Today was the warmest day of the year so far so after the Saturday riding several of the horses had a bath. Freddie went very ginger as he was washed with a chestnut shampoo and Merlin had his mane plaited. The horses at Solihull also had their tails washed. At Rowney Green Tara seemed settled but was too hot in her winter rug so she had to come in at night as we couldn't find a thinner rug to put her in and didn't want to leave her out without a rug.

Today was a busy day as there was a teacher's strike and so Ros was accompanied by Jemma, Heidi, Kezzia and Lauren D. At about 12 o'clock Tara the new pony arrived at Alvechurch. She was not too bothered by her journey and appeared to settle in well. George came to help and so Buster was ridden by Jemma. Unfortunately he could hear Tara calling him form down the road so he was a bit unsettled. Tara was put in a separate field to settle in and seemed happy.

Today a digger and a dumper arrived on the field to clear the site for the new stables. It was slow progress dismantling the hen pen but by the end of the day most of the pen and the debris was cleared away. Most of the horses had to be stabled all day because of the diggers so there was an opportunity for those who have helped with the horses all winter to ride and exercise the horses to compensate for their lack of turnout.

Today was quite a busy day with variable weather so we took the horses for a hack out in the morning. Freddie couldn't come out on the hack as there werent enough leaders but when we got back in the field he did lunge on both reins- after a little persuasion. In the afternoon Alice, Amelia and Jemma went to Solihull Riding Club to volunteer to help with the British eventing. They helped to carry the sheets for the dressage and got to watch the Cross country and the showjumping. In return for helping they were given vouchers that can be used at the club for hiring the school or paying for show entry fees. The afternoon lessons went well with Mia (5 years) riding Bertie on her own for the first time.

Saturday morning was busy as usual although some people were away on their easter holidays. Unfortunately by the end of the day it was beginning to rain and hail and wintry showers were expected so all the horses were put in for the night. We went to Rowney Green to take some more hay for Buster and also to clean his tack.

The loans this week have gone very well. Buster particularly has settled down a lot and is feeling much happier in his new home. Today Apollo, Mo and Indy went up to Solihull club with George and Nina. They hired the indoor school and used it to practice jumping. The jumps were very small as Indy and Mo are just working on gaining confidence at jumping and Apollo is trying to learn to calm down over jumping as he gets very excited.  All in all it went very well and then Jemma left to hack into Alvechurch with Buster as he is practicing going out on his own. Well done to all who loaned this week!!

Today was the tuesday evening clear round showjumping. Unfortunately there was not time to ride Buster today but Indy and Apollo were worked at Solihull.  In the afternoon the horses tails were washed as well as their legs and we took Ted, Bobby, Bess And Merlin to the jumping. Bess was much more confident about traveling as she loaded straight away and had not sweated up when she got there. Ted and Lauren jumped well and although they did not jump clear they were much better than last time as this is now Ted's second time at a show so he understood what to expect. Bess was a little excited as she had been jmping much bigger last time she was in the ring so jade found it hard to steady her and to turn so although she jumped clear she turned over her own track so she did not get a rosette. Lauren also rode Bobby who was much improved on last time as he did not throw her off and he completed his round confidently. Jemma and Merlin jumped clear over the  1'6''  so did the next round which was 2' and that was almost clear but with one run out. As the people handing out rosettes were not concenrating Jemma got the rosette anyway as they gave it to her before she had chance to say that she hadn't jumped clear. All in all the horses did very well and Kezzia also rode Merlin over the practise fences as well as Jasmine warming up Ted and Alice warming up Bess. Nina also rode Bobby as he managed to unseat Lauren when practising the higher fences but Nina also came off as she is rather tall for Bobby so finds it hard to stay on when he refused and then did a cat leap. It was a very funny looking leap that he did so it mostly made people laugh and no one was hurt. The horses traveled back safely and were happy to come home to their stables although none of them had got very sweaty as they had only been worked steadily. Well done all and many thanks to Ros for driving.