hissy fitter...

well, had she been a cat, she would have been having a hissy fit. againn, when I started her off right - she'd been fine left. We were rope circling a la Max....she was NOT happy, and i had to work hard (as did she in consequence) but I had to keep going longer than i'd planned as I slipped over on a patch of ice underfoot in the arena (she was ok as she's large and heavy enough to break up the surface, i'm not) so the result was that i had to really then make sure that she was doing what i wanted, and she was very pissed off about it. then, of course, I had to stop sooner than i'd really have liked as, due to the lack of clip, she was very hot and starting to drip with sweat, which isn't clever when it's this cold. so, she got her thermatex wicking rug on again, got led out in hand for 5 minutes, and didn't get her tea - left a friend to do that about an hour later ....

then went to collect the clippers from gaynor, and whilst there, admired her new week old son, one forgets how tiny a new baby is!

tomorrow, all going well, Molly will get clipped. and hopefully the going will be a shade better for me!

molly was not pleased

to be asked to work....

it was -5 this morning when i went down so turned her out and decided to go back this afternoon (could see the sun was going to come up so prospect of it being a bit warmer...)

lunging was the order of the day ... i just wanted some nice walk. I got that left rein. Right rein? she started with that, then decided bucky hissy fit challenge me was good , she did NOT want to go right ----- i thought, OOPS - i knew if I didn't win that one i'd be in trouble, and happily I did. I don't think I'd have won it 2 years ago.....

so we got her going right and eventually down to walk, which was what i wanted. but some back up to trot/canter - i didn't mind that, so long as she went the direction I wanted.

phew.

trouble was, given she's not clipped, she got a bit warm. So i put the thermatex rug on on the basis that that'll keep her right overnight...

so must find the clippers - i have a third share in a set which are at harbour house, will have to text and find out. and somewhere i have some small trimmers which would do the job, but quite where they went when i moved i'm not sure - in the house somewhere!

anyway, definitely will be clipped!

and at least a week groundwork before i get back on, if not two .... small yard competition 2 weeks tomorrow but whether i bother i don't know....

tea...

i was home in time to give molly her tea -

the car is still full of stuff.....decided to unload that in the daylight tomorrow...

fish & chip lunch, steak sandwich dinner

hopefully my back will start improving now i'm back home....

packing...

i do hope it all fits in the car!..you know what it's like when you fetch stuff down in bits.....should do, i'm a good packer, but there's a chair (fold up) that i brought with me...bits and bobs....

lunch

was interesting (as well as being paid for!). might have something more positive to say soon ... even if it does involve the odd week in totnes! (that's devon, jean....)

last week

in wilmslow

i'm quite down, really, understandably given that it's back to the dole next week (hopefully not for long). but i won't be sorry to see the back of this flat. a fridge it was last night (and the inside of the freezer section of the fridge reminds me why mine is a self defrosting job...)

bitter cold

and it had snowed last night, although not a lot.

I'm still not feeling totally well enough to ride, so didn't.

but did buy Molly a new rug - that she didn't REALLY need, but it was at a very good price and it looks rather good on her. so she's tucked up in her stable with loads and loads of haylage

oops

sorry about the lack of post last night, the internet wasn't playing.

and tonight, i left my lap top in the office.

the innards are improving slowly..... even felt hungry yesterday, which (despite eating a substantial dinner) i hadn't felt the night before. odd that.

Molly had her vaccinations today - apparently the vet didn't get there until 17.30, which is pretty late!

lovely dinner

at the legh arms with a friend (hi jenny!), and we didn't spend ALL the time talking horses, just some of it....

she's a lot nearer than i thought she was, and an even smaller world than that, turns out her daughter is round the corner from this flat .....

first proper meal i've had since sunday, so hope i'm still ok ish in the morning LOL. off to take my medicine now...

doctor

d I was in agony this morning, so gave up and made an apoinment with a local doctor - quite impressed, rang just after 0830, appointment for 1010, and i went early and was seen early. mega good. really nice young doctor. listened to me. listened to the rest of me (stethoscope!) wrote a prescription and i came home = well, back to the flat - via the chemist...

hopefully i'll be improved/not be in such pain by the moring.

food?

2 strawberry yoghurts.

1 banana, ripe

2 sliced of toast & cheese (late on)

3 glasses of prescription gloop

several cups of tea..

hungry? no. and some actimel to drink as well. my thinking being that yoghurts/probiotics of whatever sort are called for, in addition to the prescription stuff which i've had before and works.

and partner bought eh applechaff.

warm...

as opposed to cold last night. part of which might have been a function of being unwell, but this flat when it's been left is a serious fridge....no central heating....

must remind partner to go buy molly some feed (tee hee....) didn't realised how far down it was until too late yesterday...oops. enough for 3 days, i think, but not the week ... partner said "?applechaff?!?

remind m

never to eat seeded buns again... i knew it would come back and haunt me with a vengeance, and it is! I shan't be riding today, and frankly am surprised i even made it to the yard, thought at one point i was going to have to ring a friend ... hopefully things will settle down through the day so I'm fit for the long drive this afternoon...

but sorted out the remaining mud on molly's legs, and applied mud fever prevention - which also stops the mud from sticking! got through most of a brand new grooming block in the process though....

mud monster

never seen her so covered in mud - had i been here, i would have hosed the rug off whilst it was still wet mud, as it is it needs a really good brushing and cleaning itself

took me an hour to get her clean enough to get any tack on her, so thought I'd lunge - I didn't know there'd been a coin slot put in for the arena lights! no coins! and it was far too dark to do without lights, that full moon of earlier in the week was covered by cloud....

true, i could have done all that this morning, butdidn't think partner would really appreciate me not being home when she was trooping off to manchester after lunch! and then i had to go see a client who lives not far from me about a case... only opportunity and time limited so had to be done....


so hoping the weather is as nice tomorrow as it has been today and i can get on!

and she is apparently depressed - well, frankly, who can blame her, all that mud and not a lot to eat in the field. but the consensus is that she is missing me... so not too long till i'm back..

home again....

in good time ish tonight, at least - i was in by 20.15! takes an hour to get round Manchester, and then, amazingly, NO traffic jams in my direction. not even at Wetherby. was pleased i wasnt' going the other way, traffic back from hartshead to leeds - that is a LONG traffic jam!

apparently

the new bath at home looks wonderful, and is, as we thought, bigger than the old one (difficult to be totally sure till it was actually in place). so partner is having a wonderful time using it! the one thing i've had the advantage of being away - it might be cold, but at least i could have a bath/shower every day!

looking forward to getting home tomorrow evening....and seeling molly moo on saturday! hope the weather's ok for riding....

full moon (2nd post of the night)

this is from the main door to the block of flats tonight .... about 9 pm or thereabouts. i could ride in this, it's so bright! i can actually see the door, and even the lock to get the key in, without the torch!

hurray

in that i think the internet is sorted - have rearranged the room to put the laptop nearer the window, on advice from teh ISP, and so far so good, it feels better already!

no, nicola, i'm not selling the vogue, no way - but the agent has someone who actually wnts to SEE one in the flesh, and it is apparently proving a tad difficult to organise and i am, apparently, the only person in teh area who has one she can look at. I'm surrpsied if that's the case, but there we go...

on the job front, things may move on again ....the other temp in with me decided not to stay until christmas....so who knows, they may want me to after all.

as it stands, i shan't move molly until i KNOW, given that if i'm not staying, there's no point moving her for a fortnight only!

shame, as this coming weekend would have been perfect for the job.

jobs....

:-(. won't be getting kept on full time where i am, and neither will the other person (who was temp, like me, but had been led to expect he woudl be) for reasons i won't go into here.

so need to hear about the manchester thing.... and you never know, the one in durham might prove fruitful!

had i been getting the job here, i would have moved molly this weekend, but as it is, i shan't do anything until i hear about manchester one way or the other....no point moving her for a fortnight! despite the expense, the expense of travelling her would cancel out.

hey ho.

and the agent says someone wants to look at my vogue, now if i can just maintain my internet connectionlong enough to reply to that email, i'll be happy!

delay in service...

it's taken three hours to get online tonight! goodness knows what that was about.

anyway, meeting tomorrow so that should help in knowing what the plan might be!

jumpies...

well, very baby ones. when eventually it stopped raining for long enough to do anything without a soaking, i decided 2 trotting poles, with the polepods 2 high - esentially, cavalletti height.

Molly was good about them right rein, and did in fact jump, rather than trot over, several times. she wasn't nearly as keen on the left rein!

she was, i think, a bit full of herself, and really wanted to motor on a few times, but i decided i didn't mind that as it wasn't really about schooling, it was about her enjoying herself and doing something!

my boots have been traced to a cupboard, where they had been placed to dry. apparently there was a flood last week....

.

rain ... hair ... groundwork....bath (not!)

raining in the morning

hairdressers appointment, so no worries there...

sun got out

didn't get back to the yard till 4, and she was IN!!!! turned out there'd only been 2 out all day, oscar in the geldings paddock and molly in the mares...

and molly will be the only mare in the VERY near future...one went yesterday, and the other goes tomorrow/later in the week. :-(

though my muckboots had been taken - they have been put in my locker....

apparently there was a flood through the week.... it was dry over the other side of the pennines..

ground work ... she wasn't overjoyed!

we were meant to have our new bath fitted today. man turned up, took old bath out ... and we need new flooring underneath where the bath goes. so the new bath is still sitting there!

stanneylands

livery - used to be a racing yard, is rented from the previous trainer - excellent! fantastic boxes, lovely paddocks, the "lunging ring" is more than big enough to ride in, a horse walker!!!. price is right (£23 per week DIY, £12 per day if I want her done), nice people, and under 1 1/2 miles from the flat, ditto from the office - i could walk it if i had to.

So once I know definitively what i'm doing for the next few months, that's sorted.

and an agent rang as i was leaving the office - a firm whose office is within 2 miles of this house, might be interested and so is being sent my CV. YAY.

yard hunting

can't believe i haven't updated since monday, how awful. still, nothing to say.

tonight i went to the tack/feed store at ashley and wrote down a load of contact details for livery yards...will ring them over the weekend, i think, and see what people say.

and tomorrow lunchtime going to look at one that used to be a racing yard, opposite the stanneylands hotel, so only a mile, if that, from this flat. whether it fits the bill or not is another matter, but geographically perfect! a gallop that you can trot round (no longer suitable for full gallop, he says) and a lunge ring - he was unclear about it's size, but they don't have a manege.

mobberley

yard outside there in the back of beyond - one of those, if you don't know it's there, you'll never know it's there, so as secure as can be in the scale of things. nice people, nice horses, arena, nice stables, tackroom, feed store; couldn't see the fields but lady said, mud! but horses legs didn't look that muddy when brought in! believe in turn out every day, good. £60 per week inclusive of hay/haylage. would have been inclusive of bedding as well, but that's straw, which we dont do! that would have been £65 per week. and they turn them out for you in the morning.

6 miles from the office, 8 or 9 miles back home again...

i don't use that much haylage in a week - and forgot to ask how much to have molly done on a weekend when i go home for weekend...

drat

r
wanted to do something with molly today but also knew i still had my laundry to finish up so i have stuff to wear this week, so decided to turn molly out and then lunge her later .. mistake. by the time we got all the chores done and a shopping trip for stuff for the house, it was raining. and to cap that, the laundry wasn't dry....i don't have a tumble drier, so it either hangs on the airer next to a radiator on full blast, or goes outside on the rotary airer if rain is not forecast... so it was next to the radiator, and just hadn't had long enough

think i've got enough shirts for the week....and packed some smart sweaters as well, so should be ok

photo

from yesterday, whilst we were waiting for the farrier

maybe

the time off is helping ...

this afternoon she clearly remembered what she was meant to be doing in walk, and we got a halt/walk transition nicely, and even better, we did a good walk/trot/walk transition when she didn't set against me/get her head back up etc, and some nice trot circle.

that was the good note to call a halt on.

but she's a very hairy pony! absolutely no point in clipping when i'm only doing anything at weekends. don't let anyone tell you TB's don't grow a thick coat, cos they do!

jean, the motherboard on the laptop had died. over £200 + vat for new board, + the labour to get it put in - so 6 of one and half a dozen of the other whether to do that or go for a new one, and decided to go for a new one. it's very whizzy, even has a built in web cam! more to the point, 2 years warranty. the hard drive off the old one is now doing duty as an external hard drive, and he chucked in AVG Pro (a anti virus etc. software programme) for free.

so i'm busy reinstalling software ... which, thinking about it, may not have been necessary if i'd connected up the external hard drive....but then i'd have to do that every time!