Spring Sensations!

Well spring seems to finally be with us (or should that be summer?!) and it didn’t come a day too soon.  The horses are enjoying some “naked” time in the fields at the moment but I still don’t feel brave enough to turn Skip out daily without rugs!

To celebrate the sunshine we have of course been out riding our lovely horses even more than normal and have also had some shopping fun expanding ranges at The Horse Diva.  Of course buying products is a serious business but it does come with the benefit of trying out new items to make sure they are top quality for our customers J.  Here are a few of my personal favourite new goodies:

Love me Love my Horse Door Hanger

This door hanger is great for the horsey home and makes a lovely gift for a horse owner who’s other half doesn’t really appreciate their four legged friend!  We also have a matching key ring available. 

Clean calm and Collected Childs Farm Bubble Bath

With all this extra horse riding I am more than a little achy at the end of the day so I love to go home and soak in a hot bath and this bubble bath from Childs Farm smells just beautiful.  It is kind enough for pony mad adults and children, full of organic tangerine oil which leaves your bathroom smelling lush. 

Horsey Design Wellington Boots

With the fields a little drier I have abandoned my normal hefty wellington boots for a summery horsey alternative and I am not sporting these rather cute horsey wellies.  They are a great price and are lightweight to take to an event with you or I even sometimes use them for dog walking. 

With the ordering of new gifts ongoing here in the office I am currently awaiting the arrival of a delivery.  These include some funky grooming brushes and children’s horse grooming kits.  I am finding I need to spend even more time grooming Skip at the moment due to him rolling as soon as his rug is off and the constant moulting with his new coat coming through.  These brushes should arrive any day now but here is a sneak preview of some of the items we are expecting.  Be sure to keep an eye on the NEW Horsey Products section of the website for their imminent arrival. 

 

Enjoying the Sunshine!

I have to admit that I have been rather lazy with my blog during the past month but instead of sitting at the computer I have been out enjoying the sunshine with my four legged friend! I hope you have all been busy with your horses? Do let me know what you have been up to. Having taken some time off work I set about with my daily horse riding, reschooling my cob, and I have thoroughly enjoyed having much more relaxed time with my horse. It's great to be able to ride so much as work hours and daylight hours tend to clash during the winter! I even tried out a bit of bareback riding...(which didn't come as naturally as it used to let me tell you) but I loved every minute of it.

Having returned to work today it seems like i'm not the only one who's feeling a bit tired after ten days of intense equestrian work. Look who I found having a good old roll around in the sunshine this morning and catching 40 winks in the field. What a cutie.

Now i'm determind to keep up with my new schedule so fingers crossed the nice weather continues. I'm using my new horsey weekly planner to keep track of what we are doing on a daily basis and am looking forward to all the bank holidays this month to enjoy some more time at the yard as well as an Easter weekend trip to Badminton Horse Trials. I might even see some of you there!

One of those weeks...

Is it me or does anyone else have those weeks when you just run out of energy and everything seems a bit too much! In the last few months I had been doing so well schooling my horse, increasing both his and my own fitness and then suddenly I hit a brick wall. Rather than fight it I gave us both a week off to try and recharge the batteries and it seems to have done the trick. After a lazy hack and a good old natter with a friend I was feeling a lot better and B seemed to still be behaving despite his rest. Then this weekend I headed into the field to tackle some schooling thinking everything i'd been working on would have gone out the window. But to my suprise B was excellent and the break seemed to have done him the world of good!

To make up for my recent time out of the saddle I spent nearly all weekend at the yard this weekend (I may as well have camped there)! In addition to horse riding myself I gave my friend a riding lesson. It was great fun and lovely to introduce someone new to the horse world. I did however find it quite difficult to break down all the info as I have never really taught before. For me, riding has become a bit like driving- when you've been doing it long enough it becomes automatic!

As any horse owner will know, there are many other lengthy horsey jobs that come along with owning your own horse. To name but a few I completed the daily field poo pick, topped up the water in the field, groomed the horses, picked out hooves, prepared feeds, applied fly spray and sun cream...need I go on!? For me, some days these chores I seem like a real hassle but I try and brighten daily routines up with my fun and funky equestrian yard products, putting to use my fabulous feeding fit, hoof pick (my fave is the pink and blue) and my Showa equestrian gloves, great for protecting your hands.



With everyone else on the yard away I realised that looking after four horses was pretty much a full time job! In addition I gave B's legs a good old was with the Wahl Tea Tree Horse Shampoo which did a fab job. And was it me or do the flies seem to be getting worse? As well as popping on their fly fringes I have been applying the 2 in 1 Fly Repellent which is great as it works at conditioning their coats as well.



So now another week starts and i'm hoping i'm going to feel a little more energetic...and on that note I best nip off to get a cup of tea and choccy biscuit (or two) to fuel the long day ahead!

Summer Picnics!

The holidays are fast approaching and luckily this week we are seeing a tad more sunshine hurrah! If you are starting to think about activities for the children during the summer break then why not consider a countryside picnic? We got our picnic table out at the weekend for an event and I realised its barely ever used but is such a nice thing to do with friends and family and it doesn't cost a fortune. You can get the childen to help you prepare a picnic at home and they will love packing their very own lunchbox. If you're little one is pony mad, the new pony girl lunchbox and water bottle at The Horse Diva will go down a treat! You don't need to travel far and its not an expensive activity as you can use whatever food you already have in the fridge. Plus once the summer is over, these are great items for school packed lunches- there is a name tag on the lunchbox and the water bottle fits inside perfectly. These are light and easy for children to carry but a good size to cram full of food for a day out at a horse show or Pony Club event. But remember if its hot and sunny put on some sun cream and reapply it during the day- and if you're horse or pony is anything like mine this may be applicable to him too!

The Equestrian Show Season

The equestrian show season is upon us and it’s time to get fully kitted out! Here at The Horse Diva we have got our new Show Season range bursting with essentials for your weekends competing.

Keep in style whilst competing and kit yourself out with this fabulous Candy Tie and Pale Pink Show Shirt. The great thing is this show shirt has short sleeves to stop you overheating during the summer months and keep your cool through any stressful times!

We all know that preparation is the key and this is even applicable to the presentation of your horse! Why not begin your horse’s transformation with a good lather using one of the Wahl Horse Shampoos and then get rid of any last minute tangles with the 3 in 1 tangle free mane, tail and coat conditioner.

We don’t want to be negative but with thousands of horse boxes and trailers hitting the roads every weekend, it’s inevitable that a punctured tyre may occur on someone’s journey. Leading automotive aftercare product manufacturer Holt Lloyd helps reduce this worry with its top selling emergency tyre repair product Tyreweld– the ‘Spare Wheel in a Can’.

Tyreweld works by sealing and inflating punctured tyres instantly and enables you to continue your journey safely for a short while enabling you to get to an approved National Tyres branch. So why not add this to your grooming box as an essential item for your travels? Better safe than sorry...and if you’ve got one, hopefully you’ll never need it!

Here Comes Summer!

Last weekend saw the first glimpse of Summer and here's hoping its the start of a lovely sunny season (but with bank holiday weekend coming up i'm not holding my breathe!). We made the most of it at the weekend and headed out for a hack nice and early. When we got back to the yard it was lovely to give the horses a gorgeous bath- Barney thoroughly enjoyed his full on wash and was glowing bright white by the time i'd finished with him! It's always nice to see those feathers sparkling...

With the warmer weather its time to pack up your Winter rugs for another year (perhaps after a thorough wash that is). I had a good old sort out at the yard the weekend and with limited space I bought some of the rugs home and put them in to my Bentley Horse Rug Storage Bag. If you're short on space why not keep your garage neat with one of these bags?

In addition we all know that Summer brings with it many flies and we spend no end on fly repellant! At The Horse Diva we now stock the fab new 2 in 1 fly repellant and skin tonic with neem and Lemon Eucalyptus essential oils. This is great for keeping flies away and keeping your horses coat in fab condition for the show season.

On that note I am heading down to the yard to hack out on this glorious evening. It's great being able to ride before or after work- we love the summer!!!

Have a great bank holiday- i'm off to Hertfordshire County Show- let's hope its a good one!

Fine Feathers!

Another gorgeous weekend has passed and seeing as though I didn't win on the Grand National it's back to work today!!! However the weekend of sunshine inspired me to get B's feathers clean and here are the results.... what do you think?!

This is the first time I have grown them out so it's all a bit of a learning curve for me but I think they are looking fabulous and are really healthy! It's great now the field is drying out so i'm hoping they will stay a little cleaner than they have in previous months. I initially wet his legs with my fabulous Elico Horse Sponge which really helps you get water right into the feathers and takes half the amount of time! The sponge is also great to get the feather in a big lather! Once thoroughly rinsed with the hose I towel dried them and then used my gorgeous Mane and Tail brush and Horse Mane Comb to comb them out. Once dried they looked like i'd been using a voluming shampoo :-) !!! Last night when I went to get him in I was relieved to see he'd managed to keep them clean all day- hurrah! For daily feather brushing i'd be lost without my Mane and Tail brush which is also very handy for a thick mane and tail like his!