not so nice outside so I was thankful that we were indoors! Today is catch up day with Uni work and prep for the KWPN trip that I am going on later this week!

Febuary is full of  training for the season, Uni lecture and a fun trip to France! I am off to Saumur for an exchange that Hartpury does with the Le Cadre Noir as well as much more! There are loads of exciting things happening this spring and I can’t wait to blog about them! I will keep this updated on all our adventures.

Until next time!

Sophie and the team!