Yet again we are snowed in (or rather snowed out as we live away from the horses), last night it took me over 4 ½ hours to get home from Jim's yard, (where I keep Harvey) so I'm really not feeling to keen to try and get anywhere this morning! I'm really pleased with the simple systems feed that Harvey is on now, at least it means in this snowy weather there is plenty of good quality forage for him to eat all day.

Still its nice to have a bit of a catch up rest and get through some emails – the last 2 weeks have been a bit manic. It all began with my clutch breaking in the last bit of snowy weather, which meant train travel or borrowing Han's car to get everywhere. I think this started to loose it's novelty when I was changing out of jodhpurs in the toilets of a packed train on my way to London to see David Attenborough talk – note to anyone who has to try this, do NOT put your clothes in the sink – the taps are automatic and switch on, soaking all of your clean clothes! Still, I made it to the talk which was really fantastic, all be it a little damp and chilly, and am newly inspired not to use any palm oil whatsoever and to do my bit to help preserve this lovely planet and its inhabitants.

Via trains, tubes and borrowed car made it back to Witney in time to teach on an IH leading and loading course the next day. My group worked with a really lovely chap called Mr P. whose loading problem revolved mainly around the confinement of the small space, and the movement behind him as the ramp lifted. My group did a really great job of working through so many of his issues in a range of imaginative ways on the ground so that when we did move on to work with the trailer it all came together really very nicely.

A few busy days in between, buying the new car, handing in an essay, and frolicking about for Han's birthday as well as a couple of long-distance home visits, and then it was time for Olympia.

Kelly had a 10 minute slot with the War Horse puppet in front of 7500 people, Banksy was going along, to be introduced to 'Joey' the war horse puppet in front of the audience, and I was going along as his handler. It was absolutely fantastic to see behind the scenes at Olympia, Russian Cossacks warming up next to Shetland Grand National contestants and grand prix dressage horses. Banksy absolutely did us all proud, he was very aware of everything going on, and a little bit frightened of Joey, but so beautifully mannered it was a joy to handle him, he really made me look good, Thanks Banks! Between you and I, I know that last time he was over here for tour, Monty had done some work with Banks in hand teaching him to trot up ready for showing, and I think it's this extra schooling on the Dually that really made all the difference, he was so beautifully soft, trusting, obedient and easy to control. It was a good reminder for me in really putting in plenty of homework even with horses that seem 'fine' in order to really enjoy their company when the heat is turned up out and about. Kelly did a fab job or designing and implementing a fun, but very short demo piece, but we found it actually takes Joey quite a long time to move around (especially compared to Pie who was very exited about the whole thing!) and we were just going to run over a tiny bit to finish nicely. Apparently that was not an option and after exactly 10 minutes, without a second to spare we were evicted by the Olympia Arena Team Mafia. Still, I hope that we may have raised some interest in the audience and open some minds towards thinking about horses in a new way, and it was a really exciting project to be part of and a fabulous day. (If you were in the Olympia audience, do email to say Hi!) I am going to write up the whole day in more depth for the next Listening Post Magazine.

The next morning I left Lambourn bright and early (Actually dark and early at this time of year isn't it?) so that I could get over to Buckinghamshire to work with RA Sandra Williams at an introduction to IH clinic, which went really well. Finally managed to see Harvey for the first time in over a week yesterday, as well as catch up with some old clients and regular home visits. I have seen several horses recently who are having trouble cantering on the correct lead, and so have really enjoyed exploring this problem in depth. My quick-tip if this is an issue for you, is to think about the weighting the inside shoulder, rather than worrying about the bend. This often means some leg yielding exercises in walk first. So, Today might have been the first day that returned to normal since car trouble, snow trouble, Olympia, clinics and courses. But, we must make the best of what the weather man sends. So, it's on with the layers, and off to the not-that-local shop, where I shall buy all the chocolate they have in stock to begin making my edible Christmas gifts.