Emma’s blog – A trip to Addington Equestrian

A rainy trip to Addington Equestrian, with a sprinkle of horsebox drama.

You can imagine my delight when the arrival of my three-day stay-away show comes around and the weather forecast says storms, can’t you? In December too. Now, I’m not one to normally go to a stay away in the winter, but with one of my besties’ impressive persuasion skills I’d got booked in. And now I was regretting my life choices.  

It was a Thursday afternoon and I was getting the horsebox loaded for our trip. You know how it is when you go to a show and you’re loading your horsebox, don’t you? Us equestrians have a thorough checklist. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have got all the way to a show before to find you’ve forgotten your hat or something equally as important. So, I was going through and checking Frankie Fiat was loaded with everything I needed for three days away. Hay, bedding, tack, riding hat, feed, boots... the list goes on, and by this time it is also pouring.

Frankie Fiat is only a 3.5t, so he’s the perfect size to load all I need for some time away, and my horse. But I have to load him well to make sure it all fits. I’d made sure I’d put my suitcase, my duvet and food in the passenger side of the cab. My tack went in the side locker. My tools, shavings, hay and feed went in the back, and then my wheelbarrow fits perfectly in the second partition once Arlo is on board. Ooh, and I didn’t forget my snacks for the journey (I’ve said it before, but snacks are an absolute must have when travelling in Frankie).

I don’t really like to travel with my horses in any form of bad weather normally, but unfortunately this was a show that had been fully paid for a few weeks prior, although fortunately it was just raining with no strong wind that evening.

I got Arlo loaded and we set off around 5pm. It was dark and horrible, and rush hour too. I drove Frankie Fiat incredibly slowly, the splash on the A-roads was no fun at all and I’d much rather have arrived at 10pm at night, just to make sure I got Arlo there safely.

And then my phone goes off.

I answer (hands-free), and it’s my friend Emma, who I’ll be staying at the show with. She left quite some time before me, but was calling with the worst news: she’d broken down.

To be continued...