This green stuff is confusing! Here are my horses up to their armpits in lush green grass. I thought they would for sure get the scours when I took them off of the very short grass they were on – with all the rain coming they would have turned that paddock into a ploughed field and it would never grow decent grass again! But actually, their droppings went from green and sloppy on the short grass to golden brown and formed on this new grass, more like hay fed horse droppings. It might look like a nightmare about to happen, but in practice, it is actually much better for them than the short grass was. It is higher in fibre, probably lower in nutrients and undoubtedly takes a lot more chewing! Food for thought? Take home message – long grass might actually be better for horses than short grass. Or did we not know that already?

Jane van Lennep, Director of Nutrition Read more

Millie had been very busy starting her event season. She’s been to Poplar and Munstead for the BE90s, jumping super slow double clears in both and picking up a 7th at Munstead. We then decided that it was time to try her first BE100 at Horseheath and she didn’t disappoint really trying her best with a pole SJ and clear XC. Millie can be quite tricky to train at home but she jumped a really measured XC round over what was a fairly technical and educational course. Absolutely delighted, and we were really looking forward to seeing what she made of Chilham the following weekend. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be….more on that later!

The Bomber completed her BD Area Festival and Regional qualification at Cobham in the Elementaries with around 69% in both tests and had a practise run for the Festivals at Pachesham with 67% and 68%. We’ve had some great flatwork lessons with Char working on her suppleness and getting her to carry herself; a bit of a working progress! She is doing a little of everything in order to see how sound she is, and keep it varied. She wouldn’t want to be limited to trotting pretty shapes. With that in mind we’ve been XC schooling, did the Munstead 80cm hunter trial, and have also done lots of clear round SJ practise at both Crockstead and Felbridge all with the aim of having a go at a BE80. Read more

🌟 TICKET GIVEAWAY 🌟 Win 4 tickets to The Al'Shira'aa Hickstead Derby Meeting

We have 4 tickets to The Al'Shira'aa Hickstead Derby Meeting valid for 20 - 22nd June to give away.

To enter:
1. Like Simple System Horse Feeds Facebook page.
2. Comment on the competition post by tagging 3 friends you would take with you if you win!

Competition closes at midnight on Thursday 13th June 2019. One winner will be picked at random. The winner will be contacted directly, if we have not received a response from the winner in 24 hours the prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck! Read more

So we did it! Libby flew round Badminton Grassroots on Wednesday in fantastic style and I was really thrilled. I didn't quite pull off the placing I would have liked but we came very close and the margins are tiny when the competition is so fierce.

We arrived at Badminton on Tuesday to a lovely sunny day and Libby and I went for a little hack and then had a little school and she was great and went beautifully on the flat. We then went on the Eric Smiley course walk which was really excellent. Eric focused on the test that the course designer was setting at each fence and the positive attitude needed to get to the other side of it and also on not wasting time setting up too much unnecessarily. My first impressions of the course were that it was decent and testing and that there were a lot of narrow fences that needed accuracy. Read more

So there is less than a week to go before Badminton and preparations are in full swing. The exciting news was that the envelope with the various passes and the all important party invitation arrived yesterday. Libby has had both her saddles saddles checked and adjusted which was good timing as both needed meaningful changes as they were now a little wide for her as she is slim and hopefully raring to go. We had our final practice run at Munstead NSEA 100 last Saturday. On the whole we had a very positive outing with an excellent dressage to get 23.5. We had a small misunderstanding showjumping but that was quickly corrected to complete the round nicely slightly frustratingly adding 9 faults. She then did one of her best XC rounds going clear inside the time. We came second so I was very pleased. We have since practiced our showjumping at felbridge just to check that we are on the same page and she popped round a 95-1m course and she was fantastic and jumped really well. So feeling prepared. Read more