The Next Installment

Are you ready for the next installment?  You might want to make yourself a cup of tea...
I have to tell you, I've been seriously contemplating giving up blogging.  It's not that it's time consuming, it's because I've always kept a diary in the past and once I'd made the decision that this would be my diary I realised that there were certain things I wouldn't be able to say, as this is a public forum and I wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.  But in a diary I could write the whole truth and it would be there for me to remember, warts and all.  Plus you never know how long your computer will last, and this diary is 'out there', not in my hand, as I would prefer.
But I've read through quite a bit of it recently and realised that it's quite sweet and a very good record of our lives here.  And because of all the latest stuff going on I've decided to keep going.  But you must remember that I've decided to keep it on as my diary, in which I am going to put the raw truth about how my life works, and you must form your own opinions.  I won't be offended, and it won't alter the fact.

So yesterday turned out to be a phenomenally busy day.  The two boys next door went back to school, the eldest to secondary school for the very first time.  This was slightly overshadowed by other events, though.
The two women who came on Sunday to look round rang to say they wouldn't be coming.  I am quite relieved about this, because although they were calling themselves DIY, which really means what the title says, you come, you muck out, you ride your horse and you put your horse away, really they were part livery and needed quite a lot of jobs doing for them.  I'm really after DIY as I don't  want to do lots of mucking out for other people.  So anyway, I'm quite pleased.
Then Mr O came home and went out again.  More of that later (eventually).
Then the farrier came.  I'd made a mistake and booked him in for Barnaby but we really needed Lyndy doing as well, but he only had time to tighten his shoes.  I showed him Zak's wound.  He said one of his clients took his horse to a show at Killamarsh at the weekend.  The horse wouldn't load to come home and reared up and fell over backwards.  They got a vet out (imagine the call-out) who said he was fine.  The horse still wouldn't go in the lorry so the owner decided to walk him home.  He'd gone quite a way when the horse fell down dead in the road.  Sorry to shock you, but how absolutely awful is that?  I knew we'd got off light with Zak on that Sunday, and this just goes to show, doesn't it?  Count your blessings, people.
So we turned the horses back out and waited for Sally to come, which she duly did at 4.30.  I'd been feeling sick all day (and Lyndy isn't even my horse).  It just brought all the memories of selling Max flooding back.  Plus Missis wanted me to escort this woman on a ride and the weather was dreadful, gale force winds and rain.  I got Barnaby in and Lyndy was already there.  Sally and her groom and her son were looking Lyndy over.  The groom came straight over to Barnaby, "He's handsome, isn't he?"  Barnaby just stood there with that smug look on his face. 
In the end they didn't even want to ride Lyndy.  He was to be the young boy's birthday present.  They just trotted him up to see that he was sound and said they'd have him.  'Struth.  I hope they're not thinking cob = plod, because he isn't.  But there we are.
Because Barnaby had had Sunday and Monday off, I still had to ride him,  so I carried on tacking him up and got on.  The wind was howling, but fortunately the rain had stopped, so off I went.  Do you know, that horse didn't put a foot wrong?  He is so amazing.  And he needs to be, as it'll be windy like this for the next few months (then it will snow!)   We went past the yellow circle painted on the road, that he spooked at last week.  I thought we'd make a thing of it and go over it a couple of times but Barnaby couldn't have cared less.  "Yes, it's a yellow circle, I've seen it before.  Can we get on?" 
So, as I was riding up towards the livery yard, I thought, 'Shall I go in and say, "I haven't come to poach your liveries, but if you know of anyone who wants to stick their horse in my field as a field companion for a few months, that would be fantastic!"' but then really felt the Lord saying, "Don't panic.  I WILL PROVIDE."  His voice was quite insistent, almost stern, it isn't always like that. 
I was quite stunned as I haven't heard from the Lord like that in a while and carried on riding thinking, 'well you've never let us down before, if you've said it, I believe it.'  In fact, the last time he spoke to me like that was when I was selling Max and the Lord said he'd bring me a buyer within 3 weeks.  And He did.
So I told John this when he eventually got home.  We were so starving we decided to go and get fish and chips.  When I got back I found my mobile and on it was a message from Leigh, who bought Max from me.  She'd put, 'If you seriously want a companion, give me a ring,' so I did.
It turns out they have an 18yr old TB called Simon.  I do remember him when she showed him to us when we visited Max in May.  They have been considering putting him on loan as a field companion for a while.  I said straight away that I might only want him for 3 weeks, or it could be 6 months and she said that was fine.  She said I could leave him in the field and take Zak and Barnaby out and it wouldn't stress him.  He isn't shod and only needs trimming every 10 weeks.  I am totally gobsmacked.  My status on facebook this morning says, 'All I can say is, God moves phenomenally fast these days.'  The thing is, companion horses that you can give back are as rare as hen's teeth.  He won't need a stable at the moment, I've said he can stay until we get liveries.  But of course, if it snows in that time, we'll keep him for as long as necessary.
I'm not sure if I've explained why this is so good.  The problem is that Lyndy will go on Saturday and then I just have my two boys in the field.
If I take Barnaby out, Zak will be a bit stressed.  In fact, this happened yesterday with Lyndy and Barnaby in.  Zak was trotting up and down whinnying because he's on his own.  But, to be fair, he did calm down and it wasn't long before Lyndy went back out.  But this is what it will be like with just the two of them if I take Barnaby out to ride him.  BUT more significantly, if John takes Zak out, Barnaby will go mental.  He will either injure himself or do some serious damage to Pongo's brand new post and rail.  If I leave him in the stable it will be worse.  Don't forget, this is the horse that jumped over the stable door last November and got stuck.
So this is a massive answer to prayer.  I am so happy I could cry.  I am trying to get hold of Leigh now to say we'll come and get him at the weekend.  So we'll have two TB's and one cob.  Crisis over.
More soon,
Thanks for wading through this!
Jane