J L D EQUINE

Today is not so warm, white cloud and overcast. Had a fantastic night sleep and really didn’t want to get up this morning. Having dragged myself out of bed our nice Spanish lady explained she had put BB back in his stable again he is turning out to be a right escape artist. We have a new neighbour Judy Reynolds from Ireland. Phil cleaned the truck and it is now gleaming along with his smile! BB finally settled today and was a lot less distracted he was a pleasure to ride. Zaino is another horse ! He just loves it here ! We rode in the areana today they were cleaning the windows of the judges box normally Zaino would have gone mad but not so much as a spook ! Wow this is so nice, we are really enjoying ourselves its so relaxing, educational, and inspiring! Wish you were all here ! The spanish stallions here are awesome ! Collected rider pack today and note changes to schedule as follows; First show is on wed/thu 2 March with BB, Zaino is on thu/fri/sat. Second week BB and Zaino are on wed/thu 9th/10th with Zaino again on 11th and final week Both on wed 16th Zaino on 17th and both on final saturday assuming we qualify for finals.

Lots more people arriving today, mostly Spanish the horses are amazing ! Brennus B was still a little excited today but starting to settle, we have been practising our 2nd test which I think asks quite a lot for a 5 year old but he is trying very hard. Zaino was really good today he is just loving it, he loves all of the attention, especially as everybody thinks he is the stallion and not BB poor BB ! We have a system now which is working well I feed the horses at 7.30 am as sunrise is one hour later here, then I go back to lorry to have some breakfast then I ride then we come back for some lunch so the boys can have an afternoon nap. We then go back up to yard for 5pm and clean tack muck out etc then have dinner about 8 ish then watch a DVD then go back to yard change rugs feed etc.

We woke up this morning to another glorious day its so bright I cannot go out without sunglasses on where we are just not used to seeing the sun. Zaino was brilliant today his attitude is great he is more relaxed than yesterday and gaining in confidence all the time, I am very pleased with him or relieved or maybe both long may it continue! Brennus on the other hand is finding it all extremely exciting and very distracting! Oh and he has also learnt to escape ! He was a little better today but plenty of room for improvement ! We have not ventured out yet I have cooked everyday thanks to our Mums who stocked our fridge and freezer full of food ! Phil has had ear ache we think from his teeth problems, so I used the laser on him last night after Zaino had finished Phil was complaining endlessly that I was trying to cook his brain I reassured him that this was not the case as anyone wanting to come on Sunshine Tour rather than a luxury holiday in the caribbean for his 50th clearly did not have a brain !!!!

We slept in till 7.30 am wow! Must have been shattered ! The boys were really chilled out gave them breakfast hay muck out, and then went back to the lorry continuing setting up camp. I then went back to ride Zaino who initially was a little apprehensive about leaving his new best friend BB to walk down the lovely sandy tracks to the arena. We crossed a small bridge and into the arena I was amazed he went across the bridge !!! He was a lot fresher today than yesterday ! But I managed to keep his attention, he then worked very well for about 40 mins at which time Phil turned up on his borrowed bike (thanks Dad) and we both went out for a little hack in the pine forest which was fantastic. Phil then helped with washing down Zaino and getting BB ready (I wish we had water pressure at home like they do here) it takes 3 seconds to fill a big water bucket !!! Brennus was very distracted today and very very fresh but 40 min later he was beginning to get tired and starting to settle RELIEF !!! and again Phil and I went out for our small hack the weather is perfect beautiful blue sky about 20 ish degrees its just wonderful. We hosed of BB fed lunch and went back to the lorry for some lunch ourselves its now 2pm. What an amazing job Phil had done on the lorry whilst I was doing Zaino, he has actually laid carpet in the back where the horses go after thoroughly cleaning it out and lighting the fragrant candle Sue bought us (thanks Sue) its a wonderful dressing room and wardrobe!!! Having had some lunch we took a walk up to Show Jumping to get our identification/security passes. Security reassuringly is extremely tight here with guards on regular patrol around the stables and lorry park. We then returned to stable to start on tack cleaning etc!

So we have now arrived and thanks to a 2 hour conversation with Ash at O2 we finally managed to get the Dongle working, however the connection here in sunny Spain is rather slow so making it too difficult to upload our pictures so far, we will work on this and see what we can do ! Our final cost to get here was 1615 euro’s including stables, diesel, tolls, ferry. We filled the lorry up just before Jerez so when we pull out in 3 weeks time very early in the morning we can get going without worrying about fuel. We will need to get through Seville before the Monday morning rush hour. Still enough about going home. Yesterday we collected the car which Mum and Dad had kindly driven down from their home in Spain to a Hotel in Jerez 2 weeks ago ! Thanks Dad you should have seen the looks on peoples faces as we drove the truck through Jerez centre and into the main entrance of the hotel ! The staff looked horrified at the thought of renting a bedroom to the horse ! When we were coming through Madrid I was driving and an unmarked small car starting beeping alongside us on passenger side and flashed a card at Phil gesturing us to pull over he did have a dark green uniform on similar to Civil Guard. However, the exit he took wanting us to follow him was too tight for me to make that sudden turn and would have taken us onto another motorway going in the wrong direction so I didn’t follow him oops !!! I will never forget the look on his face as I shrugged my shoulders at him as he had pulled over and I merrily drove past ! We are still waiting for the SWAT team to come and get us !!!

Thanks Rach, we are back on line now. Arrived showground at 2.10pm after last 650 kilometres, what a journey! 2650 kilometres in total. Left Toledo at 5.30am in darkness but with the smell of spring in the air and by the time we hit Cordoba it was blazing sunshine and 22C. We unpacked, set up camp, sorted the tack room and the truck parking, electrics, water etc and then Jo was able to ride the boys around 6.00pm. Zaino still very grown up, loosened up in the arenas and went on a short hack. Brennus escaped from his box(needs a clip but Phil well prepared with all the gizmos) and Phil set up tackroom with preprepared bridle hooks, saddle horses, rug hangers, etc. We had learnt from the last time that you need drills, nails, hooks, bailing twine etc etc to make the tack room home from home. Hope to upload some pics tomorrow once problems with o2 dongle sorted.