The Bradshaw Family

What about one of those cage type seats they use for people riding elephants?
You could get a piggy sized one made for them to ride on top of Woody.
I would have thought one of our creative people could put one together for you. :D
 
Both Koda and I have had a very long day….💤💤

It’s race weekend for us all, which meant getting all cars sorted and over to the track first thing 🏎 then practice sessions today.

Koda had fun playing with his buddies today, in between.

Then a rush back for a training session with Woody and our brilliant coach (turned out to be a hardcore session for us both)…

And as always there’s still our business to run, piggies to look after, housework and the shopping… 💤💤💤💤💤 what a day!

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Afternoon all, hope everyone is well!

I am trying my best to work through all of the new posts and catch up. I'm always so busy! So I am very sorry if I miss anything.

Updates from us:

Piggies

Piggies are very well and our cooling strategies meant no one suffered from the heat the last few days. The boys very much appreciated summer hair cuts (mostly Bobby and Thor - being the long haired piggies).
All were treated to new water bottles and some watermelon treats at the weekend.
Banner is still acting like a spring chicken - despite being 7 years old. Always first to run over for some nuggets in the mornings.
Even though we have the reinforced door to the piggy room, they all have the most fantastic hearing. Seems as soon as my eyes open in the morning and I move to get out of bed, they know I'm up and the choir practice begins!
Stark and Thor are closer than ever (amazing since they were once sworn enemies). I caught them snuggled up together in the hay again (though they will tell you otherwise - apparently for their 'reputation's stake' I'm not supposed to tell anyone.
Bobby and Rufus are still loving life in the penthouse suite. Rufus knows I will feed them first, in an effort to curb the that bar biting habit of his!

Woody

Woody is still progressing with his training and transition from show jumper to dressage horse. We are still aiming to compete this summer. He's still costing me a fortune. I booked his physio and dentist appointments today; and he has the vet for his booster jabs next month too! Then there is the cost of our trainers three times a month. Oh and I have him booked in with the farrier this week too. He forgets that mum would actually like some new competition gear before our dressage season begins! On top of all this, he thought it would be an amazing idea to destroy his fly rug on Saturday. So off mum went to the tack shop... again... to buy another. He still very much believes that he is royalty and has everyone on the yard swooning over him. Though he doesn't have to work hard at being handsome! He knows how pretty he is.
In our training we have been more focused on forward impulsion in some of the more basic work. He prefers a more challenging session and has incredible ability to really sit behind (so canter pirouettes and flying changes are easy for him), but can be a bit lazier with some of the basic stuff (typical gelding)! So I keep mixing up his training regime with our schooling sessions, pole work sessions, lunge work on the pessoa/in side reins and hacking out. He's that well bred which ultimately means he is that well 'wired' in his brain too lol. So I have to keep him busy and occupied. I would really love to take him on a beach trip this summer too. It's a good job he loves travelling - as I have lots of plans!
We have managed to get ourselves two sponsors this year too, so we hope we make them proud on the dressage circuit!

Koda

Koda had a fantastic time at dog fest this weekend. It was a brilliant event, and lots of money raised for rescue charities. He particularly loved playing in the ball pool, and getting to say hello to every dog that we came across.
He is coping well with summer so far. He has his cool mat and it is cool in the house. Though at times I find him sprawled out on the grass, sun-bathing. Turns out Huskies like to sun-bathe, despite being designed for the snow... who knew? haha.
He is still very much a mummy's boy and cuddles up with me on the sofa/round chair most evenings. He loves being at the stables, but I think that mostly has something to do with him enjoying hunting the cats!
We are planning on taking him on a camping trip this summer. He loves camping! We will probably be heading to our favourite place (Barnard Castle) at some point later in the summer (before the start of a new semester at work).


Other news

We are just extremely busy as always. But it's lovely! All businesses are thriving. We have had some huge landscaping projects and I'm getting a lot of requests in my photography business.

We have completed some fantastic landscaping projects recently and are well booked up for years. It's great to have so many jobs now coming in from word of mouth - keeps my marketing costs down! Plus Dan is so fantastic at what he does, that it's really being reflected in the amount of customers we have enquire from recommendations.

The photography is going well and I'm getting lots of requests now. Getting lots of practice in! My page on Facebook is: Nichola Bradshaw Photography

My lecturing job is going well and I've booked some AL for the summer. Students have all finished now, so it's mostly planning for next year. Next year I'll be delivering some brilliant modules again; including equine biomechanics, equine nutrition, equine exercise physiology, equitation and development of horse and rider, equine business management and consultancy, developing the equine athlete, research project and equine therapy and rehabilitation. We still have 60 horses in, but I think we will be welcoming some nice new ones for next semester. We also have the mechanical horse that is proving really useful too. I love training sessions on it, it's fab for rider development and core work.

The motorsport brand I developed has taken a little set back this year; mostly due to my lack of time! It's hard having a full time job and two businesses to run, let alone launching the brand. Yet the trademark went through, so that's great news! It's all done and ready for when I get time. I am considering approaching other companies to help with launching; and I already have a potential investor lined up - so that's exciting too. It was great to be able to do some networking at the last motorsport event we attended too.
Dan is very keen to get competing in the motorsport world again - he had a break to get his business off the ground. He's torn between competing in motorsport and enjoying his mountain biking - as both always fall at the weekend!
I very much love the motorsport and can't wait to get to some more races this year. I'm more than happy to be pit crew in return for Dan being my dressage groom!

So in a nutshell, we are both up at 5.30am every day. I have to get in my training sessions (fitness for competing this year), dog walking, horses, work, three businesses, dressage training, piggy time and I still have our house run! lol. But it's great. I love being active and keeping busy. Not to mention we now have motorsport events to fit in (and we still have a dozen project cars that Dan needs to get restored and finished so that they can make show season when he is not racing the others)!


I really hope there are some forum meets this year - it would be lovely to meet up with people!
 
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