Chickens In My Kitchen

Saturday Saga

2012-02-08T07:04:00.000-08:00

Well, we have had snow, look:

I don't know what it is about snow that makes Barnaby instantly revert to his two year old self, but there we are.
On Saturday John and I were due to attend the Amber Valley Riding Club dinner. They are the people who organise the pleasure rides we've been doing for the past few years.
But it snowed.
Undeterred, we got changed and set off down the road, down the steep hill, (all fine) and into the nearest town, where we slid right across the road. There was loads of snow.
We decided it wasn't worth trying to make the journey, especially if we ended up getting stuck there and having to stay the night. Neither of us had a phone either.
So we decided to try to make it to Tesco instead as we had no food in the house and no idea how long the snow would last.
So we shopped.
It was still snowing when we came out.
All went well until we got to the bottom of the steep hill. The poor car just could not (or would not!) get up the hill. John revved and revved. And down we slid.
I am trying to make this sound slightly comical, but to be honest, it was one of the most frightening situations I've ever been in. I didn't know whether it would be worse to slide slowly into one of the dry stone walls or gain momentum as we slid further and further down the road, possibly to the junction at the bottom to be hit by an oncoming car.
After ten minutes I decided I could stand it no longer and leapt out of the car.
And so began the trudge home. Fortunately this presentation dinner isn't a particularly dressy affair and I was wearing a wool dress, thick tights and my three inch heeled boots, in which I can normally take about ten strides before collapsing into the nearest seat!
But I decided just to take little steps and keep going. Then I realised that in my haste I had left my gloves in the car, but luckily I was wearing my black fluffy hat, which did quite well at protecting me, but every time I came to a gap in the hedge, the wind whistled through it and froze my face.
On and on I walked, past the riding school, up and up and up, the boots actually doing surprisingly well at sinking into the snow and giving me a firm footing.
No sign of John or the car.
And then another car passed me and the young male driver offered me a lift. It frightened the life out of me. I said, "No it's okay, I only live there!" pointing to just beyond the crossroads. I asked him if he'd seen a little silver car and he said no, but there were lots of marks in the snow. Oh dear.
As it happened, John had driven back down the hill and gone the long way round, which isn't so steep and had actually set out to meet me.
I looked like a yeti by the time he finally caught up with me and we went indoors together to thaw out and sit down with a ready-cooked chicken and some hot chocolate.
Oh well. I've emailed the organisers of the dinner to apologise for our absense and ask if we can collect our awards. I wonder how many people actually made it through.
As for me, I'll be staying indoors as much as possible, from now on. In fact, there's the possibility of a little 'better-late-than-never' hibernation in the offing.
Thanks for looking in today. Wrap up warm, everyone. And if you have any elderly neighbours, just pop in and make sure they're okay, will you? I get so worried about people at this time of year (and don't forget to feed the birds!)
Jane

War Horse

2012-01-25T05:40:00.000-08:00

Poor John was off sick from work for a few days last week. But unlike other people, he doesn't 'do' ill. So he helped me muck out, and I should be grateful, but it's hard work mucking out with military precision and being told how to do the things you do every day of your life. That's all I have to say about that!
The high point, though, was making it to the cinema to see War Horse. Have you seen it yet?
Basically, all I can tell you is that I cried from start to finish. Because I can't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it, I will tell you there are a couple of places where I cried like a babe and one scene that was quite harrowing. I haven't cried like that since Schindler's List (also a Steven Spielberg production - coincidence?) If I tell you it's Black Beauty + war, that should just about sum it up.
The acting was a bit stilted at first, but the setting is stunning (part Dartmoor, part Dorset) and of course, the horse is beautiful. His name is Joey and it's all about his relationship with the boy he goes to live with. Later he has a horsey friend called Topthorne, and the way they were together is exactly how Barnaby and Zak relate to one another, it was so sweet to see other horses doing it, especially as they probably didn't even knew each other before filming started. They clearly had a bond.
Of course it was set during World War I and I kept wanting to shout, "Put a hat on!" but of course very few people bothered with that sort of thing in those days, did they?
And so I learned: We owe a massive debt of gratitude to all the horses that went to war during that time. Micheal Morpurgo wrote the book and during his research learned that a million horses died on the British side; he extrapolated an overall figure of 10 million horse deaths on all sides. Of the million horses that were sent abroad from the UK, only 62,000 returned, the rest dying in the war or slaughtered in France for meat.
When the film ended there was not a dry eye in the house. We could hear sniffing sounds as the audience collectively tried to pull itself together.
John and I drove home and went straight into the stables, to hug our boys and bury our faces in their necks, sighing with relief that they would never have to go through what those poor brave animals endured.
So yes, War Horse is a marvellous film, I can't recommend it enough. Go and see it if you can.
Jane x

Make A New Plan, Stan

2012-01-18T04:04:00.000-08:00

Hello there! Sorry for not blogging for a while (on this blog, anyway!) I know many of you read my card making blog so you know I'm still alive, but things are happening on the farm, too, so I'm going to try to keep this blog up to date as often as I can.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about why I ride Barnaby in the afternoons, as I don't think it's ideal. It starts when it's icy in the mornings, but it's usually gone by lunch time. I get Barnaby in, wash his legs off, ride him and then get Zak in and feed them both, which is fine, but:
The field is very muddy at the moment, so once I've turned Barnaby out he gets filthy, right up to his armpits. His legs are covered in mud, and I know I can hose them off, but it's all over his belly as well. I really worry about putting a girth on him in case it makes him sore.
The other thing is that I have all my physical energy in the mornings. I know this because at the weekend John will often suggest we go shopping first thing, but by the time we've done everything I don't have any energy left to ride. I feel like that during the week, too, as if I've done all that mucking out, finally sat down, and now I have to get up and go and ride.
So, my plan for the last couple of weeks has been to ride Barnaby straight from the stables in the morning. I give breakfast out at 7.30am as usual, then see to the ducks and chickens. I move Barnaby and Zak into the two empty stables (such luxury!) and muck Zak out. By this time it's 8.30 and I down tools and start grooming Barnaby. It is such bliss to ride out a horse who is actually the colour he is meant to be and feel confident that I can tack him up without the girth rubbing him. He always seems pleased when I get his tack out, as if he has got one over on Zak, because he is being ridden.
The first couple of rides were fab, as the sun hadn't quite come up when we set off (always in hi-viz) but as we continued it got higher and higher and was the most beautiful morning.
Today (after several days of ice that have totally scuppered my plans) the weather was quite cold and miserable. If I'd come out to ride in the afternoon and it was like that, I'd have changed my mind and gone back indoors, but there's something about the fact that I'm dry and Barnaby's dry that makes me tack up and decide to take my chances. It was amazing weather this morning, with mist rolling down into the village, and Barnaby going like the clappers, as he has so much more energy first thing. I gave a woman putting her dustbin out a bit of a fright, I think, as Barnaby sailed past and decided to canter up the road!
We come back and Zak has been waiting patiently for us (so glad he's a good boy and I can leave him) so I put both horses in their turn-outs, and out they go for the rest of the day.
Good plan, basically, so I'll be sticking to this as long as I can.
The good thing, though, is that John rode Zak a couple of times over Christmas, and again on Sunday, leaving Barnaby in the field, and he's been fine. This Sunday, John rode Zak in the manege and Barnaby just stood there watching, munching on a pile of hay. Such a relief, I can tell you.
Nearly forgot to say:- This morning I'd put Barnaby and Zak in their day stables and realised Barnaby's water bucket was completely empty, so I dragged the hose over, put it in the bucket and left it to fill while I carried on mucking out. A few minutes later I looked up to see Barnaby with the hose in his mouth, swinging it around with all his might, impressing Zak and generally having fun. To my horror, when I looked in the stable, there was water everywhere, so I don't know how long he'd been doing it for. How can you tell a horse off when he's got a big grin on his face, who made it clear that you didn't give him any attention, so he decided to devise a game to amuse himself?! Just peachey.
So all is well at the moment, but plenty more going on, so I'll write again as soon as I can.
Jane x

Catch Up

2011-12-19T03:42:00.000-08:00

Hi guys, sorry I haven't posted for absolutely ages. All is well here, but every spare moment is taken up with card making and Christmas shopping.
I have been out last week for two Christmas lunches and two Christmas parties. They were great fun, but it's nice to be back to normal this week. The logistics of it were quite complicated, especially as we had bad weather. In the end it was easier to leave the horses in for the day.
We took the decision to take Simon back, as it was becoming exhausting for me to muck out three stables every day (and time consuming!) Now I'm done for 10am and have plenty of time to get all the other jobs done.
We are in a very good winter routine, actually. The horses insist they go out, no matter what the weather, every morning. Actually, surprisingly, it's Zak who is like this. Barnaby would quite happily stay in and munch on haylage.
I have decided to use things to my advantage, so the two big empty stables are being used as day stables for my two. This makes it much easier for me to muck their stables out. So they go out straight after breakfast, come in at 12.30 and stand in their day stables while they dry out and warm up, then go back into their night stables at 3.30pm to have their tea. The day stables are pretty big, so they've got plenty of room to walk around. They like it because they can touch each other and a certain amount of mutual grooming takes place. I just skip these stables out each afternoon while they have their tea.
The new liveries are fine, but they're not turning their horses out at all while the weather's bad. I know lots of people do this, and their horses are used to it, but I do feel sorry for them. They only see daylight through the little barn door next to them. Zak and Barnaby would go mad if I tried that with them. Even when we had five foot of snow last year they still went out, even if it was only for an hour while I mucked out.
I want to nervously add at this stage, that Barnaby has been phenomenally well behaved so far this winter. I feel that actually writing it down is going to tempt fate (something I don't even believe in, but you know what I mean!) and that he'll start tanking me all over the place as of today, but I am really thrilled that he's been so good. I haven't had to use the Kemp Controller at all so far.
I don't know if it's because I've largely got the place to myself. Sometimes Missis used to get up at 6.30 to muck out, so Barnaby would start banging his door by 7am as Hugo and Lyndy were put out. We've actually put a carpet up on the inside of his stable door. It didn't take long for him to realise that I couldn't hear him kicking and so he's given it up. Oh boy, I wish I'd done that years ago! The bliss of being able to wake up and drink a cup of tea in peace and quiet and have five minutes to get my head together before I go and deal with them is absolute bliss.
It's been so dark in the mornings for the past couple of weeks I've actually come down and found Barnaby still asleep, which is unheard of. It must be nicer for him to be more relaxed, too, mustn't it?
Well, I'll pop off now, as I've loads to do, but I'll try to get on here again as soon as I can. Hopefully normal service will be resumed straight after Christmas, though, so thanks for sticking with me.
Jane xx

Crafty Boy!

2011-11-02T04:56:00.000-07:00

The horses are coming in at night now, which means more work for me, of course. Barnaby is notorious for door-banging in the mornings. I don't need an alarm clock. I noticed that Missis had thrown out the rugs she had in her kitchen, and an idea was born. John nailed one of them to the inside of Barnaby's stable door on Sunday night. What a brainwave.
So I woke up to peace and quiet on Monday morning and couldn't believe my luck. If this is the shape of things to come, I'll be happy.
So imagine my shock when I went into the stables to find the light on and Barnaby in the feed room, head stuck into a sack of Hi-Fi Lite! I was speechless, to be honest. I stayed very calm and grabbed his headcollar. He didn't object to me putting it on and leading him back into his own stable. I then went back to the feed room to assess the damage.
Fortunately Barnaby hadn't been able to get any of the lids off the feedbins, but he had eaten his and Zak's breakfasts. Marvellous. I was more concerned about how he'd managed to unlock his own stable door and the feedroom door, but highly amused that Simon had been considerate enough to switch the light on, rather than let 'poor' Barnaby stumble about in the dark.
I've used a leadrope clip to lock Barnaby in at night ever since, but then was worried sick that he'd try to jump out. Thankfully he seems to have realised the game's up and has stayed put. It's lucky he didn't get colic, too, isn't it?

I always wear hi-viz when I ride, but John and I have recently bought some new ones. Check these out:

We have a hat band with the blue and grey check on as well. When you're riding along, people definitely think it says Police, especially as my pony tail hangs down and covers the 'T' up. My normal hi-viz says, 'Please pass wide and slow,' which is quite good, as it gives an instruction to the driver. A vest saying, 'Caution Young Horse' is pointless as it has no significance to drivers. They just think, 'You have a young horse, so what?' At least 'Please pass wide and slow,' tells drivers what they should be doing.
But these vests are in a different league. Motorists are frightened to overtake me from behind, whereas normally they just go past. One woman was on her mobile phone, saw me and flung it onto the passenger seat!
It improves your riding, too. Being seen as a possible member of the Met means you don't want to let the side down. Barnaby could quite easily pass for a police horse, too, so I am thoroughly enjoying this new look.
I'd better go and lunge Zak.
Have a great day, everyone.
Jane

The Simple Woman's Daybook - October

2011-10-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

Outside My Window: Barnaby has run down to the field shelter, which I can see clearly from my kitchen window. He is standing there sniggering. I am so curious that I go outside to see what's going on. Simon is whinnying madly, wondering where Barnaby has gone. Zak is only four feet behind him, but Simon doesn't care. In the end Zak can't stand it and, rolling his eyes in disbelief, walks up to Simon, and takes him down to where Barnaby has been hiding. Silly horse.

I am thinking: I must make a hair appointment for December 15th. I am out to a Christmas lunch and an evening party on the same day.

I am thankful for: John's new job. So far, so good. And that the new liveries have settled in really well and seem really happy.

I am wearing: navy blue jods and a dark green Joules top. Whenever I write this I am in jods. It's not a coincidence, is it?

I am reading: 'The Red Queen' by Philippa Gregory. I have already read The White Queen this year, and was thrilled to find The Red Queen existed. It's about Margaret Stanley, who was the mother of the man who eventually becomes Henry VII. It is gripping. In fact, both books are. More than that, I am thrilled that I own both books and can take my time as I don't have to get them back to the library.

I am hoping/praying: This is a bit difficult. The woman who runs our craft group is lovely. She is married. Her husband went down to his daughter's house a few weeks ago. They are building a house. Her husband fell out of a second storey window into a well. I am praying for him every day but we haven't had any more news, which I think is a bad sign. I just hope to goodness he's okay. She said he was conscious and hadn't broken anything, so I am hoping for the best, but who knows?

On my mind: Winter. And snow. Please could it not, just for one winter. Please.

From the kitchen: I realised when we dieted this year that I really missed baking. I didn't realise that I enjoy it so much. This week I'm going to make a lemon drizzle cake. Mmmm.

I am creating: lots of Christmas cards, but I'm stuck on one at the moment. I am also back into cross stitch and really enjoying it. I've just bought a new one so I can carry on during our get-togethers in the village on Thursday mornings.

I am hearing: 'You've Got Mail.' Such a sweet film.

Around The House: I went on a bus trip to Derby a few week's ago and had a bit of a spree. But ages ago one of my favourite shops, 'Past Times' closed down in Chesterfield. I was very upset about it and thought they'd closed down everywhere, so I was delighted to see a shop open in Derby. I've wanted one of these for so long, and knew they sold them in PT, so went in and grabbed one in seconds. I came home a very happy bunny:

I got one, I got one!

One of my favourite things: has to be this beautiful lavender filled heart -

It hangs in my window with the cup and a few other things in red and black. It's not my normal display for this time of year, but I really like it.

A Scripture Thought: 'Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 (For a friend I am praying for that has cancer right now).

A few plans for the rest of the week: Mucking out, mostly, as the horses are in at night now. Pongo and Missis have a firework party next weekend. I am dreading it, as they let off fireworks pretty close to the stables. They have said it'll be the last time they'll do it, though, thank goodness.

A picture thought: 'Does my bum look big in this?'

There is a drainage ditch in the field and Barnaby spent a lot of time in it this summer. Every time I passed the field, this is what I saw. He's going in for the Rear of the Year award.

Have a great week, everyone!
Jane

Paradise Restored... Temporarily

2011-10-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

Well I did confront Missis and put it as kindly as I could and said that if she wanted us to all use the (smallest) bottom field to graze on this winter, there was no way we could fit another three horses on it, even if one of them was a small pony. She rattled on about using some of the grass next to the manege, which is ridiculous. If she does that some people will be worse off than they were before. She was very concerned about a little girl going into the field with Barnaby and Co. to bring her horse out, which was her excuse for giving them a little tiny paddock. I said I would just have a rule that children are not allowed to go into the field, which threw her somewhat.
But in the end, to my absolute delight, she admitted she didn't really want more people to come just yet, which is exactly what I think. It is actually working out very well with the liveries we've got. They're quite happy to keep themselves to themselves and are delighted with everything we've given them. They love the manege and went on a hack today for the first time in goodness knows how long, and came back with big grins on their faces (always a good sign!)
So I've cheered up quite considerably.
Except... (there's always something, isn't there?!)
I went into the field yesterday to get Barnaby out to ride. The horses were all sleeping in a group, ours on one side of the wall, the liveries the other side. I put a headcollar on Barnaby and led him out of the field. Suddenly Simon started whinnying and then Harley joined in and Barnaby took it as his cue to rear up, spin and run off. I was not amused and trudged back up the field to try to catch him again. Then Zak decided it was his cue to stir things up a bit and started to run round the field, making Barnaby run with him. At first I didn't mind (it's free exercise, isn't it?) but Zak went on and on and on. Barnaby still had his leadrope attached to his headcollar so I was worried sick he'd tread on it and injure himself.
They continued for about twenty minutes, just running and running. They've carved the ground up as well, which isn't great. In the end Barnaby got fed up with it and slowed down, but Zak kept going and didn't want me to take Barnaby in. Finally Barnaby ground to a halt and I was able to catch him. His chest was absolutely heaving and he was dripping with sweat. I took his rug off as I decided it was warm enough for him to go without. I was worried he'd get colic as he wanted to eat the grass, but I think even he realised he shouldn't do it and just spent some time getting his breath back.
I went off and got the quad and decided to poo pick the field while everybody calmed down. By then the liveries had arrived and got their horses in and then Barnaby was a bit more willing to come in but still stood flinging himself around his stable.
I managed to tack him up and we went for a hack. He was absolutely fine while we were out. When we got back I untacked him and gave him his tea while I went to get Zak and Simon in, but he stood there kicking the door until all the other horses were in. It makes the whole issue of riding totally exhausting.
I've been out and got him today and he and Zak were quite willing to try it again. I decided I wasn't going to stay as I didn't want them to get worked up like they had done on Tuesday, but suddenly Barnaby agreed to be caught.
This time I'd come prepared and wore gloves and brought the Kemp Controller. He stood while I put it on, then had no choice but to come with me. Once again Simon whinnyed, which really doesn't help matters. He came up and trotted past us. Barnaby made to go off with him, but couldn't because of the Kemp Controller. What an amazing device that is, what a life-saver. Barnaby kept trotting in circles round me, trying to get away, but he had no choice but to come with me. I did wonder if he might strike out at me, but he didn't, thank goodness.
Once I'd got him through the gate and past the barn, he walked in quite calmly, but wouldn't stand still in the stable. It makes it virtually impossible to pick his feet out. I just gave him a quick brush over and tacked him up.
We actually went for a lovely ride. I rode down to the village and managed to post a couple of letters in the post box, always deeply satisfying. We came trundling up the hill in beautiful sunshine. We are having unusually good weather for October. It has rained at night, but the days have been lovely. This is the last week John can ride after work, so I'm glad it's been nice for him.
The steep run up the hill seemed to take the wind out of Barnaby's sails. He was a lot calmer while I washed him down and put his rug back on and turned him out.
So I don't know what's made him go like this for the last couple of days. He must feel unsettled with the new horses here. He expects to be in charge and must find it difficult with horses he can't actually reach. Other horses are meant to bask in his presence as far as he's concerned. It's as if Barnaby and Zak have had a delayed reaction to their arrival. I hope to goodness they all settle down again soon.
So things are really good at the moment, but I hope Barnaby doesn't spend the whole winter in this mood. I haven't even started mucking out yet and I'm worn out!
Hope all is well with you. Greetings to my two new followers as well. It's an up and down journey around here, but I wouldn't swap it for the world and am always counting my blessings (sometimes you have to, don't you!)
Jane

Pleasure Ride - Shipley Country Park

2011-10-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a very up-and-down weekend.
I got Barnaby in yesterday morning and spent an hour clipping him. He wasn't very happy about being in and wouldn't stand still much. It was as if he was saying, "If I'm in, everyone should be in." I had a feeling I was making a really bad job of it, but when I finished and tacked him up, I realised he looked lovely.
Because he was in such an argy mood, I asked John if he would jump him before me, so he took him round and over the fences. Barnaby was really good, so I decided I'd better get on, otherwise I'll only be jumping him once a fortnight, and the idea was really to be jumping him twice a week, so John got off and I got on. This is what we jumped:

I know I get 3/10 for style, but I don't really care. He was quite gung-ho compared to last time, because John had worked him quite a bit, but he was still really good and I loved doing it. It'll be a shame if the weather gets really bad over the winter as I'd love to keep on with it now I've started.
The liveries arrived not long after this. They are Tim, his wife Belinda and their son Sean, who have a mare called Puzzle. They've come with their friend Becky who has a gelding called Harley. They brought them into the stables and settled them down for a while, then turned them out. They couldn't believe how much space they had and were bucking and leaping.
Of course, ours came belting down to see who the new people were. They just stayed on the other side of the wall and didn't come down to the bottom field where they could have said hello over the electric fence. Harley didn't want them to talk to Puzzle and kept blocking her off so she couldn't get to them. After about twenty minutes our horses just went back to eating.
Apparently at their old yard each horse had about 1/3 of the grazing land we've given them. Harley's stable was so small he couldn't turn round in it and had to stand diagonally across the stable to eat his hay. How awful! I think they're going to really like it here.
We went out to lunch with the family to celebrate my youngest daughter's birthday and then to drop my son back, so didn't get back until 7pm.
We got up this morning and got Zak and Barnaby in, and got them ready to go to Shipley for the last AVR ride of the year. We left Simon in the field, who started whinnying. To his surprise, Harley answered him, so they struck up a conversation together instead. Such a weird feeling to have horses in the barn.

Some of you who have followed my blog for a while will know that we have had terrible problems travelling Zak. You can read about it here. Since then John has spent a lot of time and effort repairing and improving the lorry. I had expected John to take Zak on a few short journeys over the past weeks, but he hasn't. I think it's a bit of denial going on there. I actually felt physically sick this morning at the prospect of going in the lorry with him again, but we loaded them and set off. Zak had one little bang on the 35 minute journey but was quiet the rest of the way.
We arrived and lowered the ramp and couldn't understand why we could only just see Zak's head above the partition. It turns out he'd sat down and got his leg trapped under the partition. I was horrified. John managed to kick at his hoof and luckily it went back in underneath where it should have been. I was worried sick his leg was broken. We opened the partition to have a look at him, but he seemed fine, so we brought him slowly and carefully down the ramp. To my immense relief, he was fine. He'd sweated up a lot as well, so John put a cooler rug on him and let him cool down for a while. He wasn't lame, so we tacked up and set off on what turned out to be a fabulous ride.
Last year when we did this ride they said it was ten miles, but we thought it was very quick, only about seven miles. This year they'd said it was ten miles, but had added an extra loop on, so I think we were right. This time, instead of going over the main bridge, we went down to the left on a bridleway. There was a very narrow wooden bridge at the end of it, then a wider one which Barnaby trotted straight over, then shot up the hill. There were little wooden slats across the track at set distances and Barnaby jumped over them. It was fantastic actually. Later on, we came back to the same place, and this time he was ready for it and shot up the hill, leaping over each of these wooden struts. It was fabulous!
He was very strong today, as if to say, 'Mum's not bothered by a bit of speed these days, let's crack on.' It was so lovely, though. There were some fabulous places to have canters, too, which we didn't do last year. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We have basically said we probably won't do these again next year, so I wanted the last ride to be good, and I wasn't disappointed. I've just seen the photos on the website, so I'll get one as soon as I can and put it on here.
I travelled in the back of the lorry with Zak on the way home and he was fine. He really struggles to travel sideways though, and can't balance round corners. He does fling himself against the partition for no apparent reason though, and when I said "No!" to him he didn't do it again, so I don't know what he does that for. It was quite a relief to get home, I can tell you. He'd hardly sweated up though, which is good. We won't be going anywhere between now and next April, so it should give him plenty of time to recover, then we'll decide what to do next year.

We turned the horses out and went off to the shop. When we came back there was a car blocking the drive so we had to drive through Pongo and Missis' gate. When we got to the stables I could hear voices and wondered what was going on. This woman was there and Missis said, "This is K---, she's come about liveries." I was totally confused, thinking, my number is on the advert, but she hasn't rung me, how does she even know we are doing liveries? I felt as if Pongo and Missis had set it up, it was a bit surreal. I got my wits together and asked her how many horses she had and she said, "Three." This was a bit of a shock, as I only really wanted one more horse.
Then I did the really crucial thing, and this is the bit you need to know, to make the rest of it make sense. We have 9 acres here that we can graze. It's spread over 3 fields, so say it's 3 acres per field. We always shut the furthest field off in the winter, as they take a crop of hay off it, which is fair enough. So that leaves us with the middle field and the bottom field. Missis promised me that she would leave the middle field open for this winter, that she 'was prepared to sacrifice it'. It was on this basis that I agreed to have liveries. Then the other day she said we'd have to shut the top field off soon (fair enough) and then the middle field when the time came. I should have challenged her there and then, but I didn't.
If I'd known she was going to restrict us to the smallest bottom field I wouldn't have had liveries, I would have just kept our 3 horses on it for the winter and just about made it through. Now I've already donated half of it to Puzzle and Harley, which leaves our three on the other half, which isn't ideal, but I'd just about cope. Now Missis is suggesting we put 5 horses on half the field, which is ridiculous.
I am going to have to have it out with her and say that if she has her heart set on shutting the middle field off as well then we can't have another 3 horses on the bottom field, making it seven horses on three acres. We've never had that many before, it was bad enough with six when Max and Fudge were still here.
I think I just thought I'd be happy as we are with us in our little stables with the new liveries in the barn and that would be fine. We came here because this would be our home and it would be quiet and now there are going to be loads of people all over the place and people using the manege when I want to go in it. Grrrr. But the most important thing is that I am going to have to confront Missis tomorrow and get her to make a basic decision for once. It's not fair for her to say that I'm the yard manager one minute and pull the rug from under me the next. How embarrassing is it going to be for me if one minute I say, "We've got all this grazing!" and the next minute, "Oh no we haven't!" I'd feel such a prat.
So it was a good day, and now I'm quite annoyed.
Who knows what tomorrow may bring?
Tune in for the next installment...
Jane (who is frustrated, can you tell?)

2011-10-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

I am finally able to tell you what's been going on round here apart from everything else. The problem was, I got so used to being sworn to secrecy (not putting anything on facebook etc) that now I'm able to say something, I hardly know what to say.

Basically, after ten years of working at the same firm, and hating it, John has got a new job, and started there today. His last couple of weeks at the old place have been very stressful. They've divided John's job responsibilities between four different people, so you can imagine what his work-load has been like. John's ex-bosses have asked for a number where they could get in touch with him, in the hope that he could still go there and work for them at weekends. I don't think so, guys!
It was a very strange and difficult place to work. I worked there myself for three years, so I know what I'm talking about. Everything was a bit barmy. I worked in the sales office, and people used to make up prices as they went along. They also used to lie and then deny things. It made it so difficult to do my job properly. I don't know how John has coped for all these years, but I do know it's been hard work being a sounding board when he gets home.
So he's had his first day in the new place, and I think he's going to like it. There's lots to do, anyway. My main worry was that he'd get bored as he did so much problem-solving in his old place.

The new liveries are coming on Saturday. We've been frantically painting stables to get them ready. The thing that's really been worrying me is the weather forecast saying it could snow by the end of the month and us having very little straw in. The horses will come in if it snows, and I need something to bed them down with. It drives me mad when Missis says they'll go and get it on Saturday, and then they don't.
Fortunately, Missis' dad turned up today with 138 bales of straw on his trailer, which we've managed to reverse into the barn. This is a load off my mind.
The other thing that's cheered me up is that the new livery man came on Friday and put up electric fencing to give his horses the grazing I've allocated. I'm really glad no one argued with me about what I'd decided. I'm thrilled with the way John has altered the other fences so the horses have the maximum grazing, but we've also got a big holding pen. This is the area between the gates, so the horses can't go anywhere if they get away from me when I'm getting them in. It's finally all coming together.

And finally, the thing that's thrilled me no end is that I've started jumping Barnaby again. I have to do it at the weekend, as I need John here in case something happens. The first Saturday I did it, I went for a quick hack to take the edge off Barnaby's energy, then went in the manege and just jumped a cross pole. I felt physically sick all the way round the hack, and my brain was like spaghetti, but I still did it and really enjoyed it. Barnaby didn't try to tank me or anything, it was really good.
Then the following week I bottled out and said John could do it, so he took him round a whole course. The outcome of this is that I've said John can compete him next year, as he's only 14, in the prime of his life, and I don't see why he should miss out just because I can't do it.
The only thing that bugged me is that I've spent a year teaching Barnaby to go straight when he goes round the school, rather than going round with his head swinging to the outside. As soon as John got on, Barnaby started doing it, and John didn't do anything to correct it, which I found quite frustrating.
So this Saturday I decided I would have another go. I also decided just to go in and jump rather than go for a hack first, as all that happens is that I feel as sick as a dog while I'm on the ride and my legs turn to jelly.
So I went in and jumped. Nothing particularly high, but I jumped it on both reins and absolutely loved it. My style came back and my head was really clear. I really had to trust Barnaby as I can't place his feet. Max used to really stand off his fences, but Barnaby gets in a lot closer. You have to trust that he will take off as there's no room left for another stride anyway. But he just launches off those fabulous hocks and sails through the air. His whole body is straight and it's utterly fantastic. Never a hint of a run-out.
I can remember some girls watching John competing at a hunter trials years ago and saying, "I'd like a horse like that - point and press!" and at the time I said, "Huh, you ought to try riding him!" but actually he almost is. Because he's not a spooky horse he isn't distracted by anything going on around him and is totally focused on the fence. It really is a fantastic feeling.
If I was 100% nervous the first time, I'd say this time I was only 25% nervous, and there's nothing wrong with a bit of adrenaline, anyway. I am trying not to have plans and ambitions just yet, especially as winter is approaching fast. My days of winter showjumping are well and truly over, but we'll see what I'm capable of in the spring. When I get a bit better I'll get John to take some piccies. I'd love some of me jumping Barnaby anyway, as I don't have any as yet.
Well, I'd better be off,
Thanks for dropping in today, and for your kind comments on my last post. I'm certainly feeling a lot perkier now!
Jane x

Sad Days

2011-10-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

I've had a peculiar few days. I had a phone call from a woman enquiring about livery spaces. She said they wanted to have CCTV in each stable, their own grazing and a tack room of their own so they could bring their sofa and kitchen cupboards. I said I couldn't do it. She said, "But you've got nine acres." I tried to explain and she hung up on me. Oh well.
On Friday I walked down to the village with Tessa. I clambered all the way back up and strolled along the road. There in front of me, I eventually realised, was a dead cat. I tried to fool myself it was a pile of leaves. But I knew it was a cat. I had to go closer, because I realised it was one of the tabby girls. Oh God. Red collar. That meant it was Tab, cold and wet, by the side of the road. I sobbed, instantly and loudly. Such a shock. Then I realised I'd have to go in and tell Missis her cat was dead. Lordy. I put Tessa in the stable and went straight round and knocked on the door. "I don't really want to tell you this, but I'm going to have to." She got a bag and I got some gloves and we went out together, both fighting back the tears. I picked Tab up and put her in the bag. And I will never see her again. I loved her so much.

That's her on the right, with her sister Climb. I can't believe I'll never sit in the sun with her on my lap again. I am distraught. Climb is walking around looking for her all the time. I have cuddled and cuddled Purdy. Thank goodness it wasn't you, my little princess. You must die of old age.
And then... On Thursday our farriers came. No problem with that. At the end, Martha said, "You make cards, don't you?"
"Yes," I said.
So she asked me if I could make a sympathy card and I agreed. Then she said it was actually three cards, which is also fine. She seemed a bit upset, so I didn't say much. After they'd gone I realised I really need to know who the recipient is, as I would make a different card for a man than I would for a woman. So I rang her on my mobile and asked her.
She said, "Actually, one is for the parents, one is for the brother, and one is for the girlfriend." Oh.
So I made the cards and text them yesterday to say they were ready. When she came to pick them up I told her that I'd been quite sad making the cards (I've never been affected like that before) and offered my condolences. I asked if it was a family member. She said no, it was a farrier who was their very good friend. He was killed in a car crash last week. How utterly awful. He was only 28 and leaves a baby girl with his girlfriend. But worst of all, Andy and Martha are getting married this coming Saturday and this chap was due to be their usher. Words fail me, frankly.
Later on I was on facebook, talking to Leigh's mum. Leigh owns Max, my old horse, and Simon, who we are borrowing, belongs to them. She just came on to ask me how Simon was doing. I said that he broke the string when I'd tied him up for the farrier but when I just held the leadrope he'd stood there like a lamb. Then she asked who our farrier is. I thought she was going to insist that we use her farrier, but she couldn't because... her farrier is the young man who has been killed in the car crash. Dear, oh dear. I have spoken to my friend Julianne today, as we have been fence judgeing at a hunter trials at our old yard, and it turns out he was her farrier, too. It's a small world.

Finally, some good news. On Thursday a man rang with regard to our livery advert. He just asked where we were and how much we charged, so he could tell his wife (who was at work). Then he rang on Friday and said they'd like to come and have a look round.
So they came yesterday (Saturday) and had a look at the stables, grazing and manege. There is a family of husband, wife and son, who have a 14.2hh mare and their friend who has a 16.2 gelding. They seemed to like what they saw, and went away, saying they'd let us know.
They rang back yesterday at 6pm and said they'd like to come! Woohoo! They seemed really nice, just a normal family, so I am very pleased. Their friend was worried her horse could jump out of the stables in the little barn (where we are now) so I've offered them the two big, stone built stables in the main barn.
They want individual grazing, which I didn't really want to do, but they said the gelding was not very good in the field, and they only turn out for a few hours every day, so they are having a fenced off paddock. This means we'll have to keep Simon for the time being then.
So all in all it's been a strange week. There are a few other things to tell you, so I'll try to come back tomorrow.
In the meantime, R.I.P. Tab, I will miss you.
Jane

All The Latest

2011-10-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged for a week. The thing is, I'm coming up against the same problem all the time. Things are going on around here and in order for me to tell you exactly how it is, I could really drop myself in it, if Missis ever came across it and read it and it's not a totally accurate record for me if I leave out the gory details. So I am probably going to finish this blog at the end of the year. If only a few people read it anyway, I may as well keep a diary. I will carry on with my card-making blog, though.
This is because we had a woman who came with her daughter last week, to have a look round with a view to bringing her horse here. You need to know first of all, that I have totally blitzed the place, and it looks fantastic. Basically the whole stable area has been cleared of Missis' junk. The shared space outside of the stables, but within the barn, is completely clear. The farrier is coming Thursday and I can't wait to see his face. He'll actually be able to shoe a horse without wondering what he's going to trip over.
Anyway, this woman came, with daughter and boyfriend, and they seemed very impressed with what they saw, especially the manege.
Just before they came, I asked Pongo if he could guarantee me a strong door on the stable that has been designated as a tack room, and he said no, that he'd put a door on the garage outside our kitchen. Missis and I have been having lengthy discussions about how this would be a room for us, which I would immediately turn into a craft room. But now Pongo has decided that would be the tack room. Great. It's got our tumble dryer and freezer in there, so I'm not sure how that would work. But I do see where he's coming from, as, if we (ever) move into the other barn, the tack room in there would be needed as a stable, so it seems silly to buy a door for it, just for a few months. But even so...
Don't forget, one minute we're told they've applied to have the roof rebuilt, and we'd have an extra room upstairs, but that didn't work, then we're told the garage will be an extra room for us, but now it's going to be a tack room. Marvellous. So I had to put a brave face on it when I showed these people round and say grandly, "And this will be the tack room!"
It drove me mad because Pongo walked round with us and wouldn't go away. Even Missis had the sense to come out and introduce herself and go away again. I didn't twig until much later why he wouldn't go. We got down to discussing the cost of straw. Missis and I had just talked about it before they turned up and she told me to charge £2/bale. They asked me how much we would charge, so of course I said £2 when suddenly Pongo piped up, "How much do you pay now?" and it turns out that's what he'd been loitering for. They said they paid £2.50/bale so he said, "Well that's how much we'd charge as at the moment we're not sure how much we'll be paying as the farmer we used to get it from has sold his farm, so we're sourcing it elsewhere." Oh my flaming God! When were they going to tell us this? Bear in mind that it's been on the news that it could well snow in October. We have about six bales of straw in the barn and might need to bed our horses down very soon indeed and they don't know where to get straw from. Flippin 'eck.
But I just stood there trying to stay calm but probably going redder and redder and still Pongo wouldn't go away.
The next day I confronted Missis and she said it was true that the guy we used to get our straw from has sold his farm (not just Pongo trying to make a quick buck, then) so she's trying to find it from somewhere else but doesn't want the huge round bales (we couldn't collect them).
But the outcome is that it's been over a week now and this woman hasn't even phoned me to say she will or won't be coming. I guess we assume she won't be coming, don't we? I actually have her phone number in my call log on my phone so I'm tempted to ring her and ask what she's decided. Or do I just assume it's obvious. A tad frustrating.
So I'm just going along as normal with our three horses until the next person rings.
I'll leave it there for now and try to write again soon.
Jane

Simon Says

2011-09-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

Still busy here, as usual. I have decided to class Thursdays as my day off, as lately the weekends can be busier than some of my week days.
I have been going to the knitting group in the village every Thursday morning and really enjoy it. I don't knit though, as you know, but it's really motivated me to keep doing my cross stitch. We have such a laugh, and I really need it.
The woman who owns the shop keeps alpacas. She knits things with their wool. It's fabulous stuff. Imagine being able to knit wool from your own animals. Alpacas actually sound quite easy to keep. They don't need to be mucked out or fed much, and their little feet don't churn the ground up like horses' hooves do. Mmmm.. (rubs chin thoughtfully!) Unlike most animals, it's not the male that's the most valuable. You know how you have your stallion or your stud dog? With alpacas it's the female that counts. Where you can buy a male for £500, the females can be £2000 or more. Nobody's rung up about our livery spaces, so you never know, alpacas may be the way to go.
Simon, our field ornament, has settled in very well. He likes Zak a lot. John has been schooling him this evening and Simon has been standing in the field whinnying for him. It's not that he doesn't like Barnaby but there's definitely an air of 'Us TB's must stick together.' Leigh and her sister came up to see him yesterday, but he didn't seem desperately interested, to be honest. Considering he's only been here a week and a half, he's very settled.
I have decided to clip Barnaby in the next day or two. I keep hacking him out and not going very far but when we come back he's dripping wet. I couldn't think what the matter was, but realised he's got very hairy very quickly. I've never clipped him this early before, I normally do his first one in the middle of October, but needs must.
I decided to lunge him yesterday. I don't do it on my own very often, as he's very difficult to lunge. He quite often runs off and eventually I have to let go of the lunge line. I can't attach the clip to the noseband on the cavesson, I have to put it through his bit ring, over his head and clip it onto the bit ring on the other side.
But he did get away from me, the crafty devil. He galloped round and round and up and down until he ran out of puff. I caught him and decided to take the lunge line off him and just freeschool him instead. With most horses I think free schooling is a total waste of time, but I decided as long as he burned off a few calories I wouldn't mind.
And then, to my astonishment, he brought himself onto a 20m circle and started lungeing himself around me. I decided to give him some voice commands and he obeyed them instantly. Then I stuck the whip out in my left hand and said, "Aaand Barnaby, TURN!" and he did, and went the other way. I was thrilled. Again I gave him voice commands and he obeyed them all. I have no idea what it is about being on the lunge line that he doesn't like, but he looked at me at the end as if to say, "See, I told you I could do it!" I gave him a good rub to say 'good boy'. He looked as if to say, "You've learned a lot today, haven't you?"(giving me that sideways, patronising look). It was fabulous. We've had him six years! So I guess that's how we'll be lungeing in future.
So all is well here, but I wouldn't mind a couple of liveries to come soon. Here's hoping.
Jane

All Change! (Lyndy Leaves, Simon Arrives)

2011-09-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

It's been hectic here as usual. Sadly, after a great deal of discussion and mind changing, Lyndy went to his new home on Saturday afternoon. I said my goodbye's in the morning and felt quite calm about it at the time, but I miss him so much. It's not like he and Barnaby ever got on, but he was a lovely boy, a huge cob who was lovely to ride. He was my Big Bear.
But while this was going on, we were driving to Nottinghamshire to pick Simon up. I will post some photos of him very soon, but probably not while we're enduring what Hurricane Katia has to throw at us! He sweated up a little in the lorry but we turned him straight out and he was fine. The stress of transporting someone else's beloved equine is incredible. There's no way I could be in the horse transport business. Anyway, Barnaby and Zak were in the middle field, so they ran up and down the wall, trying to work out where Simon had come from. Then they came down to get better acquainted. Barnaby made it clear that he was in charge and was to be obeyed at all times. He didn't like Simon being with Zak. At the time they probably thought Lyndy had just gone for a hack and would be back any minute, so it was all very unsettling for them.
We decided to just let them be horses and get to know each other, so after watching them for about half an hour, we left them to it.
On Sunday we decided to ride Barnaby and Zak together and leave Simon in the field, just to see what happened. He whinnyed while we tacked up, but we could see him from up the road and he seemed to settle and just carry on eating. This is very good news, although it's not often these days that John and I ride out together. It really highlighted just how much we need at least 3 horses here, as we got Zak in to feed him yesterday and Barnaby began to trot up and down the fence line. Then he remembered that he had Simon there and that things weren't as bad as he thought, and he calmed down. He's being quite hard to bring in at the moment, though, as he's desperate to eat. He doesn't run off, he stands there and lets me put the headcollar on, but then refuses to move. Time for the Kemp Controller to come out of storage, I think! They know the weather is changing and just want to stay out and eat and eat.
We've been getting Simon in every evening too, to groom him and get him used to the stables here and used to us. I don't want him to become feral. He's let us groom him and pick his feet out, anyway, which is good. He isn't shod, but obviously he'll still need the farrier for trimming so he's got to be used to being handled. I'm just so glad he's here - we'd be totally stuck without him.
I have seen the advert for us as a livery yard that Pongo and Missis have put up in a couple of local tack shops (and in the village Post Office, I think, I'll have to have a look on Thursday when I go down there). I was astonished to see my name and mobile number on there, even though it was my idea. Missis is in America all week and so it seems silly to put her number on it, a) because it will cost people a fortune to phone her and b) because they'll probably ring her at 4am, which won't go down very well!
So suddenly it seems a lot more real and I am ready to be the manager of a livery yard. I am spending this week, while Missis is away, tidying everything up, mucking out etc, to have the place how I want it. They've hired a skip but there's a lot more stuff to chuck in it yet! We need room for the farrier to shoe the horses indoors without bumping into things, and I want all the wheelbarrows and tools together in one place so people don't think it's acceptable to leave them in the stables.
I also need to move Missis' feed bins out of the way, as I can't have some horse sticking their nose in it on the way past and making themselves ill. I've never been happy with having feed in the actual stables anyway, have you ever come across that? (It's not even shut into a spare stable).
The other thing is that apparently Hugo is being very badly behaved in his schooling home. At first it was mooted that he might come home, but I think that would be a bit strenuous on Missis, not to mention thoroughly confusing for Hugo. There are a number of options being bandied about, so we'll have to wait and see on that one. Apparently he's trashed his stable and keeps escaping from his field. I do think he'll get fed up if he's just schooled all the time, especially as he's on a lot less turn-out than he had here. Let's hope a buyer comes along soon.
Before I go, I must just tell you something that happened on Saturday morning. I was supposed to go to Specsavers for a contact lense appointment but decided to ring up and cancel. The receptionist kept me on the phone for quite a while, but finally said, "Can I have your date of birth, please?" I replied, "14.03.67." She then said, "Is that 1967?" I ask you!
All for now
Jane

The Next Installment

2011-09-07T03:05:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for the next installment? You might want to make yourself a cup of tea...
I have to tell you, I've been seriously contemplating giving up blogging. It's not that it's time consuming, it's because I've always kept a diary in the past and once I'd made the decision that this would be my diary I realised that there were certain things I wouldn't be able to say, as this is a public forum and I wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But in a diary I could write the whole truth and it would be there for me to remember, warts and all. Plus you never know how long your computer will last, and this diary is 'out there', not in my hand, as I would prefer.
But I've read through quite a bit of it recently and realised that it's quite sweet and a very good record of our lives here. And because of all the latest stuff going on I've decided to keep going. But you must remember that I've decided to keep it on as my diary, in which I am going to put the raw truth about how my life works, and you must form your own opinions. I won't be offended, and it won't alter the fact.

So yesterday turned out to be a phenomenally busy day. The two boys next door went back to school, the eldest to secondary school for the very first time. This was slightly overshadowed by other events, though.
The two women who came on Sunday to look round rang to say they wouldn't be coming. I am quite relieved about this, because although they were calling themselves DIY, which really means what the title says, you come, you muck out, you ride your horse and you put your horse away, really they were part livery and needed quite a lot of jobs doing for them. I'm really after DIY as I don't want to do lots of mucking out for other people. So anyway, I'm quite pleased.
Then Mr O came home and went out again. More of that later (eventually).
Then the farrier came. I'd made a mistake and booked him in for Barnaby but we really needed Lyndy doing as well, but he only had time to tighten his shoes. I showed him Zak's wound. He said one of his clients took his horse to a show at Killamarsh at the weekend. The horse wouldn't load to come home and reared up and fell over backwards. They got a vet out (imagine the call-out) who said he was fine. The horse still wouldn't go in the lorry so the owner decided to walk him home. He'd gone quite a way when the horse fell down dead in the road. Sorry to shock you, but how absolutely awful is that? I knew we'd got off light with Zak on that Sunday, and this just goes to show, doesn't it? Count your blessings, people.
So we turned the horses back out and waited for Sally to come, which she duly did at 4.30. I'd been feeling sick all day (and Lyndy isn't even my horse). It just brought all the memories of selling Max flooding back. Plus Missis wanted me to escort this woman on a ride and the weather was dreadful, gale force winds and rain. I got Barnaby in and Lyndy was already there. Sally and her groom and her son were looking Lyndy over. The groom came straight over to Barnaby, "He's handsome, isn't he?" Barnaby just stood there with that smug look on his face.
In the end they didn't even want to ride Lyndy. He was to be the young boy's birthday present. They just trotted him up to see that he was sound and said they'd have him. 'Struth. I hope they're not thinking cob = plod, because he isn't. But there we are.
Because Barnaby had had Sunday and Monday off, I still had to ride him, so I carried on tacking him up and got on. The wind was howling, but fortunately the rain had stopped, so off I went. Do you know, that horse didn't put a foot wrong? He is so amazing. And he needs to be, as it'll be windy like this for the next few months (then it will snow!) We went past the yellow circle painted on the road, that he spooked at last week. I thought we'd make a thing of it and go over it a couple of times but Barnaby couldn't have cared less. "Yes, it's a yellow circle, I've seen it before. Can we get on?"
So, as I was riding up towards the livery yard, I thought, 'Shall I go in and say, "I haven't come to poach your liveries, but if you know of anyone who wants to stick their horse in my field as a field companion for a few months, that would be fantastic!"' but then really felt the Lord saying, "Don't panic. I WILL PROVIDE." His voice was quite insistent, almost stern, it isn't always like that.
I was quite stunned as I haven't heard from the Lord like that in a while and carried on riding thinking, 'well you've never let us down before, if you've said it, I believe it.' In fact, the last time he spoke to me like that was when I was selling Max and the Lord said he'd bring me a buyer within 3 weeks. And He did.
So I told John this when he eventually got home. We were so starving we decided to go and get fish and chips. When I got back I found my mobile and on it was a message from Leigh, who bought Max from me. She'd put, 'If you seriously want a companion, give me a ring,' so I did.
It turns out they have an 18yr old TB called Simon. I do remember him when she showed him to us when we visited Max in May. They have been considering putting him on loan as a field companion for a while. I said straight away that I might only want him for 3 weeks, or it could be 6 months and she said that was fine. She said I could leave him in the field and take Zak and Barnaby out and it wouldn't stress him. He isn't shod and only needs trimming every 10 weeks. I am totally gobsmacked. My status on facebook this morning says, 'All I can say is, God moves phenomenally fast these days.' The thing is, companion horses that you can give back are as rare as hen's teeth. He won't need a stable at the moment, I've said he can stay until we get liveries. But of course, if it snows in that time, we'll keep him for as long as necessary.
I'm not sure if I've explained why this is so good. The problem is that Lyndy will go on Saturday and then I just have my two boys in the field.
If I take Barnaby out, Zak will be a bit stressed. In fact, this happened yesterday with Lyndy and Barnaby in. Zak was trotting up and down whinnying because he's on his own. But, to be fair, he did calm down and it wasn't long before Lyndy went back out. But this is what it will be like with just the two of them if I take Barnaby out to ride him. BUT more significantly, if John takes Zak out, Barnaby will go mental. He will either injure himself or do some serious damage to Pongo's brand new post and rail. If I leave him in the stable it will be worse. Don't forget, this is the horse that jumped over the stable door last November and got stuck.
So this is a massive answer to prayer. I am so happy I could cry. I am trying to get hold of Leigh now to say we'll come and get him at the weekend. So we'll have two TB's and one cob. Crisis over.
More soon,
Thanks for wading through this!
Jane

Farewell Hugo

2011-09-05T04:23:00.000-07:00

We went to fence judge at our old yard yesterday, for the showcross. It poured with rain most of the day, and we got drenched, but it was a good day. Three cheers for my friend Leanne, who won the Novice Senior section, having only just got back on a horse in recent weeks.
As arranged, Missis took Hugo to Nicky's yard at lunch time. I made sure I said goodbye to him on Saturday. I hope he finds a good new owner and gets back into competing as he is such a talented horse and only nine. He was wasted here, really.
Missis came out to see us before we set off for Lorna's, to say that a prospective livery was coming to look round in the evening and that she wanted me to be there, as she'd like to introduce me as the Yard Manager. To be honest, I am delighted by this, and have cheered up considerably. Missis has told me how much she wants from each livery and that I can charge to turn out, bring in and muck out, although I don't want to do too many.
So the two girls came at 5pm. They share a horse between them. In fact, the younger girl owns him but is away at university and the older woman does him four days a week (including the weekend fortunately). They would want me to turn out every day, bring in three days and muck out three days. A woman helped them out at the yard they're on, but she's left as she had to have her horse put to sleep, so they've got no one to do him and need help on the days they can't be there.
The main thing for me is that they're quite happy to poo pick the field.
They had a good look round and seemed quite happy, but they have to give 30 days notice at the yard they're on, so hopefully they will do, and then they'll come, but we'll see.
Missis has complied with all my requests, like:
proper tack storage (one of the stables in the new barn will have a heavy door put on it like Pongo's got on his workshop, and each livery will be given a key.)
No smoking on site at all.
No dogs.
Everyone uses the same gate we use, which John will unlock in the morning and lock up at night.

So we'll have to wait and see. Missis is going to advertise in local tack shops and in the village shop. Hopefully they'll all be DIY as I don't want to be mucking out other people's horses all day and be worse off than I was before (physically) but at least I'll be being paid for it this time, and we really need a couple of horses to be companions for Barnaby and Zak once Lyndy goes.
Watch this space.
More very soon
Jane

All Go

2011-09-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody. I am a bit stunned. I'd better tell you what's been going on.
Missis told me on Monday that she'd decided to sell Hugo. He will go to Nicky Hunt's yard for a couple of weeks, to be schooled, then she will compete him and advertise him for sale. He is going on Sunday. John and I will be out fence judging, so at least it gives Missis time to recover a bit before we get home. I am quite upset by this, as you can imagine.
But then the second blow came today. It seems they have decided to let Lyndy go as well. Missis sold Fudge to a dealer (a very nice dealer, I think) called Sally. Missis has obviously been discussing her predicament with Sally, who has said that she has someone very interested in Lyndy and Missis has agreed to let him go (which she must have planned, to have rung Sally in the first place).
I am absolutely devastated. I love Lyndy so much and he is such good friends with Zak. It serves me right for getting attached to someone else's horse, doesn't it? I considered saying we'd have him, but to be honest, by the time I've mucked out in the winter I've just about got the energy to ride Barnaby (plus I lunge Zak 3 days a week). Plus Barnaby is very much a one-woman horse and doesn't like Lyndy at all, and would hate me to ride him!
Obviously we are very worried that Pongo and Missis won't need/want us here if there are no horses to do. I asked her and she said it's absolutely essential that we're here, a) because I have the boys after school anyway, but also just to have someone about the place when they're not here, which is quite often, as you know.
Of course, I could look on the bright side, as I'll now only have my horses to muck out in the winter, which is a big bonus. Missis has said she'll advertise for liveries, but I don't think she's really thought it through. I mentioned today that if she goes ahead with it, liveries will expect some lockable storage for their tack. I didn't even mention rug storage and a feed room. (We keep our tack locked in the house).
She did say today that if we have liveries they won't use our showjumps (which is John's main worry), but at the moment I am the only person that poo picks the fields and I'm not doing it for other people's horses. I also level the manege, which will have to be done more often, won't it? I don't mind cleaning the trough out as I do that for my own horses anyway.
It is so quiet and peaceful here that it will be odd having virtual strangers about the place. I don't really want people who smoke (but it will have to be made clear at the outset that people can't smoke on site) and I hope we get some nice people who don't swear and steal other people's stuff, as that's a side to livery yard life that I definitely don't miss. You have to remember that the whole point of coming here was that this isn't a livery yard.
But it's not going to happen over night, is it? Lyndy is going on Tuesday. I've got the farrier coming at 1pm, so it'll be a strange and hectic day. I think this Sally might want to try Lyndy out as Missis asked me if I'd hack out with her, which isn't a problem. Maybe she won't think he's suitable? Who knows?
And then of course, the really big, immediate problem, is that only our two horses will be left. This is going to cause problems when I want to ride Barnaby out as it will mean leaving Zak on his own. And even worse will be if John wants to ride Zak out, as Barnaby will go ballistic. Marvellous. But I'm not panicking as I think John isn't going to ride Zak until he's completely better. His wound is not an attractive sight. So maybe we'll have a livery by then. It's either that or we'll have to get a field companion. John actually suggested this himself, much to my surprise. I wouldn't mind a little 13.2 that we could take to shows!
So I feel very strange this evening. I feel as if someone is taking my horse away, which is silly, but there we are. I keep wanting to go outside and make sure Barnaby is still there. I feel sorry for him too, because he loved Max and he went, then he loved Polo, and he went and now he likes Hugo (albeit a love-hate relationship) and now he's going. I suppose, as long as he's got Zak, he'll be fine, but this will make them more inseparable than ever.
Missis has said we can have her stables if we want. I might consider it, as they are bigger than ours and Zak's stable is really a bit on the small side for him, plus he'll be out of the doorway and a bit more sheltered. But I don't really want Zak and Barnaby to be able to touch each other as they'll mutually groom and Barnaby will pull all of Zak's mane out like he did to Max ("I haven't got a mane - you shouldn't have a mane!")
So I feel very unsettled at the moment and am going to drown my sorrows in the most enormous bar of Dairy Milk I've ever seen. It's either that or a bottle of wine, and I'm not a big drinker and don't really want to wake up with a hangover.
Thanks for wading through this mega-post. Your comments are, as always, much appreciated.
Jane

2011-09-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

It's been a hectic few days. I suppose I am blessed really that I am too busy living life to have time to sit down and write about it!
I hacked Barnaby out yesterday. As you know, he is a bold horse, who is afraid of nothing. So when we went down the first lane and a pigeon flew out of the trees just above our heads, and Barnaby leapt to the right, I thought it was acceptable. It actually startled both of us. Fair do's.
We continued down into the village, where a number of the scarecrows from the weekend were still lounging about, minding their own business. Barnaby didn't turn a hair, and was quite close to some of them, including Lady Gaga...
And yet, when we came to the yellow circle painted in the road, apparently this was terrifying and required an energetic leap to the left ('It's just a jump to the LEFT!) in front of some elderly types at the entrance to the nursing home. I was not embarrassed, no siree!
We trotted on until we came to a gate. Not just any gate, but the gate, beyond which lives the love of Barnaby's life. Yes, Maud the donkey resides there. Barnaby arched his neck, ("Hello, Pretty!") Maud batted her eyelashes, ("Oh Sir Barnaby, how lovely to see you!") Oh for goodness sake, can we get on?
Instead of going straight home, I decided to take a detour. At one point there is a garden which is about 2 feet above our heads. I don't know how to explain why it's so high above the lane, but it is. I know there is a dog in this garden and that he will come out all guns blazing, which he does, so it's a good job I'm ready as Barnaby does another death defying leap to the right. It's amazing that something so heavy can leap so speedily in the opposite direction to that in which it was originally travelling. I guess I can forgive him for this one, too, as, let's face it, a barking dog must look pretty scary to a horse when it's above him, it must look as though it's about to leap on his back or something.
So I got home in one piece, and so did my noble steed. Or not so noble, now I come to think of it. All we needed was a few guns going off and I'd have ended up in Derby!
Jane xx

Busy Bank Holiday

2011-08-30T03:05:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I think August has been the longest month going. I know I am willing it to pass quickly as I have stupidly given myself a monthly craft budget, which John happily agreed to, and which didn't take long to spend! Because I am trying to stick to it, I am desperate for September, so I can buy some more ~~goodies~~ essentials.
There has been loads of stuff going on in the village this weekend. There is a beautiful old building called The Bassett Rooms (because it used to belong to the Bassett family who make Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts) which was hosting an art exhibition upstairs and a coffee shop downstairs.

The paintings are by local artists and they were all lovely. I think, because I've started using watercolour paints, I can appreciate what's involved. My favourite pictures were some of our area when it was snowing, they were beautifully done. I am amazed that there is so much talent in such a small area.
Then the church was hosting a flower festival. The theme was 'Thankyou for the music' as apparently there had always been a music festival here every year up until 2010. I don't know why they've stopped doing it, though.
Some of the displays were amazing.

This display was called, 'These Boots Are Made For Walking' by Nancy Sinatra.

Very clever.

This is 'Carmen' by Bizet. It was stunning.

I'm not sure if the photo does it justice.

The church itself is a beautiful building in its own right.

I am ashamed to say, I've never been in it before!

And then, outside, the craziest thing I've ever seen.

Apparently it's a local tradition at this time of year, to make a scarecrow.

It's a competition, and the 'Thankyou For The Music' theme was carried through

to the scarecrow costumes.

I'd joked at craft group that I was envisioning scarecrows dressed as Elvis,

and lo and behold, the first thing I saw when I got out of the car:

There were cries of, "Look, there's Elvis!" from passers-by.

Not something you're going to hear very often, is it?!

Only in England, eh?

What with that, and the barmy weather, it's been a very interesting weekend.

Hope yours has been enjoyable, too.

Jane

Travel Trauma - Bonsall Moor Pleasure Ride

2011-08-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

I hardly know where to start.
We set off with Barnaby and Zak yesterday morning, to go to a place called Bonsall Moor. Zak was pretty quiet in the lorry, only one brief bout of banging around. We arrived at the venue and were patting ourselves on the back for a job well done as we lowered the ramp. We opened the dividers and there was Zak looking sweated up, but none the worse for the journey. John led him down the ramp and tied him up.
I went back into the lorry to get Barnaby out, but stared at the partition in horror. There was blood and hair all over it, and a big pool of sweat and more blood on the floor. The wooden part of the partition had been smashed.
I went straight to John and said, "You need to check the other side of him." John walked round and stared in disbelief at Zak's side, which was covered in lacerations. Zak began to shake.
It took a while to calm down and try to think what to do. Both of us were trying not to cry. I think I was shaking as much as Zak was.
I got Barnaby out and saw loads of flies on him. I swept them aside and saw blood on Barnaby's flank, but realised it was Zak's blood. For goodness sake. Barnaby just stood there stoically.
We knew we couldn't travel back in the lorry. John said he would ride Zak home and come back for me and I could do the ride, but it wasn't really viable for either of them to travel in the lorry. I knew Barnaby wouldn't want to go round without Zak, and who really wants to swan off on a pleasure ride while their husband's horse is injured? I said we'd ride home together.
Then we couldn't think what to do about the lorry. This is one of very few weekends where Pongo and Missis are away. They'd gone to the V Festival in Birmingham. If they'd have been there they'd have whizzed over in the car and Pongo could have driven the lorry back.
In the end I said we'd have to ring eldest daughter and son-in-law to see if they could help us out. We knew it would take about 2 hours to ride home so rang them and asked if they could be at our house by 1pm and they agreed. They dropped their children off with Daughter 2, then set off for our place.
Meanwhile, the organisers of the ride had given us 2 hi-viz vests and a mobile phone. We couldn't very well ask someone to transport the horses home as
a) they'd come to do a pleasure ride, not sort us out and
b) there is a massive liklihood that Zak would trash their vehicle, too.

So riding was the only option.
Fortunately, after John had cleaned Zak up and dressed the wound, we walked him round and he was sound, so we tacked them both up and set off for home.
At this point I'd like to count my blessings, because
a) Zak could have broken a leg in the lorry or something that doesn't bear thinking about. I don't want to go there, but imagine having to call a vet out.
b) It wasn't raining!
c) Considering where we were, it's a miracle that we knew how to get home, as we were south west of Chatsworth.

We decided to make the best of it, as we'd come to do a pleasure ride anyway, and both mentally broke the ride up into sections, so nobody felt like saying, "Are we there yet?" The traffic for the first half was horrendous. This area is very popular with motorcyclists, and hundreds of them must have gone past us. I am so glad I knew I could trust Barnaby and that he would get me home. He didn't bat an eyelid at anything going on in the fields next to us or anywhere else. I love him so much.
And very quickly they knew we were on a mission and not just a normal ride. We had to go up the steepest of steep hills and they did it. It shows how fit they are. Obviously it was a long journey, but when we got to a place called Darwin Forest, they knew what was going on, it was weird. Barnaby just suddenly started the shoulder roll and could have trotted for England, it was amazing.
I was worried about John as he'd signed up for a 10 mile ride and suddenly found himself doing 20, but he was fine (because of him being not very well lately).
I have never been so glad to see signs saying 'Ashover Parish' in all my life, and it was actually thrilling to turn into our road and know we'd done it. They are such strong boys, and so fit, I never doubted for a moment that we'd make it.
I untacked Barnaby and washed him down and John cleaned Zak up again. It's hard to see how bad the wound is because he's got purple spray on dark skin, but it isn't nice at all, poor boy.
Then Lisa and Steve arrived and we went in the house to have a cup of tea while the men went to collect the lorry. I am meant to clean it out today but I just can't face it. It looks like somebody was murdered in there.
So we made the best of what was an awful situation. I don't know what we'd have done if Lisa and Steve hadn't been able to come over, I suppose we'd have had to leave the lorry there until today.
I've seen both horses cantering about this morning, so they are obviously fine. I am going to put my foot down though, and insist that Zak doesn't travel again for ages (if at all) and that Barnaby isn't going anywhere with him until I know he's totally calm again. It's not fair on Barnaby to have to put up with that. He's been a total man about it, but I don't want him to be put off travelling when he's so good.
I have slept through the night for the first time in weeks, absolutely exhausted. I never want to go through that, or put a horse through it, again.
Mrs O.

The Simple Woman's Daybook - August

2011-08-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

Outside my window: It's starting to get dark and it's only 7.45pm. Boo hoo!

I am thinking: I wish I hadn't told Mr O I would reduce my crafting budget. It's nearly killing me to spend such a small amount on craft stuff each month. Oh well, everything comes to him (or her) who waits...

I am thankful for: the fact that Barnaby is well and fully recovered from his injury. In fact, judging from his energy levels today, I'd say somebody's feeding him when my back is turned!

From the learning rooms: practising with a distressing tool to see how to get the effect on card. It's lovely, and really easy to use.

I am wearing: my lovely grey cardigan. It is so cosy and bobbley and comforting. I wear it indoors all the time. It is my noo noo.

I am reading: 'Love In A Cold Climate' by Nancy Mitford. I have waited all my life to read these books as they obviously went out of fashion for many years. If you want to know a bit more about this extraordinary woman, read this. I am only half way through but am thoroughly enjoying it. It's very witty, things like this:
'...Lady Montdore loved anybody royal. It was a genuine emotion, quite disinterested, since she loved them as much in exile as in power, and the act of curtsying was the consummation of this love. Her curtsies, owing to the solid quality of her frame, did not recall the graceful movement of wheat before the wind. She scrambled down like a camel, rising again backside foremost like a cow, a strange performance, painful it might be supposed to the performer, the expression on whose face, however, belied this thought. Her knees cracked like revolver shots but her smile was heavenly...' I'm afraid I found myself cackling at the thought!

I am hoping/praying: for poor Mr O who is still ill. He gets the results of his blood tests this coming Wednesday. Something is obviously wrong, and we need to get to the bottom of it.

On my mind: Our cockerel George has sadly died. He was quite ill last week, then I found him on Monday morning. Poor boy. I don't know what was wrong with him. I don't think it's red mite as all the other chickens are fine. I really miss him. How silly, to be attached to a bird like that.

I am creating: cards, of course! Commissions are like buses - you don't see any for ages, and then suddenly you get three at once. A wedding card for Priscilla to send to Hong Kong, and a card for a friend's sister and her son. Plus my own son next week, so I'm not idle!

I am hearing: Stephen Fry narrating a wildlife documentary.

From the kitchen: I made a strawberry cheesecake yesterday. It was low-fat (a Slimming World recipe) and absolutely delicious. I used leaf gelatine for the first time in my life - fascinating stuff.

Noticing that: the creative side of me is becoming quite dominant. I am having 4-5 hours sleep a night as I lay there with card making ideas running through my head. I am seeing 'design' everywhere, especially in one particular cinema advert. I don't know how else to describe it. I see things in terms of pattern and colour and whether things go together or not. This is a completely new experience for me. It's a bit mad but I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

Around the house: I am bracing myself for removing every single book from the book case, dusting them and putting them all back again. Thank goodness for libraries.

One of my favourite things:

I don't use a diary, I use a journal, and everything is written in it, from my inspirations to shopping lists. I was thrilled to find this Cath Kidston version in Waterstones, and even more thrilled that Mr O was willing to buy it for me!
This is one of the inside pages, but some are different:

How can I fail to be inspired, writing in a book like that?!
A scripture thought:

'If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm;

though he stumble, he will not fall,

for the Lord upholds him with his hand.'

Psalm 37: 23-24

A few plans for the rest of the week: A pleasure ride round Bonsall Moor tomorrow. It's just over 10 miles which will be a doddle for the boys at the moment. I just hope Zak travels well.

A picture thought: I walk round the corner, and this is the view that greets me:

Even on a misty day, it never fails to take my breath away.

Life Is Full Of Ups And Downs!

2011-08-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

On the upside: I am thrilled to say that Barnaby is much better, he's sound and rideable, but the wound is still there. Fortunately he let's me pick the bad leg up to pick his feet out, and when he does this, all the leg hair (that he won't let me clip off) moves out of the way, and I can put a big dollop of Sudocrem along the wound. If he lets me do that every day, it'll heal up pretty quickly now.
I nervously got on him on Saturday and walked him around in the manege. I am much better at telling if a horse is lame by riding them rather than watching them trot up, although I know this isn't always feasible. He felt fine. In fact, he felt absolutely wonderful, so we went for a quick hack, which turned out to be a lot quicker than I'd intended. He flew along the lanes and we were back in no time, with him in no pain whatsoever. So that's one less thing to worry about. Such a joy to have my boy back.
On the downside: Mr O has been quite ill and now we think it may be gall stones. He's got to go back to the doctor's tomorrow for blood tests. Our lovely friend the chiropractor has recommended that he drink cider vinegar with cloudy apple juice, as this will naturally get rid of gall stones. We have looked into this and it seems she is right, so Mr O is doing it. I'll let you know what happens.
On the downside: the monotony of life is getting to me. This is not helped by the number of people, including my sister, who think I am living a life of lottery-winning style luxury! Some days I work non-stop from the minute I get up until the minute I go to bed. What annoys me is that this is not our farm, but we do all the jobs on it. I clean the trough, poo pick the field, level the manege, clean out the chickens, clean out the ducks, feed the cats, water the plants, weed the garden, etc, all physical jobs (did I mention the washing and ironing?) which people seem to think they can pile on me. I know I live somewhere wonderful and I don't have a boss breathing down my neck, but I don't have a wage either. Missis has never poo picked the field or cleaned out the trough and only levelled the manege a couple of times before the novelty wore off. I've seen to their horses while they were on holiday and am doing it again this weekend (and the dogs, too) but we haven't had a holiday this year, and if we did, we'd take the horses with us, and I'd still be poo picking. At least if you go out to work you get to leave it all behind at the end of the day. My 'jobs' never seem to end. Phew! Glad I got that off my chest.
Because of this:
On the upside: A new shop has opened next to the Post Office in the village. It's called 'Vintage Junk'. I've been in for a mosey round and really liked it. There was a little notice outside saying that on Thursdays they have a get together where people bring their knitting and sewing and have coffee and cakes. Spurred on (mostly by the lure of coffee and cakes) I decided to go down last week and see what's what. And I'm so glad I did. It was like a breath of fresh air. I seriously don't see enough people from day to day, and it was so lovely to sit and chat with some like-minded women and have a laugh. I actually took down and did some cross-stitch, which is something I haven't done for ages. It was so nice to be motivated and look at somebody else's four walls for a change. I am, of course, going again this week, and will try to take some photos this time.
I also said that I make cards and took a few to show them. One of the women asked if I could do her a christening card that day, so I rushed home and made one. She was very taken with it, which is a relief!

So, sorry about the moan, but things have been getting on top of me a bit lately. I am astonished to be just as busy during the summer as I am in the winter, and it's all physical tasks. I am not a man, or a machine, and wouldn't mind so much if other people joined in now and then. I know they say, 'A woman's work is never done,' but this is ridiculous.
Mrs O (climbing down from her soapbox somewhat reluctantly!)

Ashover Show

2011-08-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

We are very fortunate that we have a big village show here every August. This year they were celebrating 80 years of the event. Although I had withdrawn Barnaby I decided to go down anyway, just to have a mosey round (okay, I went to eye up the opposition a bit, too!) I got there in time to see the TARRA ex-racehorse class. There were only four in it. Perhaps I should have taken Zak instead of Barnaby?! The cobs were all stunning, and all of them looked a lot bigger than Barnaby. Maybe it's because I was on the ground. There is a height limit for showing cobs of 15.3hh, but some of these looked at least 16hh. No photos I'm afraid as I decided to video it instead to show Mr O when I got home. He couldn't get the day off work, unfortunately (hold that thought!)

But if it's horses you're after, you can't go wrong with these guys:

(or girls, obviously, as they are clearly mare and foal!)

There is usually a good turn-out of shires here, but it was lovely to see them with their babies.

Have a close look at the curly coat on this foal.

Of course, not all horses are huge, look:

This little colt came fourth in the youngstock class.

He let me get down and give him a cuddle, which was so sweet.

And then I saw these guys, who were significantly bigger than the colt:

Deer hounds, apparently, and very friendly (but I did have a cake in my bag by then!)

Of course, there is the possibility that you're not interested in the animal side of things,

but there is another side to Ashover Show, that mostly revolves around food. Let me explain:

Five eggs on a plate, either five the same, or five completely different.

Not got chickens? What about this, then?

I may have a crack at the lemon curd next year, so watch this space!

And every type of vegetable known to man.

Something for Mr O to aim for, for next year?

There was also a fabulous craft tent but I didn't dare take any photos!

And then the rain came down and I decided to wend my way home,

walking up the steepest of hills

with only blackberries to sustain me.

I did see these chaps, though:

A taste of rural England, at it's very best.

Even though it decided to pour with rain in the afternoon.

(and I got home to find Mr O poorly and asleep on the sofa!)

Poor Barnaby

2011-08-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

Oh dear! Disaster has struck. I went out to get Barnaby in to ride him on Monday and noticed immediately that something was wrong. When I looked closely I could see blood on his fetlock. I brought him in to the stable (thereby noticing he wasn't particularly lame, thank goodness) and examined the whole area. He's got a gash that runs in a ring around the fetlock, and it's very bad at the back. It's obviously very tender to the touch but he let me wash it, and put cream on it. I have a feeling he's been caught in the electric fence and cut himself open trying to free himself. It's one of those wounds that's borderline on getting a vet out, but once I'd cleaned it up it looked a lot better.
I've taken the line of electric fencing down, but it surrounds the apple tree. He'd jumped over it once last week and was a bit stressed as he wasn't sure how to get out and now it looks as though he's had another go and got caught up in it somewhere.
I tried to stay very calm, and he'd been calm too, but I noticed how, after I'd given him lots of sympathy, he went out slightly lamer than he'd come in, obviously milking it for all it's worth! (That was worth a couple of mints at least!)
But the downside is, I can't take him to Ashover Show, which is today. After all that hard work and schooling, what a waste of time. I am so cross. But now it's raining anyway and I have to go all the way down to say I'm withdrawing him. Better take a camera and make the most of it, then.
George, the cockerel, has been unwell this week, too. I went out on Monday morning to find him floundering on the floor. At first I thought he was having a dustbath, but it soon became apparent that he couldn't get up if he wanted to. We put him in isolation and sprayed him with the red-mite spray, and I'm pleased to report that he's much better. He doesn't look his best at the moment, as he's moulting anyway, but I can't bear for him to be ill. He's gone back with his girls this morning, which has cheered him up considerably. The girls are ~~gutted~~ thrilled!
Pongo and Missis came back from their holiday in Cornwall early, on Sunday instead of yesterday. They've been greeted by a letter that says planning permission for the roof has been denied. They wanted to have a square roof instead of the sloped one, in order to have an attic and a higher roof on the ensuite bathroom, which is tiny. It is for the children, but adults can't stand upright in it. I am disappointed, too, as we'd have gained an extra bedroom, which I would immediately have turned into a craft room!
And crafting I am, as the weather is bad and I'm not going to get on Barnaby until the weekend, and see how he is. I need to clip the hair off his legs (not a good look for the show today anyway) but there's no way he's going to let me while his leg hurts. My poor baby.
So I'm off out, to have a look at other people's horses, cows and chickens, while mine stay quietly at home.
Have a great day everyone,
Mrs O.

My Week So Far

2011-08-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

So it's like this:
Monday: Woken up at 6.45am by Mr O's alarm going off. He'd left at 5am and forgotten to switch it off.
Tuesday: Woken up at 6.50am by the geese honking. I leap up in panic in case a fox is trying to get into them. It turns out Mr O went to collect some eggs and decided to let them out for the first time ever.
Wednesday: I am woken up at 6.55am by Tigger, who says, "Hello!" in a very loud voice. I look around, startled, as I assume he is trying to get in at the open window. This would be a first. It turns out he came in the house as Mr O was leaving for work and wouldn't budge. Mr O was running late and didn't have time to argue, so he left him there. I quote that it 'never occured to him that he would try to go upstairs.' We live in an open-plan house.
So if you'll excuse me, I'm off back to bed. (And yes, at 6.55am this morning, I was woken up by the rain drumming on the window). Grrr
Mrs O.

Treasure Hunt

2011-08-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Well I did it! We drove onto Lorna's yard at about 10am, which turned out to be far too early really. There was showjumping in the morning, which I didn't really want to do, and Barnaby was confused about why he was there and tied to a lorry and not turned out, as it's his old yard, and that would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Mr O took him into the indoor school and let him play and run around. He said it was just like old times.
And that's the thing really. I felt partly homesick and partly relieved that we don't livery there any more. I took Barnaby for a hack to settle him. It felt so peculiar to know where I was but know I didn't belong there any more. It was quite fun to go whizzing through the fields, though!
Anyway, we had lunch and soon it was time to get changed into our costumes and get our horses ready. Here we are:

Told you it was a sight to be seen!

Here's the team:

There were some amazing sights, though:

So we set off as a team, with poor Mr O on foot, to suss out what the clues meant, and find the hidden objects. Unfortunately quite a bit of the searching involved walking up and down on the cross country course. Barnaby was thoroughly excited as he'd been there a few weeks before, popped a few logs and been told what a good boy he was. He really couldn't understand why I didn't want him to do the same thing again (especially as I'd put his cross country boots on him as part of his outfit) and Mr O had to hang onto him, to stop him whizzing the length of the course.
One of the other clues was in the geldings' field. Barnaby took three strides into the field and went to get down and roll! I just shouted, "No!" and hauled him up, but two strides later he tried to do it again. He thinks I'm a real spoil-sport now.
Eventually we'd gathered all the objects and went back to the start, to run round and find the extra items for the scavenger hunt (including a bra!) so we could hand everything in. By now, Barnaby had formed a little harem of his own, as all the other riders in my team were on mares, and he didn't want to be separated from them. As they set off back to the yard to untack their horses and put them away, he suddenly cantered over to them, with me still on board! Oh dear, poor boy. A bit too much for him, I think.

It was very interesting to catch up with people. Poor Jess Caudwell. She has always loaned horses on the yard, and been lead a merry dance by some owners, I can tell you. She finally decided she'd had enough and her parents were brilliant about buying her a youngster to bring on. She'd only had him a year when she went to him in the field one morning, to find he was lying down. It turned out he'd fractured his pelvis and broken his stifle. He is now retired, aged five. How awful.
And my friend Julianne, who fell off a horse she was schooling and broke her collar bone. Not too bad, you might think, but it's severed all the nerves in her shoulder and now she can't ride. It just goes to show that you should make the most of every single day, because you never know how long it's going to last. I don't want to sit here in ten years time and moan that 'I could've...'
Lorna had invited us to stay for the party and presentation at the end, but we decided to load Barnaby up and bring him home. I have Hugo to feed as Pongo and Missis are on holiday, and Zak needed his tea, too. Barnaby went trotting into the field to let everyone know he was home. And I am thoroughly glad to be 'home', too, and counting my blessings, I can tell you!

The Simple Woman's Daybook - July

2011-07-29T03:56:00.000-07:00

I'm going to pretend I've deliberately put this at the end of the month,

instead of at the beginning, like it normally is!

Outside my window: Lots of plants are going to seed. I am a bad gardener. Actually I am a very good gardener, but I've had to let Mr O find out for himself! I'll probably take on a bit more next year, but to be honest, with horses, chickens etc to see to, plus housework and the odd bit of cardmaking, I've got enough to do without taking on an ever expanding garden as well!

I am thinking: back to my lesson on Tuesday, which was fabulous. Nicky hardly said anything, except at the end, when she said, "Try not to fall back into any bad habits." Praise indeed. I don't know why I've suddenly sussed it, but I'm extremely pleased. Only two more lessons before 'The Big Show'.

I am learning: how to use my new Aquamarkers. They are amazing. I knew they would be. There's nothing nicer than spending an hour lost in the wonder of painting.

I am wearing: navy blue jods. I have a terrible habit of wiping my hands on my trousers when I'm working. I also dropped an ink pad, face down, on my favourite jeans yesterday. Scruffy trousers it is, then!

I am reading: 'Rough Ride' by John Francome. I love his books. They are all connected to racing in some way. I found it in a second hand shop, along with another book by Philippa Gregory, so that'll be next.

I am hoping/praying: for my friend Priscilla who is opening a new chiropractic clinic but having terrible problems with the planning department. I'm sure it'll come right in the end.

On my mind: I had to go to the doctor's on Wednesday, with a rash all over my back. It turns out it's a histamine reaction to the prawns I ate on Tuesday night. I've had this once before, but about ten years ago. The doctor prescribed some tablets, which have stopped the itching/stinging. I felt as if all my nerve endings were on fire. Better than having shingles I guess.

From the kitchen: I have eaten blueberries in a trifle last night and some on my breakfast this morning. I thought they'd be really sour, like redcurrants or something, but they were gorgeous. I do love blueberry muffins, though, so I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised. They'll be on the menu regularly from now on...

I am creating: cards using some cross stitch pictures I made last year. Really pleased with the first one. Time for a little more cross stitch, I think.

I am hearing: Radio 2. Very interesting, as usual.

Noticing that: there are so many flies here at the moment. I don't think there should be this many. I've hardly seen any wasps or bees, but swarms of flies coming in the kitchen, and flying around the manege. Missis has given me a fly mask and I put it on Barnaby yesterday. Once he realised it kept the flies off his face, he decided he really liked it. Last time we tried it, a few years ago, he got it off and buried it in the haylage pile, hoping to never see it again! An indication of how bad the flies are, I think.

Around the house: Blatant peace and quiet as Pongo and Missis are on holiday. No dogs barking, no children running around. Bliss. Feeding the fish is a small price to pay.

One of my favourite things: Missis brought me back some coffee from Canada that's flavoured with maple syrup. It has the most gorgeous smell. I am trying to cut back on coffee, but it's not going to happen with something like that around, is it?

A scripture thought: 'The joy of the Lord is your strength.' I had this scripture while making a card for a friend recently. A week later I was at her house and noticed she had it on a little plaque on the wall. Result!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Taking Ebony's (granddaughter) birthday card and present to her on Saturday (you can see why I didn't want to have shingles!) and... on Sunday I am going to our old yard to take part in a fancy dress treasure hunt (on horseback, obviously!) I think I mentioned that I have to dress up as Where's Wally? We ride round in teams of four and have to work out the clues to find certain objects. I may put photos on here next week, it depends how incriminating they are (bright blue spandex leggings!!) I am so looking forward to this, and I'm sure Barnaby won't let me down.

A picture thought:

Tigger's house. He's very happy here...

Have a great weekend, everyone,
Mrs O.

Busy Days

2011-07-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

Hello, I'm sorry I've been a lazy blogger (on this blog, anyway!) but we've been really busy. Mr O had last week off work and we've been here, there and everywhere.
We've been to the cinema to see 'X-Men First Class' and I must say, it was, well, first class. I can't resist a film with James McAvoy in it anyway, but it is seriously good, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nicholas Hoult is in it. He is the boy in About A Boy, although, of course, he's all grown up now. It was driving me mad all the way through it, as I was trying to think where I'd seen him before. Good old Wikipedia.
We had a wonderful morning in Bakewell last Thursday, a beautiful town in the Peak District, where Bakewell Tart comes from, a truly delicious concoction of pastry, jam, almonds and cake. Mmmmm. Do not, under any circumstances, let that lull you into buying a Bakewell Pudding, for they are an abomination, and human beings should not partake of them, lest they fall by the wayside (i.e. they are disgusting things with what tastes like raw egg in the bottom.) You have been warned.
I had a lovely time wandering round art galleries and bookshops and having lunch in a very nice cafe.
On Friday, having phoned to ask if it was okay to come, we set off with the horses to visit our old yard and it's very, very nice cross country course. I told myself I wasn't going to jump anything when I got there, and 'myself' fell for it, hook, line and sinker, but it meant I stayed calm while I tacked Barnaby up, which is always a good thing.
I took him into the warm up ring and jumped the showjump in there and felt rather elated, so after Mr O and Zak had had a couple of goes, we set off down to the course. The first fence we came to was the drop, which I know Barnaby isn't very keen on, but after a few false starts, he jumped off it, which wasn't really what I asked him, but it was quite good. After that we were on a roll and jumped a few fences in sequence. To be honest, I am amazed that I can still do it, as I haven't done cross country for a couple of years, and never on Barnaby. Actually, that's not strictly true. When we liveried there I'd sneak off for the occasional ride on Barnaby, when I used to take half days from work in the winter. I did jump one or two things then, but not in a serious way. There is a new water jump that we've never done as it's only a year old. To my surprise and delight, Barnaby went straight in. I went round again and he cantered straight down into it. Brilliant boy.
This was basically Barnaby's back garden for four years and he and Mr O used to whizz up and down here at least once a week, so he didn't see any reason why he shouldn't do the same to me and shot back to the yard at a flat out gallop. I thought I'd lost him for a fleeting moment, but he pulled up very nicely and waited for Zak to catch up (yes, I said, "For Zak to catch up!!")
We rode back to the lorry to take our body protectors off and Barnaby thought his job was done, but we then set off to a beautiful place called Hodsock Priory and went for a whizz round. It's a fabulous place, all off road. Barnaby knew where he was the whole time, it was so sweet.
Oh yes, one little incident I ought to mention. As we were going along quite a busy road, it must have been nursery chucking out time, as there were lots of little children all over the place. One mother was walking along with her little girl, who stopped to watch us pass, always deeply gratifying... until she spoke. She said, "I like those horses mummy. That one is brown and that one is... yellow!" I have never, in all my days, heard my horse referred to as yellow. Of course, Mr O was ahead of me, absolutely howling with side-splitting mirth as I trundled along behind, now slightly crestfallen. They say pride comes before a fall, don't they? Hrmph! Yellow indeed!
Anyway, the outcome of all of this is that we've been invited to their camp at the end of July. We can't really go as Pongo and Missis are away on holiday, so I've said I will go on the Sunday, to join in with the treasure hunt, which is usually great fun. The only trouble is, I'm in a team called 'Where's Wally?' So I have to dress up as him. Marvellous. (You may know it as 'Where's Waldo?' and if you don't know what I mean I suggest you google it immediately, you won't be disappointed.) How am I supposed to wear thick black glasses on top of my own specs? I know I wanted a fun year, but good grief!
So you can see why I haven't had tonnes of time to blog, so sorry. I have been reading lots of yours though, so I'm not a totally bad person.
Thanks for popping in today,
Mrs O.

What A Flock We've Got!

2011-07-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to start by thanking you for your comments on my previous post. Jean, your comment was so astute I can't begin to tell you!
Well, Mr O and I had a fantastic time at Newhaven on Sunday. Last year I only did the seven mile route so I really enjoyed doing the fourteen miles this year. Barnaby was fabulously behaved, I am so pleased with him. This must be the best ride for breathtaking scenery. Derbyshire has areas of outstanding beauty, especially in The Peak District National Park, which thousands of people walk over every year. The scenery is rugged and in the area we were, there wasn't a road to be seen in any direction. We were on the White Peak Trail, much of which must have formerly been a railway, as there is an old signal box half way along it. This is the ride we do with lots of gates so poor Mr O was on and off quite a bit, but there are also several good canters. I was amazed that Barnaby knew where he was all the time having only done it once a year ago. Horses have amazing memories, don't they?
The only downside was the vast quantity of flies. I doused Barnaby in fly spray before we set off, and yet within minutes we were covered in them. Mr O had swarms of them all over his hat. They were crawling up my face and on my bare arms - ewww! Horrible! Poor Barnaby just strode stoically on, braving it out, but Zak did quite a bit of head-shaking. Poor boys.
And the really good thing is that Zak travelled very well. I do think (Jean again!) that there were flies in the lorry on the way back from Elvaston Castle the other week, so we made sure there were none in the lorry when we loaded them this time, and apart from a couple of bangs, Zak was fine all the way home. Such a relief as we were beginning to think we'd never be able to travel him again.
I'm sorry I've been a bit lax with photos from around the farm lately. Firstly, as I've said in a previous post, the goslings are huge now. Here is a picture to show you what I mean:

Basically, if it's big, it's a gosling. If it's small (or black) it's a duck! They look all friendly here, but when there's food about, the goslings get quite aggressive now.
But, please welcome our little darling baby ducklings:

They're about three weeks old now, and seriously cute. Here they are doing their Beverley Sisters impersonation. They call out to the other ducks in the mornings at going-out time and have got to the stage where they love to play with water. One sticks its head under the water and says to the others, "Look! We don't drown!" It's very cute.
Have a great day, everyone. Hope you're getting lots of riding done.
Mrs O.

Schooling Update (And Other News!)

2011-07-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

Nicky, my instructor, came yesterday, and I managed to say that I was taking a break for a couple of weeks. The fact is, Mr O is on holiday next week anyway, and I can't have a lesson while he's off. The actual lesson went very well, and I do feel we're both making progress. In fact, as Barnaby is behaving himself, it is showing up my riding faults and giving me an opportunity to learn to keep everything still and not work so hard. Oh the joys of a forward going horse! There have to be some bonuses, don't there?
So I am going to get myself in a routine of two hacks to one schooling session, like this:
Monday: day off
Tuesday: hack
Wednesday: hack
Thursday: school
Friday: hack
Saturday: hack
Sunday: lunge

and that will have to do. I am not flogging us both to death with schooling, when that's not what I got Barnaby for. I've got him because he hacks out flawlessly and that's what I love about him.
And it's just as well, because I hacked out on Tuesday, got onto a bend in a narrow lane and could hear a big vehicle coming towards me. I tucked Barnaby into the hedge and stuck my right arm out, hoping the driver would see it as I came round the corner, but he was driving a lorry and gunning it, until in the end I just stood there and shouted, "Don't hit me!" and he managed to pull up about two feet away from me. My heart was pounding and I rode on, just about managing to squeeze past him. I did say, "Thanks very much!" as I rode past, and the driver was as white as a sheet, but it's a narrow country lane, for goodness sake, what does he expect? It could have been an old person out walking who wouldn't have been able to get out of the way in time. Or what if it had been a tractor coming towards him and the boot was on the other foot? There are loads of them about at the moment because of cutting the hay. I wish I'd taken his number now, but I was just relieved to be alive at the time.
I don't know if I told you that one of the goslings injured himself last week? I think he caught his foot running through some long grass and thistles near the pond, as it looked broken. Anyway, I told Missis and we separated him off from the other goslings as they were distressed about leaving him and he didn't want to be left. He went downhill quite rapidly, then revived for a while. I asked Missis if she would take him to her vet and have him put to sleep, but she didn't. I am quite cross about it, to be honest. By Monday I'd decided enough was enough and Mr O and I 'did the deed.' Poor thing, but at least he isn't suffering any more.
The other goslings are huge now, and I am putting out extra food for them in the mornings. I decided to watch them for a while yesterday and I noticed they are chasing the ducks off the food. They aren't frightened of the ducks at all, even though they are a year younger.
And the other thing I really must tell you, is that Missis says she may well sell Hugo and give up riding. They would keep Lyndy, but I don't know where this leaves us. She is upset about it, obviously. I do agree that Hugo is too much for her. He is a competition horse after all, and being left in a field and ridden once a week is not his idea of a good time. He has chucked Missis off twice in the school, then pushed her right across the stable not long after that, and she seems to have really lost her confidence, which is slightly understandable, but I wouldn't let a horse get into a situation where it could do that to me.
While Nicky was here last week, Missis actually broached the subject of Nicky taking him to her yard to school for selling, so we'll see what happens. Pongo and Missis are going on holiday at the end of July, and it wouldn't surprise me if Missis sent Hugo to Nicky's just before that. Either way, although I appreciate that it's a difficult decision to make, I think Missis should make her mind up about what she's doing and stick to it. It took me a long time to make up my mind to sell Max, but I didn't announce it until I knew I was going to go through with it. Every time she says this she then rides Hugo for a couple of days, as if she's changed her mind, so we'll see.
Never a dull moment round here.
Mrs O.

Schoolinng and Showing

2011-07-04T02:27:00.000-07:00

Chapter One! On Thursday I took Barnaby out for a hack, which was nice, but towards the end I got quite fed up because I am now obsessed with how my hands are, how my feet are (I still really struggle with keeping my legs still) whether my toes are back (they creep forwards) how I'm holding the reins etc. I think I just want to go out for a hack and enjoy the countryside, and Barnaby's magnificence, and not worry about how I look.
Because of this, I was all set to tell Nicky that I wasn't going to have any more lessons. The fact that I can't really afford it doesn't help.
Then on Friday she came for my lesson, and brought the lungee bungee with her that I'd ordered. I will try to take a photo this week to show you what it looks like on the horse, but basically it's a strap that clips loosly under the horse's chin, from one bit ring to the other. It has a ring in the middle that you thread the lungee bungee through, which then goes through the rings on the roller and back on itself, then you can alter the tightness with settings similar to a market harborough. There is nothing that goes over the head like in a chambon or a Pessoa, so there is no poll pressure involved. You can also attach it to the D rings on the saddle and ride in it.
And Barnaby went like a dream in it. He was, for once, an absolute pleasure to school. Having it on the highest clip is quite strenuous for the horse, so we kept the session short. There is nothing for the horse to fight against so they gradually relax into the correct position, it's amazing. It builds muscle behind the saddle relatively quickly, which Barnaby needs, and this in turn will help him to carry himself and so will lighten his forehand. All I know is, riding him in it was absolute bliss.
So with this, to be honest, I may not need many more lessons anyway, although I have ended up booking one in for this week, but I need to make a decision very soon.
It's not that I am going to give up on the schooling though, as Barnaby definitely needs it. Mr O says it isn't Barnaby's thing, as if to say I am wasting my time, so I gave this a great deal of thought. It's like saying to a child, "Oh, you really struggle with reading, so you don't have to do it any more!" Are you prepared to cope with the illiterate adult of the future? You just wouldn't do it, would you? It's the same with Barnaby. I am not asking him for anything exceptional, just to be able to go the way any well schooled horse should go. I know he's a big lad who would prefer to trolley around on his front end all day, but that doesn't mean he should.
My next thought was: Although it's hard work, if my efforts with my hand position, leg position and generally trying to keep myself still mean we make a better 'picture' as we go up the road, rather than someone who's flopping about all over the place, maybe that's a good thing anyway...

Chapter Two: Yesterday we did go to Eckington Show, and I really enjoyed it, but showing is still a farce, isn't it? I'd rather do dressage any day. Let me explain:
I did the in-hand cob class first. I have had to practise this a bit, as Barnaby is a lot bigger than Max was, plus I have to make sure I can see round his head to see if the judge is calling me in to the line up. Anyway, the steward halted us, then one by one we had to run our horse round the edge of the field and back to the line up. The girl before me did a few trot strides and then stopped. I asked the steward if we had to run all the way round, because it seemed a bit odd to me, so I set off with Barnaby and went like the clappers, boiling hot in my tweed jacket and my heart hammering, but you have to go fairly fast if you're going to show your horses paces off well.
Then we did our individual show, where you go out to the judge one at a time. The judge asked me how old Barnaby is (14) and said he looked very fit. Then you turn and walk away from the judge, turn round and trot past her in a straight line (you just keep going, it's up to the judge to move out of the way if she doesn't want to get trampled!) and back to the line-up.
When this other girl came out, the judge gave her a lecture about not trotting the horse properly, that she was letting the horse down, that she must give the horse a tap with her whip and put in some practise at home, turning to me and saying, "This young lady's horse is beautifully schooled!" I nearly said, "Please can I have that in writing?" and then she said to the other woman, "But I liked your show, so I'm placing you first." I was flabbergasted, and so was everyone outside the ring who could clearly hear and see what was going on. Honestly, what is the point of that?
Then I did the senior equitation class. There were seven in it and I came seventh because Barnaby cantered on the wrong lead. Oh no, not on the right rein, where he does struggle, but on the left rein. I was so stunned I didn't correct it, and the judge said that if it ever happens I should pull up straight away as then at least the judge knows I've realised and am trying to do something about it, which is fair comment. He also said that Barnaby was putting his tongue between the two bits of the double bridle, not a good look! I'll have to do something about that. So I do think the judge was fair in this instance.
HOWEVER, an hour later I went into the ridden trimmed cob class. To my surprise there were quite a few in it, but there was a dapple grey sports horse that was hogged. This is quite a common occurrence, and for the life of me I don't know why the judge doesn't send them out. It states quite clearly that it is a class for COBS!
The judge had just judged three from the previous class who were also in this one, so he said he didn't need to see them again, so he watched the three new entries ride, but when he came to me he said, "I've already seen you ride," and didn't ask me to come out again! What a flaming cheek! I'd have come out and bimbled round in trot like the others did and probably have got placed.
Strangely enough I really enjoyed the day, but why is judgeing so fickle? This is why we got into show jumping. At least then you know why you're first or fifth or twelfth! Surely there must be a set standard that the judge must use, like there is in dog shows?
But I went primarily to get some ring experience with Barnaby, who I thought might be awful, but turned out to be impeccably behaved all day, spending several hours tied to the lorry on his own in searing heat. I am very proud of him. And it was worth the fight at bath time, where he snapped the string he was tied to and ran off back to the field, where I eventually caught him and began the process all over again!
Thankyou, my boy, I am proud of you today.
Mrs O.

So Much To Do, So Little Time!

2011-06-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

Goodness, it's been a busy week. This is my favourite time of year, though, as it's Wimbledon fortnight. It is absolute bliss to be at home and be able to watch it. I am counting my blessings (and eating strawberries straight from the garden!)
Some good news and some bad news: The goslings are now enormous. When they stand up their bellies are higher than the ducks' backs. They all live together in the duck house. They seem terribly hungry all the time (who doesn't?!) so I am giving them extra feed. I've no idea how big they'll end up. Their feathers seemed to arrive in a day.
The sad part is that last week one of them injured his foot and was limping around. We put him in a pen on his own as he was distressing the others because he couldn't follow them and they didn't want to leave him. He has been feeling very sorry for himself, and to be honest, on Tuesday morning I thought he'd had enough and was dying. He was just laying there, occasionally lifting his head up to look at me. I was debating whether to put him out of his misery and decided to wait until Mr O got home from work, but when we went to look at him he was sitting up and looked fine. It's driving me bonkers not knowing what to do. He must be able to move around as he is in different places when I go and look at him, he did hiss at me and is definitely eating and drinking, so I'm in a quandary. There has to be a downside to country life, I suppose and this is it.
Yesterday was Mr O's birthday. He had a half-day from work and came home at 12.30. We decided to go and see Transformers 3 at the cinema. I can sum it up in one word, a word that I don't use very often. It was, in fact

awesome!

I could quite easily have sat there and watched it all through again. I was enthralled. What on earth is a 44 year old woman doing watching and enjoying a film about some robots from outer space? I couldn't stand the cartoon. I couldn't stand tripping over little bits of car on the carpet when the children were small, and yet, I am transfixed by the movies. I've always liked action films, but this one is exceptional. There are some films you just have to see on the big screen and this is definitely one of them. And Shia LeBeouf, for goodness sake, don't you know I'm old enough to be your mother?

Afterwards we went for dinner at a pub/restaurant near us called The Nettle. To be honest, we went there for lunch a while ago and I wasn't terribly impressed by the food, so when Mr O asked me to book a table I did so with a touch of reluctance and was prepared to say I'd really enjoyed it even if I hadn't. But this time we were in the restaurant proper, and the food was outstanding. We both had grouse to start and both had ribeye of beef on a haggis mash, for our main course, which was out of this world. There are very few words to do it justice.
We drove home happy and replete and found that all the haylage had been baled in our absense and the horses were happily stuffing their faces in the now cut top field. And can I just say, "About time, too!" The horses have been so desperate to get on it that we've been putting out bales of hay to keep them going. I am not a procrastinator myself, so it does drive me mad to be at the mercy of someone who is.
Apparently there had been all the usual chaos of tractors breaking down, etc. but the job is done and I didn't have to do it, so I must try not to complain.
I'm off to pop round all your blogs and see what you've been up to.
More very soon
Mrs O.

Elvaston Castle Ride

2011-06-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous time on Wednesday evening. It had been raining on and off all day, so I couldn't really bath Barnaby. He didn't look too bad after a good groom, so we set off for Elvaston Castle. It only took about 45 minutes to get there, with no real traffic considering we left at 4.30pm.
Zak banged about in the lorry for a little while but seemed to settle down, fortunately. Mr O drove really slowly. But when we got there it turned out he'd pulled the fillet string off the back of his travel rug and had struck into himself again and cut himself. Grrr.
We found the secretary and signed in, got our high viz vests and went to tack up. The only thing I'd forgotten was fly spray, and there were flies everywhere. I suppose the combination of warmth and damp was perfect to bring them out.
We set off around the park, and it was lovely. The route was very well sign-posted. We'd been riding for about five minutes when we came to our first game. It was a hoopla thing. We were given some hoops each, had to ride up to the things that were like paper mache heads, and try to get the hoops over. Fortunately we both did it. I was flushed with success and grinning from ear to ear. We got given a sweet each, which were really sour, so that soon wiped the smile off my face!
We carried on round, the horses in good spirits and enjoying the scenery, when we came to the second stop. This time we came to a big paddling pool with various fish in it, and had to hook one out. Apparently no one had managed it so far. I took the stick and immediately hooked a duck out. I was so chuffed. We had to do it at the TREC last summer, so I knew Barnaby wouldn't mind, but Mr O did it too, to give him his due (Zak that is, I'm sure Mr O is capable of hook-a-duck under normal circumstances!)
We carried on around the lake and then back to where there appears to be a riding stables, then there was a game where you had to throw a beanbag into a bucket (while still on your horse, obviously). I am absolutely hopeless at that kind of thing, and missed completely. Mr O got one in, so we decided he was the winner overall (on this occasion!)
Eventually we made our way back to the start. Barnaby's internal compass was on top form and he speeded up the second he realised we were on the last stretch.
When we got back there were proper TREC obstacles laid out on the grass. There was 'control of paces' first, where you canter down as slowly as you can, without going back to trot or you lose the available points, and then you have to walk back up. The last time I tried this with Zak waiting was a total disaster as Barnaby went into a flat out gallop so as not to be separated from Zak any longer than he had to be. This time he did really well and I was mightily pleased with him. Zak did very well, too, but they weren't timing us, it was just a bit of fun, so I don't know how well we did.
Then there were weaving poles, which we did in trot which was fine. Then there was an obstacle consisting of two wooden uprights with string tied to one and looped over the other, to form a gate. The idea is to pick up the rope and keep hold of it, like a gate, go through, turn your horse round and re-fasten it, without letting go of the rope, which we completed successfully. I was really pleased as gates aren't our best thing.
Then we had an 's' bend, which wasn't too bad, then we had to go to an upturned dustbin that had a big fluffy toy dog sitting on it, pick up the dog, walk along with it and plop it into the washing basket on the floor. Barnaby has done something similar to this before, so I strolled up full of confidence, and he was having none of it! He ran backwards, which really surprised me, so I got him to go gradually nearer and nearer. Eventually he gave it a big sniff, and I managed to get him to stand alongside it. Then I picked it up and put it behind my back so he couldn't see it. I rode up to the basket and casually let go of the dog, in case it made Barnaby leap sideways, but he seemed fine with it by then.
Mr O had just as much of a struggle with Zak, but got him there in the end, which is very good, as Zak can be quite a spooky boy if he's not sure of something. Mr O is very good at giving horses confidence, though.
And then, of course, there was a rein-back obstacle, which Barnaby cannot or will not do, under any circumstances. You can actually feel him thinking, 'Oooh, she wants me to go straight backwards, what a great opportunity to stick my bum out to the right. There we are then!' (Insert appropriate expletive here!) Unfortunately for me, this is something that Zak excels at. Mr O just parks him between the two poles and Zak marches backwards, straight as a die, until Mr O tells him to halt. It's really quite sickening to watch.
He'd just finished doing it when the marshall came up and said, "Is this one of your shoes?" and held up a delicate horse shoe. Needless to say, it was Zak's. Marvellous. Goodness knows how he'd done it, as we hadn't heard it clanking while we'd been riding round, but at least we had it.
And then, ladies and gentlemen, the highlight of my evening. The last obstacle was a jump, and for some inexplicable reason, I decided to jump it. I asked Mr O to walk Zak beyond it, where Barnaby could see him, asked for trot, got two strides of canter and Barnaby went sailing over the fence. I was absolutely thrilled and whooped and gave him a big pat. The marshall probably thought I was a bit OTT but I did tell her I was scared to death of jumping (and I am!) and I think she could see how thrilled I was, and I'm so pleased I did it. Barnaby just acted as if it was nothing. I may have to have another go soon.
Mr O thought he'd better not chance it, with Zak having lost a shoe, and so with job done, we took the boys back to the lorry, so they could munch grass while we joined in with the barbeque.
Eventually it was time to load up and we set off for home. We'd been underway for about ten minutes when the heavens opened and it began to pour. Zak was very unhappy in the lorry again, and Mr O was driving as slowly as he possibly could, so I don't know what's happened to him there. When we got home, it looked as though he'd stood on Barnaby as there was blood just above Barnaby's coronet band. He wasn't very happy at travelling with Zak in that mood, and I am reluctant to put him through it again, as he travels very well and I've never had any problems with him.
We rugged both horses up and they went sailing off into the night, me still as high as a kite because of the jump. The simple pleasures.

Post Script: The farrier came out on Friday morning. He pointed out a big crack horizontally across Zak's hoof and said it's basically a stress fracture in the hoof. He said Zak's given something an almighty kick (presumably in the lorry) which had also dislodged the shoe. I think we are very fortunate that he's not lame. I have no idea what to do about this sudden downturn in his travelling behaviour, and am at my wit's end. Any ideas?

The Things We Have Done, and The Things We Have Not Done

2011-06-23T05:47:00.000-07:00

I have to confess I ended up not going to the show on Sunday. On our old yard we would have bathed the horses Saturday night (along with 20 other people!) and kept them in, but we tend not to do that here. There's no way Barnaby would stay in on his own anyway. So I was left with having to bath him Sunday morning and the weather was terrible, plus Pongo and Missis were away so I was dog sitting and a duckling hatched in the night (will put on some piccies asap) so I just decided enough was enough and gave it a miss. We'll try again on July 3rd.
I must tell you that on Monday I finally got round to doing something I've been dying to do for ages. I had run out of milk, so I tacked Barnaby up and put his saddle bags on, and set off for a farm down the road that sells milk from a little shed at the top of their lane. We rode all the way there, much to Barnaby's annoyance and I dismounted to get my pound coin out of my jods pocket. I'd brought my lunge line in case Barnaby wanted to wander round eating the grass while I went in the shed, but as it happened I opened the shed door and peered inside and the next thing I knew, Barnaby was standing next to me, peering in with me, as if to say, "Any carrots?"
I put my one lonely coin in the vending machine, the slots turned and I opened the door only to find the slot presented to me was empty - completely devoid of milk. I tried pressing buttons, to no avail. As far as the machine was concerned, it had presented milk unto me and it's job was done. It's mouth stayed firmly shut.
Unabashed I decided I'd better ride down to the farm to explain what had happened. By this time, two cars had pulled up and two women had got out to buy milk. They obviously knew each other, and one of them turned out to be the owner of our local riding school, just down the lane from us. She turned to the other woman and said, about me, "Is that the woman from L*&! Lane?" as if I couldn't hear her. "Yes," I said, "It's me!" and rode down to the farm. It'll be all round the village now, "That mad woman from M- Farm, you know, the one on the big grey horse she can't control, well I've just seen her trying to buy milk while still on her horse!"
The farmer was very kind and put two litres of milk in my saddle bags and we set off home, Barnaby quite happy when he realised that was all he had to do, and that he was now very busy and important. We did quite a bit of trotting on the way home and Barnaby wasn't at all phased by the weight of the milk tapping him on the side. I was a bit worried we'd have milk shake by the time we got home and didn't dare risk a canter, but it was fine.
We came home and I untacked and turned Barnaby out, but was thrilled at how good he'd been. I really thought he might spook at the milk shed, but he took it all in his stride. He went marching into the field, to tell the others he'd been on a very important mission, and would probably be mentioned in dispatches. Thankyou Barnaby, I am very proud of you.

The Simple Woman's Daybook: June

2011-06-15T01:20:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit late this month, but here goes:

Outside my window: it's sunny and bright. The horses are milling about looking distracted, which is unusual. Maybe it's the flies bothering them.

I am thinking: I am quite tired after a long hack yesterday but I have my lesson soon and I'm really looking forward to it.

I am thankful for: the farm at this time of year. There's nowhere else I'd rather be. In fact, it's true to say we haven't had a holiday for some years, unless we've taken the horses with us! I'd be bored silly laying on a sandy beach.

I am wearing: black jods and a black T Shirt, but as we've had to bodily lift out the goslings this morning and carry two of them down to the pond so the other two would follow, I am now filthy and will have to get changed. I am in love with the gossies.

I am reading: 'A Dying Light In Corduba' by Lindsey Davis. This is, I think, the eighth or ninth book about Marcus Didius Falco. He is a Roman informer (spy/detective). This books are witty and clever and very historically accurate, and I can't wait to find out what happens next. I plucked one off the shelf a couple of years ago and as I was reading it I was asking myself loads of questions (how did he meet Helena, for a start) and realised I'd stumbled on a series and was in fact on the 13th book, so I went back to the beginning and have been hooked on them ever since.

I am hoping/praying: for so many things at the moment. Mr O has been having bad headaches after his fall from Zak last week. He has been to the doctor who says he'd had concussion, which is like bruising of the brain and will take about six weeks to get better. Missis is seriously contemplating selling Hugo (but has done nothing but ride him ever since she said it.) Where will that leave us?

On my mind: I am taking Barnaby to a showing show on Sunday. It'll either be a complete disaster or a great success. I am doing in-hand cob, ridden cob and senior equitation. Hey-ho.

From the kitchen: We have been following the principles of Slimming World as we don't have time to go to a group, but have a few cookbooks. I have lost 10lb in the last three weeks and Mr O has lost 9lb. We are thrilled, as you can imagine, and I think it was the eating healthily that got me through the illness so rapidly. I have to remind my body that it is no longer winter, I am not mucking out, and that amount of pastry is obscene. There is a lot of preparation of vegetables involved in the cooking (I hate onions!) but the actual cooking time is short, so it's still equivalent to shoving a pizza in the oven and waiting 50 minutes for it to cook, but the end result is so much better for us.

I am creating: cards to sell in church in September. All the proceeds will go towards our scheme for helping the homeless in the local community.

I am hearing: Radio 2. I love it. I have now included Simon Mayo in my repertoire, so I listen from 8am to about 6pm.

Noticing that: there is a definite split between the horses. Barnaby and Zak were the best of friends, but now Barnaby seems to spend more time with Hugo, and Zak and Lyndy are going everywhere together. I am thrilled for Lyndy as he was devastated at the loss of his best friend last year. Barnaby and Hugo seem to have a love/hate relationship. One minute they are mutually grooming (to the detriment of Hugo's mane!) the next minute Barnaby's ears are back and he's shooing Hugo away. Oh dear.

Around the house: the usual chaos. Life's too short to spend my entire life doing housework. I have done the ironing, though, so huge pat on the back for me (and the yard is immaculate!)

One of my favourite things: these are growing on a patch of wasteland near the manege:

I love them best growing in fields of wheat. They seem to go on for months.

A Scripture thought: '...I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength...' Philippians 4: 12-13

A few plans for the rest of the week: More schooling for Barnaby in the double bridle, which I tried last week and was astonished at how well he went in it. Then getting ready for the show on Sunday. The weather forecast is good!

A picture thought:

These are both duck eggs, but on the right is the most enormous duck egg I've ever seen. It was huge. It filled my hand. I was curious as to whether it would have a double yolk, so instead of boiling it I decided to make scrambled eggs, and sure enough, there were two yolks inside. Fabulous.

Fun at Chatsworth

2011-06-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

We had the most glorious ride yesterday. We have actually bought a photo, but I can't scan it in to show you any more (boo hoo!)
Anyway, I rang for our time on Saturday evening and she said we could go either at twelve or ten thirty, so we chose the earlier option as the weather forecast had said rain for later.
I got Barnaby in from the field. The poor boy had been laying down, and getting up for a bath wasn't on his agenda, but I stuck to my guns and dragged him in. I didn't have much time, so I decided to wash his tail as that was the worst bit, but as it happened I had time to do him all over and he looked fantastic by the time we were ready to load up. We put Zak in first, then Barnaby and set off.
We approached the 'Golden Gates', a rather grand entrance to the main estate, and drove through. We had arrived quite early, but as it happened it was spot on as it gave me time to give Barnaby a bit of a groom and comb his tail out, which looked fabulous by the time I finished.
We went off to sign in and hand over our sponsor money, and the ride began. We rode through the glorious countryside, sheep scattering in all directions, to the bottom of a steep hill, turned up it and went into a flat out gallop to the top! It was fabulous.
We did this ride two years ago, but last year it was so unbelievably hot we decided it would have been mean to have travelled the horses in a red hot lorry and slogged round, but today the weather was perfect and we cruised along, through the sheep fields at the top, past where Pongo had come off last year (Pongo and Missis didn't do it this time as the tax has run out on their lorry and they weren't able to get it sorted in time).
There were little direction arrows hammered into the ground at regular intervals. I'd like to say it was impossible to get lost, but having overheard a conversation in the photographer's van later on, I can't actually vouch for that! We just followed along and cruised round, overtaking several sets of people along the way. We came out onto the moors and shot up the track, but then it started to rain, so I got my mac out of my saddle bags and put it on. I'd decided there was no point getting soaked if I didn't have to, especially as I was so ill not long ago.
We got onto the 'track I don't understand'. It is very rocky and gravelly and full of dips and bumps. I have no idea why they leave it like this (maybe for drainage?) but it makes it very tricky to ride down. You have to really concentrate. This shows up quite a difference between Barnaby and Max. Max was very clear about where he was going to put his feet and that he'd be making the decisions at all times, but Barnaby leaves the decision to his rider, so you have to pick the best ways for him to go. He is quite sure-footed, but he is what you call a 'wide gaited horse.' This means his legs are set quite wide apart on his body, and he can't walk along ground that slopes to one side, whereas Max never had problems with this, and could walk along a very narrow track, practically putting one foot in front of the other, but Barnaby can't do it. Just another little discovery as we go along.
By the time we got to the bottom it was time to turn back into the park grounds. We rode along and just galloped and galloped, it must be at least a mile, if not more, and then you're streaming along in front of the house (which unfortunately is covered with scaffolding at the moment, so not looking its best, but here is how it usually looks:

Barnaby was being really good and listening to me and Zak looked wonderful. Galloping is effortless to him. We slowed down and went through the next wooden gate, and then we were nearly home. We came to Queen Mary's Bower (named after Mary Queen of Scots) which is the water jump on the cross country course. When we'd been a few weeks ago to the Horse Trials, I'd been looking at it, as I wondered what a rider does if their horse absolutely refuses to jump out, and I'd noticed a grass slope that leads down into it. So next year, if my horse happened to bolt and go through the water jump, I'd be powerless to stop him, wouldn't I?
We went back into trot and then went down a steep grassy slope, and when we hit the bottom, for some reason Barnaby went into a flat out gallop. I shouted at Mr O not to overtake me as I hadn't intended this at all, so near to home. Of course, Zak was galloping on behind us which just made Barnaby go even faster. In the end I had to really get hold of him to pull him up. I don't know what brought that on. Quite honestly he had so much energy he could easily have gone round twice, it wouldn't have bothered him at all.
Finally we managed to get back down to a walk and strolled back to the lorry to cool them off (well Barnaby anyway, I don't think Zak broke into a sweat at any time.)
We untacked them and let them relax and eat the quality Chatsworth grass, and went off to tell the organisers we were back, and really to say thankyou for putting on such a wonderful event, we had an amazing time. We got a beautiful rosette each, then went off to the photographer to see what we'd looked like, and liked the photo so much, we obviously bought it.
By now it was raining quite considerably so we decided to load the horses up and get them home. Zak didn't travel very well at all for some reason. We were going along quite a quiet road and he was practically rearing up, then lashing out with a back leg, as if to say, "Get me out of here!" It was so bad I climbed into the back to hold onto him, talk to him and calm him down. He really doesn't travel very well sideways. He can't stick his legs out and brace himself like Barnaby does, so he sticks his front legs out and sits on his back end, but with the slightest bump in the road he flings himself against the partition. It was awful, but he seemed to like me being with him and he calmed down a lot, but was steaming up the lorry with the sweat pouring off him. I think the partition is too wide apart and needs to be much closer to him so he can reach it to lean against it easily. Poor boy, no wonder he has cut himself in the past. I don't know why he's started doing it this year, though, he never used to do it.
We got home and had to keep them in for half an hour to let Zak cool off properly before we could turn them out. I think they might happily have stayed in as Barnaby was nodding off, too. It poured with rain for the rest of the day and most of the night, so Barnaby went out with a rug on too, as I'd bathed him in the morning.
So all in all, a fantastic day, the highlight of my year, really. And although I can't show you the photo, I thought these from last week at Osberton, would do just as well.

Splashing through the water.

Mr O went so fast the photographer only had time to take a couple of snaps before he was off!

Have a great week everyone,

Mrs O.

Schooling Sessions

2011-06-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to read back through my blog, to see how I left things on the schooling front. I think I'd basically given up, but lack of funds has a lot to do with it as well.
Anyway, I want to do some showing with Barnaby this year, and he really is hopeless in the school, so I've got Nicky Hunt back, who I used before, and finally, finally, we are beginning to make some progress, but it is very slow going.
You can see, just from Barnaby's build, that schooling him is like asking a rugby player to do ballet, but if I don't do something with him, he will just get worse and worse. I do think for his own health/bones/muscles, he needs to do some schooling.
So Nicky has been coming every week. One session she rides him and the next session I ride him. Last week I got so frustrated I actually swore! I have never sworn at an instructor in my life, so I was a little bit taken aback myself, and I did apologise, but if I don't say what I think, how is she going to know where I'm at? Basically, she is phenomenally good at schooling Barnaby, who is coming along nicely, but she's not as good at teaching me. I need her expertise, so that when Barnaby does something wrong, she instantly corrects him, and I don't always know how to do it. I feel totally dim, as if I can't ride at all. To be fair, I've never ridden a horse as bad as Barnaby is in the school. Even riding school horses can canter around an arena and keep themselves upright, for goodness sake, how hard can it be? Max never had any problems with it.

Every so often, you have a conversation with someone who makes a passing

comment without realising the huge significance behind it.

Mr O and I were talking the other day and I mentioned that Barnaby really drifts to the right on a hack. Obviously it's very noticeable on a road, as he drifts towards the traffic, so I have to regularly nudge him to make him stay over to the left. Mr O said, "Oh, he never does that with me." Further discussion led to the revelation that Mr O keeps his leg on the whole time to keep him over (strength as usual). So he spends an hour providing a leaning post and Barnaby says, "Thanks very much!" and spends the hour leaning on it. That in itself explains an awful lot, because the whole of Barnaby's schooling is about him learning to carry himself.
So Nicky is teaching us at a level that I always knew must be out there but was never allowed to have. It makes me want to cry and shout, "Why was I never told this before?" It makes me want to cry because my money might run out before we get really good. It makes me want to cry because we'll do some showing soon and it'll still be a disaster, because you still have to be able to canter and he still can't do it. Grrrr!
So I'm going to school him twice a week, because if I do more than that he'll mutiny, I know he will. I'll have my lesson with Nicky on Wednesdays and then I'll school him in a double bridle on Saturdays when he'll have to start cantering.
You probably know how showing works, but basically you all go in a ring together and ride round, sometimes all cantering together, which is lunacy, but shows you have control of your horse. Then you go and line up near the edge of the ring, all facing inwards in a line, and one by one the judge calls you out, and asks you to do a little 'show' which is a riding display showing walk, trot and canter on both reins. My concern is that Barnaby will just tank round in canter with his head down and crash into the line of horses, so we'll see.
I'm going to do two little local shows, one in June and one in July, then the main show I'm aiming him at is in August in our village. It's actually a county level show, but you don't have to be affiliated to take part. In the cob class the judge gets on and rides each horse, so I don't know how that bit will go either, but as it's cobs, you ride in a double bridle, so I'd have more control and so would the judge.
So we'll just have to see. I feel a bit more accountable now I've written it all down. Sorry it's a bit long today, but it really helps to get the frustration out of my system.
I've decided this is make or break year for us, because life's too short to have a stressful time with what is, actually, a wonderful horse. We will try some showing this year. If it goes well, I'll be thrilled and I'll do some dressage this winter to keep him going and we'll do more showing next year.
If not, then we'll do pleasure rides and the odd fun thing and that will be that.
Because:
I went out this morning to get Barnaby in for my lesson and he wouldn't budge. I put his headcollar on, attatched to the leadrop and pulled and pulled. He just looked at me. I flapped and shouted and even got on his back. He said nothing, but his feelings were perfectly clear (something about "You can keep that up all day love," but it wasn't quite clear.)
I sat down on the floor and cuddled up to him. We had a bit of a chat about the time I'd sat with him in the field for half an hour at the old yard, when his foot was still bad, and admired the view and that I'd known all that time ago that he should have been mine really, and now he was, and we dozed and I knew in my heart how much I love him.
And because my friend has been told by her vet that today is the last day her 26 year old Arab will spend on this earth, and it just puts everything into perspective, doesn't it? None of us knows how long we have together. Let's not waste a single day of it.
Mrs O.

Pleasure Ride - Osberton

2011-06-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

I have just got back from the most fabulous ride. I've been so determined to go, even though I'm still a bit ill. I had planned to bath Barnaby, but it was chilly first thing and as it had rained in the night I think it would have been rather mean, so I just put his tail bandage on and away we went.
It was a nice smooth journey up through Nottinghamshire. The weather was a bit different to last year, when it was pouring with rain with loads of thunder and lightening.
The plan was for Mr O to do the 14 miles and for me to only do the 7. I was a bit nervous about this, as you know that Barnaby and Zak don't like being separated once they've travelled together. I could have taken my double bridle (for more control) but decided to do it in my dutch (continental) gag, which I normally hack out in.
We'd decided that Mr O should set off first, as once he got going there's no way I'd catch up with him, so I led Barnaby off to introduce him to some other horses as a distraction technique. I managed to get on him and just kept walking him around the car park for another five minutes, then decided to set off.
The thing with Osberton is that it's miles and miles of off-road riding, and it's blissful. More so today, as the sun decided to come out, the ground was beautiful, and we just cruised along. Barnaby was whinnying all the way round, which absolutely shook his body. But he didn't pull or do anything silly.
When I did the ride round Clumber Park he kept going like the clappers to catch up with any horse he could see in front of him, and I'd fully expected him to go round pulling my arms out, but he was lovely and just trolleyed along, looking for Zak.
I caught up with a woman and a child (on a Norwegian Fjord Pony, aren't they beautiful?) and stayed with them for a while, but then carried on. We've ridden here so often Barnaby knows exactly where he is all the way round, so I just let him get on with it. We did a lot of cantering, but that was the whole point of going, to let him have a run on grass, as we get so little opportunity at home. All of our hacking here is roadwork of some sort, so they love to go for a good gallop when they get the chance.
I caught up with another two women and stayed with them for a while, going through the cow fields, then I parted from them and turned up towards the Green Mile, so named because that's exactly what it is, a mile of wonderful green grass, made for galloping, so... we did!
I remembered, in the nick of time, about the big stone at the end that we normally jump, that is to say, Mr O would have jumped it on Barnaby and I would have winged over it on Max, but thought we'd better not today, and that's just as well, as there was a woman sitting in a deckchair right next to it, so she'd have got a fright, wouldn't she?
She asked if we were going to 'do the water,' to which I said yes, and thought she meant the ford in the village, so I was confused when she said to turn left and keep going (the ford is along to the right) but I obeyed her instructions and followed the track all the way down, mostly cantering again. I had definitely underestimated Barnaby's fitness, but because I'd been ill all of last week and the weather had been bad the week before that, I haven't ridden half as much as I'd have liked and I didn't think he'd be really fit enough, but I really needn't have worried, he had so much energy, but wasn't pulling me, it was wonderful. I love this horse.
I turned right and followed the track and saw some really weird skid marks on the track. I thought, 'a car can't have done that, because it's not black rubber,' they were like white scratch marks on the surface of the road. I didn't think too much more of it, and carried on my way.
When I say 'road' here, they are technically roads, but you hardly ever get any cars, as it's a private estate, but even if you do, there are ten foot wide verges on either side, so you never need to go near a car anyway, that's why it's so blissful to ride there.
I caught up with a girl on her own on a coloured cob and fell into step with her and decided to go along together for a while. Her horse was called Drummer, which is my favourite horse's name of all time. I'd love it for Barnaby actually.
It wasn't long before we came to the water, and it's where Mark Cavell (an old friend, and the manager of the estate) holds his cross country water clinics, so it's a run across a river. It turned out this is where Maurice Tilford, the photographer, was standing. I led the girl on Drummer through the water, and she was thrilled as it turned out she'd never done water before. Then Maurice said to walk up the river and turn round and trot back through the water and he would take some photos, which we duly did. The water was splashing up above my head, so I'm dying to see the photos. I am delighted that Barnaby did it for me as he's not keen on water. He doesn't mind walking through it, but he's not great at jumping into it, but I was just thrilled that he did as I asked (especially as Missis came along later and her ex-novice-event horse wouldn't go in it!)
We carried on and later had to go across the river again, and he went straight in. I'm so pleased with him. After that we made our way back to the lorry park and were done for the day. It was so lovely, I haven't enjoyed myself so much in ages. On the way round, I was thinking that this is how I'd wanted the TREC competition to be, so maybe endurance is the way to go (more about this in a future post).
I got back to the lorry park and of course Zak and Mr O were there waiting for us. They'd done 14 miles, and as it turned out, we'd done 11, so we hadn't done too badly at all.
The first thing I noticed was that Mr O had blood on his nose, so I was somewhat concerned and thought, 'What's he done now?' and decided to ask. It turns out he'd jumped one of the logs on the course (nothing wrong with that, I was pretty tempted to pop a few myself.) Then he got onto the road, still in trot, and turned sharply round the corner and Zak slipped and slid across the road until he fell over and Mr O came off. It sounds like it was quite a crashing fall and Zak has cut himself. Of course this was the cause of the skid marks I'd seen on the road. Mr O managed to get back on and continued on the ride, but he is going to ache like mad tomorrow. What I haven't told you is that he jumped Zak last Saturday, came off and landed on the fence, but kept hold of Zak, who dragged him across the floor for a while before I yelled at him to let go. So there is already hardly a patch of his body that doesn't have a bruise on it at the moment as it is, so you can see this is the last thing he needs. I'm just glad they're both okay really.
And so we loaded up our beautiful boys and brought them home, where they went into the field and had a roll, a scratch and a drink before commencing munching. Of course, I said thankyou to my beautiful, wonderful boy, with whom I had the most amazing time. Thankyou, My Lionheart, it was a pleasure.

Goosey Goosey Gander...

2011-06-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to say I am feeling better, but not much. On Monday evening Mr O brought Barnaby in from the field for me to ride him. As he came round the corner of the barn my face split into a huge grin. I feel as though I haven't seen him for weeks. I have to say, he looked a bit scruffy! He desperately needs hogging and a leg shave (who doesn't?!) and didn't look terribly clean, but still. He looked quite pleased to see me, anyway.
I tied him up and groomed him and gave him lots of cuddles. I feel as if I've been asleep for ever. Call me ~~Sleeping Beauty~~ Rip Van Winkle. When we rode out, it seemed as if everything has turned a tropical green. I know it has rained quite a bit, but good grief!
I've managed to lunge Barnaby yesterday, but I had to get Hugo ready for Nicky to school him in the morning (Missis is in Canada all week) and by the time I'd done it I was exhausted.
I am improving every day, but I am annoyed at how long it's taking to get better. I've been able to do some gardening today, but only by sitting in a chair! Oh dear, poor invalid me.
But I have something to show you. Last week, as a very spur of the moment thing, Pongo and Missis bought some goslings. They were a week old, but since I've been ill they seem to have grown enormously. They're very similar to how the ducklings looked, but their beaks are a completely different shape. Have a look:

They don't know what breed they are, and no one's going to know if they're male or female until they're fully grown.

And where are they going to live? And who's going to be cleaning them out? Hmmm. Another bright idea, then. It's a good job they're cute, isn't it? They're very timid, actually, so I'm sitting with them for a little while every day, so they get used to me.
Well I'm off for yet another early night.
Mrs O.

Just a Quickie!

2011-05-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hello all!
Just to say I can't write much because I'm too ill, and getting gradually worse. I haven't ridden all week, but have had the energy to make cards, although today I haven't even had the brainpower to do that! I'm just reading blogs and craft magazines and dripping everywhere (too much information?)
Hasn't it been a frustrating week with Blogger? I can't comment on anyone's posts and my followers have disappeared off my actual blog page, although I can see from my dashboard that you're all still there. I've had comments on my blog, so I don't understand why I can't comment on yours, I'm so sorry. (Especially you, Edward, your new horse looks lovely!)
Mr O rode Barnaby for me today. I was a bit upset, but I'm just grateful someone can keep him ticking over for me as we have a 14 mile ride next weekend, so I can't just leave him.
Nearly forgot to mention. Mr O rang yesterday evening to say he'd be late home as the factory was on fire. I was worried sick. He did say everyone was out and safe, but some years ago, there was a fire at a factory where he worked and he went back in to get people out and his shoes melted, so I was worried he'd do something like that again. They have a lot of plastic at this factory and some of it melted and stuck to him, but he is fine, thank the Lord.
He was in shock when he got home and went to have a shower to get the smell of smoke off him, poor man. I am just glad he and everyone else is safe. It turns out the actual building wasn't on fire, the lads had had a fire on the yard and left it, and the wind whipped it up until it was out of control. Scarey stuff.
And finally, it's only fair to say that I was well enough to go to the cinema today to see the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film. I sat there with piles of tissues, making little snuffling noises like a happy hedgehog, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Let's just say, you get a lot of Johnny Depp for your money! I have spent the past week watching the first three films at night, so I was ready. I think it lacked a little Orlando Bloom, but apart from that I can't fault it. If it wasn't for films like that I'd never be able to spell 'Caribbean'.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Mrs O.

Eat Pray Love

2011-05-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hello all, I am not at all well, with a cough, cold and sore throat. Not much riding going on as a result. The last thing Barnaby needs at the moment is time off, with two distance rides coming up, but still.

So instead I've decided this is an ideal time to review the book I've just finished, 'Eat Pray Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert. I thought, 'Julia Roberts is in the film, the book must be good!' It just goes to show how wrong you can be!
I should have heard alarm bells ringing when I read the line, '...I can't swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God...' I probably should have put the book down there and then, but no, I struggled on. It has been some years since I've actually thrown a book at a wall in sheer frustration, and it's only due to the development of a certain amount of self-control that I didn't hurl this one.
The book is split into three sections. The first part, the 'eat' part, takes place in Italy, and I did like it, as her love for Italy is very similar to my love for all things german.
But the second part, the 'love' part, takes place at an ashram in India, where amongst other things, she learns to mediatate. She describes this like this '...it's so mighty now that I actually can't deal with it anymore. It scares me so much that I say to it, "I'm not ready yet!" but then she has another go! To me that's like smoking a cigarette, realising it's disgusting, then doing it again the next day.
In another place she says she meets with God 'and is God.' For goodness sake woman, are you claiming to be God then? I read a book years ago called 'Shopping for a God,' and that's exactly what Elizabeth Gilbert reminds me of, going along some supermarket shelves, shopping for a religion. You know, "I like meditation, so I'll throw some of that in, but I don't like fasting, so I won't bother with that." Grrr!
The third part of the book, the 'love' part, takes place in Bali, where she goes back to re-aquaint herself with her medicine man, who predicts that she will return, then when she does he can't even remember her. It's as though she instantly believes everything he says without question, even though she is clearly an intelligent woman with a good career.
Check this out:
'...Ketut (the medicine man) went on to explain that the Balinese believe we are each accompanied at birth by four invisible brothers, who come into the world with us and protect us throughout our lives. When the child is in the womb, her four siblings are even there with her - they are represented by the placenta, the amniotic fluid, the umbilical cord and the yellow waxy substance that protects an unborn baby's skin.
When the baby is born, the parents collect as much of these extraneous birthing materials as possible, placing them in a coconut shell and burying it by the front door of the family's house. According to the Balinese, this buried coconut is the holy resting place of the four unborn brothers, and that spot is tended to forever, like a shrine.
The child is taught from earliest consciousness that she has these four brothers with her in the world wherever she goes...'
Just a minute, didn't you say they were buried in a coconut shell by the front door? Hmmm. But of course, this is enough for the author to suddenly start recognising her own four spiritual brothers. Amazing. As if she didn't have enough baggage already.
The medicine man also tells her that heaven and hell are the same thing. Well that's all right then.

I think you've probably gathered that this is not my favourite book of all time. I really wish I hadn't bothered to read it through to the end as it didn't exactly bless me. The Bible says to 'look on what is noble, what is true, what is pure and what is right,' and that's what I tend to stick to. Mr O says he watches certain television programmes, 'because the lads at work will watch it and all be discussing it tomorrow and will ask me what I think,' which I understand, but you could watch pornography on that basis, couldn't you?
So I think I'll be consigning this book to the bin. 2/10 Mrs Gilbert, sorry.

And Then There Were Five...

2011-05-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

Some sad news. As the title of my blog suggests, there are an awful lot of chickens wandering about out there, but you may not know we also have six ducks. They are Indian Runner Ducks and we have raised them from eggs into tiny youngsters into fully fledged ducks, who are sweet and innocent and we adore them.
We put all the animals away at night, ducks in one pen and chickens in another. The chickens arrive in dribs and drabs, for a bit of tea and then find their favourite slot on a perch or in a nesting box, but the ducks stick together like glue and go everywhere together.
So when Mr O came in from work on Tuesday night and announced he'd put the ducks away for the night but that there were only five, alarm bells started ringing instantly. We went straight back out and began to search. I expected to find her floundering about near the pond, with some sort of injury, but what we eventually stumbled upon was much, much worse.
The fox spotted us just before we spotted him and rapidly abandoned his meal. Tessa chased him as far as the boundary wall and then I yelled at her to come back. The last thing I needed was for her to go running into the road. What we had to deal with was plenty. I'll spare you the gory detail, but suffice it to say, the fox had no intention of taking the duck anywhere with him, but she was thoroughly dead.
We just stood there dumb with shock. Now, I have always had it in mind that this would be a swearword free blog, so a lot of the conversation that took place after the discovery is pretty unprintable. Let's just say that if the fox comes back I won't be responsible for my actions.
I have always been pro hunting and never liked foxes, but part of me can't help admiring their beauty, but when you see the extent of their capabilities at close hand, suddenly you understand how vile they actually are.
I was in such shock and a state of anger that I didn't actually cry until the next day as I was putting them away. They are such sweet, innocent animals, and they trust us implicitly, I feel I've really let them down. Maybe if I'd put them away earlier this wouldn't have happened, but it probably can't be helped.
Goodbye little duck, we loved you...

Chatsworth Again

2011-05-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Just for Jean, I fished around and found a lovely picture of the bride and groom, showing the bride's dress a bit better,

That's me on the far left, by the way, in the spotty dress.

Anyway, I arrived back on Saturday afternoon and Mr O met me at the station. 'Er Indoors came too and made it very clear she wasn't speaking to me. She actually ignored me until bedtime, just to let me know she hadn't forgiven me for going away.

I rushed out to see Barnaby to make sure he was okay, and then it was time to get ready for Pongo's 40th birthday party. We dashed off and realised we'd forgotten the present, then realised we didn't really know where the social club was (it's not in our village) so we dashed back, picked up the presents and the Satnav and set off again.

We had a really good time, the highlight of which was listening to Pongo singing on the karaoke, and got back around 11pm. My third late night.

Then we were up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to go to Chatsworth Horse Trials. This is one of my favourite places to go - where else do you get to rub shoulders with the top riders? There was a bonus this year that we'd arranged to get together with a bunch of friends. We've all 'met' on the Your Horse forum, then all switched over to facebook last year, so we've known each other for ages. As Derbyshire is quite a central county, it was suggested that Chatsworth might be the ideal place to meet, so we decided to rendezvous outside the Joules (clothing company) tent at 1pm.

It was great to meet up with people, some who'd travelled down from Yorkshire and up from Birmingham. I could have talked for hours.

But of course, there was also so much show jumping to watch

and a really thrilling

(Lucinda Fredericks)

cross country course

(William Fox-Pitt)

It was great to see so many fabulous riders, especially Pippa Funnell (my heroine), but there was no sign of Mary King and although Zara Phillips' name was on the schedule, we didn't see her at all.

But there was an amazing display by Jean Francois Pignon, who worked with his five horses loose in the showjumping ring. It was absolutely amazing, not so much what he got them to do, but that they were so willing to work for him.

And then, the show stopping moment... Mr O said, "That's Oliver Townend over there." I looked across and sure enough, there he was. I had a piece of paper on me and rummaged around in my bag and found a pen, so I plucked up the courage to sidle up to him and ask him for his autograph. We had a good chat actually. He said he'd won one class but had fallen in the second (we missed that then!) I had to resist the urge to say, "You don't need a secretary/groom/housekeeper, do you?" and managed to keep my mouth shut. He was really nice actually, very tall and quite dishy, which I'd never noticed before!

So that was the icing on the cake really, and it was time to wend our way home. No more of this

until next year. Just a very slow drive home because of these

I hope everyone behind us realised why we were driving so slowly.
I think I enjoyed Chatsworth more than ever this year. And amazingly I managed to go into the Joules tent and come out empty-handed. I hope it doesn't mean I'm coming down with something!
Have a great day everyone,
Mrs O.

Southern Belle

2011-05-16T02:04:00.000-07:00

Finally, the most exhausting weekend of my entire life has come to an end and I can relax a bit today and try to get some energy back. I have so much to tell you I think I'll have to spread it over a couple of posts.

So, rewinding back to Thursday, which seems a very long time ago now, I waited and waited for Mr O to finish work, so that he could drive me to the station, where I would catch the train to London. From there I jumped onto the train down to Worthing where my sister picked me up. It was 11.30 pm by then, the first of several late nights to come.

Son 2, Daughter 2 and hubby were already there, and the Flower Fairy was in bed. It was so sweet when she woke up on Friday morning and realised I was there. I decided I had to see the sea, so we walked the dog around the corner from the house and onto the beach. Fabulous.

But the real reason I had gone was to celebrate my niece's wedding. The whole day took place in the Highdown Towers Hotel, a beautiful venue. Cathy had chosen the colour purple to go with off-white for her colour scheme, and it worked beautifully. Each chair was covered in white fabric with a big purple bow tied round the back. The flowers were stunning, with glitter on the roses and little silver flower heads that really caught the light.

Here's the cake, which sums up the colour scheme perfectly. The bridesmaids had the same flowers round the waistband of their dresses, which is what had given Cathy the idea for the cake.

The reception was held downstairs, and it felt a bit like stepping into the dining room of the Titanic, it was amazing. You can see the enormous champagne glasses on each table, which were filled with purple water and had candles floating on the top. My granddaughter was speechless for once!

I managed to keep my cool and not cry at all, until it came to the speeches, and Cathy's dad just about nailed it. He was very funny, but his love for Catherine was obvious, as he declared what a special daughter she is and how lucky Lewis was to have won her heart. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.

And here are the bride and groom.

To my surprise, I found myself dancing until midnight, then it was time for the bride and groom to leave, and finally we could wend our way home, exhausted but happy.

The next day I woke up and groggily packed my bags (travel light they said, huh, have you ever tried it?) and my sister drove me back to the station. Soon I reached London Victoria. I ought to explain that I lived in London for six years in my younger days and absolutely loved it. I was wondering if I'd remember how to do the tube, and actually it was a doddle, I just stayed on the Victoria Line all the way to King's Cross station then legged it to St Pancras, and out the other side.

I have to say, though, it's a good job I had a fixed ticked otherwise I would have been off shopping, I can tell you. The buzz of London hasn't altered at all. On the tube, we got to Green Park station and the announcer said, "Alight here for Buckingham Palace," and I thought, 'I could just go for a little look...' I dread to think what time I'd have got home if I had done!

And so I was home, from a wonderful time away, but things didn't stop there. I'll tell you the next installment tomorrow. For now, let's just say I'm extremely grateful I don't have to go to work and can sit on the sofa for a while and recuperate today.

Back soon

Mrs O.

The Simple Woman's Daybook - May

2011-05-10T04:12:00.000-07:00

Outside my window: the wind is blowing, but it has rained again in the night. We've been a bit desperate as it hasn't rained since before Easter and if it carries on like this the horses will have nothing to eat!

I am thinking: about the mega busy weekend coming up, wedding on Friday, 40th birthday party on Saturday night, then all day Sunday at Chatsworth Horse Trials, finally getting to meet a bunch of facebook friends for the first time, so exciting.

I am thankful for: my relationship deepening with Barnaby despite the fiasco on Saturday!

I am wearing: a grey jumper that used to be my daughter's. It's still in perfect condition and must be at least 10 years old.

I am reading: Actually I've just finished reading 'Eat Pray Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert and have so much to say about it I'm going to save it for another post.

I am hoping: that my train tickets for the wedding trip arrive in the post today.

On my mind: all the cards I need to make this month, plus I need to buy some brown wrapping paper so that I can decorate it myself.

From the kitchen: we've been on a bit of a diet and I've managed to lose a few pounds, but it's more about eating healthily, drinking more water and cutting out chocolate, cake and biscuits, which is nearly killing me! I've started eating more things like lentils, too.

I am creating: my first ever more overtly Christian card and it's quite a nerve wracking experience.

I am hearing: Radio 2. I love it.

Noticing that: this computer is so much faster than the old one. No wonder people play Farmville on facebook, if it's that quick!

Around the house: things got untidy again pretty quickly after my blitzing session last week for Priscilla coming to dinner.

One of my favourite things: these two feeling safe enough to relax like this:

A scripture thought: 'Love is patient, love is kind,' 1 Corinthians 13.

TREC Trauma

2011-05-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

To say I am fed up today would be an understatement. Have you ever 'bitten off more than you can chew'? Let me explain...
Yesterday I took Barnaby to a TREC competition at a place called Frickley, which is an hour and a half's journey in the lorry. We got slightly lost on the way there, but still found the venue in time.
Then the strangeness began. There were lots of people milling about, as most of them arrived on Friday and camped over night, but there was no one to welcome us and no one to sign in with so in the end I tacked Barnaby up and asked a passerby what to do. She said people were just taking their number bibs and going down to the field where the Control of Gaits took place, followed by the obstacle course, so I rode down there (Mr O was my groom, and this was the first time I'd decided to have a go as an individual) but the guy on the gate said, "Don't come down here please, wait for us to call you!" I thought, 'how can you call me if you don't know I'm here?' Maybe it's just me.
The thing is, you could go there on Friday evening and walk the course, but it's miles away from where we live, which meant Mr O would have to come home from work, come down to pick me up then drive all the way up there, and drive all the way home, which we couldn't feasibly do.
So I asked the man on the gate what I had to do, and he launched into this great long lecture, having asked, "Didn't you walk the course? If you were doing a hunter trials, wouldn't you walk the course first?" as if I had some strange disease. Then he said we could have come an hour earlier and walked the course. It doesn't say that anywhere on the paperwork, it says the course is available for walking on Friday night.
Anyway, I did the gate obstacle, then did the control of paces, where I had to canter down (slowly) and walk back up (quickly) which went quite well considering Barnaby had decided he really ought to stay in the lorry park with the other horses. Why does this always happen to me?
So I followed the field round to the next obstacle and did it, then came to the 'low branches' obstacle. They ask the height of your horse and adjust the 'branches' accordingly, to make it fair for everyone. You have to lay right down on your horse and go underneath them. You can do it in walk, trot or canter and get more points for the faster gait. I did it in trot, closed my eyes and went for it and got through, so I was quite pleased. The next obstacle was two cross country steps down. You had to ride down the first step, dismount and lead your horse down the second step. Barnaby wouldn't go down with me on him, so I got off and tried to lead him down, and we both thought it was ridiculous. How can you stand below a horse like that trying to lead it down? I could see him thinking, 'but if I jump down I'm going to land on you, what on earth do you want me to do that for?' and as I totally agreed with him, I decided to move on to the next obstacle.
I politely asked the obstacle judge if she would kindly explain what I had to do as we were unable to walk the course, and she shouted, "Haven't you got a rule book?" and I'm afraid I flipped. Remember, I have a horse who keeps rearing because he wants to go back to the lorry park, I am nervous about the orienteering section later on and now I've got this woman having a go at me. I just said that the competition was advertised as a good introduction to beginners, why would I have a rule book, but if that's how she felt, I'd call it a day there and go home. She didn't apologise, but suddenly started explaining how to do the obstacle. I felt like crying by then, to be honest.
Anyway, we carried on round, but didn't do very well at the rest of the obstacles. Barnaby didn't stand still in the holding pen, he didn't do the rein back straight, which I knew he wouldn't, but didn't walk straight over the bridge either, which he is more than capable of doing.
Eventually I finished the obstacles, met Mr O and burst into tears because the woman had been so rude to me. I had to pull myself together and go to the map room and copy the route down from the main map onto the copy I would take with me, take my route check card and go and set off on the orienteering phase.
I can't tell you how difficult this bit was. I did the first bit okay, then caught up with a couple who had set off before me. They were arguing about whether they'd gone wrong or not (they had, as it turns out). Barnaby was brilliant actually, because he didn't try to stay with their horses. The man had blood pouring down his face where he'd cut himself on some trees.
Then it began to sink in that I couldn't do this map reading lark whilst sitting on a horse. I had to make Barnaby stand still while I held the map and fiddled about with the compass and tried to think where I was, and carried on and found out I'd come out onto a road too far up from where I should be, but carried on and eventually came to a check point, which was good. The next section was easy, but then I made my way into Howell Wood and it rapidly turned into some sort of nightmare.
There were paths criss-crossing everywhere, so although the map showed you followed a path in a straight line, the reality wasn't like that at all. It was horrendous. I went deeper and deeper into the woods, not going in circles, but much further west than I should have been. I crossed these great deep ravines but in the end came to a river that was a sheer drop into the water below.
By now I was so desperate I was crying and trying not to panic. I'm telling you now I was begging for God to help me. Then I just gave up and said, "Go on, Barn," and he turned round and started taking me a different way through the wood, taking me home. I was desperate to find a road. I didn't even have my mobile phone on me, so I couldn't even ring Mr O and tell him what was going on. I started crying again, but Barnaby strode purposefully on.
And then, a man appeared in front of me and had a backpack on, so I thought he looked like he might know what he was doing. I stopped him and asked if he'd seen any other horse riders coming through the woods. He said, "Yes, they've all been going that way," and pointed further up the track I was on. He said I had to continue that way until the top of the hill and then turn left. I said, "I'm sorry I don't know what you mean, would you mind coming with me a little way?" and so he did, all along the track. I thought, 'I must thank him for coming so far out of his way.' Then he pointed to some people and said, "You need to go up there where those people are, and then turn left." I looked to where he pointed, looked back to thank him and he wasn't there. All there was behind me was the long track I'd walked up and there was no one to be seen. At the time I was baffled, but stressed that I had so much further to go, so couldn't really dwell on it, but you can imagine I've given it a great deal of thought since. I wouldn't be the first person to see a guardian angel, would I? And I won't be the last. I'll leave you to make of it what you will.
Anyway, I continued along the track and came to another checkpoint. I've never been so relieved. To be honest I just wanted to pack it in at this point and go home, but I got my bearings on the map and made it gradually the rest of the way. The amazing thing was, I let Barnaby direct us and he took me straight back to the place I'd got lost originally. It was surreal. I managed to make my way home from there and have never been so relieved to see my lovely husband. He'd been worried sick apparently and they were just about to send out the search parties.
Poor Barnaby was so tired, and of course I have no way of knowing how much extra distance I put on, but I was out for over three hours. I really, really don't understand it.
And the stress and the fright have really made me question whether I should do it again. It's not fair on Barnaby, Mr O or the people who organise the event, is it?
However, while waiting for me, Mr O was chatting to the organizers about how they ride the route themselves, and what the overall distance was, and they wouldn't tell him! It was very, very peculiar and they were quite a strange bunch of people. Apparently it's about knowing how many of your horses paces cover a certain distance, so you can work out how far you've gone in a certain time, and to be honest, if all that's involved, I'm not sure I want to take it up anyway, I had enough trouble just trying to make Barnaby stand still so I could look at the map!
So, to be honest, I was quite traumatised by the whole experience, and don't want to do it again, but I've booked in for a TREC training day on June 5th, so hopefully I'll learn a lot then and be able to decide if it's something I want to have another go at.
I want to say thankyou to all the people who gave me directions, to Barnaby who's internal compass is clearly a force to be reckoned with and to Mr O just for being there really. I never want to get into a stressful situation like that again, thankyou very much!

Greetings!

2011-05-06T01:27:00.000-07:00

Hello all, it's been a strange week, as my computer finally bit the dust on Tuesday morning. I pressed the 'on' button and it promptly sank into the computer, never to be seen again. Fortunately, Mr O was on the case and ordered us a new one. I think he realises what a lifeline my laptop is, as I hardly see any real life human beings from one day to the next, and this reallly is my means of communication with the outside world.
We had a few frustrations over the Easter holidays. Mr O should have gone showjumping at Marchington, but it was cancelled 'due to lack of entries.' As you don't have to pre-enter the showjumping, we found this rather odd, but decided to look on the bright side as it would give Zak's wound time to heal up completely before he goes in the lorry again. Then, on the same day, the organiser of a TREC competition I was going to rang up to say that that was also cancelled due to lack of entries. I felt like saying, "Yes, but I wanted to do it!" Grrr!
So I felt totally deflated, as once you know a competition is imminent, the adrenaline starts to stir. I put a comment on facebook about my disappointment, and Leigh, who now owns Max (my old horse) said to come over with Barnaby and go for a ride. I was absolutely thrilled, and immediately accepted, so on the bank holiday that's what we did. I got Barnaby in, gave his tail a wash to spruce him up a bit, and off we went.
Their farm has a long driveway, but as we trundled along, we could hear Max whinnying from his stable, as he clearly recognised the sound of the lorry, even though he hasn't heard it for a year. Isn't that amazing?
I unloaded Barnaby and took him over to meet Max. They knew each other instantly. Barnaby looked as if to say, "Where've you been, you scruff?" But actually Max looked stunning. All the mane that Barnaby chewed off last year has grown back and he has these flowing locks and looked immaculate.
We tacked up and set off, going through a woods, then onto what I can only call 'some land.' It wasn't fields, it was just land with tracks all over it. I was in front (of course!) and Leigh kept giving me directions and we just kept going. It looked as though it went on for miles. If I'd been on my own I'd have got totally lost.
As we continued there was a little tiny log on the floor so I asked Barnaby to go over it. It was so small it wasn't worth the effort of cantering and he just trotted over it, but I was really pleased. Then a bit further on there was another one, slightly bigger, so I asked him to go over it and he cantered this time. Then came another even bigger one which we jumped cleanly. It was fantastic. I knew I'd have the nerve to jump him outside, because it's straight lines. He was beautiful though, his neck stayed straight up in front of me and he felt rock solid, not like when we show jump in the arena and he puts his head between his knees and tanks round. I was so pleased with him, I was quite high when I got back.
We got back to the yard and Leigh asked if I'd like to ride Max so I agreed. Last time I was quite nervous about doing it and think I just watched her, but this time I had no nerves at all and got straight on (leaving Leigh to hold Barnaby, who kept trying to get down and roll in the lovely sand!)
It felt very strange riding this horse who I owned for six years and felt such kinship with. Firstly he felt very small compared to Barnaby. This was quite a shock, as I never felt underhorsed when I owned him. Then I thought the saddle was too small, even though it was my own saddle. I've obviously spread out to accommodate Barnaby's bulk! In the end I rode with no stirrups and he was fine. He just seemed such a sweetheart, a compact ball of muscle, and he does have the sweetest face, he hasn't changed at all really. I do think he's totally happy there though, and Leigh has done a fantastic job on him, as in some of her photos from a recent show he is totally on the bit and looks amazing.
Of course, eventually we had to load Barnaby in the lorry, and it was a bit of a tear-jerker as the two horses didn't want to leave each other. They were such brothers, you see. Although Zak and Barnaby are now an item, they aren't as faithful as Max and Barnaby were, they were such loyal boys. If anyone picked on Max in the field, he used to go to Barnaby and tell him, and Barnaby used to go and sort them out, both at Lorna's and here. This is why I've waited so long to let them see each other again.
Mr O did take some photos, but I can't put them on until we've loaded the camera software on this new computer.
I just want to say, it's great to be back, even though it's only been a week, I've really missed my little blogworld. I'm off now to catch up on all your news...
and getting ready for a TREC competition tomorrow, the first one I'll be doing on my own. Am I nervous? You better believe it!
Back soon,
Mrs O.

A Special Day

2011-04-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

Of course, like the majority of people in Britain, I have been sitting in front of my television set nearly all day, to watch the wedding of William and Kate. It was the most beautiful wedding I've ever seen (better than Charles and Diana's in my humble opinion).

I think as a nation, we have taken both boys to our hearts after their disasterous start in life, and just want to wish them well and see them happy. That William is happy was self-evident today. I love his relationship with his brother and his dad, and Catherine looked serene and full of poise. I think everyone loved the touch of driving out in Prince Charles' Aston Martin.

I'm very patriotic anyway, but I love all the pomp, ceremony and history involved in these grand royal occasions. I love the cheering crowds, the carriages and horses (including the one that chucked his rider off, how embarrassing for him!) and of course, the kiss on the balcony.

I thought her dress was fabulous (but her bouquet was tiny!) loved the bridesmaids outfits and the way the Abbey was decorated.

And so, I would just like to add my best wishes to those of our country today to wish William and Kate many many years of happiness together. Congratulations to you both.

A Day At The Races

2011-04-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

I've been in a state of turmoil in all this heat, wondering what on earth to wear to Flagg Races, as I'm used to putting on thermals and boots and suddenly it was T Shirt weather, but I needn't have worried, true to form, yesterday the weather reverted to the traditional arctic conditions required for holding Flagg Races.
But we Brits are made of stern stuff, so on went the sweater and the tweed jacket and we set off to Flagg Moor, just south of Buxton. The wind was whistling across the hills as we pulled into the car park, just in time for the first race.

This is point to pointing at its finest. We used to go to Welbeck when we lived in Worksop. That looks much more like a typical racecourse, but Flagg is a proper, traditional steeplechase course. To prove it, they decided to run the Members race in the oldfashioned manner, where you can take your own line. This means whizzing along and jumping the drystone walls wherever you see fit. In the old days this left things wide open for cheating, but things are, fortunately, a bit more organised now.

I have to confess, I don't understand how betting works, but it turned out either Mr O or I picked the winner in each race. And the thing that I am totally envious of, is that members of the Pony Club have their own races, in this case, two at the beginning. They don't jump the jumps and they run a shorter course, but my goodness, you should see them go!
There was one race with only one woman in it and she led in fine style all the way round, then got a slight bump going over the last fence and crashed to the floor, poor woman. Fortunately she was fine, and so was the horse, who sped on and was caught at the end by the huntsmen.

This point-to-point is run by the High Peak Hunt (in their beautiful green jackets) and is very popular. Half way through the meeting the hounds are paraded in the ring by the huntsman and children are invited in to stroke them (the hounds, that is, not the huntsmen!) Harriers are so called because they hunt hares (although that would be illegal now, of course) and are one of the fastest types of hounds (bloodhounds being the slowest, although you wouldn't believe it when you're belting along behind them!) I know a bit about harriers, because each year they put a call out if anyone wants to puppy-walk them, and two years ago, like a twit, I volunteered (we have had a bloodhound before, but they couldn't be less alike).
And so we had these two chaps:
They are Questor and Quavor. Hounds always have funny names for various complicated reasons, usually they take the same first initial as their mother. The bloodhound we had was called Poorbreck, I think his mum was Poppy, but Poorbreck is an area of woodland near Welbeck. They have names like Rogueish, Mermaid, and the very timid Rosewood. We had these puppies for about eight months, by which time they could jump out over the stable door, so they went back to the hunt kennels. They are very sweet chaps, but very sharp, they're not stupid and docile like bloodhounds.
You have to be quite fit to watch point-to-pointing, if you're going to walk backwards and forwards from the parade ring to the track, as it's all up and down hill, although strangely it was warmer at the top of the hill than it was at the bottom. At least you can buy burgers and hot drinks to sustain you, and there's always a beer tent.
As you know, Zak is an ex-racehorse, and is in fact a seasoned pointer. And can I just say, there were several horses there as skinny as he is, and quite a few he'd have given a run for their money, although perhaps not with Mr O as the jockey!
Finally, worn out and windswept, we made our way home through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. I so enjoyed it, despite the weather, roll on next year...

Fun and Frolics

2011-04-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

We've had a very busy few days. On Good Friday we went up to Worksop to see the children, and of course the grandchildren. We had such a wonderful time I didn't really want to leave. It's just lovely to walk into a room and be hugged and clung to by little people with shrieks of "Nanny!" Who could resist that?

Son 2 was there as well and I haven't seen him for ages. He is looking well and enjoying his new job anyway.

From there we continued up to Sheffield to go to Hobbycraft. I always go there intending to buy two things, in this case, some silver embossing powder and organza ribbon, but ended up spending fifty pounds! How the heck does that happen? I am happy with my hoard though and can't wait to start creating with it all.

Today Mr O and I drove to the Barlow Hunt kennels so Mr O could go on their amble. Zak didn't travel very well again, I don't know what's happening to him lately. He was quite funny when we unloaded him though, he seemed to know instantly that it wasn't show jumping. He looked very alert and was being really nosey. The horse in the trailer next to us was banging about and Zak looked at me as if to say, "That horse is being really naughty mummy!"

Mr O tacked up and his group went off at 11am. I ought to explain that I deliberately left Barnaby at home as the groups that set off were split up into 'jumpers and non-jumpers'. I knew Mr O would want to jump, and I didn't, so we'd have been split up. Mr O would have set off with Zak and left Barnaby climbing the walls of the lorry, so I thought it was best to leave Barnaby at home and let Mr O have some fun...

Which it sounds like they did. I saw them jump one fence on their way up the hill, but it sounds like there were several more fences after that, one of which was at least four foot and Zak flew over it. He was very gung-ho apparently, it sounds like it was a good job there were no hounds out. Mr O was quite high when he came back. They were out for over two hours, so they must have covered quite a distance, although he said a girl came off at one of the fences so they took it a bit more slowly after that. I am glad that Mr O didn't come back saying, "I want to go hunting!" though as I really don't want to do it any more!

We've spent a lot of yesterday engrossed in the cross country coverage from Badminton Horse Trials. I can honestly say I've never seen so many people come off in all the years I've been watching it. They were dropping like flies, some with quite bad injuries and a few lame horses. The fences weren't particularly technical either, although I saw a course walk later on which made me realise how big the fences actually were. It's hard to tell with a horse approaching them, but when you see people on foot standing next to them it shows how high the fences are. I hope everyone's okay anyway.

The showjumping was on today, but by the time we got home we'd missed it. I'm a bit gutted really, but it turns out Mark Todd won it, so I am delighted for him. He's returned to eventing after a gap, and is 55, so of course Mr O says I can't tell him to take things easy as he's a mere 53! Thanks Toddy!

So when things had cooled down a bit I got Barnaby in to lunge him. I decided to have a quick go on him bareback. Mr O had the camera. This is how we started out:

and this is how we ended up.

He's really comfy, not like Max. Riding him bareback was a bit like sitting on an old mattress. I really got into it and started to enjoy myself. I think it's a sign of how much I trust him and what a wonderful boy he is. It rounded off my day nicely. Thankyou, my Lionheart.

Showjumping and sunburn

2011-04-22T12:38:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't been about, my laptop seems to have had a mid-life crisis and wouldn't even switch on. I don't know what the matter is, but I think we may be looking for a new one fairly soon.
Anyway, regarding the showjumping on Sunday: The first thing I must tell you is that when we did the first Amber Valley Ride, Zak had cut himself on the lorry partition somehow. The wound is on his hip, which is well above the partition, but he must practically sit down as we go round corners or something, and rubbed himself until he made himself bleed. Poor, poor boy.
So we travelled to Trent Valley Equestrian Centre on Sunday for Mr O to take part in the second round of the Trailblazers. Zak seemed to stamp about a bit in the lorry but was fine as soon as we came out. We'd put purple spray on his wound and padded it up to travel, so it was fine.
It was a very hot day. To our astonishment they were holding first round qualifiers as well as second round classes. This round is split into pony classes, which were held in the morning, and horse classes, which were held in the afternoon. By the time we got there there were still two pony classes to go. They changed the course after each round, and each round had a jump-off, so it went on forever.
Eventually the horse classes started. They split horses and ponies because ponies have a distinct speed advantage over horses because they can turn on a sixpence and cut corners which would make a horse fall over, so this is much fairer.
So once again there was a 65cm class, for round one, followed by a jump off, then they changed the course and had the 65cm second round class, so by the time our class started, we'd been there for three hours. It was incredibly hot and Zak had lost interest a bit by then.
Mr O took him into the warm-up ring and they jumped the cross pole quite well. They went round a couple of times, then went for the bigger fence. I'm not quite sure what happened, but basically Zak didn't want to know, stopped dead in front of it and Mr O went sailing over the fence.
I had one of those crisis moments where I didn't know whether to run to Mr O or try to catch Zak. Fortunately Zak couldn't get out of the ring and some people caught him so I went to Mr O. He said he wasn't hurt and got back on and in the end Zak jumped the fence.
I did tell Mr O not to be a passenger and to ride Zak and get after him.
They went in for their turn and Zak lolled around a bit and had the first fence down. I was so cross. Then Mr O did decide to wake him up and he flew round after that. How utterly frustrating!
So he hasn't qualifed for the finals at Stoneleigh, but he can have another go at a second round, which is good, so we are going to Field House on April 30th (a Saturday for a change, so we won't miss church).
This is the first time Mr O has ever fallen off Zak (we've had him nearly 3 years) and it really worried me. If I'm being purely practical, I can't drive and don't know how we'd get home if Mr O was injured and what would we do with Zak? I guess Pongo and Missis might come and collect him in their lorry, but our lorry would have to stay there until we could collect it so it would all be a bit of a saga, not to mention what state Mr O would be in, plus time off work while he recovered. For those of you who think I'm being a bit OTT, let me tell you that we have been in this situation twice, where Mr O was helicoptored off to hospital and it's not really an experience I'd care to repeat. But I can't persuade him to give it up, so what can I do?

And the other little saga. You may know that I clipped all Barnaby's winter coat out this year and now he's lost a lot of hair, but his summer coat hasn't come through. So now he has the most unbelievable sunburn, my poor poor baby. It sounds like quite a few people have been caught out as we didn't expect it to get so warm so early in the year.
I have put a fly sheet on him, which is a thin rug, and I've noticed it has a strip of fabric up the neck on the inside, so it should at least stop that area from burning, but I have to go to the field every couple of hours and re-apply suncream. It's Factor 50 but doesn't seem to make that much difference. I am putting after sun and wonder gel on, which seems to take the heat out at night, and I'm soaking him with cold water after I've ridden him, which he seems to like (normally he moans like crazy if I make his neck wet). At the moment he seems to much prefer night time to day time, and who can blame him? My poor boy.
Hope it's not too hot where you are.
Mrs O.

Sport Endurance, Clumber Park

2011-04-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hi there, I hope you're having the fabulous weather that we're having, although the forecast says rain for a lot of areas apart from us (we are more or less in the middle of England). I just wanted to say what a fabulous time I had on Saturday. I saw the ride round Clumber Park advertised on the Sport Endurance website. It's my first ride without Mr O, as he had a competition on Sunday (more about that tomorrow). I signed up for ten miles, but when they measured the distance out, it turned out to be twelve miles, still well within Barnaby's capability. Then in the middle of the week, my friend Sam emailed me to ask if I was doing it, as she'd like to take her new young mare, so we arranged to do it together. I got Barnaby out of the field in the morning, gave him a groom and put all his travel gear on. We loaded him in the lorry and began the journey to Worksop. To my surprise we got there quite quickly and were an hour early. Fortunately Barnaby was unusually well behaved, considering he didn't have Zak with him. He seemed quite happy to tuck into the rather nice grass, while we waited for Sam. We couldn't start until 10.30am anyway, as all the actual competitors were setting off first, followed by the pleasure riders. Sam had struggled to load her horse Millie, but arrived about 10.45. Her horse was whinnying her head off in the trailer. I had tacked Barnaby up by then so rode off to meet this new mare. She was quite a sweetie, a coloured horse, but not a cob I don't think. She wasn't quite as big as Barnaby, and soon started batting her eyelashes at him. He just kept staring at her, not sure what to think. I had decided to ride Barnaby in a double bridle (a good move as it turned out) but forgot a breastplate again, so had to tie the map to a D ring on the front of the saddle. My drink cannister was attached to the left hand side too. I coated him in suncream and fly spray, and we set off at 10.58am. Clumber Park is several thousand acres of stunning parkland. It belongs to the National Trust. It's very popular with walkers and people love to bring barbeques and picnics, especially on such a superb day as this turned out to be. We rode along tracks through woodland, but also wide tracks overhung with trees, which was good as we had some shade. And Barnaby went like the clappers. I was trying to hold him back as this was Millie's first time out with another horse, and Sam wasn't sure how fit she'd be, but Barnaby was determined to catch up with every horse ahead of him. In the end I gave up trying to fight him and we gradually overtook other riders. He had an unbelievable turn of speed, even in trot, he hardly needed to canter. The ground was so flat he just flew along, it was like being out hunting. There was a log near the end and I was seriously tempted to jump it, but I wasn't sure about Sam and there were loads of people having a picnic there. It seemed a shame to go carting through them! The thing is, I really wanted to aim for a good speed, but couldn't really, and we did it in 2 hours 39 minutes, which I think is quite slow. If you're going to be any good at it, you'd have to trot most of the way and hardly ever walk. They probably don't stop and drink either, there's probably some way of drinking as you go along. You'd have to be prepared to trot down hill sometimes too, which I'm not very keen on. The direction markers were really easy to follow, but I did like looking at the map, and knowing when each checkpoint was imminent. The only bad bit was that my whip kept getting caught up in the string of the map case, so I might not take a whip next time, it was very off-putting. We had to ride through a really big ford, but luckily the water was shallow. Barnaby has actually been here before and went straight in without hesitation. To give her her due, Millie went in too, and she's never seen water like that before. It's obviously Monday now and I'm only just coming down from the adrenaline. It was like a cross country course that went on for ever! Although it was mega fast, I really, really enjoyed it. So the plan is, when they do the Novice Challenge at Sherwood Pines, I am going to have a go at doing it as a competitor. Barnaby had Sunday off, and I've ridden him today. He was fairly stiff and content to walk most of the way round, which shows he's overdone it slightly, but if he won't listen to me and slow down, that's his problem, silly Hoof. I love him, I'm totally proud of him, and I can't wait to do it again...

A New Addition

2011-04-14T02:01:00.000-07:00

So this is it then... thankyou all so much for your comments on my last post. I have decided to use my other blog, which up until now I've just played about with, to showcase my cards and other creations. If you want to have a look, and hopefully follow, please go to Eden's Tree
I have decided to have a go at some challenge blogs for cardmaking, which would work much better over there, plus as I've said, I make a card nearly every day and there just isn't room on here, although I'm sure the odd card will make an appearance from time to time.
Because the fact is, too, that things are pretty busy on the horsey front, and that's what this blog was originally created for, so the farming and horsey adventures will stay here.
I've realised I need to keep this blog to record what goes on, so that I can compare things from year to year. For instance, the horses are already out at night, which is a couple of weeks earlier than they went out last year. This is bliss for me as I no longer have to muck out (even more wonderful at the moment as Missis is in America, so I'd have been doing all four horses this week).
It's a bit of a problem for Barnaby though, as it's gone cold again. As you may remember, I clipped all of his coat off in the winter. If you're not horsey, I'd better explain this bit of barmeyness. Horses grow a thick coat in the winter to keep themselves warm. Fine. But then we come along and ride them, which makes them sweat like mad and take hours to dry afterwards, which can make them have a chill or a cold. So, like clever souls, we clip all the hair off. It's great for Barnaby because it means he dries in 15-20 minutes. But then they don't have their hair to keep them warm, so we go out and buy massively expensive rugs to warm them up again! Clever, isn't it? Of course, if you're a naturally warm horse like Barnaby, if you get too hot, you rip a big hole in your rug to provide your own ventilation. Or you stand by the fence and rub the neck of the rug on a fencepost until you've shredded it. Yes, we've learned the hard way not to over-rug.
I've clipped him because it takes ages for his winter coat to come out and he's still normally very hairy by the end of April, when everyone else is sporting their sleek, glossy summer coat. But even Barnaby had a little bit of winter coat growing. In the very warm weather last week, he decided to abandon it, and lots of little hairs came off him, but it's left him with very little hair. This has left him prone to a) sunburn and b) cold. So although he's out at night, it's with quite a heavy rug on. The poor boy doesn't know whether he's coming or going.

It was quite handy on Sunday though, as we did the first Amber Valley Riding Club pleasure ride. It's called The Bolsover Ride and this is the third time I've done it and the second time on Barnaby. I don't know why they call it that as I don't think it's particularly near Bolsover (fab castle there) but I'd have to check on the map.
This ride is listed as 14 miles, but we've always felt it was longer. When you do a lot of endurance rides, you get a feel for distance, and although there is a long uphill slog of about 2 miles at the end, it still feels like a long way. And so, imagine my delight at hearing a conversation at the burger van at the end, where two women were discussing the distance, the first woman saying that she felt it was a long way. The second woman said that it was actually seventeen miles, but the organisers felt that if they put that on the schedule, no one would do it, as it's so early in the season! So, thanks for that then. That means my beautiful boy did seventeen miles in incredible heat, well done my darling.
I have to say, I spent the first few miles feeling very lop-sided. At first I thought it was my stirrups, but it turned out the saddle was slipping because the girth was loose. In the end we stopped near a bench and Mr O pulled the girth up another hole. How can this be on my Lardy Lad? (I also look distinctly lop-sided in the photos, so needless to say, we won't be buying those!)
Because of this, I put the weigh-tape on him yesterday and to my astonishment, it says 504kg. That means he's lost a total of 92kg since the beginning of March. I can't believe it. If, like me, you don't 'do' kilos, it's the same as 14.48 stone, which is roughly what Mr O weighs! He must feel like hubby just got off him! I am so happy about this I could cry. I don't want my beloved boy to drop underneath me because of a heart attack or something, so I am thrilled at this progress. It's probably the slimmest he's ever been. It makes me want to give him a treat, just to say, "Well done!" No wonder he went like the clappers yesterday, if he's half the man he used to be!

So don't forget to pop over to my other blog folks, and leave a comment to let me know you've been. I am going to be busy, running two of them, aren't I?
Take care everyone,
Mrs O.

Time For Some Cards

2011-04-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

I've been very busy with cardmaking for the past couple of weeks. Because of all the horsey stuff going on, I may decide to use my other blog to show you my cards (it's sitting there dormant at the moment). I'll let you know if I decide to go down that route though.

For some reason I have loads of birthdays to make for in April. I do one for my eldest grandson and one for Pongo and Missis' eldest son (henceforth to be known as Badger!) I decided cars were the thing this year, especially as Badger had a Go-karting party on Saturday. So here we are:

This isn't quite finished, I did put '11 today' on the front as well. Here is the one for my grandson:

I heat embossed the car image. You can't really tell, but it gives it a completely different effect. Both cards have little pockets inside, where I've put money in. Apparently both boys were quite fascinated by this. Christian actually said, "Look what I've found inside it!" and was thrilled.

I made this for my lovely aunt. I saw some ideas for these in a magazine, and then only a couple of days later I actually saw the stamps and paper for sale in my local craft shop. I'd fallen in love with them in the magazine and could hardly believe I was looking at the very things I needed. I snapped them up pdq, I can tell you! I think I'll be using this stamp a lot.I had the idea a few weeks ago of making a note of everyone's birthdays in our Bible Study group so that I could make each person a card for their birthdays and get everyone in the group to sign it. This has gone down very well, much to my pleasure. So, with several cards on the go, my group leader rang me last week to say that Debs has had her baby and could I make her a card from the group. They've had a little girl, who they still haven't named (?) so I made this. I thoroughly enjoyed making it:

I've put flock on the baby's hat so it has a fluffy feel. The image is set on a doily, which feels like a crocheted baby's blanket, so the whole card is very tactile.

And here's the inside. I hope they like receiving it as much as I've enjoyed making it.

So what do you think? Should I split things up so the card making stuff is separate from the horsey stuff? The way things are going there will be a lot of competitions to write about this year, but I make a card nearly every day as well, so I'm not sure what to do.

Mrs O.

P.S. Can I also just say, in case you've been wondering, that there is clearly something wrong with the HTML on my blog at the moment, so it keeps putting everything together in one single paragraph. Even if you add the HTML in manually, it doesn't save it. I don't understand what's going on. Have I caused it? Any ideas?

Eggstraordinary!

2011-04-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to show you these for a while. As you may know, we have the older chickens, 'Ladies Who Lunch', and two of them, Peggy and Penny, hatched lots of babies last year. The babies are now just over six months old and have found an irristable urge to lay a daily egg. At first they watched the older ones, then you could see them thinking, 'Should I be doing that?' And now, one by one, they've started slinking off to lay an egg. Then they began laying them wherever the urge took them, but now quite a few of them make it all the way upstairs to the hayloft, where they've made some nests in gaps between the hay bales. Goodness knows why, there's a perfectly good nesting box downstairs. Some of them don't make it into the actual nest before laying the egg, so when I go up to collect them I have to tread carefully, as there are eggs scattered all over the place. One of them prefers to lay her egg downstairs on the haylage pile, and yet another likes to lay hers in Zak's stable. She arrives quite early, usually while I'm still mucking out, and looks daggers at me in her desperation, until she finds a quiet corner and lays her egg and gives a big, chickeny sigh. Of course, once you've laid an egg, you have to cluck loudly to all and sundry, so everyone in a five mile radius is aware of your achievement. What baffles us is why the cockerels get carried away and join in! If three of them have laid at the same time, the noise is unbelievable. The ducks have finally decided to join in with the egg laying too, so, frankly, we are inundated with eggs now (we have eighteen hens, two cockerels and six ducks, but only three seem to be girls). And this is the result: On the right is a duck egg, but on the left is one of the normal sized chicken eggs. It's not very clear here, but it's actually blue. This year's duck eggs are huge, they fill the palm of your hand. They're bigger than they were last year. I assume, as the ducks have matured, so their eggs have increased in size accordingly.

Above, you can see the duck egg compared to the size of the tiny eggs the pullets are laying. I keep calling them 'dolly eggs' as they're so small. One of them was so tiny, it was the size of a Cadburys Mini Egg, you know the sort you put on your Easter cake. You get two spoonfuls out of these eggs and they're gone. So cute. Here's another way to show you the size:

I think that puts things into perspective, don't you?

On another note, you may remember that last month I challenged myself to go for a walk, finding my way on the map and I got hopelessly lost and had to retrace my steps, much to the dog's amusement. Well, rejoice with me friends, for I have boldly gone where many people have gone before. Because I'm doing more TREC competitions this year, and Barnaby is good at it, I have decided I can't let the side down and must learn to use a map and compass properly. My kit list has come through for the competition in May and it definitely says I will need a compass. I thought I'd lost mine (the irony of having a lost compass is not wasted on me!) but found it down the back of the book case (not in the map box where it belongs). So on Thursday I decided to google 'map reading made easy' and see what it came up with. All I can say is, some of the explanations were so complicated it made me wonder how anybody manages to find their way anywhere. For goodness sake, Girl Guides can use these things, how hard can it be? Anyway, determined not to give up, I decided to look it up on You Tube. I instantly found a video where this guy says, "Lay your compass on your map pointing the way you want to go, adjust your orienting lines, take it off the map, make sure your needle is pointing North, and follow your 'direction of travel' arrow." Piece of cake. Why doesn't everybody explain it like that? So I got my map out, went out of the gate and followed the above procedure and it worked like a dream. I was so excited, I did it again and again and round I went on the route where I got lost last time. It was a doddle. I still didn't take 'Er Indoors with me as I wasn't entirely sure I was going to make it and didn't want her to have an opportunity to gloat a second time. I came back full of the joys of not getting lost. Now I just need to work out how to do it on a horse. I can't wear the map case round my neck, as if it twizzles round it'll strangle me (never a good look) so normally I strap it to Barnaby's breastplate (even if it flaps about it doesn't frighten him) so it sits on his shoulder, but to orient myself properly I'd like to be able to turn the map round, so we'll see. I also asked some facebook friends how fast a horse walks and what trotting speed is. It turns out a horse walks at four miles an hour and trots at eight miles an hour, so I need to incorporate that into my calculations. So my next aim is to train Barnaby to stand still whenever I say so, so that I can concentrate on reading the map. When I did my first comp, Missis had the map and I didn't see it throughout the orienteering phase. She got us hopelessly lost. She has since admitted that she can't read a map! Fab. Then last year, Mr O took the map and he only got us slightly lost. But as you may know, he likes to do everything at lightening speed, and it turns out, we were too fast! So I am doing some competitions on my own this year and I've got to know what I'm doing. There is a torch on the kit list, but surely they don't think I'm going to still be wandering about the countryside at ten o'clock at night, do they? Oh they of little faith! Mr O would have come and got me long before that happens and I'll have slunk home with my tail between my legs (and Barnaby's, presumably, between his!) Watch this space...!

The Simple Woman's Daybook - April

2011-04-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

Outside my window: it's still light, at 8pm, which is so fabulous.

I am thinking: what a good boy Barnaby was today. We did seven miles in quite windy weather and he didn't put a foot wrong, bless him.

I am thankful for: my eldest son helping me muck out last week. I was ill on the Wednesday and if he hadn't been here I think I would have cried!

I am wearing: navy blue jods and a sweatshirt, so comfy.

I am reading: The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas. I have just satisfied my own curiosity and found that it was first published in 1943. It's a story of a roman called Marcellus who was one of the soldiers who crucified Christ and threw dice afterwards and won Christ's robe. The story is unravelling of his adventures in trying to track down who this man Jesus was and it's gripping. I'm just over half way through.

I am hoping/praying: that the people will come and fix Son 1's boiler so he can actually have a bath, poor man.

On my mind: I must send off entry forms for the Chatsworth sponsored ride, the TREC event in May and the pleasure ride round Clumber Park. And I must get birthday cards made for so many people this month.

From the kitchen: Tonight it was lamb shanks, so delicious. Tessa got her share as Mr O has forgotten to buy dog food yet again!

I am creating: I am practising with my heat embossing gun. It is absolutely fascinating. But how do you hold a stamped image and not burn yourself, as the gun is quite hot? In the end I got an old heat resistant chopping board from the kitchen and stuck the image on that with a glue dot so it didn't blow away while I applied the heat gun, and didn't have to touch it at all - result!

I am hearing: my darling husband sniggering whilst watching his favourite team (Manchester United) playing Chelsea. The washing machine is burbling away in the background (Tiny Cottage is open plan).

Noticing that: the painting of Zak still hasn't been put up somewhere.

Around the house: The place is spotless! This is because Missis rang and said the architect was coming round at 2pm so we had 10 minutes to clean up. I hid all the dirty dishes in the oven! (I bet you've never done that!)

One of my favourite things: Eccles cakes. We saw a TV programme a few weeks ago about how they're made. We both declared that we don't like them. Then Mr O bought me some and I've been eating them ever since! Basically they're loads of sultanas and raisins wrapped in pastry. Gorgeous.

A scripture thought: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." John 14:1-4

A few plans for the rest of the week: summoning up the strength to walk down to the village and back to see if I've sold any cards. I need to clean my tack before the pleasure ride on Sunday.

A picture thought:

Every year the daffs come up in our field over the road. This year was the perfect time for Mothering Sunday, so the boys sold them to passersby and made quite a bit of money. I think spring must be my favourite season.

Disasterous Day!

2011-04-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

Part of me doesn't want to write this!

I had the brilliant idea of finding some showjumping for Mr O to do so he could get some practise in before his second round of Trailblazers on April 17th. We had a look around and found a competition at a place called Hargate Arena. As it happened, it was part of a combined training competition, which meant there was dressage on at the same time. So clever old Mrs O. has a brainwave and decides to enter the dressage, just as a bit of fun for her and The Bardy Lad.

It was quite warm on Sunday morning so I got up early and bathed Barnaby. I have to say, he looked stunning afterwards. His tail was like silk. I put him back in his stable and he promptly rolled. He stood up and had straw all over his head, grinning away at me like the village idiot.Marvellous.

Anyway, the time came to load up, so we set off for Hilton, just south of Derby. We parked and decided to leave the horses in the lorry for a few minutes while we went for a look round. It was a beautiful place, with a huge show jumping arena, a big indoor arena to warm up in and then we walked further along and found a huge dressage arena. The warm-up arena was completely separate too, the whole place was vast and looked fabulous.

We came back and got the horses out of the lorry. They stood quite happily munching on their haynets so we went off to sign in and watch the showjumping. There was a 1'9" class, followed by a 2' class, with about 8 competitors in each. Then there was a 2'3" class which seemed to go on for ever. We'd been there for ages by then.

My dressage was on at 1.22pm and it was 12.30 so I thought I'd better go and tack up. Mr O didn't come with me which felt a bit odd. Barnaby was quite calm so I tacked him up and got on and rode off to find Mr O but he'd vanished. I get very flustered when things like that happen but decided I had better concentrate on what I was doing so I carried on round to the warm-up arena. Once we got in there Barnaby completely changed as he realised he wasn't with Zak. I tried to trot him round and get him to concentrate but it was awful. I was in a snaffle, remember, so had a lot less control than I would normally have. The test has canter in it, so I thought I'd risk a little practise, but Barnaby just cantered round with his head between his knees. I knew it was ridiculous to keep going and decided to quit while I was ahead so I rode up to the judge's caravan and said I would withdraw. So that was that.

I rode back to the showjumping area and found Mr O. in the warm-up arena. Zak was behaving very oddly as well. Basically, he just refused to jump. It was so strange, he was getting right up to the fence before running out. He has never done that in his life. He did it a couple of times, then Mr O asked me to leave, as Barnaby was being a bad influence on Zak!

I walked back to the lorry and made Barnaby stand and eat some grass. After a few minutes of worrying that Mr O was going to get thrown off, he appeared at my side and said that he too was going to withdraw. He tied Zak up at the lorry and stomped off to the secretary's caravan.

So what a total and utter waste of a day. We were both so disappointed and frustrated. We loaded the horses and drove home, knowing we were going to have to say to Pongo and Missis that we hadn't even done it, whilst putting a brave face on it. As so often happens on these occasions, we talked and talked about why on earth it had happened. Basically we've decided that apart from the Amber Valley rides, the horses aren't going anywhere together in future. I really don't understand how a horse like Barnaby, who is as bold as brass at home, can't be separated from his best buddy once he's travelled with him. He used to do it with Max. We were at a hunter trials once years ago when it was announced over the tannoy, "Could the owners of the blue and silver lorry please return to their vehicle as their horse is distressed." Distressed? Barnaby was rearing up and typing his name into the bodywork with his hooves. As soon as he saw Max he calmed down.

So, bear in mind that we sold Max last year. And what happens? Barnaby immediately latches on to Zak. Blooming marvellous.

But the good thing is, we've had a look at the things we want to do and Mr O has finally agreed that I can do some TREC on my own. Because it does seem that if Mr O wants to go somewhere, like the showjumping, he goes, but if I want to go somewhere I can't unless Mr O wants to do it too, and if he doesn't it never occurs to him that I might want to do it on my own. Or he'll make an excuse such as the entry fee is too high or it's too far to travel. It doesn't seem fair to me. So we have decided that if one of us wants to go somewhere they can go. If we both see something on the same day, the most important competition wins, eg, I can't go somewhere on April 17th because we've agreed that Mr O's second round is the most important thing on that day. I think this will work out very well, and am so excited to be able to do the TREC training day and a ride in Clumber Park on April 16th which I am desperate to do.

Oh, and just to cap it all, when we got home the heavens opened with hailstones, thunder and lightening so we got drenched. And then, the cat came in and threw up in Barnaby's water bucket, just to finish the day off nicely. It's a good job I can see the funny side now, isn't it?!

Have a great week, everyone.

Mrs O.

Meet The Gang, Cos The Boys Are Here!

2011-03-29T12:02:00.001-07:00

It occurs to me that if you're a newcomer to my blog, you may not know who the boys are, especially as the newest arrival hasn't had much of a mention. We talked about it, and decided it would be best to to let them introduce themselves, so here goes...

(Do you mind? I'm having my feet done!)

Hello, the name's Barnaby, and I can't waste valuable eating time talking to you, so I'll be brief. I'm in charge, obviously. I organise everybody in the field and make sure they don't get above themselves. The haylage is mine, the trough is mine, you get the picture. I'm in the prime of my life and it goes without saying that I'm dashingly handsome (you can see that for yourself, clearly). Things have changed a bit around here recently. I always belonged to Dad, but last year the Little Woman got a bit above herself and started riding me instead. We go out, we gallop, we come back, like I did with Dad, but she's obsessed with running round in bally circles, too. Total waste of time if you ask me, everyone just gets dizzy, but she won't listen. She also insists on kissing me and doing lots of slobbery stuff in front of the other chaps. At first I didn't like it but I've taught her to scratch me in all the right places and she's getting really good at it, so I suppose the odd kiss when nobody's looking is acceptable. She has her uses though, after all, someone's got to bring me my tea, make my bed and change my rugs, haven't they?

Is it my turn? Is it? How frightfully nice. Well my name is Zak but sometimes I'm called Just Enough. I am an officer and a gentleman. I have a passport with parents and grandparents (Did I tell you my grandsire was Nijinsky?) I belong to Father. He's terribly nice. I used to race and still like to run up and down whenever I get the opportunity. Barnaby and I are chums. I do like the Little Woman, too. Whenever it rains, she dashes out and pops my pyjamas on, which is jolly useful, as I'm not allowed to get cold or I drop orf (whatever that means).

Right my name's Lyndy and I'm a southerner. I used to be in a riding school, so I get totally fed up if my dad, or anyone else for that matter, tries to school me. I used to be in charge until 'he' came and I'm not happy about it, I can tell you. If Barnaby comes in from the field I always try to get in ahead of him, just to show him I can still do it. I've got a new hobby now anyway, it's called 'trashing the electric fence' and I'm the best at it. None of the others can do it as well as I can. I'm ace because I can do it even when the power is on and I can't feel it and I just push against it until it snaps, cos I've got super powers and Barnaby hasn't so there! And in case you're wondering, I'm huge and rugs don't fit me and I jump the stone wall in the summer, just for fun, but when mum takes me to a competition I pretend I can't do it, which is really really funny. Don't tell her. You won't, will you?

Top o' the marnin to ya! Moi name's Hugo and I've kissed the Blarney Stone, to be sure. I'm part Connemara and part Thoroughbred and I was an event horse until I came here. That involved workin, really hard and, if I'm bein' honest, I wasn't that keen. I've come here and you've got to like the craic, it's like bein' on holiday, so it is. I only get ridden once or twice a week, it's flippin great. And I get turned out every day, with other horses. I didn't think much of the grazin' to be honest, so I stuck me head under the electric fence and jumped the wall from a standstill, into the next field. It was worth it just to see the look on their faces. Apparently there used to be a horse here called Max, and he was in charge of games and telling bedtime stories, so Barnaby gave me that job and I love it. I love to play 'bite your knee caps' or 'who's got the highest head?' or 'bite yer face,' it's great. And of course, at night I can tell stories of my adventures on the cross country course and keep everyone awake for hours. I do like to play games with mum in the school, it keeps her on her toes - well on her back, actually, I don't know why she likes it down there. Never mind, she'll get used to it...

Butterflies and Bows

2011-03-24T05:01:00.001-07:00

I am on a roll with card making at the moment. Sometimes I get to my desk and I'm so excited I don't know where to start. I can't decide whether to flock something, put glossy accents on it or heat emboss it! No piece of card or paper is safe. I've made more cards for Mother's Day. I don't know if I mentioned that my own dear mum died about five years ago. I've never missed her on the big occasions like Mother's Day or her birthday until last year's Mother's Day where I felt that I couldn't make any cards without a mum of my own to send one to. But this year I've decided to make each one with love as if they were all for her, and I'm really enjoying myself.

Look:

These beautiful little toppers (the chipboard with the boy and girl on a swing) were free with a magazine I bought recently, so this card cost me absolutely nothing to make. I got the butterfly punch for my birthday. I could easily get carried away with these, don't be surprised if it's 'butterflies with everything' from now on.

I'm very pleased with this one, too. I've used a flower punch on the white vertical strip. For some reason I've had this punch for ages and only just worked out how to use it. Again, there is a very sweet image on the topper.

It's beautiful and sunny here. I am very affected by the weather, I've realised, especially as my job is outside all the time. The slightest bit of sunshine totally changes my outlook on life. Barnaby has gone out without a rug on for the last few days and even Zak is in a rug without a neck cover. Cats, dog and chickens are sunbathing for most of the day. I went for a fabulous ride yesterday. We came to a place where, for some inexplicable reason, someone has dumped two whole bales of haylage (Why?) . Barnaby was having none of it, reared up and spun round, but this was partly naughtiness, as he didn't think we should be going that way anyway, so he set off in the opposite direction. It was one of those times where you have a brief second's realisation of 'I bet he looks stunning' even while you're trying to sort things out! I was extremely pleased that I was able to stop him, turn him back and make him go past the spooky object. He was clearly fooling, silly boy, he isn't afraid of anything and we both know it. There were a few fabulous canters after that, whether I wanted to or not (this is at a place called Stubbing Court which is beautiful. You can see where the hall looks out across the lake. With the sun shining on the water it was a blissful place to be).

I hope you're all getting some time to make the most of this lovely weather, too, although I gather some of my American friends have snow, good grief.

Well I'm off to bake a cake (and maybe some biscuits too, if I get time).

Blessings, everyone,

Mrs O. (who is pleased to say that Zak is no longer lame, judging from the way he was belting up and down in the manege this morning...)

Blazing A Trail

2011-03-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone's okay, it's really sunny and warm here, so I am outside a lot, making the most of the good weather.
I must tell you about Sunday. Mr O. took Zak to Trent Valley for another Trailblazers showjumping competition. We set off in plenty of time and arrived earlier than last time, but they were actually further on. The Clear Round had finished and the 65cm class had started, so we quickly registered and got Zak out of the lorry. We had come to do the 75cm and 85cm classes.
Mr O admitted he was very nervous. I am like that myself, sometimes I could be physically sick, which is one of the reasons I don't want to do it any more! Mr O tacked Zak up but I checked everything was done properly. For some reason, when you're nervous, normal behaviour goes out of the window. I've got on Max before and realised I hadn't even done his girth up properly. Nerves definitely do something to the brain.
So Mr O set off to the warm-up ring, but then realised he must walk the course. Sometimes a competition can be done so that everyone goes in and jumps round, then all those that jumped clear go back in for a 'jump-off' where less fences are jumped and it's against the clock, and obviously the fastest clear round wins.
This competition was two-phase, which means a competitor must know the jump-off course when they go in. They jump the whole course (10 fences) and then if they haven't had a fence down or had any refusals, they go straight on and do the jump-off course without stopping, which might be fence 1,2, 4,5 and 8 and 10. I can't stand doing it like this as I have a terrible sense of direction, I'd rather have a jump-off, but there we are.
I actually filmed Mr O as my photography is useless. So I was watching through the lens as Mr O went round. To my joy, he did the course clear and went straight back round to jump fence 1 again, then 2, whip round before your horse tries to jump fence 3 as it's straight in front of him, jump 4 and 5, then turn right quickly and jump 9 and 10. To my amazement, they did it! I can't show you the video as I may have said a little tiny swear word at the end, before letting go of the camera! I was so thrilled I was holding back a sob. We've had this horse two years and this is only his third competition. Mr O was a bit choked as well.
He came out of the arena and we both worked hard to pull ourselves together. Zak knew we were pleased with him. This means he has qualified to go through to the second round. This is a biggie for us, I can't begin to tell you. I am so excited, just thinking about it all over again.
Then Mr O warmed up for the 85cm class but felt something was wrong with Zak. Someone else said he looked lame. He didn't look lame to me. Mr O hopped off and we checked Zak's legs but all was fine. We decided that he should go in and have a go but if anything felt wrong he was to pull up immediately. And sure enough, after jumping two fences, Mr O doffed his cap and came out of the ring.
We gave Zak a bute in his tea and he was fine on Monday but I've got him in for his tea tonight and he is still lame. We think it might be an abscess (again) so we'll get the farrier to take his shoe off and have a look. Poor boy. Mr O is gutted, as you can imagine. We love our boys and can't stand it when something like this happens to them. It kind of takes the shine off, but I am still thrilled and delighted that Zak did it (and Mr O too, obviously, especially as he was so nervous).

So Much To Do, So Little Time

2011-03-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, I've never been so busy. It's all about prioritizing, isn't it? The fact is I love to ride, so by the time I've mucked out, taking Barnaby out somewhere is my first priority, which can also be quite tiring, as you can imagine. So the way I spend the rest of my time is very important to me. I've realised how important card making has become to me, I absolutely love it. I do love blogging too, but I've realised I'm spending far too much time on facebook again. I do love Farmville (do you play it?) but it's so slow, especially if you play in the evenings, which makes it very time consuming. I've decided to put that on the back burner for a while. It takes over your life if you're not careful, doesn't it? We did a fantastic fourteen mile pleasure ride round Rother Valley Country Park last Saturday. It was absolutely superb. We did a ten mile circuit and arrived back at the lorry park so the horses thought we'd finished. I nearly called it a day there, but I'm so glad I carried on as it was nearly all galloping after that. I thought Barnaby might be tired but he easily kept up with Zak. It was a fabulous place, the sun was shining and both horses were in a very good mood. It was my birthday on Monday (14th) so we went to my favourite craft shop, Dolly Cottage Crafts (what a sweet name!) and bought the item I've been waiting and waiting for - a heat embossing gun. I've been playing with it ever since. I also got some flock and some adhesive paper. Let me show you what I've been doing:

I've made several cards for Mother's Day which I've taken to the shop, and this is one of them. The thing is, the scalloped pink border is made using flock, so it's got that lovely soft texture. I stamped the image of the little girl and coloured it as usual, and then stamped it again on adhesive paper. I cut out the section that is her pink top and stuck it down on the stamped image. It's double sided sticky paper, so I peeled the top off and rubbed in the flock. I am very pleased with it. I'd like a pale brown flock, then I could use it on some bears, which would look really cute I think.

What else? Oh yes, this one:

This is another stamp from Little Claire's Designs. I think they're all so sweet. These and Lili of the Valley are my favourites. This card was actually quite hard to make and should have had an acetate window but I couldn't get the ink to show up on it at all which is a bit frustrating. I'm pleased with the end result though.

So all is well here, but one of the other reasons I haven't been blogging is that I'm so deeply in shock over the events taking place in Japan. I'm sure we're all watching developments unfolding on our television screens in horror. I think it's hard to grasp the scale of the disaster. Some of the images of the tsunami make it look like a bit of treacle spreading out, it's so hard to believe the wave was over 20 feet high and moving at a rate of 10m per second. You just can't fathom it, can you? So my thoughts and prayers are for all those involved, and I'm sure yours are too.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

Mrs O.

Anniversary Days

2011-03-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

Goodness me, what a hectic few days. First of all we had our wedding anniversary on March 10th (last Thursday). We've been married 16 years but have actually been together for 21. Yes all those years ago I walked into a large kitchen, our eyes met and the Lord said to me, "This is the man I am giving you." I glanced behind Mr O to find the dashing and wealthy man the Lord must have meant, but there was no one else there. At that stage I had no idea there were several Little O's running about the place too. I can only cope with one thing at a time. But all these years later we are happier than ever - who'd have thought it?! First of all I'd like to show you the card I made, filled with TLC:

I bought this image to do Valentines cards with, do you remember? But I couldn't resist bringing him out again for this card as he's so sweet and such fun to colour. I kept the rest of the card fairly simple, and was really pleased with the result.

And now the other thing...

Ages ago on facebook we got onto the subject of having our horses' picture painted and my friend Heather just casually mentioned that her mum paints horses. We were all a bit astounded by this and my friend Debbie asked if H's mum would do a painting of her horse Arthur. We waited with baited breath, and the finished result was astounding. I immediately emailed H and asked if her mum would do one of Zak and she said she'd love to. I sent across as many photos as I could muster, but in particular a good shot of his face as I love his markings. I had decided it would make the perfect birthday present for Mr O, but as the week went on and my excitement grew I realised there's no way I'd be able to wait that long. Then I had the brainwave of giving it to him for our anniversary.

The production of this painting has been conducted in total secrecy though. Once the painting was finished Heather sent a photo of it to my mobile phone. Of course it beeped when it arrived and Mr O asked who the text was from. I opened the message and my jaw dropped when I saw the photo. I lied through my teeth and said it was my riding instructor asking if I wanted a lesson in the morning. Then Heather tagged the photo to me on my facebook page and there it sat. That meant that every time I wrote on my profile page I got in a panic if Mr O was looking over my shoulder watching what I was typing and had to quickly flick off the page.

I had to wait a week for the painting to dry and then it arrived in the post. I cried when I opened it. Anyway, here it is, and I have to say, it's a fabulous likeness:

Mr O was absolutely delighted with it and was actually speechless for several seconds, and then shed a tear. He also thought the white bit on Zak's nose wasn't correct and went outside to check. To his surprise, it is an indentical likeness. I am thrilled with it, I must say. All we need to do now is find a frame.

The Simple Woman's Daybook - March

2011-03-09T11:57:00.001-08:00

Outside My Window: is glorious sunshine. It makes me wake up early in the mornings and I love it.

I am thinking: I hope it doesn't rain on Friday, so I can bath Barnaby for the pleasure ride on Saturday.

I am thankful for: Son 1 being here to help me muck out. It's made it so much quicker and easier.

I am wearing: green jods and a green jumper. It makes me look like Robin Hood.

I am reading: 'The Robe' by Lloyd C. Douglas. I haven't read it since I was about fifteen. I only realised yesterday that it's the perfect book to read in the run-up to Easter. You may have seen the film where John Wayne says, "Surely this man was the son of God."

I am hoping: Mr O likes his anniversary card, and more importantly his present. I am so excited about it. All will be revealed tomorrow.

On my mind: Am I going to be able to catch Hugo on my own tomorrow as he's jumped the wall and the electric fence into the next field every day this week!

From the kitchen: Pancakes - what else? I love them with bananas, cream and maple syrup, or black cherry pie filling - yum.

I am creating: I have just bought some flock and am working out exactly how it works. It's going to be fun.

I am hearing: the kettle boiling. Time for a hot chocolate, made by hubby.

Noticing that: the grass is growing in the field. I hope Barnaby doesn't put more weight on.

One of my favourite things:

Around the house: In all our years of marriage and the three houses we've lived in, we have never had a breadbin. I have no idea why this is as I've always wanted one. I think we decided there wasn't room. Bread has been a bit of a loose cannon, bedding down for the night wherever it could. But finally, last Saturday we bought one, and here it is:

It matches our tea, coffee and sugar cannisters and I'm really pleased with it.

A scripture thought: 'And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory.' Ephesians 1:13-14

(I just love this passage of scripture).

A few plans for the rest of the week: Pleasure ride Saturday, church Sunday morning, possibly afternoon tea at Chatsworth in the afternoon.

A picture thought:

Finally, they are everywhere.

Ride Away!

2011-03-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a hectic few days. Last Tuesday Mr O had the day off to go to hospital for physio. This meant we could hack out together in the afternoon, which we did. It was all rather fab, but when we got back it turned out Zak has lost a shoe. Mr O was a bit baffled and couldn't think how he'd done it.
This caused a crisis as Mr O was desperate to go show jumping on Sunday. I quickly text our farrier to see if he could come out and put a shoe on in an emergency and he text back to say it wasn't very likely as he was skiing in Austria! Marvellous. I rang the riding school to see who they use and they gave me the number for Nasty Farrier, so that was no good. In the end I rang Lucy Goosie to find out who she uses and she gave me his number.
Fortunately he was in the area the next day and came at three o'clock. I said it would be fine if he just wanted to put one shoe on but if he could do a set that would be brilliant as the others were wafer thin. He moaned and grumbled and criticised my farrier's work and was very insulting to my previous yard owner. You know like when you go to the hairdressers and they always say, "Goodness, who did your hair last time?" I always want to reply, "You did!" I think the horse world is far too small to go round slating people. It's bound to come back to you, isn't it? Pongo did it when we went to see Fudge. He was slating a certain person in front of the seller, and it turned out she knew the person Pongo was talking about. Imagine if she'd said, "That's my aunt!" wouldn't you just die of embarrassment?
Anyway, it was all very confusing but eventually he did all four shoes and they look fine. They only had to stay on until Sunday (which they did!)
And so to the showjumping. I liked the place on sight and when I saw the jumps I wish I'd brought Barnaby. Mr O was very nervous. The journey was very good. The equestrian centre is very close to Southwell racecourse. I was praying there wouldn't be a race meeting on as surrounding Zak with loads of lorries containing excited racehorses wouldn't have gone down very well at all.
It was all clear though, so we arrived and unloaded Zak and went to register. Mr O decided to do the 75cm and 85cm courses. They were still doing the clear round and then came the 65cm so we had plenty of time. We tacked Zak up and Mr O took him down to the warm up ring. They just walked round until the class started. I put his number on the board and he went into the jumping ring. Zak was jumping with style, which is just as well as Mr O was fifth to go in, and to my absolute joy he went clear. The fences were all lovely and simple, nowhere near as intimidating as Marchington was, they were more like the sort of thing we'd set up at home.
I think Mr O was astonished he went clear and had two fences down in the jump-off , which were both his fault. He did the 85cm and had one fence down but it has to be said that Zak actually jumped really well. I don't know if Mr O ought to have slightly shorter stirrups as he lost a stirrup going over one fence. He also forgets to actually tell Zak to jump. Sometimes I still wonder if he can see a stride. Zak likes to jump but he still likes to be told when. You can't be a passenger on this horse, you have to work with him. (I am quite happy to debate this as I also believe to a certain extent that the horse should work it out for himself. If I told Max when to take off he'd have been quite cross as he 'knew pefectly well thankyou!')
All in all I am thrilled at how he went. Unfortunately there aren't any photos as I left my camera at home (and I'm pretty hopeless at photographing showjumping anyway). He was very relaxed about the whole thing. I think Mr O needs a few more lessons. We've been so focused on 'Can this horse do this?' that now it's time to tidy Mr O up a bit. He comes too far out of the saddle when he goes over the fence and his elbows are out a bit too much, so that's what we need to concentrate on next, but I am pleased to say, 'The boy done good!' Well done Zaky Zak, I am proud of you (oh, and you too, Mr O!)

A Reprieve

2011-03-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

The days are busy, but damp, foggy and miserable. I was quite glad to see the back of February but today has been just the same. We have driven to the location of the show jumping competition tomorrow as it's a new venue for us. I am sick with nerves and it's not even me doing it! I will be unpaid groom for the day. I'll let you know how we get on.
I have finally got my mojo back on the card-making front. I realised my mistake. I'd packed all my card magazines into a trunk, just to be tidy, but then we bought a new (fabulous) printer and put it on top of the trunk. Without my magazines for inspiration I found it very difficult to get anything made. Anyway, I found some vellum in a drawer that I must have had for a year and finally put it to good use.
See what you think:
I love the feel of vellum, I could play with it all day. Have a look at this one:

On another subject, you may remember that we hatched quite a few chicks last year, which have all grown up. Unfortunately, the cockerels have been 'excess to requirements' and treated accordingly. The youngest babies have grown up too, and one of them has also turned out to be male. We put him into solitary, pending an enquiry, but last week we rode past a farm and counted not one, not two, but four cockerels, all with a few hens each and all seemingly living quite amicably together. We've decided that the cockerel can come out and go back to his harem. His girls seem to have really missed him and George doesn't seem too bothered. I have named this cockerel Charlie (actually after Charles I, due to his impending fate!) and he's very handsome. Unfortunately he didn't make it to this photo call, but I hope you like it:

George and his women.

Some of the younger hens are starting to lay eggs. They are absolutely tiny. Sometimes they don't make it to the nesting box and I keep finding eggs all over the place. We've ended up with twenty chickens altogether. Not bad considering we started off with six.

Fat Club

2011-03-01T12:38:00.000-08:00

It has come to my attention that Barnaby is a little on the porky side. This may be an understatement...
The trouble is, Pongo and Missis put out a whole haylage bale once a week and just leave the four horses to get on with it. Barnaby immediately and firmly takes possession and rents it out to his friends (this doesn't include Lyndy who only gets to eat some if Barnaby goes off for a sleep or comes out of the field to be ridden!) I think it really started when we had the snow in November. The horses didn't move around much and just stood there eating. Plus they were having lots of haylage at night. Mr O actually suggested I increase Barnaby's feed, but I stuck to my guns and said no, as he wasn't doing any work. I'm so glad now.
Haylage, by the way, is cut first, in June or July. It is only turned once or twice, and then it's baled, so it's slightly moist. We cut our hay in September. It's turned over for 3 or 4 days so it dries out properly, then it's baled. It has a lot less protein than haylage. Haylage has a lot to answer for really.
At our old yard, the horses had proper grazing. They walked around all day snipping off tiny bits of grass with their teeth. Winter grass has very little nutrition in it, so they'd have to do a lot of walking around to gain any sustenance at all. Now they go into the field, stand there gorgeing on haylage all day and don't move because the field is so muddy. They probably stroll up to the trough occasionally, but that's about it. Plus they're still having a huge net of haylage at night, too.
So Barnaby is a little barrelly, to say the least. There we are, all desperately feeding Zak and trying to get him to keep the weight on, when all the while, sneaking in under the radar is Barnaby, the size of a house.
Fortunately he is only on a basic brand of feed called Pegasus Mix which has very little protein in it. He only has half a scoop in the morning and half a scoop at night, with a scant scoop of HiFi Lite, which is a very basic chop, suitable for laminitic horses, so you can imagine how light it is. I've decided to keep him off haylage at night and give him hay. I have to soak it because dry hay makes him cough. He never has carrots or sugarbeet or anything like that (pure sugar).
The first day I gave Barnaby the hay he hardly touched it. He kept looking at me as if to say, "Excuse me love, you've given me the wrong hay net!" Sadly for him, I haven't at all. I have noticed he's eating quite a bit of it since then. Needs must 'n all that.
And the main thing, obviously, is lots and lots of lovely exercise. Most horses have a day off (or two) during the week, and some horses don't get ridden much at all. Barnaby is more like a dog that needs to have daily exercise. He has to go for a run, bless 'im. So I have been motivating myself for his sake and we've been doing a lot of riding. Because we do a lot of road work, it's possible to Google the map of where we've been and work out the distance. Recently we've done a 12 mile ride and several 7 mile rides and he's coping really well. I've decided I must at least make him walk as much as he would in a normal field on a normal day if he was in a field of proper grazing.
It's just as well, too, as I've booked us onto a 14 mile pleasure ride on 12th March. I am really looking forward to it. We don't normally do our first ride until April, which is also 14 miles. Last year they managed it well and we had snow in February so we didn't have long to prepare for it. Surely this year they'll wing it. I hope so. It's so hilly here they are fitter than we realise, which will be proven the minute we take them onto flat land, where they'll be off like rockets.
But in the meantime, just to put it on record, Barnaby weighs 596kg, which is at least 50kg too much. I am so ashamed! This is taken from a weigh tape which isn't totally accurate, but it's near enough. I'll check him again in two weeks and see if there's been any improvement. Watch this space.

Pretty In Pink

2011-02-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

So much to tell you, so little time, so I'd better get started...

Firstly, I noticed in my random comments in the last post, that I stated that my favourite colour is blue. Now when I really stop and consider it, I am indeed very fond of blue, and green. But why oh why didn't I just tell the truth? My favourite colour is pink, yes

pink

there's nothing shameful in that, is there?

I like pink.

Look, here's Favourite Jacket:

which obviously goes with Favourite Skirt:

(which clearly should have been ironed but isn't).

and 'Sweatshirt I am More Than Likely to Wear to Church':

It's not a coincidence, is it?

So why do I feel like a criminal every time someone asks me what my favourite colour is? Maybe I think people will think I am a ditsy little girl who likes pink (with a chihuahua in my handbag) which clearly I am not (although I do have a soft spot for cupcakes with pink icing). I am a very down-to-earth girl who wears jeans and walks like a farmer's wife. Well I've admitted it now and I'm going to revel in it. Good news for favourite notebook, then...

No wonder it has pride of place on my desk.

Secondly, my mojo has been slightly absent on the cardmaking front, but that's because I managed to convince myself that I wasn't going to sell any of the Valentine's Day cards I made for the shop. I have finally been down today to do a stock take and I've sold nine out of the ten cards that I made, plus five other cards. I can't believe it. I'd got into a bit of a state about not buying any more stamps or paper, so I've heaved a huge sigh of relief. I still let Mr O buy the celebratory Chinese meal though...

I have made a few cards, though, so I hope you like this one:

It's my little mouse stamp from Little Claire's Designs. I do so love the style of their stamps and this one is no exception. I dare say this one will crop up again.

I've got quite a bit to tell you about Barnaby but I'd better save that for my next post. Visitors are coming tomorrow so I've had one of those major clean-ups that makes you barely recognise your own house.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Mrs O.

Awards Time

2011-02-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled to have received a lovely award from the equally lovely Shirley at Nannieflash:
This is the Stylish Blogger Award, and if you receive it, you must:

1. Make a post linking back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Share 7 random things about yourself.

3. Award 7 recently discovered bloggers with this award.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them they have won this award.

So... here goes with 7 random things about me.

My sister is older than me by ten months! I will be 44 in March. She is already 44. She won't be 45 until the end of April. Goodness Mother, what were you thinking?!

I am scared of spiders, heights and lifts.

I don't drive and never want to learn!

I want a hawk, a donkey and a goat.

I didn't learn to ride until I was 19. I've been making up for lost time ever since.

The first time Mr O proposed to me I said yes, then said no a week later. The second time I said no outright. The third time I said yes. Poor man.

My favourite colour is blue.

I know the thing is to pass these awards on to people who are fairly new to blogging and don't have many followers, but I want to pass this award onto some bloggers who have been an inspiration to me, and to whom I want to express my gratitude, and so the seven people I am passing this award onto, in no particular order are:

Claudia at Pretty Pressings

Enfys at Going Buggy
If you've missed this blog, you've missed out!

Fi at Marmalade Rose The person who got me into crafting in the first place.

Auntie Gwen's Diary makes me laugh every time I drop in
Debbie at Crafting Fairy Drop by and say hi. You'll be inspired
Lytha at A Horse Crazy American In Germany This blog fascinates me on many levels. The story of a woman who travelled her lovely horse from Seattle to Germany.
And finally, I know she has already received this award, but I love Anne's blog Stamps and Paper I love every single card she makes.
So pop in and have a gander at some of these blogs, I promise you won't be disappointed.

We did get an award of a different kind, hubby and me, although we were unable to go and pick it up in person as the presentation evening was the night we took Barnaby to the vets to have his eye stitched up!

This is the Platinum award for completing all the rides with Amber Valley Riding Club last year. I am thrilled with it. There were only four of us who got it (we are the only people mad enough to have done the Osberton Ride in the thunder and lightening in June). I have shown Barnaby. He tried to eat it. Oh well...

Mrs O.

Slightly AWOL!

2011-02-16T04:12:00.000-08:00

Hello lovely readers, I'm sorry I've not been about much. After a fabulous ride on Friday afternoon, I came indoors and was struck down with illness really suddenly. All I had was a sore throat, not even a cough or a cold, but I kept shivering and felt really unwell. I was in bed by 7.30 pm! I slept most of Saturday (when we were supposed to be having our Valentines meal) and quite a bit of Sunday. Mr O has been wonderful, as he's mucked out for me, done loads of shopping and all of the ironing. The weekend has been a bit of a blur really, I've felt so strange, but I'm much better now, thank goodness. Such a peculiar illness.
However, during this time, I've finished reading, 'The Jane Austen Book Club' by Karen Joy Fowler. Unfortunately these days I'm not up on all Jane Austen's characters. The best thing to do would be to read Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey, then read The Jane Austen Book Club and you'd probably see what she's getting at and find the book a great deal more amusing and clever, but it didn't really have that much appeal, to be honest.

It's been a bit strange at home, too, as Mr O was suddenly put on a shift system at work for last week. It's just an experiment to see if they can keep up with production this way. At first it sounded wonderful, Mr O would work from 6am to 2pm and be home when it was light, so he could ride. Fab. What it actually meant was that he'd get up at 5am to leave for work, and say, "You could have Zak tacked up ready for me to ride when I get home!" Sounds good, but that would mean getting Zak in at exactly the time of day I would normally ride. I usually get Barnaby in around 2pm, wash his legs off (which I only want to do once a day for each horse) go for a ride, come back and untack him, then go and get Zak in to keep him company, and give them their tea. This works really well, but now Mr O wants me to be getting Zak in just when I would normally be out myself. I work to this time frame as I quite often have Missis' two sons after school when she's away, so I like to have everything done so I can meet them off the school bus at 4pm, but this shift system has totally scuppered my routine.
And do you know the worst thing of all? Normally Mr O gets up at 6am and brings me a cup of tea in bed, in a thermal cup with a lid on (how spoiled am I?!) that is still hot when I wake up at 7am. Because he's left for work at five, there's been no point in doing it and I've had to get up at seven and make my own cup of tea. I'm afraid this puts me in a bad mood before I've even woken up properly! So I am probably the only person delighted that the shift system has been so successful they've decided to abandon it - Yippeee!
Last Tuesday I had a conversation with Missis where she was saying she couldn't bear to watch someone else ride her horse and I said I've never had a problem with other people (instructors I mean) riding Barnaby. I suppose this is because I'm so used to seeing Mr O on him, as Barnaby was his for so long.
Anyway, the very next day I was so tired I asked Mr O to ride Barnaby for me. I helped Mr O get on and watched them sail off up the road together and couldn't bear it. I thought I was going to burst into tears. The odd thing was, Barnaby was really naughty on the ride, (snigger!) and when he came back he kept looking at me as if to say, "Why didn't you and I go? You're my mum, aren't you?" It was so fab, I think we've obviously bonded, as I used to be this way with Max. I couldn't stand watching other people riding him. He used to look at me as if to say, "Why are you allowing this?" From now on, if I'm too ill or tired to ride, or the weather's bad, he doesn't get ridden. It's as simple as that. It's because Mr O is always saying, "You don't ride that horse enough!" Well I can't believe Barnaby is in the field thinking, 'It's about time someone rode me, isn't it?'
Finally, you may have gathered that Barnaby is a bit of a bolshie sort, especially with being led on a lead rope. Sometimes he's fine and sometimes he just barges off wherever he feels like it. The day after he cut his eye, he was barging around in the stables, swung round and hit his head on a post and made his gums bleed. What a twit! A few times he's come in and decided he'd rather go in Zak's stable than his own, so he tries to force his way in through the closed stable door, leaning so hard he nearly wrenches it off its hinges. It's like having a half tonne aggressive teenager with ADHD.
I've got so fed up (and embarrassed) about this, I started to look into possibilities for prevention. The first thing I found is called a Dually halter, made by Monty Roberts, which is meant to be brilliant (and I'm sure it is) but it's forty-two pounds. Gasp! My friend Debbie put me onto a Kemp Controller, which is just a thin piece of cord that you clip onto the headcollar and clip the other end to your leadrope. I was a bit sceptical, but it only cost 7.50 so I decided to buy one.
And I have to tell you that Barnaby has been walking round like a lamb in it ever since. It is absolutely amazing. To be honest, if I'd known such a thing existed I'd have bought one years ago, even before we moved here. It looks so simple, but it has such a powerful effect on the horse. As I've said before, Mr O has been able to combat Barnaby with brute strength, but I am just a normal woman and I can't fight him. With this simple device I can make him go wherever I need him to be (or tie him up to have his legs washed) and he has no choice but to stand there. I was concerned that it worked in the same way as a Halti on a dog. This goes onto the muzzle and has a clip underneath where you attach the lead. It's great for gaining control of the dog, but it doesn't teach them to walk to heel. You haven't actually altered the dogs behaviour. With the Kemp Controller you actually alter the horse's behaviour, which is wonderful. I would recommend one to anyone struggling to get their horse to walk nicely with them.
I'd better pop off now to go and clean out the chickens. Finally, it is like a real spring day. In fact, I think I might go for a ride...
Mrs O.

Show and Tell

2011-02-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

My grandson's christening on Sunday was wonderful. Not many photos, as trying to get that many boys to stay still long enough to take a picture is virtually impossible.

But I must show you the card I made. Have a look:

Ever since I saw this image from Lili of the Valley I've been dying to get it, so of course this was the perfect excuse. The stamp is very detailed and it took several attempts to get everything onto the card. It was lovely to colour in. As you can see I've kept the design very simple, bearing in mind it's for a boy.

It gave me itchy fingers though and I was dying to make something else. If I'd had loads of notice I'd have done a cross stitch sampler or something, but I only had one day left. So I decided to make this:

"It's... a box," you say. Yes, it's a box, but not just an ordinary box. It's an exploding box. You take the lid off and enjoy your own 'ta-da!' moment.

It's got lots of christening symbols on it, plus the details of the christening, where and when it took place and who the godparents are. It took me all day to make. It's all very well watching a video on how to make one, but the demonstrator obviously had all the bits pre-prepared and two assistants to stick all the bits on the smaller sections while she did the big one. When you have to start from scratch, deciding on your colour scheme and what it is you're trying to convey, there's quite a lot of work involved, but it was a labour of love. Daughter 1 really liked it anyway, and it's something to keep, isn't it?

I think this will pass my challenge this month to make something with paper that isn't a card, don't you?

More goings-on tomorrow, but in the mean time, can I just say thankyou for your recent comments that have totally and utterly made my day.

Be blessed everyone.

Mrs O.

Stitch Up

2011-02-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

Crikey, what a hectic weekend! Mucking out four horses a day this week seems like a rest by comparison.
Firstly the disappointment of shopping in Matlock. To be fair, it was pouring with rain, but the shops were very boring. Bakewell is much nicer.
Mr O went for a long hack, even though it was throwing it down. I went to get Barnaby in and washed his legs off. I stood up to look at him and realised he had a long, wide gash right next to his eye.
I brought him into his stable, tied him up and washed all around the eye with hibiscrub. It was obvious he wanted sympathy. He tried his, 'Now look what you've made me do!' expression, which didn't work. The gash turned out to be quite wide, and I knew it needed to be stitched. It was either that or stand there all night, holding it between my finger and thumb.
The good thing was that I remained really calm. I felt I let the side down a bit with the 'stuck over the stable door' incident and decided to make up for it now. I gently chatted to him and assured him that I was going to get it sorted out. He took this at face value (horses - no imagination!)
Eventually Mr O returned and I calmly pointed the wound out to him and he knew we had to call the vet. They said, as it was so close to his eye (no more than 1mm away from the outer edge of his eye) that we needed to bring him in. We were a bit concerned about this as it was pretty windy, but there was nothing for it. I slapped on the travel boots and away we went. Barnaby wasn't keen at first but soon settled down on the way. I think he knew we were doing our best for him.
We arrived at the vet hospital and unloaded him. He was confused as to why he was travelling in the dark but walked willingly into a stable that had been prepared for him. He was quite happy to introduce himself to the mare next door, but she was having none of it and kept squealing at him. Barnaby kept returning to me in confusion. (Mares - no sense of humour!)
The vet came out (the same one who dealt with Zak when he had choke) and injected a pain killer, antibiotics and a sedative. Then she looked into his eye and confirmed that there was no damage to the eye itself. Barnaby wasn't on speaking terms with her by then, but it was too late as the sedative had kicked in. His head gradually got lower and his legs spread out to support himelf - a good job as holding up 438kg of inert horse is no easy task.
Then the vet came out with a small curved threaded needle. I held Barnaby still while she put the stitches in. Fortunately he was very calm. I just kept talking to him and he was fine. We were given his paperwork. It just said 'Stitch Up'. By the time we got the bill (we won't go there) I wasn't sure exactly who this applied to!
Eventually the sedative began to wear off, and then something very interesting happened. Every time the vet reappeared, Barnaby flung his head up and gave a deep warning whinny, as if to say, "Don't let that woman come near me ever again!" It was so strange. Horses aren't stupid, are they?
He came round a bit more, then we had the fun task of loading a woozy horse into a lorry in the pitch dark. After a few false starts he eventually walked up the ramp and we fastened him in and put the back up.
Half an hour later we were back home (the wind had dropped by then, thankfully) and walked him slowly into his stable. Zak was very concerned about why his friend had left him. I took Barnaby's travel boots and rug off and put his pj's on. He didn't even want a bedtime story, poor boy. Zak was full of questions, but Barnaby just slept, relieved it was all over and glad to be back in his own bed.
I asked the vet if he needed to be kept in the next day. She said no and that it was very likely he'd rub the stitches out and could do that just as easily in the stable as in the field, so on Sunday we put him out as usual. He immediately began to drink from puddles in the field and when I mucked him out I realised he'd drunk his bucket dry. He must have woken up in the morning with a terrible hangover.
So thankfully he is fairly unharmed, the silly Hoof. And to think, when I sold Max I thought I'd hardly have anything to write about on here, as Max always had something up his sleeve. Life with Barnaby was going to be so simple!
Loads more to tell you but it will have to wait until my next post.
Hope everything is well with all of you (and not so expensive!)
Mrs O.

The Simple Woman's Daybook - February

2011-02-04T12:21:00.000-08:00

Outside My Window: My garden chairs have blown over in the wind and the bird seed is scattered everywhere.

I am thinking: of the terrible situation in Egypt and all the reports of snow in the U.S. Missis is going there on Sunday. Maybe she won't be able to go (hurray!) maybe she'll get stuck there (boo!) maybe we'll get snow here (noooooooooo!)

I am thankful: that Barnaby doesn't seem so lame after yesterday (a mystery).

I am wearing: my new pyjamas and dressing gown. They are white with big pink and pale brown circles on. The pj's are brushed cotton. I look like a flump.

I am planning: to do some shopping in Matlock tomorrow. I've never been there before. I wonder if there's a craft shop? Mmmmm.

I am creating: a Christening card for Caelan. It's killing me to keep it simple.

I am hoping: it doesn't snow (again). Every time I think it isn't going to happen it gets forecast again.

I am reading: 'The Jane Austen Book Club' by Karen Joy Fowler. So what if I thought it was total tosh? I looked it up on Wikipedia and read the review. It's probably one of the cleverest books I'll ever read. Oh well.

On my mind: A romantic meal for Valentine's Day. Some sort of red/pink pudding.

From the kitchen: I have made some shortbread. So easy, so delicious, so much better than the shopbought kind, look:

Around the house: Goodbye poinsettia, hello tulips!

Noticing that: It's so windy outside the water is slopping about in the toilet. It's like being on a ship. Oh my!

One of my favourite things: hot chocolate. Perfect for a windy day like this. I have been outside and been blown about like Piglet.

A scripture thought: I was thinking about February being the 'month of lurve', then in our study last week we came across this: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' John 15:13

A few plans for the rest of the week: So looking forward to getting together with the whole family for the christening on Sunday.

A picture thought:

Tessa Bear, faithful friend, and constant companion. Where would I be without you?

Breakthrough

2011-02-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

I've come to a decision with Barnaby. Let me explain. My very first pony, Crispin, was the love of my life. I never took him to any shows. I didn't even know what showing was back then. Loads of other people from the yard used to go. I never felt I was missing out on anything, or that I was deprived in any way - I had a horse, for goodness sake, what more could a girl ask for? Crispin was the love of my life.
Then I got Max, and I loved him too, but felt under constant pressure to perform. This meant I liked him more when he did well, and got frustrated with him when he didn't. It's very strange. It's why a lot of people sell their horses all the time. That's quite a confession, really. I think it stems from doing that Bible study last week about unconditional love. I have actually stood in the show ring with Max and as the judge has placed me fifth or sixth, I've whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, darling, the judge is completely blind!"
But I've realised with Barnaby I want to get back to what I had with Crispin, i.e. I want to love him for who he is, not what he can do. I used to ride Crispin out and every ride was an adventure, because I had a horse. It was the most thrilling thing in the world. I wanted to shout it to every passer-by, but I expect my idiot grin was a bit of a giveaway.
So last week, on Monday I rode Barnaby in the school and it was awful, just doing flat-work. Then on Wednesday I tried to jump him and it was disasterous and nearly dangerous as he tanked round with his head between his knees and tripped over the trotting poles, nearly tipping me over his neck. Honestly, I don't know what's going on with that.
Then on Friday I decided to hack out and it was utterly fantastic. We did about six miles, up hill and down dale, on roads, being passed by every kind of traffic known to man, which Barnaby doesn't even look at. We passed dogs and a woman feeding a flock of seagulls, and a skip full of rubbish and Barnaby never gave it a second glance. I was as high as a kite when I got back.
So, after big discussions with Mr O, I have decided to chuck in any kind of competing, because I need to ride this horse with no pressure whatsoever and actually be allowed to enjoy him.
I honestly feel that a massive weight has been lifted off me. If I want to ride, I will ride. If I don't, I won't. Yesterday I rode for an hour and a half, and it was absolute bliss. We went for miles. I am going to do lots of pleasure rides this year, and the odd bit of TREC and thoroughly enjoy what this horse does best, and that's that. Because I utterly love him for who he is - enough said.

I've been having lots of fun making cards, check these out:
I've liked these cute bunnies for ages and finally got round to ordering the stamp a couple of weeks ago. It took a lot of trial and error with my Promarkers to get the paleness of the two rabbits right. The paper is from My Mind's Eye and I've had it for ages. I originally bought it to do my scrapbooking with last year, but I've got loads left. I think that's the thing with these papers, the initial outlay can be quite a bit, but you get so much out of it, it more than pays for itself in the end. The main thing I wanted to do with this card, was the two bits of ribbon with the buttons on the end, which worked out really well.

I'm really pleased with this card, too:

This is a waterfall card, and I've been wanting to make one since Christmas. There was an article showing you how to make one in one of the magazines I buy, but the instructions weren't very good. If you want a brilliant tutorial, try here. This is a really good card for a man, and uses stamped images of boats and sailing things. You pull the tab at the bottom and the pictures flip up, revealing 'Happy Birthday' at the bottom. Once you've got the hang of it, I think they could be quite addictive. You could put hearts and flowers on each flap, then have 'Happy Valentine's Day' at the bottom. The possibilities are endless.

So, last Thursday, daughter 1 rang me and said, "Don't forget it's Caelan's christening next Sunday." "Pardon?" I said. "Well," she said, "I did tell dad about three weeks ago..." Marvellous. So I have sprung into action and ordered the bits I want to make his card, which fortunately came in the post yesterday. Nothing like a bit of warning, though, is there? I'll show you the card as soon as it's done.

Challenges For January - How Did I Do?

2011-01-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a very busy month, and I have only just been able to complete as many of my challenges as possible for January, so how did I get on?

1. Finish reading 'Perfect Manners' by Kelly Marks: I have been so impressed with this book. We have an organisation in the UK called The British Horse Society, which is responsible for courses and exams you can take. Although I think they do fairly well on the riding front, they don't teach you any of the stuff this book covers, which is actually vital for your relationship with your horse. I wish I'd found this book years ago. It's got some very simple exercises in it that I'm using to transform Barnaby from being a bolshie so-and-so into a well mannered horse who is becoming a pleasure to be with. Sometimes, by the time I've fought to get him in, groom him and tack him up I'm too exhausted to ride! Using these methods has meant I can go for a ride and make it the pleasure it's supposed to be. I can't recommend it enough.

2. Do at least four chapters of the Bible Study on marriage: I've done two chapters. It's a fascinating book called Secrets - Transforming Your Life and Marriage by Kerry Clarensau. I guess anything that enhances your marriage is worth taking a look at. This book is really challenging me though. It even dares to suggest that I may be slightly selfish and self-centered. Who, me? How can that be? I'm lovely - everybody knows that! It talks about unconditional love, something we apply easily to our children, but don't necessarily apply to our husbands. It's a proper study, with sections for you to fill in, and I'm really enjoying it. Kerry Clarensau is American, and I love the way American's approach their relationship with God, much bolder than the average Brit, so refreshing. A very interesting book, I recommend this, too.

3. Make some Valentine cards, including one for Mr O: Well, I have definitely made some Valentine cards, look:

and I did, in fact, make a card for Mr O and said, "Let's do cards this year." Then I thought about it and reverted to what we really think, which is that we don't need one day a year to say 'I love you,' and that our anniversary is much more important to us than Valentine's Day, so we'll stick to celebrating that. Also, I took the card to the shop to sell...

4. Practise for dressage competition on Jan 30th: Well, that hasn't worked out, has it?! Thankyou to Jean and Cheyenne, I took both your comments on board. I do totally agree that dressage is good for a horse and promotes his health and well-being. I'm not talking about piaffe and passage here, just some basic movements would be nice, but for whatever reason, Barnaby seems very incapable and I have withdrawn from the competition. I'd still like to do some showing though, so the door isn't closed on this chapter just yet.
5. Do at least 1 map reading walk: I only completed this yesterday. It was going to be so simple, a 20 minute walk with 'Er Indoors on the footpath round the back of the riding school, past the old quarry and come out next to Lucy Goosie's house. So we set off in fine style down the road, onto the footpath and up round the quarry. We came out into a field surrounded by dry stone walls and I couldn't see a way out. I walked round and round (Tessa was thrilled at first, then gradually lost faith in me, 'Daddy doesn't do it like this!' written all over her face.) In the end I had to retrace my steps and follow a completey different path and came out through a gate onto the road. A farmer passed me and I thought, 'Now I'm in trouble,' but he just smiled and waved, so I carried on. I came out further up the lane, a field away from Lucy Goosie's house. So frustrating (yes I did have a map with me!) Tessa's paws were hot by then.
Next week I'm going to do it the other way round and try to work out where I went wrong. I was exhausted by the time I got back, having turned a 20 minute stroll into an hour's ordeal. This bodes well for TREC competitions, doesn't it? That will consist of me getting completely lost on a horse, what fun.

6. Make a birthday card for Seven: I did, and here it is:

Perfect for a boy of 8 I think. I love doing easel cards, and I was thrilled to find papers that went so well together (for free!) He really liked it, anyway.
So all in all, not too bad for my month's efforts. I wonder what February will bring? I was going to change it from challenges to 'Things to look forward to in February...' but I think I rather like stretching myself in this way.
Well I'm off to ride the boy in freezing cold temperatures, but gorgeous sunshine.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Mrs O.