Straight from the horse’s mouth – FatBoy talks moving house and magazines

I’ve moved to a new ‘des res’ with forest views since I wrote my last column (tablets are a godsend, much easier to use with hooves than keyboards!). As the official CBI mascot, it’s considerably more convenient for the office and it’s closer to Ceris’ house too, which is nice. We get to pop in when we go for rides.

Despite starting training for my first one-day event later this year, and topping up my dressage skills, I do have quite a lot of time on my hooves when Ceris is busy at work. I like to keep up-to-date with the latest news and events. Obviously my favourites are Horse & Hound (though I don’t care much for the second half) and Horse & Rider (though I don’t care, oh hold on, yes I do like the rider part!).

I also like to keep an eye on all the magazines I know Ceris and the team work with, as it’s always nice to see what everyone has been up to. Sometimes the fillies ask me what the point of magazines is as they’d rather just watch the (horse)box, so I tell them about the benefits gained by some of our clients.

For example, we worked with JCB’s Waste & Recycling division to promote their new machine launches and stand at the RWM Show last September. As well as providing pre-show press releases, editorials and images, we held a special press day at JCB headquarters in July for a number of key editors. They were given an exclusive preview of JCB’s newest machine, a factory tour and a demonstration of machines from JCB’s Wastemaster range. The media coverage gained contributed to the amount of sales leads doubling over the course of the show compared to the previous year.

Everyone at the stables agrees that sort of success is not to be ‘neighed’ at (well everyone except Salvador the donkey, but he’s weird and a bit scary!). Anyway, must be off, planning a cross-country run through the forest in a bit.