The new website is finally live: www.westfield-equestrian.com

After two years of pontificating the Westfield equestrian website is finally live. A huge thank-you to Mark Thomas (@nicestuff2104)
for all his hard work and mostly his perseverance in chasing copy!!!

Check out the site or just come and visit.... www.westfield-equestrian.com

Location:Wood Hill Ln,,United Kingdom

An easy holiday, lighting.

A weeks holiday on the farm, that's what I thought, just a wee job, pop the lighting round the arena. Very luckily Dom also booked the same time off and we set off digging holes, running cables and moving the columns around.

So give two blokes a tractor and 6m lighting columns to move and there starts a plan. Two trailers and some string:



And off for more poles with Dom in tow...






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Location:Hook,United Kingdom

The annual firework pilgrimage

Oh, there goes another year. We're off to Tonbridge Wells for The Doherty's annual firework extravaganza!

Again a wonderful way to catch with all those old friends that we seem to only see once a year. The bonfire exceeded all past arson attempts. The fireworks just kept on going right over our heads, only one rocket came through the punters at knee level. Maddy's feast was epic and most made it to see the wee small hours! As usual Boo is up making breakfast, only today it's not in rubber feed bowls!

We really must drag ourselves away from the farm and work more often to catch up.

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Location:Old Station Rd,Wadhurst,United Kingdom

And let there be light

Another planning application is through and Westfield farm can now have lights on the manège. So until I can find a spare 5 minutes, two of the floods are up on the side of the old barn. What a difference, I can now ride after work as well as keeping the breakfast club going.

With a full 17 liveries in now I feel that I won't be alone in using the extended facilities. Next job, dig holes, concrete poles in with the very funky floods on top.....


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We've moved again

So just when we thought we were settled for a little while, our landlord went and put our flat in Odiham up for sale. 8 weeks later and we are in the process of moving four houses, and two miles, up the road.

Our new address is:
3 Stapley Farm Cottage
Long Lane
Odiham
RG29 1JE

As soon a BT have worked where we live, they have promised to even give us a phone number.

We now have room to swing a cat, spare room, garden and a wee jaunt across the field to The Chequers at Well. All of this adds up to the fact that we are awaiting guests, so see you soon.


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Back to work

It's not just me that's back to work, Bea and the boys have ended their winter holidays and is time to start working off their grass bellies! Bea did a wonderful impression of a rodeo horse when I first got back on board, but after a week of hacking, she is back to work. I think having two months off could have done her good.

Has 14 months off done me any good? Only time will tell, but it feels good to be back in the saddle! A great local project with a client and team that I know, so I couldn't ask for more.

And now the yard is full to the brim, George is also working flat out with a lot of help from all, including the small furry ones!

All clear again

So I've had the latest PET scan and blood test results back this afternoon and it's all good news. Unbeknown to me, I still have a small plumb sized lump where the huge cancerous grapefruit was, but it's all dead and getting smaller. So that's just confirmed for another 3 months that I have survived the big C!

The yard is virtually full with the last livery arriving on the weekend. An now the snow has departed along with the groundworkers, the mud is drying out fast. So looking forward to banishing it for good.



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Our first liveries arrive

Ferrets 2 - Rabbits 0

Odiham's new arrivals

Just before we have our own arrivals on the farm, RAF Odiham took delivery of the not-so-shiny-and-new MK3 Chinooks. So the boy's were obviously out to see what these more powerful and quieter battle busses could do. How do those thinks stay in the air??

Needless to say, our boys and girl out in the field beneath them, didn't raise an eyebrow as the grass is just too tasty!

Westfield Equestrian

We will not be beaten by the snow.

The brickie and his trusty foreman (Charlie) continued building the stable fronts this week once the antifreeze had been added to the mortar, this is not usual for our temperate isle!

Helped by the dogs we warmed up the batteries and fired up the laser to guide the excavators while leveling the new manége, in this weather all those litle jobs seem to be taking so much longer, but hey, it's all happening. And with arrivals at the end of the month, we can't let the wonderful british weather hold us back!

Work continues

After a couple of days being alone, everyone made it back to the farm and work could recommence. First task, dig our way back in!

A quiet day in the snow

With a thick blanket of snow on the ground, all work had to stop as the builders could not get out of their respective corners of England. The calm within the storm.

The horses make it through the snow

As 14 inches of snow fell, our horses made it from their open plan temporary stables into the new yard and out of the snow.

Check here for more snowy shots

Also keep an eye on the Westfied Farm website for all the latest news: www.westfield-equestrian.com

Ringing the changes in 2010

What a busy Christmas break.  With a lot of help from our friends we have managed to get all the internal stable partitions erected. Mick the brickie then started on the external walls straight after Christmas and we now have walls and stables, almost looking like a livery yard as opposed to a sheep farm.

This morning the groundworkers returned to start on the Manege, and it's now full steam ahead.  All to the construction is just in time as it looks as if the yard will be full by the end of the month!

Happy Christmas

Life at Westfield Farm goes on...

It all arrives through the snow..

We woke up to this morning to Radio 4 spreading doom and gloom about the weather while we got ready for our stables to be delivered from Cornwall. We arrived on the yard to read that the temperature was -10deg C and all the thaw from yesterday had turned to thick ice. Just behind us the builder's merchant turned up to deliver 7 tonnes of concrete blocks and sand with more to come later.

I was expecting a phone call from the stable delivery saying it was a no go. But Hendrik Wiegersma (Lucy's dad), called to say that he had a slightly over size wagon only 30min away, and that he had made it through the weather, what a star! With a lot of pushing and shoving with the fork lift we managed to get the wagon in and the stables off loaded. A real effort, way beyond the call of duty, I cannot thank West of England Stables enough for their service.

Just as Hendrik was leaving the temperature started to rise and the ice started to thaw turning everything into a skid pan. And here comes another delivery of concrete blocks, onto the ice and going no-where. We tried everything under the tyres but to no avail. Land Rover to the rescue (thank you Ciara), A Defender 90 and a webbing strop can pull a 40t wagon off the ice, way to go!!

After that is was plain sailing and a lot of grunt by Paul, Brian, Ciara and Ruthie, but we now have the stable partitions in place and ready to be bolted up. HUGE thanks only partially shown by the roast legs of wonderful Cornish lamb enjoyed by all. Off to bed and a well deserved rest.

Concrete, just in time

As the forecast for the weather deteriorated, the concrete started rolling through the gate for the new barn floor. It seems so long age that I originally designed the barn layout and today is a real milestone.

We finished the slab just as the weather finally set in and the groundworkersrushed off in front of the snow. fhew just in time. We now have a good 6 inches on the ground and have to make the dash home, but first we'll need to remove the Labradors from in front of the stove!

Still the North wind doth blow

With that north wind blowing, we still have a good three inches of snow on the ground, now that's a lot for Hampshire! The horses seem to be taking it in their stride and are thankfull the the Manege has not been built yet meaning that they are all good and shaggy.

The barn is all preped for the concrete on Monday, Boo and Diane started painting the internal walls ready for the internal metalwork on Wednesday. It's all rather exiting...

Snow and Helicopters

We woke this morning to a good smattering of snow, thankfully not stopping the stable construction or the the boys getting ready to leave for Afganistan! More grass lollies for the horses.