Words and images by Jacqui Ridley

While the thrill and hype of competitions hasn’t kicked in for 2015 for me there’s still plenty of things happening around Haras Du Ry and life is busy!

Over the Christmas and New Year period many of our grooms and staff went home for holidays leaving a skeleton staff to run the yards.  For us riders it meant lots more hands on the shovels, forks and wheel barrows, not altogether a bad thing when the temperatures are hovering around the 3 degrees and below and you’ve had more than your fair share of Christmas Cheer! With around 50 horses in stables to be fed, exercised and cleaned out there was plenty to do. 

Amidst all the daily work schedule we did manage to find time to celebrate and party.  Australia Day was pretty special since now there’s quite an Aussie crew here.  Fellow Ausssie Amy Strapp, another Equestrian life blogger, is riding with us and last week Paige Jardine arrived to train. Making the transition to riding and competing in Europe can be extremely daunting and one of the aims of HDR is to make that whole experience easier and less stressful.  As I’ve found myself, there’s just so much to absorb and learn plus the inevitable language barriers which make things all the more challenging.  Spending time in a place like this is the perfect solution plus if considering buying a horse to take back to Australia there’s ample opportunity to ride and compete.  This way you can be sure the horse is the right one before investing time and money on international transport.

Australia Day in France was well represented (even if we did make the majority of the French riders based in Haras Du Ry stand in front of our flag!)

Paige fresh of the plane from Aus, walking Bella on a cool morning.

Four young Selle Francaise stallions have just arrived here for training. The Selle Francais warmbloods are a breeding line developed right here in Normandy and especially suited to show jumping.  These young stallions are only just starting under saddle so back to young horse basics when we ride these.  While the riding work is shared between us all managing the stables takes quite a lot of my time; feed and bedding requirements to order, vaccination and worming schedules, vet appointments, organizing arrivals and departures, arena maintenance and so on. There are also visits from dealers and other potential buyers, mainly French and American, looking for new horses for the season ahead. 

Bella showing one of the youngsters the ropes on the streets of Brevands

While things are quiet on the competition scene for Gordon and I at the moment, Amy has just left for a competition with Bella in Austria. This event will be the first show for Amy and Bella this year.  Bella’s passport is continuing to collect many international stamps and fortunately he is an exceptionally good traveler as he collects his frequent flier point! He does however get absolutely first class treatment and is carefully prepared for travel with special multi vitamins and wears a custom made compression suit in transit.  Amy and Bella are attracting a lot of attention in Europe after all their recent success and we were visited last week by a French tv film crew. Amy, Bella and Haras Du Ry will feature on Equidia, a French TV channel specializing in equestrian sports.

Frankfurt CSI3*** in Germany

I wouldn’t be honest if I said I wasn’t missing Queensland’s warmth at the moment!  With the chilly weather and lack of sunshine I look at photos being sent from Queensland of family and friends on the beach and in warm sunshine with quite a bit of envy! I’ve never been paler and have even resorted to taking vitamin D supplements! Seeing my first snow falling was an experience as was towing a horse trailer on snowy, icy roads. I’m already really looking forward to Springtime and the show season! In the meantime wishing you all a happy, healthy and successful 2015!

Picture from Amy at the Horses and Stars CSI3*** in Austria