Petplan Equine
Sponsored Rider - Charlotte

March and April Update

Hi all, and welcome to my first update for Petplan Equine. I would like to start off by thanking everyone who took the time to vote for me in the second round of the sponsorship application process and to the people who took the time to write supporting statements. I really do appreciate it. It was very nice to welcome two Petplan Equine employees onto my yard for the final stage of the sponsorship competition, and thankfully Troy, who is renowned for making a scene in important situations, was on his best behaviour!. The last two months have been quite surreal really with magazine articles being written about me and my horses, as we are now a part of the Petplan Equine Sponsored Rider Team.

Here is just a brief introduction to me, my horses and what I do. I am a 21 year old show jumper, who is currently based in Buckinghamshire, and I run my own yard and business; Edwards Equestrian. I have competed up to 1m30, and my aim by the end of this year is to be competing at 1m40. After school, I did go to university to study Human Geography, but after my first year I dropped out, as even from a young age, I wanted to work with horses full time, and decided it was time to try and fulfil my lifelong dream. We currently have a small yard of 6 stables, an arena, and 4 acres. In total as a family, we currently own 16 horses, which are dotted all around. At home we have three retired ponies, which me and my sister used to compete, and they are happily living in the field now, being pampered. I have three show jumping horses in competition: Buenos Aires II, Charmeur V, and Castleview Bouncer, we have one competition / full livery called Bivanti, and the other two stables are for schooling or training liveries. We also offer course hire, which is very popular, and the arena looks even better now that we have two Petplan Equine banners up!

The last two months have been unusually very quiet for us here at Edwards Equestrian, as we have only done a handful of shows. At the beginning of March, I went for a week's training to Andy Austin's with Charmeur V and Buenos Aires II. I also got the chance to ride and train on a lot of horses based at Andy's. I learnt an awful lot, riding many different types of horses, and adapting my riding to their way of going. I also got the chance to jump around some big tracks, on top quality horses. We started off March with a quick trip to Patchetts Equestrian Centre, which is just down the road for us, with Bivanti just for an open class, which she flew round and won! The next show we went to was at Bury Farm, where Castleview Bouncer was the star of the show, jumping double clear in the 1.10 to come 4th and then jumped his first 1.20 of the year to jump another double clear and came 5th. April has been even quieter as I have only attended one show for the whole month, which has been very strange, and that was with Castleview Bouncer to Addington for a speed class, which he came 7th in. Bivanti has been competed by her owner over April, as she has had some time off schooling over the Easter Holidays.

Buenos Aires II, has always been a quirky horse, and this year his behaviour had become stranger than normal. You could ride him and jump him everywhere, but in the ring. Once you were in the ring, he would just rear up, and you couldn't even get to the first fence. This has been going on since January this year, and by process of elimination, we have been trying to work out what is causing this, and at the beginning of April we found the answer. As a last resort, we have him scoped for gastric ulcers, and it was discovered, that he had quite bad ulcers, which would explain his behaviour in the ring. He showed no other signs of ulcers, so just remember, not every horse is text book and if you suspect something is wrong, it could be ulcers, over 60% of competition horses suffer from them. We have given him a month of easy work, until he is re-scoped to see the progress of the healing of the ulcers, and then hopefully he will be back out at competitions. We have taken a set back from competition with Charmeur to work on his fitness and to build up muscle as he is still very green and weak behind.

All the horses on the yard during the month of April have been seen by our amazing physiotherapist, Alex Hough. Once she has treated them, the difference in the horses is extraordinary! We have also had two new arrivals in April. Carly gave birth on the 10th April to a bright bay filly, with a star marking who we have named Belle. Lilly gave birth to a huge filly on the 17th April, who we have named Milly, and she looks like she is going to be grey. Both these foals are half-sisters, as they are by the same stallion called Velini, who is currently long listed for Rio Olympics in Show Jumping. The plan is to keep the foals and to break them in when they are 4 years old and to start their competitive lives.

I also have some very big news, in August we will be moving house and yard to Hampshire. This is so we can expand the business and have all our horses at home. The new yard will have 18 stables, an indoor and outdoor school, 34 acres of paddocks, massive storage barns, solarium, hot and cold water, and lots of off-road hacking to keep the horses fit. I am very excited about the move, and hopefully it will provide me with more career opportunities.

Hopefully, the next few months will be busier competition wise, as all horses regain full fitness, and hopefully we will have a good outdoor season. I am very excited to be working with Petplan Equine this year, as it is a company my family have used for years, and have trusted. We have over five horses insured, and have made many claims, and never once had a problem!