Happy Christmas Everyone!

By Imogen Johnson

YH Blogs

21 December 2011 10:39

As always it’s been a busy few weeks in the Your Horse office but now I’m really looking forward to Christmas so I can spend time with my family, the horses and get some riding in when I’m back in Yorkshire – not long to go now!

This month I’ve endured blistering cold and thundering rain all in the name of Your Horse magazine. On the day of thundering rain I wasn’t alone though – I was with Your Horse photographer Matthew and writer Katy covering a Four Exercises shoot and a Private Lesson. Very little brings our photo shoots to a halt, if it did we’d probably never get anything done, so rainfall isn’t something we worry too much about unless it affects the quality of photos. On this particular day we drove from Your Horse HQ in Peterborough to the base of event rider Alex Peternell and is wife and dressage rider Alice. During the journey the weather looked ominous and we were praying that the clouds would clear before we arrived. No such luck. As the Private Lesson began, so did the rain and it just got heavier and heavier! In the end I spent most of the lesson crouched behind Katy so she could shield my notebook. It was one of those days that you just have to laugh through and despite the weather it was a great lesson (you can read it in issue 357 – on sale January 26).

Thankfully, last week was spent mostly indoors. I was at Olympia on Friday for an introduction and information session on the ‘Hoof’ programme. We were invited by the British Equestrian Federation to find out more about the Hoof regional networks as they’re rolled out across the country.  The aims of Hoof, if you’ve not already read about it, are to empower the equestrian community and give people the help, information and advice they need to get in into riding whether it’s for the very first time or after a long break – there’s plenty on offer form Hoof if you already ride too. The new Hoof website is soon to be launched so I will be sure to point you all in the right direction so you can check it out for yourselves!

Following our Hoof talk I headed to the arena to watch everything from Extreme Driving to Lorenzo the Flying Frenchman and dog agility to the Shetland Grand National. I’ve not been to Olympia for many years and it really brought back some lovely memories – I came home feeling ready from Crimbo!

This week it’s all about getting ready for January so that everything is in place when we return from our Christmas hols so for now I will wish you all a very merry Christmas and I’ll look forward to catching up with you all on Facebook and Twitter I the New Year.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Imogen x