All the Small Things #3

I haven't properly featured Pea on here for a while, nor have I done one of these posts for a while so I thought that I would incorporate the two :)

If you want to read the other parts, here are the links:

Part #1

Part #2

#1: He has some weird love affair with trying to nibble at my hair or my hood when I bring him in. I have no idea why but he always does it at least once, and it's mainly only when we're walking through the field to the gate! 

#2: Pea hates people who are in places he deems they shouldn't be. He properly freaks out if we're out hacking and he sees people walking, or if they're in a field or on the jump cross field! The other week I was bringing him in and someone was sat on the jump cross field so he tried to spin round and go back to his field...not helpful!

#3: When I go to catch him in the dark during winter to bring him in for the night, he thinks it's great to hide behind his friends. It's bad enough that his field is humongous so I'm walking round for ages in the pitch black trying to find the horses, and then have to look longer to find him! 

#4: I have a lot of pictures of him like this! Normal pictures are just not his style! Or he's getting in to the 'selfie' craze!

#5: If he is the slightest bit wet when you turn him out, he will roll and often ends up looking more bay than grey! Normally he waits for me to turn around to walk away before he rolls, but if he's wet it's like some crazy need of his that he hardly waits for the head collar to come off first! Top tip: don't buy a grey ;)

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Thanks for reading, 

Laura xx

[Laura Loves] The Dog & Dobbin

I'm starting to think that I should give this a new name as I seem to often miss Wednesdays! However, this week I couldn't decide what to feature and then when I did decide upon something, it was late and I wanted to sleep instead!

However, I have got a wishlist! This week features 'The Dog and Dobbin'. I found this feature during #equestrianhour on twitter, and my god do they have some gorgeous stuff! The company has horse and dog themed gifts (in my case - for myself!) and accessories and honestly they just have so much nice stuff from mugs to jewellery! I know this is an equine blog, but I'm going to feature some of the dog inspired ones as well! Luckily they do relate so it's all good :) 

Snaffle Cuff Silver & Gold - £60

Typically, one of the pieces I love has to be one of the most expensive! This is simply gorgeous though! It's quite delicate looking and I love the contrast between the silver and gold. I hate bulky jewellery and rarely wear bracelets but I know that this would very rarely leave my wrist! Might just have to do some sweet talking to my parents! Or save up...

Folky Horse Design Cushion - £35

I actually really like this cushion! I know it might not be for everyone but I think it's so quirky and unique and will really stand out! It's so different to all the other horse designed cushions that are out there, and proves that an equestrian theme can be quite fun! 

Large Silhouette Mug - Terrier - £11.25

I have a bit of a love affair with mugs and have to resist so hard when I find ones I like and right now I want one of these in all colours! They have a French bulldog one as well which I really like but I think the terrier one does slightly over rule! They're just so colourful and cute, how can you not like them?!

Beagle Print Scarf - £8

Ahhh I am in LOVE with this scarf! I can't actually decide which colour I love best but the print is just so nice! It's a beagle print with a cute little red nose! Seriously adorable! I love scarves (I blame my friend for getting me more obsessed with them) and they're just such a nice way to spice up an outfit! I'm finding it rather hard to resist buying this so it may *accidentally* be delivered through my front door in the not too far future! 


I hope you liked this post and be sure to go check out their website! Though you might regret it when you want to buy virtually everything! 

Thanks for reading, 
Laura xx

Burghley Horse Trials 2014

Every year, Burghley house attracts thousands of people for one of the largest and well known three day events. Despite living on the door stop, I have yet to attend the trials on all 4 days (I haven't even been in the house or anything!), instead following the dressage online and normally doing the same with cross country.  This year, however, was different as my mum and I decided to go on the Saturday instead of the Sunday.  It's safe to say that whilst I still loved going Saturday,  it was odd not being there on Sunday so I'm going to try and be there at least both days next year if not all 4!

Catching up with the dressage, I noticed how more and more riders seem to be opting for hard hats now, which is something I fully back. As much as top hats do look smart, I think that at this level, especially, the riders are seen as role models and just because they are riding on the flat, it doesn't mean that accidents can't happen. I still think that hard hats look smart, especially with the large range of options available now! (as a side note, it was nice to see the GB dressage team at WEG all wearing hard hats!). 

At the end of the dressage it was nice to see Jock Paget in the lead after all the hassle he went through with the doping - though I bet he was rather apprehensive about returning to Burghley! Moving onto cross-country and it was such a foggy start to the day that Mum and I were wondering if we'd manage to see anything! Luckily the fog soon cleared and it ended up being a really nice day! Cross-country day to me is always a bit of a hard one! We got there slightly earlier to do some shopping, yet still missed the start of cross-country as we didn't realise the time and never heard any tannoys about it beginning which I think is something that should potentially be considered? I understand that not everyone at these events want to know about the cross-country, but I think it would be a nice thing to have. Mum and I had a bit of a walk round the cross-country, getting lost and missing a load of fences out! It's so hard to follow along as obviously you can't necessarily follow the course as the horse goes and instead have to go the long way round so miss a bit! However, we did see a few riders but no falls! We seemed to have moved off to the next fence at the time when

someone would fall at the previous fence! We even missed Andrew Nicholson go round as we made our way back to the shopping area so it is hard to ensure you see riders, therefore I think I would definitely go over a few days so you can shop and see riders as I think on cross country day it's hard to do both! 

As previously mentioned, it was so weird not being at Burghley on the Sunday and I feel like you miss a lot as the television hardly shows it! Something definitely needs to be done about increasing equestrian coverage on television! As much as I was happy for Andrew Nicholson to have managed to win for the third year in a row (although my mum likes to say that he technically hasn't) there's always a part of me that would love for an outsider to win! Looking at the top 25, I think it's encouraging to see riders coming through such as Francis Whittington, Gemma Tattersall, Izzy Taylor, Matthew Heath and Georgie Spence which I think could be exciting for teams in the next few years!

Did you go to Burghley this year?

What were your highlights? Or lowlights?

Thanks for reading, 

Laura xx