Guest blogger interviews – No.1 Nutty Nags

Welcome to our new monthly interviews, devoted to guest bloggers.

Each month we will be featuring an interview from a different guest blogger and getting to know more about them and their blogs. I am hoping this slot will allow readers to find a whole host of new and inspiring bloggers to follow.

First up is the lovely Vanessa Hill from Nutty nags. Vanessa is a retired lady who lives in the UK, she writes about all things equestrian, from tips to product reviews. Vanessa enjoys eventing as a more mature rider and proves she has what it takes to be a great equestrian.

Photo Credit: Vanessa Hill

Read on to find out what Vanessa had to share with us…

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The Mama Equestrian and Becks Back in the Saddle.

So, this post has a bit of a twist to it and has been created by ourselves and equestrian blogger Becky Oliver, from Becks back in the Saddle, for a collaboration post. A few weeks back Becky contacted me, asking if our Facebook group members, could be approached to gather their personal experiences of riding, during pregnancy and following childbirth and if we could create a joint post.

Becky got a good response to the post and has included these in her blog (link here), as she is currently writing about her own experiences of being pregnant, whilst riding. In my post, I will be including my personal experiences and tips for riding with children, as I have 3 children myself and I have never ridden whilst being pregnant.

Photo credit: Becky Oliver

My 10 favourite equestrian items.

Here I am going to share with you my ten favourite equestrian items. I have a real mixture of items, some are for riding and others those I just like when attending the yard.

No.1 – LeMieux saddle pad, I have numerous colours of these, my favourite is the close contact style as this sits nicely under the saddle. I also have a couple of dressage pads too. I love the vibrant colours of these pads and they wash up well too.

 

January ride report!

This weeks blog post is live and I am SO excited about it… because it’s my January ride reports! 🙌🏻 Firstly can I say hallelujah that January has finally come to an end, this month goes on forever, I’m sure all the calendars are wrong and there are really 131 days in this never-ending sodding month! However, we have made it to February and the days are gradually getting lighter, so I no longer have to go to and from work in the dark!

Despite the cold, wet weather and an illness I have managed a number of rides this month and completed 12.7 miles! Now I know to some this will seem like an insignificant amount but to me it is amazing, seeing as this time last year me and Fred could barely get out the yard alone. Most of the rides this month have been alone, due to work commitments and a poorly field companion who we ride with, as she has had some box rest this month!

Equestrian Bloggers list for 2020.

Here is my 2020 list of Equestrian bloggers who I follow and enjoy reading, some I have followed for a while, whilst others are fairly new. I hope you enjoy reading through my list and possibly find some new and interesting bloggers to follow. If you follow someone who you think I would like to know about, then please leave me a comment below!

No 1. In due horse Written by Louise Dando, Louise lives in France and blogs about all types of equestrian life, from riding, to events, fashion and travel. She also has an In due horse book club group on Facebook and is one of 3 bloggers who co-host a podcast called Equestrian pulse.

2019 reflections and looking forward to 2020

Anyone who knows me will know, I don’t really like New Year, I just don’t get it! However, I couldn’t not reflect on the past year and how much progress me and Fred have made. Now don’t get me wrong it has not been without its ups and downs and the beginning of 2019 started out badly with a bit of a confidence knock after a hard fall in the school. We went back to groundwork and continued to hack as this was still fine, most of the time and only with company. If I tried to hack alone he would try to return to the yard which was frustrating and put me off trying.

Then in April we moved yards and everything fell into place, he settled well and once again was the horse I knew before moving to the previous yard, it is strange how they react at some places. We started to hack out alone and he has grown in

Top 5 on my reading list!

Now Autumn is upon us, I enjoy nothing more than snuggling up with a good book. I am going to share with you my upcoming reading list which includes a mixture of horsey and parenting humour!

No.1 on my list is by Victoria Brant of the Wimpy Eventer. I finally completed the set by treating myself to the 3rd and final book when I purchased a signed copy at Burghley horse trials the other week.

Confidence after babies

During June I ran a couple of polls on social media to find out about the confidence of riding after having children and becoming a mother. As parents, we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do our best and try to be a model parent and this also extends to activities outside of parenting. This can lead us to doubt ourselves and our ability to be as good as we once were and this can affect one’s confidence.

So let’s review the top reasons given, as to why we struggle with confidence after having children:

1. Fear of being hurt – I can relate to this, being older now I certainly don’t bounce like I use to.

2. Not being as good – Again it’s that pressure to be perfect and not fail or be seen to fail.

3. Guilt – This I think is a big one for most and we get this from all angles, from feeding choices to going back to work. However, it’s important that mums have some time for our emotional health.

One reason though that I expected to get more votes, was pain following childbirth, this got minimal votes but goes to show how great women are and how resilient we are after such a painful ordeal. However, becoming a mother can change

Chatsworth horse trials

During May, me and my daughters went to the Dodson & Horrell horse trials in the beautiful grounds of Chatsworth house. This is my second year of attending and this time we went for the final day which included the event rider masters CIC 4*-S4 Cross Country.

We began in the village browsing the variety of shopping on offer with names such as Joules, Noble Outfitters and House of Tweed along with many more. Obviously one cannot attend such an event without buying a few items which at the time

Time Management for Equestrian Mamas

Does anyone remember life before kids? My little one is only 16 months old so it’s not quite yet a distant memory for me. One thing in particular that sticks out about life before motherhood though, is how I always used to complain how busy I was. If I had a time machine I would go back and karate chop myself in the face because that woman absolutely DID NOT know busy. And if I thought making time for horses was hard BC (before child) then I was in no way prepared for how I would manage it post child.

Truth is, even after kids we are really good at making ourselves seem busier than we actually are. I know you’ve just instinctively got your hackles up and are ready to say, “excuse me I AM busy” and it’s true, you are. We all are. We’re raising babies and that isn’t easy. But, for most of us, we’re not as busy as we think. We’re just inefficient.

When you think of time management techniques your mind probably automatically goes to those in business, but absolutely anyone can employ these tactics in their everyday life and watch their efficiency and effectiveness soar. Today I wanted to share with you my favourite time management techniques and how I think equestrian mamas can use them in their life to reclaim some time for horse-related activities.