Equestrian property with 3 bed House For Sale 8 Acres, 9 stables, 44x27m Manege.

On sale with Grant and Co of Ledbury, due to go live on their site in next few days.

http://www.grantco.co/ 

Courtyard/hardstanding at rear of house, with an original well still with water 30 foot down, carport and also 2 stables plus another carport which are out of shot on the right.

Patio is made from ancient flagstones rescued from a derelict barn from a nearby farm.

View from house to stables, Manege and top paddocks.

Lounge with views to both the stables, Manege and paddock and front view is to the Hills and Commonland. 

Main bedroom, two windows one overlooks the stables, paddocks and Manege and the other has stunning views over Castlemorton Common and of The Malvern Hills.

Kitchen - again with views to the stables, Manege and paddocks.

View of common and hills from our gate and front windows, you can ride over 2000 acres of common land and Hills direct from our front gate. You can walk or ride to the top of the Hills shown with only crossing over one main B road, it's stunning riding. 

Solihull unaffiliated & Our House for Sale stables & 10 Acres approx

Massimo was a good boy at his first 80 ode at Sollihull, a 32 dressage, 1 pole SJ and clear XC with a few time. Really pleased as he is progressing so well. Ant stayed at home today as we are busy getting our house ready for selling. (See info at bottom of this post) 

I took Ants niece Lizzy (see pic) who rode her Mums horse Duvet Day, I bred him and then produced him to BE100 level. Lizzy's mum bought him off me as a hunter for herself, but Lizzy has decided he can have a go at some Eventing again. Duvet Day is the most lovely kind and gentle horse, he was named Duvet Day as when he was born he wouldn't get up!!!! They did a super double clear. It was a bit lonely Eventing without Ant and his fab sense of humour, although 13 year old Lizzy made me laugh  she put make up on for dressage declaring there maybe a photo opportunity and then later she complained that the cross country had made her sweat!!!! 

Our house is due on the market soon with Grant and Co of Ledbury. It's 10 (mostly flat) acres, spilt into 6 well fenced paddocks, 44 x 27m manège with spring ride rubber/sand surface, 9 stables (4 of them are huge, 15 foot x 20 foot) There's a large barn used as a lorry/hay store, a large concrete yard and a large walled muck heap storage area. there are also a few XC jumps including 2 ditches and a bank. I love that the stables and manege and XC field can all be seen from the kitchen and bedroom windows. Right outside the property's main gate there is 2000 acres of stunningly beautiful road free riding over the Malvern Hills and Castlemorton Common. Paddocks are either post and rails or horse small wire mesh fencing, designed specially so horses are less likely to get hooves caught in the fence, its more expensive (around 5k to do all the paddocks)  but worth it as we have had some really expensive event horses turned out here.

The house is 3 bedroom with views of the common and hills, the common is right outside the front gate and the property is situated down a no through, quiet country lane which provides easy access to the main road for The Lorry (no tight bends or low trees etc), we are about 700 yards from the main road the B4208. There's a local shop 10 mins walk and M5/M50 are 10 mins drive. 

Price guide is offers over £575,000. Photos due on Grant and Co website later this week and I will put some on here and facebook too.

We have lived here 18 years, the house for some people may need upgrading slightly but we would happily live here as it is for another 18 years. We had it rewired when we moved in and it had new windows fitted only a few years ago and a complete new worcester boiler oil fired heating system installed 3 years ago, all completely brand new pipes and radiators etc. We are only moving as Ant has inherited a similar size farmhouse just a mile down the road which has more land.

Mount Ballan BE90

I have a nasty cold that is sapping me of energy and I can't breath. I decided to run Rif Raf at Mount Ballan despite feeling poorly as I knew she would look after me and with the rain we had this week it seemed daft to withdraw when we would have perfect ground.

Luckily I had a fab helper in my friend Nikki who made the whole day a lot more fun and she also helped my energy levels by helping get Rif Raf ready. It was a yard outing as Emma, my livery, was competing, our times were close together so we all went along in the same lorry. A full lorry made the outing like an episode from The Darling Buds Of May, especially as the Welsh Sun was shining and Nikki had made us some nice cakes!!!!

Rif Raf did her job perfectly finishing in 14th place. The XC looked smaller than Solihull but it was much more technical, with turning fences, 2 sunken roads, a water with a,b,c elements and fences on angles. We also shared a few 100 fences. This was the first time Rif Raf went inside the time XC, she is really getting into a good XC rhythm now. 

Emma's day went really well too as she finished in 2nd place gaining a regional final place. Emma was one of two riders I coach who gained a regional final place as Annabel on Vainquer won the same section. Now that would be very exciting if they both got to Badminton next year. 

Pictures below kindly taken by Rory Horton-Smith and Nikki Cox.

Groom Badminton 4* XC day

I arrived really early when Badminton Park was still relatively quiet, although there was still a quiet buzz as the excitement of XC day dawned. 

The food fussy Mr Potts had eaten well overnight, he is now on Gain Horse Feeds combined with plenty of carrots. He had also munched through most of his haylage, he has two large nets one hung at the back of his box and the other over the door, so he could choose to either eat and be nosey or to eat and not be nosey. Potts likes being nosey.

I grazed Potts for 2 hours in front of Badminton House, The crowds were building and he had loads of his fans come to see him, readers of Eventing Magazine had seen Louises Monthly Diary and recognised his big white face from the photos in the Magazine. Although they seemed to think it was Mr Potts Diary!!!

Below on our way out of the yard to go grazing.

Jackie, Louise and I discussed our count down plan to XC and then set off to the riders tent to see how the XC was riding. We watched in surprise as the early riders made it look easy, clear after clear came through the finish with only time faults making any difference to their dressage marks. At 12.30 we caught a buggy back to the Stables, as we got Potts ready we could hear over the tannoy that the XC was beginning to cause more trouble, the first horse to have a jumping error ironically was horse number 13.  Louise tried not to listen as the first few falls were announced and there was more trouble mainly at The Lake and the Mirage Pond. The Pond was 3 angled brushes, set on undulating ground with water between the first two.

Below Louise hacking through the main stable yard at Badminton on her way to XC.

Louise and Potts warmed up well, they had a last minute chat with Mark Todd about how to ride the Mirage Pond and they were off. They both looked fab, Potts was pinging and Louise was riding superbly. She sat well back at The Lake, she is so tiny and light (7 stone) she has to sit well back otherwise Potts powerful jump can fling her forward like a ping pong ball. Pics by Emma Horton-Smith

Sadly they had a glance off at the last part of the Mirage Pond but otherwise a brilliant clear. Louise was dissapointed when she got back, but she soon was smiling! It was Potts first Badminton after all and he had got round with one tiny mistake. It was also fab that Potts had finished looking fresh & his heart rate had recovered really fast. 

After he was washed off and vet checked I led him back to the stables, he still had plenty of spring in his steps. Pic below. 

We left Potts to rest in his stable while we watched the rest of the XC and then I grazed him for an hour in the evening. Jackie and Louise gave him a trot up to check he was sound, he looked perfect so it's fingers crossed for Sunday's trot up, vet check and Show Jumping. A really good day. :-)

Groom for Potts Badminton 4* dressage day

Potts had late dressage times so in the morning Jackie and I grazed Mr Potts and then walked the XC with Louise, it looks fab, ground is perfect and course looks very jumpable this year.

The quarry is early on and has a huge table as its 2nd element on the brow of a steep uphill slope, I guess it's warning horses to sharpen up as this is a 4* star track. Hunters Close is easier this year with 2 brush corners on a kind left hand turn. Both the colt pond (renamed the Mirage pond this year) and the lake look tricky, both with tight lines, built for horses who really help you by looking for the flags themselves, although this could confuse these horses as once jumped into the lake there is a choice of 3 fences with flags to lock onto, I am sure at least one horse will lock on too enthusiastically and end up jumping the boat the wrong way! The direct route at The Lake especially requires a genuine horse who turns easily. Mr Potts is easier to turn left than he is right, some of the turning fences suit him better than others. The trio of silver birch rails has had the riders scratching their heads with several choices of line through the combination. Less tiring and less twisty is the direct route, but it's interesting curving lines looks more suited to a mounted games pony than a big striding 4* horse, who maybe running on tired legs by this late stage of the course.

All in all Louise felt there was plenty of room for error with some tricky fences but there was nothing Mr Potts couldn't jump, it's his first Badminton so you can never tell how a horse will react to a new track, but she was really confident after course walk number 1.  She was due to walk the course several more times on Friday to get all the lines really clear in her head.

In the afternoon Jackie and I plaited up Mr Potts while Louise got all poshed up in her tails. The pair of them looked stunning and Potts warmed up really well and went in and did a nice test, he didn't seem phased by the atmosphere of the busy arena and only really made one mistake when he misread a flying change, it was a shame as he then muddled the canter up that followed. He scored a mark of 56 putting him in a place that could be really competitve with a double clear. Louise was a little dissapointed as she felt the change mistake was partly her fault and she had hoped for a mark in the low 50s. 

Below Potts grazing with Louises Mum (who is also his breeder) Jackie in front of Badminton House.

Groom at Badminton 4* - trot up day

BI arrived at about 8 am and the day flew by. I first tracked down Louise Harwood and her mum Jackie in their lorry. Wiggy sorted out my wrist band pass to get me into the stables and she collected two new saddles from her sponsor. Then we had a call from Jackie to come and help sort Potts out as he was grumpy and getting wound up in his stable. It turned out the french horse next to him had been taken out for a hack and Potts was cross at being left in on his own.

 It took four of us to tack him up with me running across Badminton Park nipping his girth up a hole at a time as he wouldn't stand still to have it tightened.

Once he had been worked in for an hour (and been rained on) his high spirits seemed to subside and thankfully on returning to his box he settled down to eat his Haynet.

We all had a nice lunch in the riders canteen, I was in awe of the whole place, over the years I have read so many books and seen so many pictures of behind the scenes at Badminton Horse trials, that to be experiencing it for real and to be walking though the famous stable yards was an amazing feeling.

After lunch I went with Wiggy to the shops to collect some bits and pieces from her various Sponsors and Wiggy also bought a few new things Potts needed for the competition ahead. 

I went back to the stables and helped Jackie finish plaiting Potts mane and making him nice and tidy ready for the vet inspection & trot up. He passed the trot up with flying colours, but even so it's still always a slightly nervous few minutes. They rejected 3 horses who all had to be re presented, one was susequently eliminated from the competition, very sad for all concerned.

Below Potts and Wiggy waiting to present for the trot up in the yard beside Badminton House, the riders canteen is just off this yard. The stable yards are a seemingly maze of arch ways and stunning buildings like the ones in the background. 

I drove out of the park at 7 pm and realised I had been so occupied with the 4* event I hadn't looked at any of the grassroots course or results and had completely missed all of the BYEH classes. Oh well I am sure there will be other years I can watch those!