J P Daker

Farewell to Rubis

We took 6 horses to Bolesworth Castle show at the weekend and had a very good time with all of the horses jumping well and receiving plenty of rosettes. During the weekend we were approached by Ian and William Whitaker and asked if we would sell Rubis. After some tears and much discussion we made the difficult decision to sell Rubis to them for William to jump. We wish William luck and hopefully one day they will be on a British team. We have seen them at lots of shows and they have formed a good partnership and look likely to be a top pair.

Our other horses have continued to jump well at all the shows with Secret moving up to the 1.30 level and doing well with Double clears, even winning one! Alice (aka Zarissa) has continued to jump well and Artisan also has done some 1.30s well. Oso has found her balance and is now ready to try a 1.30 level at the next show. They all have their Double Clears for next years foxhunters Scope next week.....having qualified them all for several class ..... And an adult camp on at the end of the week we are only taking Artisan for the newcomers Masters.

We are nearly at the end of the six Pony Club camps, being held here at Bow House. They have all been great fun and we love having them here. After the four adult camps we will then start the clinics and shows.

The horses are continuing with their Dengie diets, with the show jumpers being fed Fibremix Compliment. This is a fantastic feed, easy to use and the horses do very well on it and have great energy without to much fizziness. The liveries are currently out at grass with a daily feed of haylage, however some are still having a hard feed as well consisting of a small amount of Fibremix Compliment and some Alfa-A or Hi-Fi Molasses Free depending on their energy requirements.

The two oldies are still doing ok with their soup of Alfa-Beet, sadly we keep finding teeth so next time the vet is here we will have a good look to see how many they now have. Last year Little Rupert had only a couple on his left side and about 1/2 on the right, he also gets colic, choke and laminates, none of which he has had since the Dengie feed advisors recommended his current diet (touchwood). He has not been ridden for years but still enjoys his life. His pal Rosalind is a bit younger at 31, she still gets ridden a few times a week, Doreen (71) her rider still likes to canter and Rosalind doesn't like to go this fast, so it is fun to watch the battle. Rosalind usually wins, that is until JP or one of the girls gives her a lead off another horse and then Rosalind forgets her age and tries to race...slowly.