Blogs

So, as most of you know, I have moved to KY to join Debbie and Dana Banfield at Gail Austin-Elman's Gayla Driving Center. Wendy is continuing full steam ahead with plans for her first selection trial of the season - next week at Sunshine State.

To top it all off, we have finally decided to get married! No date set yet, but we'll keep you posted!

Submitted by Sterling (& Wendy, who's on the road, and couldn't wait to get home to tell)

Another trip to South Africa is imminent. This time I am flying into Johannesburg and then down to George on the southern coast, for the South African Equine Veterinary Association (SAEVA) congress. The ICEEP conference is looming (November), and I need to meet with some sponsors and the National organising committee.

We have also just launched the website for the first SA Horse Expo (http://www.sahorse2010.co.za/) which will be run in Johannesburg immediately before the ICEEP meeting.

As I am sitting in my office putting together my talks, I get a text from my friend in practice in SA, Dr. Marc Walton, who informs me that it is currently 44°C where he is. Fortunately, in George its only 25°C, but with 78% humidity that will feel more like the low 30’s.

It’s been a long time since I have really enjoyed watching England play rugby. Today’s win over Wales was very very enjoyable. I’m now really regretting not going to Twickenham.

We finally have a name for the band. We were temporarily “The Banned”, but then we found out that was the name of a band in Eastenders some years ago. We were then briefly “Wendy’s Big Dubai Chicken Curry”, which came from using all our nicknames. Don’t ask. We then decided this was too long. Someone said band names often mean nothing, like the Arctic Monkeys, to which I replied, just like Desert Penguins. And that has stuck. We are officially “The Desert Penguins”.  Apparently we also have a Facebook site (see link below). And the most scary part of all is that we are playing our first gig in Ashley on Saturday the 6th March!

Desert Penguins Facebook Page

I visit William and Maureen Haggas to see their new treadmill installation. It’s been up and running about a month, and they have a fair number of horses trained to walk, trot and canter. The treadmill is housed in a new metal framed and clad building, which is ideal in size, with about 2-3 metres space on all sides of the treadmill. It’s nice and bright inside and the horses seem very settled. The staff have done an excellent job in training the horses. Many people now seem to think treadmills are old technology, but they have many uses. Horses that are excitable and which have a tendency to bolt, can’t bolt on a treadmill. Horses with back problems can have 2-4 riderless sessions a week, giving the back a chance to recover. There are so many potential ways to utilize a treadmill.

The recent confirmation of horses with Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA), or “swamp fever”, was of great concern to all those involved with horses. The last confirmed cases of EIA in the UK was in the 1970’s, as far as I recall. Today the OIE (Office International des Epizooties, which is also now known as The World Organisation for Animal Health), announced that they had traced the source of the infected horses to Belgium. However, these animals had in fact originated in Romania. Through my work with World Horse Welfare and the trade in slaughter horses, we had already raised concerns about the spread of a number of diseases, including EIA. In fact, this was one of my concluding slides in my presentation at World Horse Welfare’s annual conference at the Royal Geographic Society last November. Hopefully this is a wake-up call and appropriate steps will be taken to prevent the spread of EIA, and other diseases, through Europe.

Steph Casson is jumping two of her horses down at Towerlands today. It’s about an hour from Newmarket, and I set off at 2:00 pm in order to ensure that I am there to see her horse, Jago, jump at 4:00 pm. It’s an indoor eventer class. Jago is more than capable of clearing any of the fences in the class outdoors, but indoors there are a lot of fences crammed into a small area. I have some reservations. Unfortunately, Jago has a few fences down. The ones where he has 5-6 strides to settle beforehand are fine, but the tight turns and short distances don’t suit him and he cannot get into a nice rhythm. I arrive back home for the last part of my wife’s birthday party, and divorce is narrowly avoided.

I drive over to Bedford for a meeting with Sandie Chambers. Sandie is based near Aston-le-walls, and so Bedford is a good compromise. We meet in The Swan hotel, next to the river. Its dry, warm, the coffee and biscuits are good, and my only complaint is that it’s a little noisy. The hotel is swarming with “older” ladies and gentleman who appear to be on a bowls tour, and are discussing tactics rather loudly.

I have a meeting in Newmarket with a potential new client. I did see signs of the recession starting to pinch and affect some or my clients towards the latter part of 2009, but since January 1st, things have been pretty frantic with a number of new approaches.

When you work for yourself, working on weekends becomes almost second nature. That said, there is a danger of weekends or time off disappearing completely, if you are not careful. I am driving down to Stansted airport to meet Amanda Renouard, who helps me with my PR. We meet in the Radisson hotel next to the airport which is usually fairly quiet on weekends. I am slightly surprised to find a table occupied by a group of Italians in jodhpurs. I don’t recognise them immediately as riders, and wonder if it’s just a fashion look!