Stable renovation: part 2

And ta-daaaaa here it is! 🤗 Isn't it amazing?

Here's some progress shots from the last four weeks since my last update ⤵️ The builders have worked so hard, you can't be anything but incredibly impressed with them! They've done plenty of 12 hour days and have been happy to answer any questions and queries that we may have had AND they've consulted us whenever there has been anything that they thought we would like done differently. The work that has gone into this building is quality! 10/10 for the builders, they were all amazing. 👏🏻

#rootd: plum and navy

Well it's been a while since my last #rootd blog post, but having survived another week of renovations, family visiting, sorting out paperwork, I was SUPER excited when my Feather Dressage delivery arrived! 🛍 I've been living in my own little bubble ever since moving to Wiltshire and my life has generally consisted of renovating, painting, moving furniture, cleaning and attempting to have some kind of a normal social life and catching up with friends - it's not left much time for blogging, taking photos or training properly! But now that the house is starting to look like 'our house' and the barn renovation project is nearly done, I thought it was well past the time for me to return back to blogging with a bang 💥

Saddle pad: Eskadron plum cotton

Bandages: Eskadron plum

Over reach boots: Eskadron Platinum navy 

Top:  Navy HV Polo Elaine

Breeches: Kingsland Chisasib leggings

Riding exercise of the month: transitions in lateral movements

I recently saw this floating about on Facebook again and this picture really caught my eye and inspired me for this month's riding exercise! ⤵️ I use most of these movements in my every day riding, just because it really helps to achieve a much straighter horse in comparison to just riding around aimlessly and adding in a few oddly shaped circles here and there. 

I often warm up in walk using shoulder in, travers, leg yield and half pass on all of my horses. It's a super easy way of suppling them and getting them to actually pay attention to me, which I've found to really help to achieve a better schooling session. Once I've warmed up in walk, I've been adding in trot-walk-trot transitions down the long sides whilst doing any of the lateral movements. It really is not as easy as it sounds! 😬 It's a big brain work out for both you and the horse, but it also helps with all of the other work. With Erik, the biggest difference that I've noticed has been that a straighter and more supple horse is not only an easier horse to ride (obvious much!) but also that we get much better flying changes! For a horse that is long and a bit slow, trot-walk-trot transitions down the long side whilst doing shoulder in and travers has been the best idea ever 💡

Trends to watch out for: Equestrian Stockholm AW18 collection

And to round off the end of August (which means autumn is officially here tomorrow!) let's have a quick look at Equestrian Stockholm's new AW18 collection. If you love red, you'll be happy and if you love navy or green you'll be over the moon, but if you don't, then this collection might not set your matchy world on fire.

Like PS of Sweden, Equestrian Stockholm has gone for the two staple colours of autumn with a bordeaux red and a deep brown. Whilst I'm not a big fan of brown on my any of my horses, and although I know how absolutely lovely the bordeaux red will look on bay and grey horses, what has really caught my eye in this collection is the white edge pad which has finally been released in dressage (SJers have been lucky to have had this for two seasons now!) I think it is SO smart, a beautiful twist on their midnight blue pad  which means you can easily wear white or navy bandages with it - it is perfect for training! ⤵️

Trends to watch out for: Eskadron Classic AW18 collection

With love from... Eskadron! Have you already seen the newest Eskadron Classic collection for this autumn/winter? 🍁🍂❄️

After years of waiting for the return of purple, it's finally here in a Classic collection. Eskadron have created a lovely collection, with masses of glitter and sparkles thrown in, so for the magpies out there resistance is futile! ✨ The colours of this collection are called plum, lavender, atlantic blue, dark navy, marshmallow and silver pearl. Plum appears to be pretty close to last year's blackberry Platinum but several shades darker with a navy tinge to it, whilst atlantic blue looks identical to the Next Generation's 2015 royal blue so if you missed out on that, this will be a good alternative! Silver pearl looks pretty much the same as violet grey from last year's Platinum collection BUT the cotton, big square and the glossy emblem pads all have the edging in plum or lavender which does create a contrast and a bigger difference. So far the only one that looks like a total copy of a previous collection is the silver pearl glossy big square - see for yourself ⤵️

Also a funny thing to note is that plum is available in seven different styles of saddle pads, atlantic blue in six, silver pearl and dark navy both in five, but marshmallow only in one style as well as the lavender colour in only two and there are no matching bandages or boots for it! Which I think is a real shame, it's such a pretty colour and I know it would have sold well 💸