Fun and Frolics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and this is how we ended up.

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