Horsing Around

I've been a bit busy, and I'm popping off as soon as I've written this, as I've quite a bit still to do.
But first things, first.
You may recall that when Peggy the chicken flaunted her new family in front of Penny, Penny got her own back by standing up and revealing that she too, was 'in the family way.' On Thursday morning I let Peggy out for her usual morning constitutional, and as usual, she began strutting up and down outside Penny's hutch. Penny began to rise laboriously to her feet, and I thought, 'Oh, I know what's coming,' and sure enough, out popped her new chick. Then, to my astonishment, another chick fell out from under her other wing. The egg that she was left with obviously hatched out in the middle of the night, and she's looked after it and helped it all by herself. I am absolutely delighted. I will take a photo of them as soon as I can, but they scuttle under mum as soon as anyone approaches. They are very sweet, though, one is yellow and the other one is grey. Penny's eyes are as bright as jewels and her pride in her new clutch is blatantly evident. Good on you, girl, I'm so proud.
I spent the whole of yesterday in Worksop. I had to go up with Mr O in the morning, so got up at silly o'clock, sipped some tea and got straight in the car. Mr O dropped me off at The Cafe where I took my cards in. I must tell you that when I rang up and spoke to the manageress, and said I was going to give them some of my cards to sell, she said, "And what do you want us to do for you?" I said, "No, I don't want any money for them, I'm donating them, so you can sell them," and she was astonished.
So she was really pleased to see me when I dropped them off. They'd arranged a space for them on the table with the books. She asked me how much I thought they ought to sell them for, so I said a pound each, as it's an easy coin for customers to hand over. I said not to worry if they didn't sell, and she said, "Oh, they'll sell!" I was really surprised, but pleased. It is a strange feeling, handing over my creations to someone else, and knowing I won't see them again. Is that how an artist feels when she hands over a painting to be sold? As if you're giving part of yourself away. But then, doesn't an artist then have the satisfaction of knowing that her creation will be hanging on someone's sitting room wall soon, which makes it all worthwhile? Who knows?
I went up to Costa Coffee and had a latte, then spent some time going through my favourite charity shops. I was thrilled to find two John Francome books for 99p each, and then in the Heart Foundation shop, 'Lots of Love' by Fiona Walker. Her books were recommended to me by Frecklepuss recently, so I was very pleased to find one for two pounds. It looks like a really good read, actually, can't wait to get stuck in.
Then I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time in the library. It's such bliss to spend as long as I like without Mr O breathing down my neck. I found some beautiful, inspirational books on card making and scrapbooking. They make my efforts look positively paltry, but I've got to start somewhere.
Soon it was time to wander up to Daughter 2's house and spend some time with her and The Flower Fairy. She was so chatty, it was lovely to have her to myself for a while. I ended up walking up to nursery with her, which was so sweet. Suddenly I was in the land of the little people. On the way out, a woman came rushing up to me and I realised it was one of the girls who'd helped us fence judge last time we went to the showcross. She told me all about her new mare. I've said I'll come and have a look at her after the next competition.
My next stop was at my old friend Caroline's house. We were good friends when we still lived in Worksop, having been at the same church for several years. Her two children, Heather and Anthony are a similar age to our children. Heather started having riding lessons around the time I first bought Max, and then Caroline started home educating them both, so we had quite a lot in common. Heather's become one of my facebook friends recently, as she has a very pretty little Hafflinger mare called Honey. I've been dying to meet her and never thought I'd have the opportunity.
We had a really good catching up chat, and then set off to their yard. They brought Honey up from her field. She is an absolute sweetheart, probably about 14 hands, maybe 14.1. She reminded me of Crispin a bit, with her gorgeous deep golden coat and flaxen mane. They tacked up and Heather rode. I gave her a bit of a lesson, as she's got into a couple of bad habits (rather similar to my own!) and then they asked if I was going to have a ride. I hadn't intended to at all, and only had jeans and normal boots on, but Anthony gave me a hat, and the next thing I knew, I was in the saddle. She was very sweet, and poodled about with me. She is quite dinky, and I felt as if there was no neck in front of me at all.
While I was riding round, a lad came into the school on his horse, rode it round with its head in the air, and came out two minutes after me. I wonder what the point of that was? It reminded me of all the reasons I'm not on a livery yard any more.
I'm also quite curious as my friend Morag, who used to be at our old yard, is also there. What's happened there, then?
I had a lovely time and have invited them to come to us some time, hopefully in August. Caroline dropped me back at Daughter 2's by which time Mr O had arrived from work so we set off home together (with a huge chunk of wedding cake sitting on my lap!)
The day was rounded off nicely by the sight of a parcel on my kitchen table when we got in. Inside, to my delight, was my Sizzix boutique machine.


Isn't she a cutie?

This is an embossing machine, and it's my free gift for subscribing to Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. I have had a little play with it this afternoon and can see already that this will take my card making to a new level. Check these out:

This is just me footling around to see how everything works, but I am going to have a lot of fun with this, I can tell.
But as I said, I am very, very busy, making plans for tomorrow. All will be revealed, soon enough.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Mrs O.

Mother's Pride

I've been a bit down in the dumps and I don't really know why, I think it's a combination of things, e.g. the quad incident, the loss of the chick, and then, primarily that I had a riding lesson again yesterday with Nicky Hunt. It has to be said that Barnaby has improved greatly and is much straighter in himself, which is wonderful. It's just that when I get on him I feel like my riding is really bad. I have, without doubt, picked up some bad habits from riding Max for six years, but my one bugbear is that I still can't keep my legs still when I trot, and I've been working on it for a year. The trouble now is that people think I'm continually legging the horse on, but actually I'm trying frantically to keep my legs still and nothing works.
I have also seen several pictures of myself where my toes are turned out. I know why this is, though, and that I keep on riding with my heel, so I'm working on keeping my toes turned in, but it hurts! I've also had the feeling that in order to make Max move, especially on a circle, I must tap him with my ankle, so I keep on lifting my heels up when I ride. I've seen myself doing this, too, and am trying to train myself out of it, and to use my calf muscles instead, and again, this relies on me keeping my toes in. I'll be walking like a bowlegged chicken before you know it. You'll recognise me in Chesterfield High Street, anyway.
Mr O said I had a 'very defeatist attitude' and proceeded to depress me even more by telling me how well he rides. Well, that's nice. I resisted the temptation to tell him that it's his fault Barnaby is in such a state, because that won't achieve anything, will it?
But it is far from all bad, and I am determined to look on the bright side. The best thing is that after losing the little chick in the morning, one of the ones in the incubator hatched out at tea time. I quickly scooped it up and ran outside with it and popped it underneath Penny. She looked mildly surprised, but tucked the little thing underneath her and started cooing at it. I went out again an hour later and managed to hoist her skirts up and peek at the little thing and it had dried out and was cheeping, which I took to be a good sign. Penny pecked at me mercilessly.
I've been out this morning and let Peggy and her babies out for their morning exercise. Peggy began parading outside Penny's hutch, as usual, when Penny drew herself up to her full height (rather than her usual convincing impression of a whopee cushion) and her little baby plopped out from underneath her and began cheeping. Penny wore a smug, "In your face!" expression and continued cooing to the love of her life.
Peggy was distraught and began pecking at the cage. "I am the only mother here!" but her babies were jumping up and down, trying to get a better view of their new cousin. One of them even jumped on Peggy's back to have a better look, but Peggy shook it off and stalked away. Penny just smiled contentedly to herself, and so did I.
I took Barnaby out for a hack this morning, and now all is well with the world. It must be quite confusing for him, as he is now mine, but it's not like he's gone to a new home, is it? His dad is still there in the background, but now taking much more notice of Zak, obviously. He came in with me this morning and I felt that he was totally mine. He has trained me to scratch him in all the right places before I tack him up. Usually it's on his belly and around the top of his front left leg, but today he wanted me to scratch his ears and his top knot. His bottom lip was quivering in ecstasy. I swear to you that if you take the time to do this, he is much more co-operative and agreeable. It's easy to think, 'I don't have time to do this,' but what else have I got besides time? If you take the time he is a doddle to tack up and be ridden.
I have spent some time recently reading some of my old posts about being very nervous about riding Max, and I could hardly believe it was me. I am a million miles from that now, and riding Barnaby is my utmost joy. He is so bold and beautiful, I do wonder what it's like when people see him in the street. There was a man building a stone wall near Jolly Farmer's this morning, who stopped to watch as we went past. Is he thinking, 'Don't that woman's legs jig about when she trots?' I don't think so. The old gentleman further down stopped his conversation to wave at me as I went past. A true horseman, if ever there was. We turned round at the bottom of the lane and steamed home. There's nothing like it for lifting the spirits, is there?
And I've been fine ever since, really.
Last Tuesday I went to my card making class, and didn't really like what we did, as we used 'Dreamweaver' stencils, and I was hopeless at it! I did manage to make a few things to use, like this glitter flower card:



However, I went again last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The theme was 'Patchwork' and these are the the two I made. The funny thing is, I am getting the urge to do things with paper, that you would normally do with fabric, and then these came along. The stitching is a stamp, which I will definitely be buying (in August!) as these were really easy to make, and are a brilliant way of using up your scraps.





I am reading 'Love In The Time of Cholera' now, and really enjoying it. It bears no resemblance to the film clips I saw, which is interesting. This means if I get it out on DVD I'd better not inflict it on Mr O. It was bad enough sitting through 'Babel' and 'Revolutionary Road', I don't think we'll survive another pointless melodrama (we have enough of those in real life, without watching them on TV as well!)
And, as everything comes to him who waits, it is, of course, pouring with rain, and I am loving it!
Happy Times!
Mrs O.

Triumph and Disaster

I let the ducks and chickens out this morning and decided to let Penny out as well. There was something next to her, as if it was an extension of her, but when I looked more closely, it was a chick, and it was motionless. I picked it up and it was cold, so I decided to take it indoors and see if I could revive the poor little thing. I spent about half an hour trying to warm it and get it to drink, but in the end it decided it wasn't worth it and gave up. I am so sad for it, and sad for Penny, too. She's not having much luck, is she?

The other bit of bad news is that our lorry failed its MOT. I am not impressed. What was the point of having it inspected first? Mr O has taken it all the way to Mansfield, where he should have taken it in the first place, and goodness knows how long it's going to be there. Because he didn't have the car, he's ended up walking most of the way home, along the bypass, until he finally managed to hail a taxi. I can't help feeling that praying together more might help us avoid these total lapses of wisdom. There's nothing to lose, is there?

The good news is that we've decided now we won't be paying out vast sums of money for Zak's medication, we can afford a little holiday, so I have been in touch with the owners of Field Farm to see if we can get our holiday reinstated. They are more than happy to have us along, so I have sent off a deposit. We'll be going in the second week of August. I am so looking forward to it. They have a cross country course, and we can ride from the farm straight to the beach. 'Er Indoors is coming too.

I have finally succumbed and moved a lot of my crafting stuff from my (tiny) desk to the kitchen table. It is bliss to have everything I need spread out in front of me and not to have to keep searching through drawers to find everything. I thought Mr O would be annoyed, but actually he's more than happy about it. I am determined for it not to take up residence there permanently, (yeah, right!) but it's great for the time being.

One of my challenges this month is to make a card for my granddaughter, The Flower Fairy. She will be three. My brief was (from the girl herself) that it has to be pink and have Peppa Pig on it, so this is what I've come up with:

Hope she likes it.

The other issue is that I've been exploring the idea of some sort of logo for my cards. I came up with a 'Muddy Puddles' design, but I've decided to use this for the time being:

'Squigglypigs' is part of my email address. I needed something urgently when I set up facebook last year, and the word 'squigglypigs' popped into my head. I've become rather fond of it since then, so I'm sticking with that for now. I know nothing about the legality of these things, so I'd better investigate.
And finally, I'd better 'Fess up' (I'm having a love/hate relationship with that phrase at the moment) and tell you that I had a teeny tiny accident on the quad. I was trying to turn it, when I put my hand on the break but didn't realise my thumb was still on the throttle when the quad shot across the ditch and I managed to stop it just as it touched the electric fence. My leg got stuck under the gear stick and pushed it up to second gear, which is why it went so fast. It gave me quite a fright, I can tell you. Note to self: Do not drive the quad when you're tired!

Chick Flick

On the Friday before the wedding, there were a couple of important developments round here that made me almost want to stay home!

The first one was that the little ducks went out onto the pond with the big ducks. Suddenly they have feathers, and don't look very different from the older ducks, just a little bit smaller. Firstly we introduced all six ducks together, then the little ones followed the older ones down to the pond, the older ones almost flying, and the little ones running like the clappers, trying to keep up. Then they met fairly large scale water for the first time, and decided they didn't like it. In the end, it was one of the older ducks that came up and encouraged the little ones to try it. It was very sweet. And of course they took to it 'like a duck to water' (so sorry, it's the best I could do at short notice).

Secondly, Mr O let Penny out, one of the broody chickens, and off she went to get some fresh air and sunshine, when the next thing he knew, one of the cats had dived in and attacked a chick. None of us even had a clue one of the eggs had hatched, and Penny certainly didn't, as she'd gone off for lunch and left it there.

In his haste, Mr O picked it up and tucked it in with Peggy, who prompty and unswervingly adopted it. As he picked her up to pop the chick in, another chick fell out from under her wing and fell in the water pot. Mr O quickly retrieved it and put it back under his (or her) mother.

This is the best I can do for a photograph, at the moment:

as they are very small, run round a lot and keep hiding under mum. They were about the size of sparrows when they were born. I'm not sure what's the cutest, chicks or ducklings.

Penny has been a bit depressed, though, and when we let her out with Peggy (who strutted up and down proudly showing off her babies) she just stood staring at the wall for twenty minutes, but then went over to Peggy, as if to say, "One of those was mine, you know." She reminded me alarmingly of my maternal grandmother. I do feel sorry for her, but she is still brooding, so let's hope to goodness at least one of them, or one from the incubator, actually hatches, so we can give it to her.

Then the next, unrelated thing. We went in a cafe for breakfast while we were in Worksop, and there was a little second hand bookstall. Money from the book sales goes to 'Help for Heroes' and there was a chart on the wall, showing how much money they'd raised (six hundred pounds, I think). I asked them if they would like some cards to sell, and they said they'd really like some, so I am going up on Friday to drop some off. How exciting. I said just to see how it goes, and if they don't sell, not to worry, I'll take them back, but if they do sell, I'll make some more. These are some of the cards that will be going:

Not very difficult to make, but I spent a pleasant enough hour yesterday putting them together.

Sorry, I put them in their cellophane bags before I remembered to take a photo. Thanks to Margaret at Christian Chick Crafts for recommending a supplier to me. She is a total inspiration and mine of information. Her cards are so professional, I hope mine end up as good as hers (anytime soon, would be nice!) I am rising to the challenge of not buying any crafty stuff for the whole of July (in other words, 'It's nearly killing me!') Actually it's really making me think, especially for the scrapbooking.

I must add, that it's all too easy, come the winter, to say, "Oh, we had a rubbish summer!" so I just want it on record that it has been hot here every day for several weeks, at least since before Wimbledon Tennis started. We've had no rain for three or four weeks, and will probably have a hosepipe ban if it carries on much longer. It's driving me bonkers, I've actually been driven to wearing skirts, a rarity indeed. I've taken the horses off the second field to let it grow before putting them back on it, but it isn't growing because there's no rain. The horses hate the heat, and the flies are driving them bonkers. I have to put suncream and fly gel on Barnaby and Lindy every day, poor things. And if I don't ride by 8.30am, it's pointless riding until about 8pm, but I have run out of energy by then. Am I the only person praying for rain?

The Zak Report

(Cheyenne, you may find the following very interesting!)

We got up early yesterday morning, and loaded a hungry Zak into the lorry. We'd kept him in overnight so he could be nil by mouth from 4am (Mr O got up to take his haynet down). We kept Fudge in to keep him company, but all the horses had slept in the bottom field, to be as close as possible, wondering what was going on.

Of course, Zak wasn't allowed a haynet in the lorry either, which didn't impress him. We had a good journey though, and were actually early when we got there. We hung around for a while, waiting to be seen to, while Zak whinnied at a horse through the lorry window.

Eventually the vet came out, a young chap from New Zealand, and we unloaded Zak and took his boots off. We led him into what must have once been a stable, but now looked more like a kitchen. He was very good and just stood while the vet assessed him. The first thing was, that he said Zak isn't that underweight! We were very surprised. He said they see horses a lot worse than him. I asked if he would ride him, and he said yes. You could have knocked me down with a feather. He took blood and sedated him. At first there were just the three of us, but gradually the room filled with students. An assistant put the brace on his head, that held his mouth open (the same as dentists use, I can't think of the name of it right now) and gradually they inserted the gastroscope (up his nose). It obviously has a camera on the end, so you can see everything on the screen. It turns out the inside of a horse looks much like the outside of an octopus, and I wasn't sick once, even when Zak made retching noises.

It took a long time to look round the inside of his stomach, but I am thrilled and delighted to report that there were no ulcers whatsoever. Eventually the scope was removed and Zak gradually stopped sweating. Next, the vet decided to do an ultrasound scan to check there were no tumors or lumps and bumps in the wrong places. Everything was fine, except he couldn't find his liver, as too much intestine was in the way. That would have provided the answer to everything, though, wouldn't it, if he didn't have a liver? We assume it's in there somewhere, doing what livers do.

In fact, it must have been, as while we were waiting, the blood tests came back and they too showed nothing unusual. No anaemia, no ragwort poisoning, no salmonella, nothing. He gave Zak a vitamin boost and said we could look at anabolic steroids or ventapulmin, but we decided against it.

So there was nothing to be done except load him up and bring him home. He was very glad to see his haynet, and started tucking in. It didn't take long to get back, where we unloaded him and turned him out. He went belting up the field, whinnying to the others.

So like I have said before, he is one of life's whippets, and always will be. He just has a very fast metabolism. The vet recommended some feeds and said we should give him corn oil, so we will. I am very pleased really, as it means we can ride him, and he has good quality of life, I'd just got used to the idea of him having ulcers, and that we'd have a cure. But think of the money we've saved, as Gastrogard is two hundred pounds for a week's supply, and he'd have needed a month's worth. Allelujah, then.

I have had a couple of opportunities to scrapbook this week, and am utterly enjoying it. I am doing a page for each month of 2010, so I am doing January to June, to catch up, then I'll do a page a month after that. So here, without further ado, are February and March:

I was seeing spots before my eyes with this one, but I'm really pleased with it. The decoupage flower is very unusual. I've had a break from cardmaking this week, I think it's because I've been so busy in the run-up to the wedding, but I'm ready to do some more now (I'll tell you why tomorrow, plus there should be one or two other surprises).

Have a good weekend everyone.

Mrs O.

Lesson Time

My thoughts are still a bit jumbled as I try to write this.

The long awaited day has finally dawned, and I have had my first lesson on Barnaby with an instructor I've never met before, called Nicky Hunt. And I'm so glad I did.

I rode Barnaby first so she could see what he's like, and what problems I have when I ride him, ie bending his head to the left all the time.

Then after a while she got on him, to see what it is I'm experiencing. At first I wasn't very impressed with her riding style. She really seemed to lean back to stop him, and played with his bit to get him to go down while standing still, which really irritates me. She also said I needed to bring him into his stable and make him stand for fifteen minutes a day with side reins on, only loosly, but side reins nevertheless, in order for him to understand that he can bend round and forwards. I nearly laughed. I nearly ordered her off my property.

But I let her continue, and gradually, gradually, Barnaby began to make a decent shape. My frustration has always been that I need someone to teach my horse what I want him to do, then teach me how to show the horse what I want him to do, then to put the combination together, and this has never been possible until now, so I'm thrilled that finally someone can help us (because, to be fair, I've slipped into a lot of bad habits that need to be corrected, too).

The person I used to take Max to totally overfaced him and it was all about agression, which really put me off. Today's session was just forty minutes and it did wonders for Barnaby. Nicky was impressed when she got off, too, and said he hadn't been half as bad as she'd expected.

At the end of the day, I could decide that Barnaby is just a hack and doesn't need any schooling for that, but I just can't do it. For his own sake, he needs to be using his muscles properly and working well, not just for fitness but suppleness as well. And for some reason, sitting here now, I could cry because she didn't overface me or him, cantering was out of the question, let alone jumping.

I think at the previous yard I was on, although the teaching was excellent, the focus is very much on jumping. Now I'll let you into a little secret. When I bought Max, I actually wanted to concentrate on, and maybe even get good at, dressage, (don't laugh!) but Max was so designed for jumping, and loved it so much, that that's what we went with. I'm not saying I'll never jump again, but I really do believe that jumping is 'dressage with fences in the way' and we need to get our flatwork right first.

Finally, after all these years, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Writing this has made me realise that writing a blog is very different to writing a diary. When you write a diary, the secret is safe with you until your dying day, but when you blog, everything is instantly public. When you know who your readers are (or could be) it is tempting to write what you think they'd like to hear, but at the end of the day, this is my diary for me to plot my progress with The Bard amongst other things so if you disagree with what's going on, or my opinion on things, feel free to comment, but at the end of the day, this is my blog, and I stand by my thoughts, feelings, or opinions as they are now. I do want to make it clear, though, that I am not here to criticize anyone else's teaching methods or how they deal with their horses, it's just that I now have a wonderful opportunity to progress with my horse, in the way that I know we need to, and I am going to grab it with both hands.

I think we should leave the last word to the man himself, don't you?

He says, "Bleh!"

Confetti and Commitment

A proud moment

I have come back totally exhausted from having such a fantastic time. It was all slightly surreal, partly from staying in a hotel where we used to live, the heat, the crying, the tissues, realising that my youngest daughter is now finally married.



Such a stupendous day. There were no hitches, it was all beautiful. It was a civil wedding, and The Oracle and I commented in the car afterwards that the words were just as moving and meaningful as a church ceremony (and just as nerve wracking for the bride and groom!) Actually it was Duane that brought more tears to my eyes than Abby, as his love for her was so evident as he spoke his lines.

The reception was wonderful, everyone was very relaxed, with good conversations between both sides of the family. It was lovely to have so many family members together, to laugh and catch up. The grandchildren nearly stole the show.



And I must tell you, that my youngest son moved down to live with The Oracle in October last year, but decided he didn't like it and came back up with them. He is going to live with some mates in Worksop. I have got my darling boy back, and I am soooooo happy.
I couldn't have had a nicer weekend. A time of total blessing. And that's exactly what I wish the happy couple, all the years of blessing they are entitled to.