Floods are certainly not a first for Tinney Eventing but the once in 60yr flood certainly was! Interestingly we always knew we may see the worst floods in over 50 years, however we were pleasantly surprised on how well our property handled the amount of water! With stables and house well above flood levels we lost around 25 acres of paddocks. we also have the ability to bring horses to higher ground, but we were certainly jam packed! Horses on arenas plus some having to move we have come through the other end with very sodden paddocks, and minimal damage.

Just reflecting on the past few weeks, all the horses coped well, apart from some skin conditions they are all happy and well.

It was also important that we kept them in work, despite the conditions. Rain does not really deter us, there was hacking out, trotting and cantering up hills, which we are lucky to have here where we live, with no cars or trucks due to flooding it made for ‘sort of’ pleasant riding (apart from being wet!)

Every day they were ridden out, and once the sun came out, we were back in the arena.

We also have a small gym here (thanks to Gemma), so some fitness work keeps us all from ceasing up!!

An invite to compete at The Sydney Royal Easter Show lifted our spirts. with an entertainment slot riding in the six bar! Leo was the star (again) with joint win finishing at 1.85m – Gemma gave it a good nudge with just the last fence down at 1. 85m.on Tim Games Diabolo. Both Gemma and Stuart will return next Saturday and Sunday evenings.

With wet weather dermatitis we strongly recommend grooming every day to remove the dead coat with Horseland miracle brush. it works well without being too fierce on their skin. excellent brush. A MUST in all stables!

We have had a lot of ‘scabby’ faces due to all the moisture. The soft face brush from Horseland is just brilliant in removing dead scaly skin and our horses love this brush as it is not too hard.

After using the miracle brush and soft face brush we smooth the coat with a Body Brush, there are several available from Horseland, but we use the Roma two tone Body Brush. They are all good for this purpose.

We cannot thank a couple of our sponsors enough with their help over the past few weeks of being surrounded by floods. Proteq was just essential with all our top horses stabled at night, CopRice managed to keep their feed up to us, amazing thank you. Incredibly our Bates saddles stood up to being wet for days on end! Plus, some wonderful help always from CEVA supplying us with premier products.

Cannot beat this bedding- economical, ease of use and Australian!

Ceva has a range of pastes that we extensively use for different problems, The Hi-Vite C is great for their immune which we feel would be compromised during extreme weather conditions and times of stress.

With these very wet conditions we have just had, we always see a drop of top line in our horses… Half a dipper of High Joule daily added to your main source of CopRice feed is ample for this recovery! Excellent product. do not over feed it is perfect in the amounts suggested.

APRIL: 10th and 11th SYDNEY ROYAL- Saturday ‘Knock out Stakes’ 5-6pm Sunday ‘Six Bar’5-5.40pm Gemma and Stuart Horses TBC

APRIL: 16th-18th WALLABY HILL FEI: Stuart- Charlie, Leo 4* and Sir Pepper 3* Gemma- Daisy and Wanda 4*- Diabolo 3*

MAY: 7th-10th SYD3DE @ SIEC FEI: Stuart- Charlie and Leo (Olympic format)

MAY: 22nd/23rd CAMDEN- CCN4* – TBC horses