The Great British Summer

When we told people we were moving back to the UK they all said "Why? The weather is terrible...."

But no, not this year. After a very mild winter with no snow at all, and me worrying about being able to fight my way through huge drifts on treacherous country lanes down to the horses in the Kangoo (which has been known to get stuck on nothing more than some wet grass), not a single flake. So much for my argument that we'll NEED a 4 x 4 here in the winter (which would incidentally be able to tow the horse trailer I haven't got yet either)......

And now, well, summer is here. We've had fabulous weather for weeks. Yes, the odd torrential downpour/thunderstorm, but apart from that wall to wall sunshine. And flies, ticks and mosquitoes.....but at least we didn't need to break out the fly masks back in April like we did in the Dordogne.

So the horses are having a bit of a holiday at the moment as it's just too warm to expect them to do much, and unlike in France, it's humid, which is yuk.

They don't seem to mind :-)

Unfortunately for Tari, the downpours mean too much grass, so she has to have a muzzle on most of the time. Doesn't stop her eating though ;-)

So normal service will resume when it's a bit cooler - and we haven't got to wrangle the NO who finished school today *sigh*

New toy :-)

Oops, I haven't posted for ages, life kinda got in the way......work, moving house, that kind of thing.....

Anyway, yesterday was my birthday and I finally got that digital SLR camera I have always craved. Obviously the damned thing is way beyond my humble capacities to understand, but there are plenty of idiotproof settings and today I took it out for a spin.

So here are some pics for you:

The eyes have it.....

Yesterday we had a very interesting morning down at the Equine Eye Clinic, turns out Tari's eyes are not normal at all. Was talking to them at the vet's open day the other week and they said they had an eye specialist who'd be very interested in seeing a silver dapple as they often have eye problems linked to the gene that gives them the colour. I had read something about that online before so I was interested in finding out more too. So I took her along when G had his MOT (he's fine, the COPD is better than last year in fact) and  had to leave her there overnight as she's been sedated to be poked and prodded and photographed.....



Both of her retinas have not formed properly on one side, meaning basically that her vision is compromised at the front of her head, but her peripheral vision is unaffected. Was really interesting looking at the inside of her eyes. The vet is going to send me some of the pics he took. Basically this means she doesn't have a full field of vision but should be perfectly fine to ride as long as her head movement isn't restricted so she can turn her head to compensate and that's why she's always got her nose into everything so she can check stuff out with her whiskers. (He was very impressed with the size of the ones round her eyes and said he's always telling people they should never trim them.....) She was certainly very nosy about the nice shiny trailer in the yard when we arrived......

......which had been used to transport........a llama for a haircut. That was very interesting too!

Went back to fetch her this morning and she was her usual laid back self walking home, more interested in eating grass than worrying about stuff. So nothing really to worry about, Ali used to ride a one eyed horse in France and he managed fine, jumping and everything. Don't think we'll ever be breeding from her though.......

One year on......

Can't believe it's been a year already since I brought Tari home. This is what she looked like then

and here she is today

She was being a bit nosey bout Sky's tack, so I thought I'd see how she liked wearing it.....

....didn't seem too bothered!

Sky's extra wide cob saddle seems to be a good fit now so she's definitely going to need the treeless by the time she's old enough to ride!

Lovely day so we took her for a walk and jumped some ditches :-)

Horse and Hound

Another half term, another fun show at Tumpy Green. Sky was her usual unpredictable self, she went from this bit of fancy footwork to avoid going into the far corner of the arena which clearly contained a dragon....

.........to blasting round the jumps in the Horse and Hound class (they came second). Chox was a bit bemused by it all but is always up for a bit of running and jumping.

The NO couldn't ride her fave Fjord and parted company with her replacement pony, Jasper, during the mini jumping. After a brief bit of crying, she got back on, went and did the clear round jumping and got a rosette :-)

Much hanging around as usual and for some reason Bon Jovi's greatest hits on in the background (thought we'd left the crappy music at horse shows behind in France ) but excellent bacon butties and lashings of tea to keep us going. Didn't even get rained on......

What's inside a horse?

Interesting morning at the open day today at the local equine vet hospital.....

Beautiful day so we walked over with Chox

When we got there, Éowyn was fascinated by the cut up horse's leg and hoof......

...the number of teeth they have....

...but most of all by the lady doing the fecal egg counts!! She asked many questions about" going through the motions" and was rewarded with a close up look at some poo.....

Those teeth are things of beauty really when you look at them close up (although reading this story maybe Ross Jacobs wouldn't agree with me...)

There was also a pair of beautiful Shires, and we got a demo of how to plait their mane (Éowyn approved of the sparkly bows)

The owners aren't far from here and do driving lessons and working with the horses (ploughing etc), they said to come and see them sometime so I think I will :-)

Showing? Perhaps not......

OK, so we decided to go to a show. With the horses. As it was at the only venue we can usefully hack to, Tumpy green. Mentioned to Loraine that Ali was doing a showing class with Sky, yes that's right, Sky, the one that has looked like this all winter......

...and she said she could show us a few tricks. So the other day, we brought Sky in and Loraine showed us how to get the dirt out without having to wash her, and how to strap her and even brush the grease out using meths! Then she got the clippers out and trimmed her feathers and after that, she looked a bit different.....

So this morning off we went to the show. Lots of faffing, plaiting, polishing, cursing and stressing (by my daughter) later, we were ready to go. I got straight into the dressage arena as the people due to go before us weren't there. I thought the test went quite well, I didn't forget it for a start, and G seemed his usual self, but it turned out we only got 55% and there was a lot of "needs more impulsion" on the score sheet. Ah well, guess he can't cover the ground like the big shiny long-legged horses can........

 

Then on an impulse (because the jumps were tiny) we did the clear round jumping and got a rosette!

 

Ali did that too (her rosette was pink, much to her disgust), then it was off to Sky's showing class. And this is where it went a bit wrong......Sky was OK at first when they were all going round the ring together....

...but when it came to the waiting around whilst everyone does their individual show bit, I could see her fidgeting about. Clearly she didn't see why she should stand and do nothing when there was all that nice grass just waiting to be eaten. And she was getting more and more annoyed that she wasn't allowed any. The fidgeting turned into foot stamping, then a little buck and finally, she actually threw her toys out of the pram and reared, so poor Ali made an unscheduled dismount. They left the ring sharpish before they got chucked out!! Perhaps showing isn't for her, then. I do hope not, all the cleaning and poncing about is far too much like hard work.......

 

Ali seemed none the  worse for wear after her tumble and insisted on doing her 2' jumping class. Didn't want Sky thinking she could chuck her off and do no more work, for a start. There was a bit of an argument at the beginning of the round but Ali insisted and she went clear in the first round but had 2 down in the jump off.

But then Ali's ankle started hurting so I took her to the medic on duty (yes, they have those here!) and he strapped it up for her. So she had to get a lift back, I rode G and led Sky home and now we're back I'm making Ali a cake :-)

G of course, was perfectly behaved all day. Love that big old horsie......