Oli Lawrence is keeping himself busy!

Half term finally! But contrary to most people’s preconceptions of half term as a time of peace and recuperation we may have slightly done that one differently.

The new baby of the yard, Gray, has been getting along very well so the first event of the season is looking pretty good. However, the first few days of the holidays were considerably calmer than expected when my JRN training was postponed because of the trainers illness, I really sympathise there having had a cold recently that just won’t realise its not welcome – although that might be something to do with the fact that rest and me don’t mix very well....

Following that I had my first session of juniors training with Dell. The journey was one of those surreal ones which seemed rather bizarre but we arrived literally perfectly on time ie. pull in to the yard, step out the lorry and walk up the yard to hear the words “Well, hello everyone” – trouble is it always looks so smooth and cool in films, in reality you just feel a bit of a mug for not being early!! The training itself was fabulous and Dell really shone so we’ve really got a plan set for him now.

Now I’ve always been a bit conscience of going into service stations in breeches and on the way back from juniors training the inevitable happened... As I was walking out of the toilets a rather grisly looking trucker with string vest and bear belly grunts and says something along the lines of “Oi darling, nice little trousers you’ve got there. Those spurs are pretty cute as well” accompanied by much winking and clicking. Unlikely as it sounds, I actually thought of a priceless comeback – although just as I was about to deliver the killer blow of rhetorical brilliance I changed my mind and just smiled and said good evening to him and walked away – was this a comical let down or a show of kindness to him? I haven’t decided yet....

The following day, despite Dell’s complaints of EU legislation on over working, I had a dressage lesson with Daniel Watson that I’d won in a BYRDS competition last year. Now Daniel would probably be in the group of dressage trainers that have that little bit of edge to their training ie you listen and you listen hard! He made some pretty mahusive (my new word) changes to my position but it was also really good that the stuff he worked on with me was the same as Gill Watson had commented on the previous day.

The present! Right here right now I’m experiencing the joys of the M25 on our way to see a horse for my younger brother, Ben. I’m actually rather excited about him because he has a huge amount of potential for Ben to work with and the possibility of a 2 1/2th horse for me – My master plan is all coming together! Mwah ha ha (attempts an evil laugh).