Things happen in three's - Jo Barry's latest blog instalment

Things happen in 3's, so I hope I have now had my three bad journeys!? The first was the burst tyre on the way home from Gloucestershire. The second was on the way home from Coventry on Wednesday. I was down in Coventry to receive my share of the Pat Smallwood Award at the BHS Convention. This is the last year that it is to be awarded and I feel very lucky to be one of the recipients. As a winner I received a cheque that is to be used to further my own training and knowledge to in turn pass on to my pupils..I am looking forward to making the most of this money. The journey home was slow due to the bad weather but was made worse when there was a bad accident on the M74 and the motorway had to be closed..the only option was to sit and wait for it to reopen. The journey ended up being 2hrs longer than on the way down.

On Thursday afternoon I headed up to Invergordon, near Inverness. I had an evenings teaching booked, followed by a full day on Friday. I take the train up for ease of travel and it is actually more cost efficient too. I had a two part journey with a connection at Perth. The first train was running late due to the heavy rain and flooding and I arrived in Perth 10 minutes after my onwards connection had left. The option given was to wait 2hrs and get the next train but if I did that I would not have been able to give any lessons that night. If I rushed through town (Challenge Anneka style!?) to the bus station I could get a bus and still manage to teach half of the lessons that had been booked. So the 'Challenge' began helped by a very friendly lady who took me under her wing and pointed me in the right direction..and eventually the destination of Inverness was reached! Even though the Friday's teaching is a long day, I do enjoy teaching up at Coillemore. The riders are really keen, they have lovely horses and I get very well looked after..perhaps even spoilt with home-made soup and sandwiches. Home late Friday night and prepared for Rafa's competition the next day..

Rafa was a bit ring rusty as he has not been out for a few months. He finds the tests in the small arena quite difficult, I often find he shrinks back at me when faced by a 20x40m arena test. Considering how wobbly we were I was very pleased with two wins and marks of 70.2% and 72.6%. He has now qualified for the Novice Open Winter Semi-final in addition to the Novice Freestyle.

Hoping the weather starts to settle and we get some frost, I hate muddy horses and wet fields.