Ice, shavings and the importance of dinner

Oh, the joy of a good old-fashioned meeting over a proper dinner table! On your bike, social media - when you're kicking off a project there is nothing to beat what Ursula Huws used to call, in a slightly mucky phrase, "the exchange of pheromones" of a face-to-face meeting. When the dinner includes Boss Fell's freshly dug new potatoes and real Hollandaise sauce courtesy of Joyce, you know you're winning!

So I'm off on a new adventure finding out what's involved in being stable manager for an international three-day horse trials event in September. My personal target is improving the mobile coverage at Ballindenisk if there is any way any of the providers can be convinced it's worth it... so we can use twitter and facebook updates as well as the PA, the website and good old-fashioned gossip. But of course the logistics of providing large quantities of ice (for the horses' legs, not gin and tonic...), shavings, coffee, sympathy and information will come into it too.

 Thank God for a mis-spent youth as a stage manager... While I never evented beyond Novice myself, and the mad black Cavalier mare above is retired now, at least I just about still do one-day events myself on her daughter...  seen here hunter trialling at Aghabullogue, photo courtesy of Joanna McCarthy.

Along the way I hope to find out lots more about using social media to promote sports events. All advice gratefully welcomed!