24. March 2010 by admin.

The bright, brilliant, golden light that was Fish has gone!

It is a sad day here at Tilley Farm. As the Olivier Awards were about to begin on Sunday night I received a text from Jon who lives at the farm to say that Mags’ (my office administrator) horse had colic. He had never had colic so I knew it was bad. I phoned for an update the minute the awards ceremony was over and was so sad to hear that he had been put to sleep at around 9.30pm. Mags had owned Fish since he was weaned and he graced her life for 28 years. He had been a wonderful eventer and, of course, a brilliant friend. He was such a gentleman and so patient and sweet with newcomers to the work that they couldn’t ever have imagined how powerful and on his toes he could be when out hacking through the fields with Mags or being led out to pasture on a sharp windy day.

I got home at around 1.30am and spent the rest of the night at the farm with Mags as she couldn’t go home knowing that her beloved horse was lying on the grass at the back of the stables. We lit tea lights and sat with him as dawn broke over Tilley Farm. Although the yard is still busy there is a stillness to the place; an audible calm that always follows death. Our horses have a quiet acceptance that the bright, brilliant, golden light that was Fish has gone. Fish, we shall miss you. With love from us all.

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24. March 2010 by admin.

An instant transformation!

I am back at the farm after a great visit to London. Oscar the West Highland terrier behaved impeccably on This Morning. In fact he was a total star. The horse clinic is buzzing and the horses are thoroughly enjoying themselves. Two of the equine visitors were braced in the neck at the start of the week, due in part to conformation and also habitual postural habits. Releasing the neck and shoulders is so important for both behaviour and performance and simple exercises such as rocking the neck gently, opening up the shoulder blades and running the hand up the vertebrae from the shoulder to the poll can have an almost instant effect. Both horses are changing beyond measure and their owners are thrilled.

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24. March 2010 by admin.

There just aren’t enough hours in the day!

It has been manic here at Tilley Farm and we are only half way through March. Tina has been off visiting our horse clients and is working with all manner of problems including a very spooky competition horse who is responding extremely well to the in hand exercises. The companion animal clinic is in full swing and I have been at Crufts for three days supporting Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in the fun competition Temptation Alley. Cookie Dough Dynamo is the proud owner of a red rosette and a large silver cup as our team won the event.

The roof of the indoor school is on and looking very smart indeed. The block work is almost finished and the stone base is in. I now need to win the lottery in order to buy the surface! I have another hectic week ahead as I will be live on This Morning with Oscar the little West Highland terrier, then teaching on the International Training Programme for Dogs Trust, also celebrating my daughter Daisy’s 19th birthday in London so that Tony can also be a part of the celebrations, plus working on Tony’s script for the Olivier Awards. He has been asked to host the entire ceremony. The equine training starts on Wednesday so horses are already beginning to arrive. Quite simply, there are not enough hours in the day for me to pack in everything that I want to do.

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24. March 2010 by admin.

A job with Andrew Lloyd Webber!

I am tired but completely over excited. I have been working with a West Highland terrier named Oscar who hasn’t been groomed and clipped for over a year as he has become defensive and snappy when the scissors appear. I have only seen him twice and the progress is remarkable. When I first met him I could barely touch him and the minute his owner picked up the scissors he would start baring his teeth. In the first session I showed his owner how to start stroking him with the wand, then a soft artist’s water colour brush and progressing to stroking him with the scissors. I was able to do tiny TTouches all around the matted hair in the second session and we were also able to start snipping out the matted bits. We all met up at the groomer’s today to meet Penny who will clip him at the studios when he appears live on the show and he was incredible. The slowly, slowly approach has definitely paid off even though I only started working with him a couple of weeks ago. He didn’t bat an eyelid when Penny started trimming his tail and running the clippers over his body. Hurrah!!

I also received a phone call from my agent just before the grooming session saying that I had been offered the job I went up for on December 16th. I am stupidly over excited. I am joining Jody Prenger (Nancy in ‘Oliver!’) and animal trainer Gerry Cotts in the search for Toto for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new TV programme Over the Rainbow, which is also searching for an actress to play Dorothy in a new stage production of The Wizard of Oz. I smiled for the full two hours it took to drive home from the groomer’s and my face now aches.

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24. March 2010 by admin.

Kilkenny update

I have had a lovely weekend in the company of Sharon Newsome and her daughter. Sharon runs the Irish Horse Welfare Trust and it was great to get updates on the Kilkenny horses that I worked with in December. All are doing well and the majority of them have found new homes which is brilliant news. I wish I had more time to return there but the diary is packed with all manner of events so I’m not sure that I will make it back to Ireland until early summer. It was also Tony’s birthday weekend which we celebrated today as he was doing two shows yesterday.

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