bedded up

ready to bring them in in the morning, small haynet ready soaked (not that she'll want to eat much!) plan then is to go to durham and then ride or something in the afternoon, fingers crossed....

then i came home and strimmed neighbour's lawn as promised

3200 and odd steps...

to the field and back again! Gaynor had a pedometer and had me put it on .. so that was the total!

plan for the weekend is bring them in saturday morning, do something saturday afternoon, keep them in, do something sunday morning then turn out again..

hope nothing gets in the way!

poooo

it rained. heavily, for most of the afternoon.

lightened up a bit by evening, but we felt sure it was going to rain again, the clouds were certainly heavy enough. so turned out without doing anything, soaking not being part of the plan.

and guess what?

that's it, it didn't rain again (but is going to at some point...heavy black clouds looking seriously threatening).

so fish and chip supper, and then the joys of scanning a huge amount of paperwork into computer.

phone still not sorted, dammit.

well i did say tonight we might work

and i did, with molly, but we had to get them in mid-afternoon; and we're keeping them in until tomorrow night so we can do something tomorrow as well

i lunged .. she worked well on left rein, i could really see her rounding; not quite so well on right but then she never did like that rein!

will ride tomorrow

the bad news - i recently changed phone/broadband provider, and of course set up a direct debit.

guess what?

that's right, they didn't put the dratted DD through, so i had to do it on the phone this morning, and pay the bill that had mounted up in consequence! pah!

thank goodness for mobile phone and mobile broadband, now plugged in to pc! but i did my neck in, due to the place i have to have the mobile phone and still have a signal!

rescuing lambs

there well not me personally - but it was me that became aware that there was a lamb in the river (or at least, so far down the bank that it was not going to get up again, and it couldn't be seen!) Walking along to molly's field to check her over, noticed a sheep with a very small lamb bawling it's head off; response from below bank, it seemed ... odd... as i roounded the bend i looked back and couldn't see anything; thought i may have been hearing things. anyway, Molly and charlie both ok, fed molly (outside the gate, LOL) got some more water, went back. sheep still there. still bawling. lamb still responding. went to place where you can walk down to a beach and looked back (nearly back to stables at this point) but still couldn't see anything. but by this time i was convinced there WAS a lamb in the river. sheep ran towards edge, still bawling. so rang YM. she later rang me, to say i was right. new born lamb had fallen down, had been in river, was on very narrow ledge, duly rescued, happy sheep.

so that was my good deed for the day.

couldn't get molly in as gaynor's OH out at work till who knows what time...hopefully, tomorrow!

came home and set hose to putting more water in pond. Nessie brave and came out to that side of the house, she has been very dubious about that in the past, as a result:

bathed and bitted

it was a really hot day .. we got them in before lunch - the plan was to ride in the afternoon, but gaynor's OH had accepted an invitation for them to go out... doh.

so i went home and mowed lawns and had lunch...

then went back, gave her a bath, dried her off in the sun, tacked up and went over to the arena

only took 2 goes to get the bit in her mouth!

once i got on and had warmed up and adjusted the stirrup (she woudn't stand for that one, had to get someone to hold her head!)i only worked on getting her to accept it, and to remind myself how to anticipate when she wasn't going to (you can tell, but it's subtle of course and i often don't anticipate properly!)

eventually got one circuit right rein nicely, left rein wasn't so good

a very delicate balance between contact and not contact ....

then i came home and set the tea cooking, washed the car, watered the allotment and finally ate tea about 9.15 ....have left hose refilling pond, which is evaporating..

gorgeous day for a wedding

which is where i've been.

the wedding was at St Philip's John Dalton Memorial Church just outside Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth.

the reception was at Loweswater Village Hall - excellent buffet, and fantastic views...

and came back over whinlatter (didn't intend to, particularly, set satnav for fastest route and that was the way it took me - a gated road!) and then fast roads after that, home by 10! nessie please to see me!

slight change of weekend plan...

i did manage to ride tonight - lunged first, then rode, about 35 minutes altogether... better on lunge than ridden, usual difficulty getting lightness in the bitless....

the plan to keep them in over the weekend was abandoned, though; firstly because they were desperate to be out again, secondly because I'm going to a wedding tomorrow in cumbria; so we turned them out, and will get them in early Sunday morning and do something Sunday afternoon. hopefully with no problems as gaynor's mother has the kids...

i handed my month's notice in; was offered something else on the estate, but decided to stick with the plan i made last night. new yard has excellent arena, and i already know someone on it (she highly recommends it). YM has said something will be sorted out for Charlie so he won't be left on his own...

in for the weekend...

gaynor rang this afternoon and suggested we bring them in and keep them in until sunday, so we can in fact do something Friday and Sunday (I'm going to a wedding saturday, and nessie has to go back to the vets as well). i thought, that's a plan, so thats what we did.

when we got them in, they really didn't want to move, and were far to tired and full to be asked to do anything. it is VERY hot in that field. and they had hardly touched the water ... i suppose it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that they'd been down to the river itself, but most unlikely...and molly had a good drink when she came in

so they both got really good grooms, washed between the legs and under the belly which they both were pleased with, and left with hay which they probably won't eat. my best guess they'll do a lot of sleeping, LOL

how to catch your horse in a massive field

when you can't see her...

call, then wander off to fill water buckets from the river....

time i got back up with the first one, they were both nearly there, perfect!

but not, sadly, to be brought in and ridden.....

boo hoo.....

both got 1 1/2 apples each, fly sprayed and checked over, did another water bucket...

hopefully, tomorrow.....

neither g nor i happy.....really....

different horse?

well, we didn't fully test it.

Gaynor went down when she got home from work to check Charlie, and had no trouble catching him and no grief from Molly - although she did send Molly away once!

I went down later to check molly (it was nessie's day for the "op" andhad to collect her for 6 pm, so not planning any work with Molly).

Took me a good while to catch her, eventually caught charlie and led him down to the gate and molly followed at a small distance.

not totally sure she wanted to be caught, moved away when i went to her; i got a handful of grass and that did it.

hurray. but i wonder if she was being particularly cautious after the several tellings off she got yesterday when misbehaving? not that i have any issue with her being told off, she deserved it (gaynor still has marks on her arm!)...

i needed her on the other side of the gate for a small amount of feed with her supplements in, and to apply fly spray!

as she put her head down to eat, they were both spooked by the fly fisherman on the beach - i ended up feeding her handfuls from my hand!

i had been going to top up the water, but i could see they had enough and had run out of time, bearing in mind i had to get back to stable, put cycle away etc and then get to houghton for nessie!

if she carries on like she did today

i will have to move molly.

Gaynor went out lunchtime ish to get them both in - she had the day off, so the plan was she would work charlie in the afternoon, then i could do something with molly in ther evening after work...

molly firstly circled round charlie and wouldn't let gaynor near him.

then when she did get him, molly started kicking at her (or at charlie, or both, not wholly sure about that!)

then eventually near the gate she got head collar on molly - who then bit her!

then on the track back along molly was behaving like a right ...cow, to be blunt! fortunately charlie was behaving! had to stand 5 minutes whilst molly pratted about!

kept trying to kick gaynor whilst being walked along

then bucked and messed about in the stable (till she twigged there was some feed...)

butter wouldn't melt, tonight, of course...

anyway, we think there's two causes for this

1. molly being possessive
2. they have no other company in a very big field.

anyone think of any other cause?

Formula 1

motor racing, that is in which i have absolutely no interest whatsoever.

Had i known it was on this afternoon, i would have suggested to Gaynor we get the horses in before it started...

as it was, i didn't know; and since if one comes in they both have to (it's too far away to leave one, and they neither do well on their own! so not safe!) she didn't have time before having to sort out children's tea...

so i shall have to start keeping an eye on that timetable!

Partner has gone to St Kilda - did I mention that before? gone to scotland to her friend's today, ferry to Lewis Tuesday evening, sails away Wednesday morning, hoping the weather's good!

feel the burn...

in the legs with all this exercise!

we got them in lunchtime ish to stand for the afternoon ... cycled along, gaynor rode back with the benefit of my bareback pad, i just walked!

i rode inthe field this afternoon, that was a bit of a pain as the shimming slipped too much so i got off to sort it out, then when doing the girth back up put the strap through the wrong bit of buckle ... couldn't sort that out had to go back in and take it all off..

so rode her back along to the field, then walked back pushing the bike which had the saddle balanced on it.

rode bitless.... easier than the argument about the bit

maybe she's gone off this particular bit? Myler hanging cheek. i could go back to the myler combi for a while, i suppose, see if she's happier with that in? if she'll take it.

it wasn't, by the way, anything to do with her teeth! it's her head...

we will get fit

cycle to field. walk back with horse. exercise horse. walk horse back to field. cycle back to stables & car.

the horses will get lots of grass and i hope we don't end up needing to buy muzzles

could happily take another 4 horses, i would reckon..

pictures of the field and the river running next to it.

showers.....

of course....but not enough to stop me doing some ground work in the field...

we've been told by YM she wants us to move fields asap (told today...) so she's checking whether in fact the work has been done so that we can! it needed rolling, and some junk cleared up from the "beach" where they will go down to drink from the river...

that'll get us fit, walking along there! horses will end up with grass belly, will have to keep a close eye in case we then need to buy muzzles! and i'll have to keep an eye on molly's feet/lameness as it's half on a hill...

the in season mare again...

is not worth riding.

on the other hand i got some wonderful lateral, felt great! ... shame i hadn't asked for it! and I did get the bit into her mouth!

but really, a waste of time.

a heck of a day..

at 10.30 last night we realised that partner's car was booked in for service today ....20 miles away (where she bought it, and its under warranty still...)

an hour or so later, gaynor's oh out walking the dogs went round by the stables and realised they were both really cold so rugged them (very brave of him as his foot has not yet recovered from molly standing on it!) and we're all grateful for that, for a non horsey chap he's a good lad...

so crack of dawn up to get car sorted, then back to drop me off and leave me carless.

you will recall that the equine tooth person was due tonight to do molly's teeth...

before that, my accountant came by appointment - turned out his office hadn't pointed him to the packet of docs i'd sent, so a lot of what he wanted, he had ...we were both relieved when he rang them and they said they did have them! doh.....

got bus to go to local town to collect my DX (a form of private post) expecting to get something of interest (like a cheque!...) .. all there was there was some marketing bumph! so total waste of bus fare and time!

did some work (eventually!) then got cycle out to cycle down to stables, through closed road (lovely and peaceful, it's normally busy as a rat run to avoid a trail through durham city!), we took horses out for some grass on gaynor's lawn...

then i mucked out and got rid of the mud on her coat whilst waiting for tooth person....

int he meantime, any plan for partner to return car was going pear shaped... we ended up with her picking me up from stables and then going to consett, via macdonalds.....she set off for her singing group and i came home via tesco's....

and then her singing was cancelled! doh.

nippy and cold....

the north wind should not be blowing in mid may, dammit!

Molly's teeth have been deferred to tomorrow, dental technician texted to change the appointment...

road to yard will be closed for roadworks until, apparently 16.30 tomorrow and the next day .. that'll be interesting! gaynor's doing morning turnout and i'll go down later, both days...

lovely canter

on the lunge in the field, i was pleased with it...

and her trot was pretty good too!

i'm feeling a bit better... still a bit painful but the medicine is encouraging appropriate activity

no prescription required

for the medicine i knew i needed (that gp has prescribed twice previously for issue i currently have) so i was pleased about that - a shade pricier than it would have been on prescription (for american readers, if you get a drug on prescription then you only pay the standard prescription charge even if the full price is a huge amount more) but not by a huge amount.. and hopefully, when it starts working, well worth the extra!

so only brought molly in and got the mud off, as i hadn't done that yesterday...

apparently she was very unhappy left alone in the field whilst charlie was ridden, and charlie wasn't very impressed either!

poorly me...

the human version of colic...

decided to come home....

but just as i was about to leave, the hay delivery we were expecting tomorrow morning arrived...

just as well he trusts us! we hadn't got our cheque books with us, of course! drop money off tomorrow

we needed the rain

but shame it couldn't have been warmer!

kept the horses in, as it was raining pretty hard and we also want to give the grass a chance... so they went out at about 4.15 this afternoon when it finally stopped ... so no way they wanted to be in at 5.30! so molly had another night off...

anyway, if i had got her in, it would have taken forever to get the mud off her!

rein back bitless

granted only a step, but still ... didn't seriously expect to get it and was stunned when i did!

You'll gather that i rode. Took her over to the arena and she was very calm, no grief about mounting

took a good while to settle though and didn't get sensible trot for about 1/2 hour (attempts interspersed with a lot of walk circles and serpentines) .. partly me, getting used to the bitless again, partly her, not sure which

but eventually got some really nice trot, not heavy which she often is...

overall pleased

Charlie wasn't, as usual could hear him shouting!

and Jean .. our back lane is a dead end, nothing comes past... but whichever way a cat goes out, it's not too far to a road so they take their chances...not like yours though

clever nessie...

has worked out how to go round the outside - and bravely went out the lane side today, instead of the garden side, first time she's done that!

Molly? well yet again, nothing done; we could have sworn it was about to teem down ...

it still hasn't, but it's cooooooold (well, it isn't really, but feels it after the last few weeks and the wind chill is making it feel worse than it is...)

i'm turning very much into a fair weather rider... plus, of course, waiting for tooth person next monday so that adds to the demotivation...

had to go to partner's sisters tonight to feed/water her birds (two cages birds, not sure what sort ..) .. but they had plenty of feed so i just topped up their water...

plan was to go again thursday but not sure i need to, could leave it for partner to do friday, think that's a good plan (it's a bit of a hike!)

witton point to point

that should be, rather, the zetland point to point at witton ...

and a freezing cold wet may bank holiday it was! never mind smart, layers were the order of the day!

bbrrrrr

but at least it stayed dry until after dark (not that we want it to, necessarily, as the ground is bone dry but still...)

Longlined round the park and had some interesting debates on direction ...and she really doesn't like going down really steep bits!

then she deigned to do some nice trot on the lines before we went back in... and i turned her out again.

but then she blotted her copy book in the rush to get in - granted quite late, and granted Gaynor got her OH to do it.. but there was no need to stand on his foot and draw blood!

he had caterpillar boots on, so that doesn't say much for them as safety footwear!

and considering she hasn't got shoes on ...

Gaynor texted me a pic of the damage - NOT nice!

forgot to say

this morning when i turned the horses out....

2 deer running across the park, chased for a few hundred yards by some lambs

it was brilliant to watch, shame i didn't have a suitable camera on me, only the phone and the camera on that doesn't have a good enough zoom...

kept an eye on the deer for a few minutes until they vanished round a corner...

more black coffee

which is what happens when you get up early anyway, and work, and hurt your neck going round local office supplies store (turning neck/head to look at displays whilst pushing trolley round....) and then get really really cold taking molly out into park for some grass.

thought i had some energy left when i arrived at the stables... before i knew where i was i was yawning my head off and trying not to fall asleep standing up!

but it was nippy - just temperature drop from earlier in the week, plus a bit of a breeze ... did for me! so sitting here drinking black coffee before i start making my tea...

click/treat for bitting...

my original plan for a friday night was some in hand work - that, of course, requires that i get a bitted bridle in her mouth...

so the plan changed to click/treat for touching th ebridle, the plan being to end up with bit in mouth ..

no way jose!

she'll touch it no bother... but don't try the bit

the tooth person is coming 10th may - i have to wonder whether molly has an issue that is making the bit uncomfortable?

in the past we've been on 6 month visits, and this one was a planned 9 month .. mmmm maybe go back to 6, see what she says on the 10th!

in the meantime, my black office boots have been taken to spain...

some work

just a little bit of rope circling, followed by seeing if she woudl follow me loose - which she did, walk, halt, trot, halt ...i guess i'm doing something right!

the cat was returned .. nessie was terrified! someone said later we should have got a big cage and kept it in that for a few weeks...

i don't like those

if we get another, it;ll be a kitten than nessie can mother.

she's just climed up and over and is now in the gap behind the pc monitor and between 2 sets of drawers i have on my desk.. this is why stuff gets knocked over, of course!

interesting place to curl up...

still a headache.....

and had to be in Boldon for 6.30 pm, so molly got another night off....

and she'll get another tomorrow, probably, as i have an awayday...

we have a new cat - we were asked to rehome one ... so we'll see how it works out. 18 month old neutered tom, seems like a nice lad, nessie a bit hacked off ATM but no real hissy fits so expect they'll settle...

headache..

was what i ended up with ....

not assisted by the bright sun right in my face whilst trying to groom! left the baseball cap at home, guess it should live in the car....

so just groomed, fed and came home - oh, and poo picked the field.

i think it's a lot to do with not being able to sleep in over the weekend!

riding bitless

Molly is noticeably heavy in the hand riding with the BB; much more noticeably so than when i first started riding her bitless way back whenever that was - i guess, i haven't ridden with it for a long time, and we'd been going relatively well last year in particular...

still, an opportunity to think about my seat, and we did eventually get STRAIGHT, not, head over to one side whilst i try to push her the other way...

which means that i did sort out my seat as much as anything else.

no grief getting on, and no charging off before i'd got the second foot in the stirrup, and no problem stopping to adjust the stirrup...

lambs and birds

this morning, gaynor watched a lamb being born just over the fence from our stables - this is it at about 3 hours old

and tonight, this bird decided that trying to get into our front room was a plan - very odd! i hope it stopped once i turned the light off

and Molly?

i lunged. For a mare that used to never go right rein, and still sometimes challenges when asked to go that way, she was going very nicely, very even paces, and listening to me. amazing. We had thought we might ride, but Gaynor's OH wasn't back, and i need to ride molly bitless and haven't done that for a while so need to get back into that within a confined space....and by the time we'd sat about drinking tea for a while... well, lunging was a plan, LOL. probably a good idea after thursday to go back to that...

night off....

for molly; i decided after last nights chew on, and some minor issues the night before, she could have a night off... gaynor agreed, when i explained why i wasn't coming out for a ride with her (first chance she's had this week!)

in the meantime, here's a pic i took last night - nessie in the apple tree...
and one i took last saturday on the Wear in Durham
a bit fuzzy - phone and not brilliant zoom for the distance...

well that was pointless

did wonder when she wouldn't have the bit in again (and it was clean) - eventually gaynor came and did that - even treats weren't doing it!

anyway, tacked up and thought i'd go over to the arena. first off, she didn't even want to set off (led!)

very slow going over

got there and someone was half way through a lesson...stood and talked to an aquaintance then went to watch lesson....fi

molly quite happy stanidng watching, then just before they finished someting spooked her and she grew herself a couple of hands...

went in and had to circle her round before i got on, and when i did get on i nearly came off the side again as she set off in fast walk, oops

she decided she didn't like the top end of hte arena where we went in, something in the field next to it (which only has grass in it, go figure!) i think...

and would she stop whilst i did a stirrup? no.

i gave up after about 10/15 minutes, it was clearly going to be pointless, and in effective with one stirrup longer than t/other!

ggrrhh...

bitless in our field tomorrow, possibly...

trimmer came at lunchtime; at some point in the previous 6 weeks she's blown an abcess that hadn't made her lame! doh. fine, happily, but i would never have known... must buy stiff wire brush!

rode...

but i wish that wind would change direction! cold!

Molly wasn't wonderfully co-operative - didn't want to take the bit, that took me 5 minutes - annoying as we haven't had a particular problem with that for a while! and then took ages to get anything sensible, but did get some nice trot ... i really should have gone over to the arena, i think!

and then should, really, have joined a lady from other yard who rode past...but didn't. will next time!

and have now changed the modem to the one supplied, and (fingers crossed) so far so good! so there may well have been some issue with the original modem. seems a lot quicker...you never know, jean, i may be able to get your blog to work for me all the time LOL

internet problems

i changed ISP and phone provider last friday; have had internet problems since Sunday on and off - rang them sunday, sorted.... it gave up this afternoon and not been cured yet.. they said, check the settings within my modem! pshaw. if it worked already, it works..

a weird problem - i am connected, but no web pages and no email... go figure.

so, i plugged the broadband dongle into the pc, not expecting it to get a signal, and here we are. (for any americans out there... mobile broadband through a wireless signal into a thing that looks like a usb drive but larger...)

Molly? did some groundwork in the field. I was cold, and dispirited, and nearly didn't do anything but doing something cheered me up vaguely...

the weather is not warm ... the other reason to wish for a change of wind direction is to warm us all up, as well as to enable that ash cloud to disperse so all those people can get to where they are going.

i was thinking about that today ... when i was little, no one flew anywhere; no one really went anywhere much in the scale of things ... and now people fly all round the world without a second thought

horse and cart anyone?

longlining out...

up the park, and through a gate, and up a track where i had to lead (something in the wood, and wanting to go back, bit of each!) and through another gate and along a field line to another gate and across the Harbour House drive and along beside it... then got to the gelding's field for HH and they all came charging up to the fenceline and molly thought this was all a bit much (or a bit interesting, LOL) so i led the rest of the way back down the park to the stable...

on the way passed a fair few lambs - one so new we walked past the afterbirth!

it's steep going up! have to angle it to reduce the steepness!

I was pleased i was able to do any of it, as i arrived in a flurry of rain that i thought was going to set in, but happily didn't!

and 2 bags of feed arrived at home - from the pure horse feed co, was anticipated to arrive tomorrow...

back to winter!

certainly feels like it, and wet! and they're forecasting frost by wednesday...

horses came in wet so got fleeces on - normally, i take the view that when the rugs are off they are off, but it did get really nippy and a cold wet horse is not a good plan.

so nothing done...

i've always said the weather is generally better in the morning - so had i gone down then .. but there we go....

if it's tipping down tomorrow, we'll keep them in..

a ride out! :-)

Gaynor had childcare sorted, and we planned an evening ride - at 6 pm, when everything is a lot quieter - went up the park from the stables, a steep climb through the new born lambs (two VERY new, looked like todays..) then left along the harbour house drive, through the gate, along to the road, left along that and left down cocken lane and so back .. probably no more than about 1/2 hour, all in walk, of course! but very pleased all round (with both molly & Charlie)

Got on in the field - to keep the routine and avoid any possible issues - that was fine again

she might have done our first gate immediately outside the stables, but Charlie's nose up her bum put us off that one!

no prospect of her doing the next one - not sure why she "blocked" but she did so Charlie went on ahead to do that...

She'd led most of this, and continued to lead for a bit longer - a half "block" some way along the road, and then another one ..... charlie ahead again!

but no setting

and we were both doing something else right, in that i turned her to stand whilst Gaynor & Charlie were closing gates behind us. when in the past she's set her jaw and it's been a struggle to get her back (which of course causes problems for gaynor, as charlie wants to follow!)

only possible issue was going down the hill to home when two motorcylists appeared coming the other way and about to come really fast - the saw us, and slowed right down, and the cahp at the back nearly got rear ended by the car behind him.

generally find motorcyclists are quite good, they being in the same boat as us for being invisible to car drivers

on the subject of which - what is it about drivers that they think they can see round a blind bend? when they can't? they really shouldn't pass us on our bends, even though we are going a lot slower, but they do...

and so one back,

we were both happy, neither horse did anything much wrong, both stayed nice and calm (even molly's "blocks" were calm ones, LOL) and i'd forgotten to give her the calmers i'd bought ...

nice work

we're certainly getting "there" quicker now, so i'm starting to think we're really making progress on getting back to where we were last autumn. in the field again (Gaynor's OH said, from over the hedge, you've got the entire park .. but he don't do horses and hasn't seen the grief we get going out on our own, with gates...)

she was very good when vicky & brooke cantered past on theirs (mother & daughter) - first at a steady canter alongside our fenceline, then full pelt up the hill! i thought, oops, but molly was cool!

we did some nice trot work, she was much more accepting than yesterday, and i started trying to work on lateral (trying for SI) along the fencelines.... a concept i never really grasped despite being taught it several times, but thought about what i've seen people do who can do it re aids and such and did get some progress....

and she's starting to grasp rein back, and i am too .. not that i went for many strides of it, one is sufficient for now! once i know we know what we're doing for one stride, i will try keep it going for 2, and so on...

got home and nessie was pretending to be stuck up neighbours conifer - she was half stuck, but she eventually worked it out, and it was interesting to watch her sort it out and get back down! we promised her we weren't going to help, LOL, on the grounds that if she got up, she could get down...

went out to the chippie and the village was full of policemen, VERY unusual - at least 6! apparently because of the kids (can't drive along the road without interrupting a game of football (soccer, for american readers) being played across the road, always concerned someone is going to run out in front of you .. all in the vicinity of the corner shop - and there's a huge playing field that COULD be used.. but isn't... and apparently some person had been caught trying to buy booze for some underage child...

and a river runs by it..

this evening we walked along to look at what we've been offered for a summer field (where we can do full turnout).

advantages:

it's huge.
the grass is good
there's water
it's a good 10 minute walk each way

the disadvantages

it's huge
the grass is good
it's on a hill (flat at the bottom, but a nice incline after that)
the water supply is - the River Wear!
it's a good 10 minutes walk each way
oh, and people have been riding through it when they aren't actually allowed to!

not sure what to do.

Molly was lame living on the hill at blackdene last year. BUT she's now on supplements for that.

the river - flooded last year, and left a load of crap in the field. some dead tins, stuff like that...

teh gates can be padlocked, so that's not a problem

the access to the river is a sandy bank down to a gravel beach. a shade steep (well, for me!) but shold be ok.

BUT molly may not want to do it.

so we'll have to think.

we really do need to rest ours, which is small. having said which, the grazing on it is poor enough to be good for them!

anyway, after all that (and we walked all round the field as well!) i didn't ride....lunged her instead!

and gaynor has just texted to say the rugs are back on - it's down to 4 degrees C

a spectator

was just what i needed to give me that extra confidence boost to work through into a nice trot...

Riding in our field.

Molly was a total star about mounting - there were two horses going past at the moment i was going to get on - we both knew they were there, of course! - and she didn't move a muscle.

i have to say i think we're making real progress on that front

anyway, walked right round field both reins, pushed her into contact, did some serpentines/circles; practiced halts from seat and that's getting better - save that she moved off when i wanted her to stand whilst i took the left stirrup up one (it has to be a hole longer for mounting than i need to ride, and of course, on dressage leathers it's a bit tricky - nearly lost the entire stirrup off the leather!)

anyway, Gaynor came out after a while, at which juncture M was starting to argue with me, and that gave me the confidence boost i need to work her through that.. so we got some nice trot both reins, and finished with a really nice circle with the trot really moving forward, and the halt from that was good as well.

only 20 minutes all told, but as i said, we're reminding ourselves of where we were at the end of last summer and getting it back relatively quickly in the scale of things!

and, thank goodness, the hay delivery arrived not long after I did, so relieved as i had a fraction less than i really needed for tonight! phew.

the in season mare

is SO not worth working, so i didn't try.

she's been horrendous all day - i went and got them back in about 0930 as it was raining and chilly and they didn't have their rugs on, and when i got them they were flirting like mad...

gaynor turned them out later, and Molly was being a dreadful t**t

so she didn't do anything - not even get the mud brushed off, bad me!

as it happened, the planned hack for both of us couldn't have happened, as gaynor's OH was still on call, and out!

timed lunging...

a benefit of having my watch back - i knew how long i'd lunged each rein.

i always like to do 10 minutes each rein, 5 with side reins, 5 without, but had been guessing wihtout a watch

and she worked nicely until the last 5 (which was without side reins and on her lest preferred right rein!) when she challenged me a couple of times and then tried to canter - well, did canter! - when all i wanted was trot, but at least she went, and i got her back to trot.

i didn't want canter because

a. it wasn't what i wanted
b. the ground is like bell metal

(hadn't gone over to the arena, road a shade busy!)

but overall pleased.

wither rub and arena work

i actually noticed the wither rub last night, but had so much else to say forgot to mention it. I reckon it's the new lightweight rug i bought her ... can't be anything else, as she's never had a rub there before. drat.

Anyway, arena today - gaynor's OH still on call..

we need a lesson fairly soon, is the lesson i took from that.

having said that i remembered what RI said when she first started working with us over a year ago, and pushed Molly on in the walk on a long rein and then gradually took back the contact

kept the inside rein wide to the inside, and remembered about keeping it against the neck on the outside, on circles.

by the end of 40 minutes, we had something a lot better than we started with!

we had also (well, i had also) remembered rein back, and Molly did to, so that was the good note to end on.

and I was VERY pleased to be able to wear a watch for the first time in i can't remember how long - my previous watch broke (smashed the glass) and i'd bought another but developed an allergy to the buckle (i can't wear the metal of a watch next to my skin); had been intending to take it to watch shop for ages to have my leather strap from original watch (that i'd bought separately anyway) put on the new watch; it randomly ended up in my pocket yesterday (had planned i might have taken a trip after wrestling with hay...) and today sitting in gaynors looking at hers, got mine out - and she sorted it for me. YAY. she seems to have the knack for that type of thing. i couldn't even see how you could do it.

i will now know how long i've been working molly for instead of guessing (the alternative being to take the phone out and unlock it and try to see what it says whilst trying to prevent the light reflecting back off the screen)

So i knew i'd done 40 minutes!

oh, and Gaynor's OH kindly lent me a spare monitor he had (he's a computer person) to try, as i was sure mine was dying but we didn't want me to spend money on new monitor if the problem in fact lay elsewhere...

it was, as i'd suspected, my monitor that was dying, so that's more money to spend.

shoudl go off to eBay, but not sure i can wait for delivery...

and a garden helper

i had a helper in the garden today - guess he was attracted by the prospect of worms, since i was bringing them to the surface whilst weeding...

this mounting malarkey

appears to be becoming much less stressful....i walked her up to the mounting block and got straight on, she didn't twitch.

YAY

hope that continues.

i think, even if we do go out for a hack, i ought to continue mounting in the field for a while and then ride back out...

anyway, didn't get a hack today, despite the glorious weather - not prepared to try her out on her own, yet! - and Gaynor's OH was on call, and was called out, so she couldn't leave the premises (2 small children).

So rode round our field for about 1/2 hour (must get a watch ...) practising circles, stop, start, directionality (i'm not good at that in a wide open space, LOL) and so on, not totally successfully as the shims had slipped... tried a bit of trot as well ... eventually she said she'd done enough, and TBF she had bearing in mind how little she's been ridden since october - this was the 2nd time on since the winter ended, i think?

hopefully we'll ride out tomorrow, depending on gaynor's oh's work...

the promised hay didn't arrive. apparently, the farmer the chap had bought it from had to reduce it from big bale to small bale, and hadn't done that yet. but he didn't even deliver the shavings. my phone wouldn't make outgoing calls all morning (a network issue, i've whinged at them ) and eventually i borrowed gaynor's to ring him... we had to go over to get her one bag of shavings to keep her going, and then went and begged another man to sell me one bale of hay (otherwise i didn't have enough for tomorrow night). that was a struggle, he really didn't want to sell me it, but did (when we were able to point out that most of his usual customers could now have their horses out 24/7, and are doing so, where we can't). I didn't ask for my change, though...

and the original plan had involved getting my hair done, so that didn't happen... and partner was supposed to rearrange my appointment, but had forgotten she was supposed to do that, and came home worrying that i was ok

the hay is now promised for Monday, along with the shavings.

only one good deal for the day ... not that i was in the market for jackets, but a buy 2 for the price of one on saxon blouson fleece lined jackets was not to be missed, £35 for two and they're ok (one for me, one for partner)

a black coffee day

probably because i need new specs and the eyes are very tired at the end of the week! my eyes were red rimmed mid afternoon, never a good look!

so didn't do anything with molly, of course!

in hand....first for a while

after a massage, which she also hasn't had a for a while (got it out last night, but battery was flat) - and that results in economical use of time, poo pick whilst she has her massage, perfect

so we pretty much remembered what we were doing with the in hand work, but i can only keep it going so long due to the need to twist the body slightly ...then went to Trudi's way of doing it, which has the major advantage of not hurting the neck!

Gaynor had been watching from the house and hasn't seen that done before so didn't know what i was doing, but thought Molly looked as though she was working well, which I'd thought too so nice to have that confirmed..

and thankfully I've found some hay! rang the only remaining local chap yesterday, who coincidentally was going to look at some yesterday, so rang him back this morning and he's delivering saturday. phew.

a dry field

is somewhere where one can also lunge, longline etc, without having to treck along the track and then over the busy bridge

going not perfect, of course, a bit hard, so didn't ask for canter, but pleased with her trot work and she didn't argue with me at all

the other advantage of doing this in the field of course is that charlie, in his stable, stays calm, LOL

i could see a big cloud coming towards me and after about 15 minutes or so could smell the damp, so stopped and went in.. put her in before it started spitting!

and then this evening after i got home i got these cute poses...

got on my horse!!!!

the wind had dropped; it had served it's purpose by drying the ground up. I had time. I had no rain. I had a calm horse (once Charlie came back, he'd been taken on a hack!)

So, into the field with the mounting block, this time tacked up.

some circling - that she couldn't be bothered with LOL - some go back, forward, etc

and to the mounting block

stood like a lamb

put the reins on, changed from teh 12 foot line to lead rope, back to the mounting bock, still stood like a lamb

took her away again, checked the saddle/girth, back to the mounting block, up, on, not a twitch

do you think we might have cracked it after the winter off?

i don't suppose so, but i was very pleased with that.

then did 10 minutes or so walking round, circles, so on nothing exciting as it's a long time since we've done anything (that hack out to harbour house earlier in the year don't count), nothing to get either of us worked up, and then off again.

excellent.

hopefully the weather stays good. i'll intersperse ground work (lunging/longlining) with mounting practice and riding and see how we go. if our field stays as it is now, i shan't need to go over to the arena...

planning? what planning?

we'd spent the week forgetting that yesterday was a bank holiday and that it was, therefore, unlikely that our usual monday delivery would appear. and of course, it didn't, as we found out on sunday afternoon ... ooops. not assisted by being deceived into thinking that there was enough, the pile wasn't as big as it looked to be..

so after the usual monday opening stores didn't have any haylage, we ended up down at harbour house to try and borrow some... did get some, but time i'd gone back, collected it, etc, it was far too late to do anything with molly

having said that, i'd said to Gaynor that i wanted to put her back onto hay anyway, even though it means soaking it...she'll eat less of it, which will be good for her and, yay, when i went down this morning there was a little left

so whilst soaking hay is a pain, and TBH i wouldn't have wanted to do it through that freeze of a winter we've just had, it is the way forward.

that's better!

went over to the arena to see if we could do better than we did yesterday; had to wait 1/2 hour for someone to finish their longlining lesson, and then we did indeed do better than yesterday!

interestingly, she's doing some lovely canter on the lunge these days, i used not to be able to get it at all;

it wasn't the best lunging she's ever done, a bit speedy but not unbalanced, but since she hasn't been in work over the winter that was no matter, the point was for her to go the way i wanted until i said stop

she had one glitch towards the end - second time going right (which was of course always her least favourite direction) when she challenged me a couple or three times and had to be corrected and set away again

i found the thing then was to let her out as far a possible to canter and then draw back in to trot...

all the while could hear Charlie shouting for her from away across the other side of the river!

swopsies....

in between showers, we lunged in the park; molly kept stopping and turning in, in between cantering, and eventually Gaynor & I swopped.. after all, it might have been my technique, not her. it was not my technique!

and she worked herself so hard she didn't get to get any grass, had to put a sweat rug on and leave her tea to be fed to her later!

but at least we got something done!

why is blogger

telling me i am not following any blogs, when i am? what bit of technology has gone wrong?

uses of a bread knife

do not include cutting flower stems so they fit in the vase.. so i told partner when i returned from seeing molly to find that it had been used for that purpose ... ggrrrhhh

had to work today :-(

freezing this morning (literally) when i went down to turnout etc; time i went back at teatime, i no sooner got there than it started to rain .. doh .. then stopped .. then started ..

there's some daffodils out, though, in more sheltered spots, which shows that the weather will improve at some point....

and i'm going to have to mow the lawn soon, it seems...

easter weekend

is gonna be cold, it seems! but if the wind dies and there's no snow, we might get something done (although I'm going to have to work work as well :-( )

back to winter

with a realy cold wind blowing directly in to the stable door, which is rare there. so moly got a thermatex rug under a thin stable ruc (her thick one being at the cleaners!) and charlie got his thick rug on and we have the thicker outdoor rugs ready for tomorrow. TBH i think they'l be warmer out in their thinner ones but not when standing in at the moment. hopefully, we'll miss the snow!

heat! gas! rain!

from which you'll gather that our new boiler is in and running, the minor (exceedingly minor) gas leak has been found and fixed - but that it rained all day- heavily, horribly, ponds everywhere and roads into rivers type of rain. kept the horses in to give the field a break, they'll have to go out tomorrow irrespective as, inter alia, Charlie's back legs don't like the standing in. so just as well the skys were clearing and you could even see some blue sky just before it got dark...

no gas...

the new boiler is in place, not booted up yet... but when i went to start cooking tea, no gas, so i rang up to see why not...he thought there was a very minor leak, possibly from round the cooker... and thinking about it, he's probably right as i regularly double check to see if i have left something on due to a very faint whiff of gas that i think i have imagined. clearly i haven't imagined it!

so went to the chippy

in the meantime - who ordered this rain? euch. so long as we don't get the forecast snow tomorrow!

mad march gales

we've been spoilt over the winter as we've had little wind (just as well, with all the other weather we've had) but made up for it this weekend...

if there's one thing calculated to wind me up and put me in a temper, it's that sort of wind, so i don't do anything with the horse when it's like that on the grounds that me being wound up will wind the horse up

it was a good drying day, anyway ... shame it then rained after i'd got home!

toady's mistake (typo, honest!)

was thinking that the bright sunshine meant I'd be warm poo picking the field. i was in fact FROZEN, that was 2 1/2 hours ago and my skin still feels a bit chilled ...i should have known, the alacrity with which the horses came in ... wind got a vicious nip in it and too lazy to go round, if you know what i mean... straight through you. and after then spending about an hour getting the mud off the entire horse (they'd both been turned out without their rugs, as it had in fact been warm this morning...)

and worming weekend.

the good news, you can tell the grass is starting to come through!

clean horse

well, she was when i'd finished getting all the mud off!

let's hope it stays dry tomorrow!

the original thought

was fried by the weather this morning, it was very very wet - huge ponds on the road down to the stables - no chance of doing anything, kept them in off the incipient mudbath! (they went out in the afternoon after the sun came out) .. but partners birthday today mandated that i had to be home for tea, not out horsing at the time i normally would have been..

looking forward to the weekend, and i think tomorrow will be another black coffee day!

meal out

partner';s birthday tomorrow, another friend today, so meal out in newcastle straight from work...so gaynor did molly and i had a reasonably nicemeal

another interrupted day...

people at the door, mostly, and gaynor asked me to go down earlier than planned - good reason, but wish i'd had more notice. ah well...

when i got to stables, didn't think i wanted to do anything, but then did, and enjoyed what i did - another lesson for molly in concentrating on me whilst a rather nice PRE gelding was ridden past, and in the park outside our field where we were working...

stuffed

that's me, full of food...

school friend of partner's here for dinner - salmon with salad & garlic bread followed by blackberry crumble with cream (the last an afterthought, since i had the ingredients and the oven was on anyway)

very tasty!

but of course meant that i didn't do anything with molly, as i had to come home...apparently by about 0930 this morning she and charlie had both eaten all that had been given at 06.30 that was meant to last until about 2....(today was a keep in day to rest the grass)

calm down dear...

in the tone of voice used by michael winner in that dreadful advert...

Gaynor took Charlie out for a ride, and i was going in the field to do some ground work.

She woul d have calmed down quicker had she not also spotted the horses being taken out of the field across the river!

i ended up walking her in hand round the field several times; then she was calmer. then we had some liberty - took the halter off, and she followed me, stopped when i stopped, walked on when i walked, turned when i turned .. i was well impressed with that!

so since she'd calmed down a fair bit i put the halter back on and did some rope circling - plan had been to try the standing at the mounting block/lean over again, but then i realised she'd heard charlie coming back (couldn't see him but knew!) so i concentrated on ensuring she stayed listening to me despite having half an ear cocked for him! and she did, even though he was getting closer and closer ...she wanted to but didn't.

so overall i was pleased.

the thing on her back is healing but needs some fresh air, and it's still not right to leave her rugless i don't think ... might be if she was back in harbour house (warm corner stable) but not where she is, yet.

of weasels and knees

first, weasels

partner was painting in the front room this morning and called me down in great excitement .. there was a weasel in our front garden! it vanished before i could get a pic, and goodness knows what it was doing here (it's a garden, not a field, LOL) but never seen one before save runnijng over the road, which doesn't count!

knees?

we'd turned the horses out lunchtime and after we'd mucked out stood watching them and chatting for a bit; Molly was licking charlie's knee...

weird, or what?

it's always the way

That when it's been a lovely week whilst you're in working, it's a naff weekend.... rained all morning so far (in fact, it started when we were on our way home last night) and looked as though it might let up lunchtime .. but not.

green.....grass!

the field looked green today when i went down this evening ...noticeably so.

and it's raining now, so should go greener...

we've been turning them out more, but have decided they should have at least 2 days a week in to help preserve what there is... also thinking keep them in after it's rained...

so we'll see how we feel tomorrow!

and partner got last minute tickets for the Dubliners tonight, at the city hall, so off we went and an excellent night was had!

more work in the field

with the mounting block to finish

she was a shade sluggish, but didn't challenge like she did the other day.

and at the end when i was standing on the top of the mounting block, she didn't move a muscle and i was able to lean over her.. would have been able to do that better if i'd placed her a shade nearer the block, but since i had my jacket under it and slightly poking out, and hadn't trouble to rearrange that, i was pleased... a lot of horses would have spooked for that one!

in case you're wondering, i still can't put saddle on as she still has a very residual place where that heat spot was ...

as soon as i can, of course, i will!

that was after a slightly worrying day....

nessie kitten went out with me this morning when i went to hang the washing out .. vanished under the gate into the graveyard .. and vanished nowhere to be seen....

thank goodness reappeared about 15.40 or thereabouts, just after I'd finished walking all round the area shouting for her and looking for her ... having gone out the graveyard side, came back the other and went back through to the front garden for one last look, and she reappeared!

i reckon she'd got herself shut in somewhere and has just been able to get back

then when i went to get the washing back in this evening, she had a great time scooting round, in and out of the garden, i could hear by the bird calls where she was.. then climbed the tree and terrified herself on a twig!

in the meantime, it had been Avril's funeral today - the place was so full it was standing room only at the back, and a lovely pic of her on her horse Dylan playing horseball on the front of the programme. a Humanist service, which was nice, well taken by the officiant

the complete works of shakespeare - abridged

was the evening offering at a local small theatre, by student theatre group - very well done, totally hilarious

wasn't the original plan .. but partner suggested it so went...

Molly?

we'd kept them in today to give the grass a chance (they'd been out all days since friday...and time i got mucked out and groomed it was really getting a shade to dark to start...

rope circling....

the field has dried up enough to be useable for work!

so i did, given that Charlie was in. for this work, it's more sensible in there than out in the park, as it's a confined space

thought some back to basics rope circling would also be a useful use of time, as we haven't done that for ages, and that tends to be the key to mounting.

so took the mounting block in there as well

did a fair amount of circles, stand, back up, come forward and the like.

half way through she decided she might try it on ... failed.

so the end of the session was to stand at the mounting block with me standing on the top step of it (bearing in mind, not tacked up etc, this is just for practice)

first time, she moved - so got circled away again both directions

second time - she stood perfectly still and let me rub my hands along her back etc

so that was the end of the session.

more of that as well i think! and that's a good place to do that, and in due course will probably be a good place to mount generally.

and in the meantime, the new wood pellets i'd ordered had arrived this morning so she has a nice new bed down .. was on shavings all winter but i do prefer the pellets!..

flexions.....

in the 1/2 hour while the agnus castus steeped...

i COULD have lunged, but the wind was biting - felt colder than the deep frosts we've been having! and it occurred to me i hadn't done any attempts at flexions for ages...

so got the mud off, took her outside and put the bridle on and did 5 minutes or so of that (lost track, TBH, of the time...)

i was pleased with her, she didn't give me too much argument at all, and did some relatively reasonable downs without stepping forward!

freezing again though tonight!

round the park

on the longlines...

Molly was very brave, in fact, and volunteered to go a way she hadn't been before, and in fact that I hadn't been before! then back along the top fenceline and down the hill from the other side - essentially a big circle with a small circle at the far end... and then on the way back to the stables i decided to not go straight back, but to go past into a field leading towards the track under the road... for two reasons, firstly i don't want her to assume that we always go straight back to the stables, and secondly because we hadn't been that way for a while.

it ended up taking longer than i thought as she started napping away from the gap to go under the bridge from way back, so i spent a long time trying to get her to go through by herself, and finished up leading her through - didn't want to leave with her not having gone under the road! which she has done before several times, but last time was last october ...

so overall successful

all fortified by 2 mugs of strong black coffee!.

tell me....

why Gaynor and I were both too tired to move?

I expect the after effects of along week, but we agreed it was a waste of a glorious afternoon... between yawns .. the best we managed after mucking out was to take the horses into the park for some grass, and even then she had to lie down, LOL .. i was struggling to stay awake in the chippy on the way home, and declined a trip to the sage with partner .. she'd been given a ticket, and i would have been quite happy to go, but I saw little point when i could see I'd yawn my head off and fall asleep (and then probably snore, never good in a concert!, especially when it's classical music)

RIP Avril

who has died of cancer....

she'd been such a fighter, i think this was her 4th go round that finally got her...

she was so bad last winter she gave her horse to another lady who had just lost hers, a good home on the same yard..

very depressing.

so was the weather, it rained.

a long day...

partner wanted to be up at 0530 to go into work early.

as it goes, i woke up before that and couldn't drop off again...

turns out it didn't do her a lot of good .. she set off very early (before 7!) but had to stop as her windscreen froze up and she couldn't see - even to get to the next layby! (her car heating is b***d as well and it's waiting to go in to be sorted under, hopefully, the warranty)

to cap her day, she had just got in the car to leave work tonight, when a colleague reversed into her.

she says no damage done

i got down to the stables with a view to doing something, but b the time i'd taken partner's call telling me of her dire day, i felt very very tired...

the agnus castus i'd ordered had arrived .. directions include, putting in a bucket with a 1/2 pint boiling water and leaving it for at least 1/2 hour to evaporate the alcohol it is suspended in off! doh. so molly didn't get that tonight, really couldn't be chewed to loiter about for 1/2 hour just for that.

i did get the kettle out of it's box and plugged it in .. but it seems the sockets have no power. they MAY run off the garage somewhere, will have to ask gaynor

but i got a lot of work done!

feet

trimmer & I realised we should have taken before pics, to show the improvement to now...

her feet are looking hugely improved.

defined walls.

much less difference between the asymmetrical front feet

the incipient crack in the left front (which was, i am told, developing because of the asymmetry and the fact that one side is higher than the other) is now under control and the new hoof growing down is showing no sign of that.

the heels are more to the floor allowing the frog to contact more and that will firm up more.

altogether good.

and the weather? minus 4 this morning, hard frost; very warm by the afternoon .. now how can you rug right for that?

another nice day - if a shade exciting!

exceptionally, i decided to go lunge molly in the afternoon, on the grounds that partner is always out tuesday evenings, i'd be back by 5 and do more then.. so guess who walked in at 5.30 or so? and then ate my tea! but i carried on working anyway....

anyway, Gaynor had an unexpected child free afternoon so said, why did i not go down and we'd go work the horses? so i did, and given the lack of people in the main yard, we went over there to use the arena.

now that was exciting, getting there.

you go across the bridge and ther'es a paddock on your left with two horses in it.

charlie grew 3 inches.

molly wanted tot alk to the grey which put it's head over the fence (and bear in mind there's cars behind us at this point, and a blind bend ahead...)

then chestnut came tearing over, spooked molly who pushed me aside and ended up on the other side of the road..i was lucky not to get knocked over, luckily i wasn't and thank goodness nothing coming the other way

apparently charlie had to be circled before he reared..

so that was a shade entertaining, not!

but once we got to the arena, molly at least settled and was starting to seek the bit - I'd put the bitted bridle in, and the side reins very loose - she looked good for a few circuits, once she'd decided to work!

home by 5.15, just

but bad me... when i went to make her tea - I'd forgotten that the original plan invovled going the feed store .... had enough top spec for tonight, but not for tomorrow, so i may be having a scoop of gaynor's mix tomorrow...

and with being earlier than I'd planned, i wasn't there when the people (hopefully!) turned up with the joint supplement.. hope they dropped it off!

hurray again!

evening lunging!

granted not for very long - it was getting dark (and cold)! but we did do 5 minutes which is more than we've been able to manage on a weekday for a while!

would you believe, minus 5 this morning, up to plus 6 or 7 during the afternoon?

glorious sunshine in a cloudless sky ..... which is why we're getting the overnight frosts, of course!

sunny!

allday - but freezing this morning...but not to worry about that....stayed nice,, laundry on the line :-), warmed up, longlined in the park this afternoon (whilst Gaynor just let charlie graze...)

i thought, she needs the work, and longlining even in walk gets her back in the idea of work and helps us both get a shade fitter...

shedding? yes, now why was it i wore a fleece top?

new plan 0 they go out in the morning and g brings them in at about 2.30...

well i never ...

lunged! with roller and side reins (loose, of course) in the field beside the house...

i was surprised, as at one point it had started raining, and i though, here we go again! but it stopped and stayed dry for the rest of hte afternoon and there we were.

both horses were a bit on their toes - a few boings going on - don't you just love the 4 legged spring jump? :-)

AND there was NO FROST this morning. but i've horrid feeling there will be tomorrow. but made getting up a shade more pleasant than yesterday!

we're going to investigate oil filled electric heaters tomorrow, Gaynor has a couple and says they're very effective and of course they have their own thermostats, once they've heated up they switch off but the oil retains the heat and pushes it out...

is it getting warmer?

it was 8 degrees at the stables tonight, when for the last few weeks it's been hovering about 1 or 2...so fingers crossed! and we're going to turn them out in the morning, so fingers crossed some more! i have to do some work lunchtime (only time client available!) but you never know, may get some work done with molly in the afternoon..will make a change to be able to say something, hopefully useful, about work done with her, LOL

in the meantime, partner is trying to have a bath using hot water from the shower ... and has retrieved the electric radiator from the loft, so using that to heat the bathroom..which was very fridge like! when the heating's working, it's by far the hottest room in the house, with sauna like qualities; but now is the coldest.

think we need another one of those for the kitchen...

oh dear....

boiler is dead.....

no heating...

something has gone wrong with the boiler... i thought so this morning, but thought that it was probably the vent pipe frozen and that thawing out through the day would sort that .. but no such luck. so i rang the man when i came home and found we still have no heat, put the gas fire on in the front room (which is not where the PC is, of course!) and put warmer clothes on ...

hope he can come tomorrow. hope he isn't away! it's cooooooold

new tyres!

ouchy!

the one thing that upsets me about my car, which i hadn't twigged when i bought it, is that it has to have sporty tyres (being a HDI sport!) and they're not cheap. so i got the cheapest i could! hopefully they'll last a bit longer than the last ones...

Horses went out in the sun and were still playing when i went down @ 5, but the sun had gone in then and it rapidly became cold...

Gaynor hadn't been able to find my lightweight rug for Molly ... she knows where it is now, and you can guarantee it won't be nice tomorrow!

why is it....

that, at the weekend, the weather is pants, but come monday when one is at work, it's a lovely (if nippy in the shade) day?

still, can't complain bearing in mind what's happening in yorkshire/France/spain/portugal/madeira/chile/everywhere else except here...

the forecast was correct

in that it rained. in the afternoon. when otherwise we would have wanted to do something. doh.

turnout

i, along with everyone else, believe that horses should be turned out as much as possible.

but sometimes, it just isn't possible

if you have no grass, will have no grass in summer if you do let them out (as they will trash the rest due to it being so wet), are not allowed to put hay in the field, and do not want to see your horses standing chewing fences/weaving/take your pick of consequential behavioural issue, or see them go down with colic...

then you keep them in with hay/haylage

I felt moved to say that due to people saying should turnout without thinking of those for whom it is not possible.

anyway, i rather hoped to be able to do something today. i'd turned them out for a few hours mid morning as it was starting to get out, and it stayed not wet until i set off back down to the stables...at which point, the heavens opened.

so time i did get molly in, she was wet... and the area round her poll was NOT drying, so even if i got the mud off everywhere else i could not have put a bridle/lunge cavesson/whatever on with a view to doing anything

also, she has been overheating - a heat spot on her back ... have had to dig the medicated cream out..

it would be about where the back of the saddle would be... i could probably put the roller on without a problem, but won't be able to ride until that has healed.

having said all that, at least it was light enough for me to be able to SEE!

and of course .. it hasn't rained since...doh.

rain all day

there's a surprise...

they went out..

as they do every day for a couple of hours or so...charged round like idiots, then wanted to be straight back in because it's still a bog and there's still no grass growing...so the end result is that they were only out for about an hour whilst G mucked charlie out..

on the other hand, molly is reducing her intake overall by herself, probably because she doesn't spend all day trying to eat what isn't there in the field, if you see what i mean....

the weather? got up to 6 C today, damp but still, a bit mizzly .. if it keeps warming up and stops being damp, we MIGHT rescue the field enough for there to be less mud and more grass...fingers crossed!.

improving?

possibly - above freezing this morning but it was raining slightly and where i get out of the car at the stables was VERY slippy - you know the sort of thing, been turned into ice by the car, then really frozen on surface with no grip, then the rain slicks it...very dodgy! snow through the morning and then fog this evening!

fingers crossed for continual warming (but without any wind! the one good thing about this winter is there have been no winds! well, not here..)

from minus 5 to plus 3

this blog is now all about the weather....doh!

more snow...

to the extent that they closed Cocken Lane and various others (that's the one i have to drive down to get to the stables) in the morning and didn't open it again until mid afternoon. G panicked as the haylage was due and she thought he wouldn't be able to get so her OH went and got two wrapped bales .. .then they opened the road and the man got through...still, means she's got some spares (OH had winged at the policeman that he lived on the closed road...)

happily they hadn't closed it when I went down...it wasn't that bad then as not too much traffic had been down to turn it into an ice rink

but getting anywhere by 8 am was a nightmare!

thawed by the afternoon. at least enough for the roads to be clear, but i had to be very careful when i got out of the car at the stables again as it had turned to ice....not looking forward to the morning!

freeze, thaw, snow

in that order

the cars were covered in heavy ice this morning.

eventually the temperatures got above 0 enough for the frost to leave the cars.. then it started snowing... and got heavier ... and lay ....

ggrrhh...