All Change! (Lyndy Leaves, Simon Arrives)

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