Cara Shardlow’s blog: All the horses are looking and feeling great!

We catch up with Horslyx Ambassador Cara Shardlow to find out what has been going on since we last spoke to her just after her wedding!

“When I last wrote we were in a hotel just about to jet off on our Honeymoon, we had an amazing time, Venice was beautiful and Lake Garda very relaxing, a big thank you to everyone who looked after the yard while we were away.”

“So after having a relaxed month the horses are getting going again, Rhythmic Times has not been competing but we went for our first lesson together in over a year since his operation with our trainer Becky Moody. She was very pleased with how much more supple he was and finding the changes and canter pirouette work much easier. I am so pleased he is much better after surgery but also I think that at 15 the Mobility Horslyx are really helping his joints. I have struggled in the past to get him to eat any powdered joint supplement so this is a much better option as he loves the Horslyx and looks and feels so much better.”

“There seems to be a new star emerging at the yard in my homebred 5yr old Regal Lilly. She has been out getting some fantastic affiliated scores, the highest being 74% at prelim and she has just had two plus 70% scores at novice level – winning her last 4 tests. It is so rewarding breeding and then competing the youngsters, she will now be aimed at the Area Festivals in August.”

“Detonator is feeling far too well after his trip to the Nationals and a bit of time off. He went out to try out our new music and floor plan designed for us by Equivisions in March. We went to Manor Grange – a new venue for him, to contest the Medium and Advanced Medium freestyle qualifiers. He was so excited in the warm up launching us both all over when he could hear the music. It did not get any better when we went in to do our first test, he decided the speaker at the top end was very scary and put in some of his own movements popping in a few spins and fancy foot work. Fortunately this was between movements and the judge loved him so he came away with 2 wins and qualification for the regionals, sometimes I don’t know how he gets away with it! He was a little better behaved at Frys and won there with a 70% score so I just need to keep getting him out and calmed down for the regionals in August which I have just had conformation through of his qualification so really looking forwards to that.”

“All the horses are looking in super condition on their Horslyx, with shiny coats and the youngsters are benefiting from their Garlic Horslyx now the flies and midges are out in force, especially Sando my newly broken 4 year old who was really struggling with the midges. I think most people think that the licks would be gone in no time but I have 4 youngsters out with a 15kg lick and they really do regulate their intake.”

“Here at Beckside Livery Stables we run an unaffiliated dressage championship series every year with points accumulated over 5 shows from intro to novice, including junior sections. We have one more competition to go on 26th June and the points are fairly close in some sections so it could be a nail biting finish. I would like to say a big thank you to Horslyx, our sponsors for this series, they have provided some fantastic prizes for the winners, everyone is so excited about competing for the chance to take something home with them. This is my 12th year running them and the entries keep increasing year on year, dressage is certainly increasing in popularity.”

“So that’s all for now I will now be working hard for the Area Festivals and regionals coming up plus I am hoping to get out eventing again in the next few weeks, lots to look forwards to!”