Merry Christmas from the Horse Bit Bank!
As the year comes to an end and Jodie gets ready to head off on a well-earned break to spend time with her family, we wanted to take a moment to say ‘thank you’ to all our customers for your continued support throughout 2024. It’s been a fantastic 12 months at the Horse Bit Bank, and that’s all thanks to you! Whether you’ve come to us for expert bitting advice, tried a new bit or trusted us to help you troubleshoot until you found the perfect solution for your horse, we couldn’t do this without you.
Looking back over the year, we’ve added some truly innovative new bit designs to the website and enjoyed sharing our tips for fitting different types of mouthpieces and cheekpieces and information about the huge range of materials on offer. Jodie’s aim with the Horse Bit Bank was to give riders somewhere they could find all the different designs on offer, learn how they work and make educated choices for their horse.
Our sponsored riders have been absolutely smashing it too, competing at the top of their sports, helping young horses take their first competitive steps and winning a lot of sashes (Mel, we’re looking at you!). Sara Bowe suffered a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury just before the eventing season started. Thankfully, with some rest and then careful rehab, Sara bounced back to rack up some excellent results. She then smashed the second half of the season with a string of wins, seconds and top ten results at Penrith, Allerton Park, Little Downham, before rounding it off taking ninth place in the CCI-S 3*at Bicton.
Fellow event rider Holly Richardson took on the legendary Badminton and Burghley 5* events with Bally Louis, who absolutely ate up the cross-country track at Badminton after a very tidy dressage test, before a technical elimination put them out before the showjumping. Holly and Louis then headed to Burghley in the autumn and nailed their dressage test and jumped around a very tough cross-country. Sadly, Louis wasn’t his best after his efforts and Holly withdrew him for another day. There’s so much to be excited about next year for this duo, so we will be watching closely when March rolls around!
Dressage diva Mel Chapman has had so many podium finishes that it’s tricky to pick just one, but we think her wins with Ling Yao in the Medium 4 Gold section at the BD High Profile Show at Aintree Centre and then sash-a-thon with Pepperwood Valienta at the Cavago championships (winning both the elementary and medium part bred GB Pre) might just top the lot.
We’re excited to have added Lucinda Atkinson to our sponsored riders, and we can’t wait to see her in action in the 2025 eventing season alongside Holly Richardson and Sara Bowe. In the meantime, we hope our riders all manage to take at least a day or two off over the festive season to reflect on the year gone by. It’s been a pleasure to work with so many riders and horses of all levels, and we can’t wait to continue supporting you on your equestrian journey in 2025.
If you’re hoping to up your game in 2025, whether that’s in the competition ring, in your personal life or at work, don’t miss our November blog. It’s full of top tips to help you set and achieve goals and it’s a great read.
We hope you have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by your friends and loved ones (and get plenty of pony time) and that the New Year brings health, happiness and lots of fun times in the saddle.