BSJA and Blair Castle Horse Trials
Posted by Lucy in Silvermoor News on August 31st, 2010
Well we’ve had a busy couple of weeks we have signed up a new rider to Silvermoor’s Team, grade A BSJA Show Jumper Vicky Tulloch from Darlington and her gorgeous little mare Soligette. They are very well known in the BSJA world and will be an asset to Silvermoor, Vicky even has a purple jacket which looks great!! Wonder if she needs a groom for the Sunshine Tour out in Spain in February?!
We have been up to Blair Horse Trials near Pitlochry this week, there was a really high standard of riding with the competition coming down to the Show Jumping on Sunday where there was not much to play with for the riders at the top. A huge congratulations to all the competitors in the 1* 2* and 3* competitions, it was lovely to wander round the lorry park and see so much Silvermoor Haylage being used on top class event horses!
It was lovely to see Amy Young there too, unfortunately without a horse but still being very brave coming up to abseil down the Blair Castle tower wearing her Kan Teq body protector!
The results were really good for Britain, in the CCI*** class William Fox-Pitt won on Neuf Des Coeurs, in the CIC***, which is the Scottish Championship event, Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz moved up from second place after dressage and showjumping to claim first place so looking on form for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky from September 25 – October 10.
Matthew Wright and Hugginstown did it again and won the CCI** completing the 3 days on their dressage score, well done to our rider Caroline Powell and Thornfield jones finished in 3rd on their dressage score.
In the CCI* Emma Humphrey and the beautiful black gelding ushouldbesolucky lead from the beginning to claim their first CCI* title beating Oliver Townend and Carden Imp who were hot on their heels but couldn’t match the dressage!
It was a really good 4 days of competition with lots of big names there and people from all over the country. The Chariots of Fire Display team are defiantly worth watching, amazing skills from the ponies to jump in harness!
We are really looking forward to Blair Castle Horse Trials 2011, 18th – 21st August, which should be even better as they will be hosting the European Young Rider Eventing Championships, bringing the best young riders Europe has to offer to Blair Castle!
See you all there next year
x
Some new Silvermoor Haylage Stockists
Posted by Lucy in Silvermoor News on August 3rd, 2010
There are now two new places to buy Silvermoor Recreation Haylage,
New Century Saddlery at Haswell Co. Durham has just taken delivery of their first load, this is a brilliant shop, Carol really knows her horses, they stock every thing from showing kit to western bridles to all sizes of saddles. It was really hard to drag myself away, the shop is huge and with such a fabulous range of Joules clothing, Puffa and just about everything else it is defiantly worth a visit. They are conveniently situated just off the A19.
We also have Blend Better Pet Foods from West Linton in Cumbria stocking Silvermoor Recreation, based just north of Carlisle they have a brilliant range of pet and equine feeds, now complete as they have Silvermoor Recreation in stock ready for the winter! They even offer a delivery service, why not check them out at www.blendbetterco.uk.
For directions to these two, or to any of our stockists, see www.silvermoor.com and put your post code into the postcode finder.
We have been very busy recently up at Silvermoor Farm with the second cut of haylage, this one is looking lovely (as usual) and if the weather keeps being good to us we will have it in in no time, we have got around 150 acres cut so far. A few people have been asking about the hay/haylage shortage, well please don’t worry, we are fine all our grass is grow especially for haylage and has come through the early dry spell well, so there is no need to panic buy just yet!
For more pictures follow us on facebook or twitter
xx
The Whitaker’s on tour
Posted by Lucy in Lucy's Blog on July 28th, 2010
Burgham Horse Festival 2010 was an interesting event with a lovely shopping village and the best Show Jumpers in the Country. A little bit quieter than expected but the BSJA show jumping was great to watch, we were treated to some of the best horses and riders in the country, the likes of John and Michael Whitaker, Robert Whitaker, Ellen Whitaker ,(most of the family by the sounds of it), Tim Stockdale and local girls Vicky Tulloch and Melissa Gair, all jumping huge tracks, or at least they look big to us mere mortals standing by the ring side!
Fiona and I were very impressed watching Vicky Tullock, on her little 15.2 mare Soliegette, win the accumulator clearing the joker fence in brilliant style, this was a huge 1.65m upright, think that little horse has springs not hooves!
Hopefully Burgham Horse Festival 2011 will be even better, they are hoping to run British Eventing there so that should bring in a whole different crowd and then the event will be brilliant, with world class show jumpers and hopefully world class Eventers it will defiantly be worth watching, even better that it’s just on Silvermoor’s doorstep, down the A1 at Morpeth.
It was lovely to speak to all the people who came on to the stand, I think it looked rather good really and hopefully we are easy to spot!
Silvermoor Stand Burgham Horse Festival 2010
Especially with the Silvermoor Haylage supersize bale tower by the tent, our large bales of haylage, we had loads of people asking about them, and for some reason lots of the men kept trying to push the tower over. For details on the large bales see our website www.silvermoor.com.
Our next event is going to be Blair Castle Horse Trials up at Blair Atholl in Scotland, this is from the 26th – 29th August and should be a great week; fantastic horse trials and brilliant shopping, what more could we ask for?! (Maybe good weather and time to sneak out to shop.)
I’ll keep you all posted!
Don’t forget you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all the news.
The Burgham Horse Festival
Posted by Lucy in Silvermoor News on July 21st, 2010
Well we are all hard at work getting the final preparations to take a Silvermoor Haylage stand to the brand new Burgham Horse Festival just north of Morpeth. We are really looking forward to this event, if its as good and as fun as the organisers say then it should be a permenant fixture in the Silvermoor show calander. Hope we have a good spot to watch some high class show jumping. At least with this rain it should be better going for the BSJA classes.
Any of you who might like to come over to say hi, ask some questions or just enter the free prize draw are more than welcome to have a drink with us, a few nibbles and a bit of a natter. And of course anyone who would like to enquire about stocking Silvermoor, we’d love to talk to you too.
Fingers crossed its not too rainy and horrid on Thursday for the setting up and hope to see you all over the weekend.
Can you ever trust a Sat-Nav?
Posted by Lucy in Lucy's Blog, Uncategorised on July 12th, 2010
Hi All,
Well blogging is a new idea for me, i’ve never been very good at keeping diaries or even just remembering what i’ve done in the last 24hours so this is going to be an exercise in organisation for me; can i remember to write down enough interesting things to make this worth reading? i hope so.
As you might know i’m the new sales and business development manager for Silvermoor Equestrian Haylage. This is a bit of a new direction for me as my background is in agricultural retail with North East based company Farmway Ltd. However so far its going well, i’ve not done anything horrific and no one has shouted, so i see that as a sucess.
My aim is not only to increase sales of Silvermoor Haylage but also to offer the highest levels of customer service and support to our retailers. Any one wants me to attend open days or go round yards with Silvermoor please just email me(lucy@silvermoor.com) or visit our website www.silvermoor.com or find us on facebook and twitter and i’ll do my best to attend and i’m easy to spot too;
Although i’ve not been out and about much so far it’s amazing the strange and comical things you do see, such as in Cumbria last week there is a “Huge Antiques Fair”, it must have been set back off the road as you’d think hugh antiques would be hard to miss! Also is there an elephant in near Lake Windermere? There is a sign for one, if i had the time i would have followed it to be able to tell you for certain but i had loads of new shops to visit. Any clarification on this matter would be appreciated. Also the sign for Lambs leap (i think) with a picture of a duck underneath confused me for a while, couldn’t get a photo though as i was driving.
I’ve decided that the Sat-Nav has its place but it will always now come second to a map and road signs, i mean really when is a gated road ever going to be the fastest route?? Although the with size of the bull in the field the road ran through those gates were opened and closed pretty fast! Who ever invented the Sat-Nav has a slightly wicked side i think.
I can assure every one that Silvermoor Active Haylage does not make you horse go loopy! My littel mare had about half a bag of it on saturday night with a one day event on sunday which i did wonder about, even though i know the theory about it being slow release due to being fibre etc, well i now know that it really does work she performed really well and kept her head all day! although she could just have been so stuffed she couldn’t be bothered to be silly!
i’ll keep you posted on any more strange sightings,
Lucy
Sales and Marketing
Posted by Lucy in Silvermoor News on July 5th, 2010
June has seen a couple of big events, we have had a new member join the Silvermoor Haylage Team, Lucy Salmon is now our new Sales and Marketing Officer, we have finished the first cut, got a new size of haylage bale for sale and been to the Royal Highland Show, as well as getting all high-tec on Facebook and Twitter.
Firstly we will introduce you to Lucy; based in North Yorkshire with a background in Agricultural retail Lucy has a Bsc in Agriculture with Honors in Animal Production Science from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Much of this degree focused on the production and effective use of forage crops, eg grass. The Equine Studies part of the course has given Lucy a good insight into the anatomy, physiology and nutrition of horses, combine this with a few years of experiance; via Cleveland Hunt Pony Club, Northallerton Riding Club, on lots of teams, British Eventing and British Showjumping Association, we have someone able to understand and advise our customers about feeding Silvermoor Haylage to the their horses.
Lucy will be coming round our stockists to offer advise and hopefully come to open days too. She is now very easy to spot as you can see from the photo!
The Royal Highland Show was, as always, a great week. The show was packed with top names competing in the showing and showjumping classes and, with the weather being so beautiful, there were thousands of people. Loads of you came to our stall in the Davidsons Veterinary Supplies tent to say hello and to enter the free prize draw. It’s always great to hear all your comments and suggestions for what and how you would like to feed, they are all taken on board!
We will be going to the Burgham Horse Festival near Morpeth at the end of July, www.burghamhorse.co.uk and BE Blair Horse Trials at the end of August, www.blairhorsetrials.co.uk, we would love to see you and there will be a chance to win some SIlvermoor Haylage too.
As for the 2010 crop of Silvermoor Haylage we have now finished the first cut, which looks and smells lovely and are busy doing field work to ensure we get a bumper second cut.
All you Harry Potter fans might recognise Hogwarts (Alnwick Castle) in the background of this photo!
We are now producing super size bales of Silvermoor Haylage which are about 250kg in weight. We are often asked for large bales of haylage by yard owners and people who have a few horses to feed, so this is what we ahve come up with. They are analysed just like the small haylage bales and still have all the benefits of being dust free, highly palatable and of course the highest quality haylage, just in big packs. If these are a product you are interested in please email Ralph on info@silvermoor.com or Lucy on lucy@silvermoor.com with your requirements and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
We are now on Twitter, www.twitter.com and Facebook, www.facebook.com and we are finding that these are great places for you to give us your comments and feedback about our product and anything else you want. There are photos of your next load of Silvermoor Haylage being grown, cut and baled. If that is not tempting enough we may also be running some online competitions so its well worth following us and keeping in touch.
New Year
Posted by admin in Uncategorised on February 8th, 2010
Hello and a happy new year to you all. Well at least the 3 people who have admitted to read this, which has more to do with the large amount of money I pay them than an interestin my literary skills.
It has been a difficult time for all of us who have horses. I can not remember having been forced into such a layoff as we have had in the last couple of months.Mine had a very extended Christmas break which I am sure they enjoyed but was quite uncalled for as they had only been in work for 6 weeks. Much haylage later they are now back in work, but I think we have missed the boat as far as hunting is concerned and will have to do other horsey activites instead, I am trying to book a showjumping lesson for my hunter which could be a mistake as he has not seen a filler for 2 years. I will let you know when we are going to Hickstead!
As you know we have been very bust keeping up with the demand for haylage which is the inevitable result of the snow and ice. There were a couple of days when delivery seemed a forlorn hope but I think we managed to keep most people happy, despite the lorry falling into a ditch and taking a fence out on one occasion.
The haylage machine is now having to work very hard and the boys are keeping it going 7 days a week, we are not going to let it know about European working hours but will keep it happy with bribes of oil changes and regular bangs with a hammer which should suffice.
I have had my lorry resprayed, ( to cover the rust) in the Silvermoor colours so you may seeit out and about. I am hoping the 5 year old will be eventing this season so I hope she does not let us down. Craig Anderson will be riding her so I will keep you up to date with her progress ( no pressure Craig!)
I seemto have very little news this time but hoefully things will now pick up and there will be lots to report next time.
I have eaten a very large packet of jelly beans in the course of this report which has made me feel a bit sick as well as being a poor effort in the new years resolution.
Fiona
Autumn
Posted by admin in Uncategorised on September 24th, 2009
There is a definite nip in the air now and I have even put rugs on the horses, so I am afraid winter seems to be inevitable, short days, wet muddy horses and lots of extra work, the joys of our hobby! Would we change if we could?doubtful.
We have all the haylage in now and the pyramids look impressive, we have much more than last year and are taking on new retailers all the time.
The processing machine is very busy and as a result we have taken on 2 new members of staff, Nick and Joe, Nick is from our area and Joe has moved up from Blackpool, I think he may be a little disappointed with the Alnwick illuminations, but we wish them well.
Ralphs puppy, Pop, ( daughter of Coke!) is now a very fat happy cheerful Labrador who loves everyone even Dog ( jack russell) who has no special feelings for her at all and would really like her to leave home.
There is a new mini forklift on the farm which rushes around doing whatever mini forklifts do, fetching and carrying, a bit like a Labrador puppy really but more use.
Seth has put his long trousers back on as opposed to shorts, another sure sign that winter is coming I will let you know when summer is here as he will get the shorts out again
I have been to Blair horse trails with the haylage road show,and was very excited to hear that someone admitted to reading this! so this is for Elaine Caig of Crocket Ford, I did not even have to pay her and she is not a member of my family. If any one else reads it please let me know and I will be jumping up and down with joy, unfortunately not literally as I have just had my cruciate ligament joined up again so am a little lame, does anyone know when I will be able to ride again after this as I am pulling my hair out with boredom it has now been 2 weeks and feels good but I think if I ask the surgeon he will have me waiting for ever, I am not that good at waiting.
Will be back soon, Fiona
July
Posted by admin in Uncategorised on July 24th, 2009
Hello everyone, we are now in late July and it seems the year is racing away, I am even starting to think of Christmas presents which is a bit of a worry as I am sure the BBQ has not had enough to do yet!
Thankfully in spite of the many heavy showers we have been able to keep really up to date with the cutting and baling of the grass and have been really lucky to get some exceptional haylage made for you to look forward to. the first cut is now ready and honestly it looks and smells so good I wish I could eat it too, I was wondering if it would be possible to make air fresheners with the same smell ( a lucrative side line maybe)
The puppies are great now , 7weeks of mischief, they are very happy destroying Ralphs garden and looking very innocent, we still need homes for the 2 dogs in case anyone is interested they are from a really good working family which also have fab natures, give Ralph a ring if you would like to give one a home.
All is quiet on the horse front here as I have been away at the Highland and the Yorkshire show recently so it seemed sensible to gave 4 yr old some time off , she has been to a few parties and was very well behaved so I will bring her back up later in the year with a view to starting her eventing career next year, however you know what plans and horses are like, they never seem to follow the same path, I will let you know if they even become similar.
Ollie the foal is, as you can imagine, very cheeky now and spends a lot of time getting piggy backs from his mother and best friend the yearling, he is very good on his hind legs which is something I very much hope he will grow out of as I really do not need any airs above the ground as a 4 year old!
We have not as yet filled the marketing role so if anyone would be interested in this position have a look at the job description on the web site, I was rather hoping that I would be able to retire soon on an extremely large pension and you would not have to read further ramblings , or I also thought I would have been snapped up by a tabloid for a weekly column by now, this is disappointing but I remain available and hopeful!
I will be at Blair Atholl horse trails on the 27 to 30th of August so I hope to see some of you there
Enjoy the rest of the summer.
Fiona
June News
Posted by admin in Uncategorised on June 29th, 2009
Hi to you all, here we are past the longest day of the year already and it seems like yesterday it was Christmas! We have just returned from the Royal Highland show which was a good chance to catch up with a lot of our northern customers as well as the chance to see a lot of top class horses, I especially liked the Clydesdale in the side saddle class as it was so well schooled and totally different to what you would expect.
The first cut in the haylage department is now finished and the pile of bales looks very impressive at Silvermoor, as you would imagine the weather made life a little easier this year than last and the quality looks to be of a really high standard , which is good news for us all
We have now got the new baler on the go so the supersize bale is available to those of you who are feeding more than 3 horses, these should make it more ecomonical so if you are interested get in touch with your retailer for more details.
Coke, the labrador, has had 3 puppies, she is being economical too! 2 dogs and 1 bitch, they are three and a half weeks old now and very sweet, I took them out for a walk this morning ( well a crawl really) and hopefully at some point their legs will actually carry their very fat tummies.
The foal ( Ollie) is doing really well and seems to spend a lot time on his hind legs which does not bode well for the future should it continue but is fun to watch, the other mare is back from stud and hopefully will foal next April so we will have a 2 year old, yearling and foal this time next year, it takes no time at all before you have a herd to look after!
Our next outing with the Silvermoor road show is at the Great Yorkshire show on the 14th to the 16th of July, we would be really pleased to meet you if you are attending and I will have a bottle of something or other open as well as lots of freebies for you to take home so please get yourselves along to stand 89 for a chat.
Thank you to everyone who voted for Ralph in the recent ” If I I can you can ” competition which he won so well done to him and you as it was partly dependent on how many votes he received, this means he will get lots of business advice which I am sure he will find invaluable as well as a computer and a mentor for a year.
Well I am off to iron the arena with the quad now as I jumped both the horses today, I have to do it by myself so as you can imagine I try very hard not to knock any thing down as getting on and off is a real hassle, this does mean that they both do the same things which is not ideal for a 4 year old and a 12 year old! however needs must, I will be back soon, Fiona