Wakey Wakey 23

[kofihorse]

I'm thinking of something at the side as I think the fence posts will obscure vision from rear view mirror through trailer window (it's a Richardson). Also,I can't think where the extra weight would be best carried re axles. I believe that trailers are set up to carry most weight just in front of the axle. I've seen an ad for a water container kit which they recommend fitting on the side, at the back but I think that might unbalance the trailer? A 25litre water carrier must weight about 25k, I think. I feel sure that any kits to carry stuff on the outside of a trailer would sell, as would my barrow/trolley. I've already had the bright idea of using the bag my folding chair came in as an electric fence post holder, similar idea to a golf bag.

Your ride today sounds fab. It was, of course, raining when I went over to Kofi this evening but I'm told he got plenty of exercise chasing away a new gelding from "his" two mares in the next field. Not behaviour I've ever known Kofi to exhibit before but then he hasn't been out in horse company since I brought him home from the first livery yard 4 years ago. I don't think he'll be staying much longer where he is - it's not that great for me, fine for him but I can't get riding in the field unless the two mares are brought in, which is impossible during the day for various reasons. And the hacking is total rubbish. All tarmac, just like home but at least here I have a lot of choice of routes.

So I need a new goat, or maybe two,for company for him as I am not having Geraldine back. She is so happy at my friend's farm, living out with the sheep and cattle. She hasn't butted anyone and comes over to call so she can be stroked. It would be almost cruel to bring her back here to be tied up in the field again. If anyone knows of a dehorned pet goat or two needing a home - I'm your woman!

[Ann NF]

Back here at last , and I am waiting up tonight to do Hamlet the old pony`e eye drop routine for the last time tonight. This morning I went out to find Hammy with a massively swollen right eye that he was unable to open. My OH ( who is a human eye doctor) and I cleaned up the eye to find a fairly large corneal abrasion , which Hammy must have done as he itched at a fly bite. The ponies have needed masses of fly spray/ cream recently but it doesn`t keep all the biters away. The vet came later and did a very thorough "belt and braces" examination and treatment. He is a good teacher and explained everything so well to Chris, my vet student son. Chris has now taken on the two hourly eye drop routine and I am chief head holder!

Thankfully the eye is now open and looks a lot cleaner, so fingers crossed.....

This evening was still sunny and warm at six o`clock, so Chris and I took Flaky and Ginger out around the nearest woods. Flaky was being ridden in her new saddle and appeared much happier. No funny faces , just a forward going, happy little horse with her Arab half uppermost today :0) She and Chris have been together for ten years this September. She almost smiles when he rides her again, even if his legs are a bit long these days :0)

I led Ginger out in his Dually, but with his bridle on too with a new bit to try. A Shires sweet iron french link with copper rollers to play with. He seemed to love munching and fiddling with it, but by the end of a long walk he seemed less "fiddly" and more settled with it. I hope to try riding in it tomorrow.

Two good days on Friday and Saturday, both with my ponies and with Sarah W`s gang. Saturday afternoon was lovely. The DG`s Yann came to Sarah`s for the afternoon so a few of us gathered there to take ponies out walking in the inclosures. Another hot day of bright sun interspersed with threatening grey thunder clouds, but a gentle walk through woodland walks and hopping over logs and streams in hand with Exmoors and Foresters. Dragonflies and speckledwood butterflies everywhere .
Swallows and martins are still here, but are lining up on telephone wires in readiness for their journey south.

It`s good to hear all your news. As for the thought of Lands End to John O`Groats on a horse - Wow! What an incredible experience you would have.......I have been looking at Chris`s photos today. Such wild open roads, such variations of landscape and such skies!

Off to do the final eye drops before we all go to bed.

[carolwilts]

Well.. I am sitting here in anxious uncertainty not making a decision about what to do about Skye. Completely out of the blue he started to stagger and fall over to the right at lunchtime. I'm guessing its an ear problem or some form of vestibular disease... and he seems fine now.. but.. of course its a bank holiday and the vets is closed. Guess i could summon the emergency vet, but he seems fine now..... arghhh.. animals!

We had 3/4 of a lovely ride this morning..a slow leg stretch round the villages was planned. The last 1/4 wasn't so good as I was coming down one of my favourite bridlepaths which runs through an event yard and down a lovely valley.. only to discover the event yard has now rented out part of the yard to a racehorse trainer. Who was, of course, out on the gallops doing fast work with a Tb coming up a gallops just as I was going down the bridle way 10 ft to the right of it. Mara went ballistic! OOpppss. I was in danger of being thrown off, so i got off and dealt with a rearing plunging horse from the ground. Logic being that if I had to let her go I would rather not be on her! Fortunatly she calmed down (at least enough for me to lead her) once I was on the floor. The route goes along the top of a very steep bank.. so we did it all in hand.! I'm not a coward, honest.

Yesterday was supposed to be our second EGB outing, but because of Mara's cough, I decided to withdraw her and volunteered to help instead. Ended up being the starter and time keeper, along with another person.. Neither of us having done this before turned out to be quite entertaining (not least that neither of us knew the rules on vet gate holds on 64k endurance rides.... but we do now!).

It was fun being the starter: enabled a really good look at the species "endurance rider". TYpical characteristics...

Ride arabs in strange coloured bridles and with big woolly numnahs, who tend to leap sideways..... seem generally to have horses which most people would think a bit hyper. Shout "you b*astard" or "Its just a leaf!!" or " look where you are putting your feet" or similar to their horses, but are equally hyper as their horse.... one or two have horses which scream incessantly and have extra dangly bits. Most wear very tight lycra tights.. mostly tasteful.. but not always.

as to the pleasure riders... some of the more conventional ones looked very bemused.... I will refrain from commenting on the three slightly rotund people (no more so than me, to be frank!) on rotund cobs who looked very pi* ssed off having taken 4 1/2 hours to do the shortest distance (and for which the maximim time to earn a rosette was about 2 3/4 hours).....

By the end of the day my brain was addled, as we had not only to record start finish and hold times, but calculate all the times and speeds. This sounded OK until i realised we were doing this under time pressure and whilst people were coming and going at the same time. So Brain trying to subtract 9.35 from 15.10; take into account 30 minutes hold and 9 minutes gate allowance, looking up speeds and making sure we didnt miss people starting and finishing as we were doing the calculations... and getting the sheets to the vets.... arghhhhhh. Well, I learned a lot!

I decided I have a decision to make.. am i going to join the lycra brigade? So far I have been keeping myself dressed in very conservative manner... probaly beffitting the strapping thighs to be frank. But the lure of the lycra ......


Its warm and sunny here this pm.. as it was yesterday. Seems odd to hear about the hurricane in New orleans...


Carol and Kofihorse.. maybe we need a "planning the ride" discussion group?

(had to laugh at your bridget jones bit on the 10 word story BTW!)

[kofihorse]

carolwilts - animals always "need" the vet on Bank Holidays or at midnight,don't they? One vet I know says it's just that we have more time to notice things and worry either late at night or when we're on holiday. Bet he doesn't have animals of his own. Hope Skye is OK now,it's a worry isn't it.

Deciding to buy the Lycra tights is the least of it, I'm afraid. It will take a lot of mulling over to decide whether to have the black or the navy, whether to have one stripe or two and what colour will the stripe/s be? Once purchased, you will then develop a hankering for a matching bridle/hat/chaps/numnah/gloves/underwear (OK I made that last one up). (Or did I?)

Best decision re colours - a gay friend of mine(who was in the Scottish team at the Home International in July) was agonising over colours as he has decided to buy the tights (they are just the most comfortable things) - eventually decided on pale blue and navy to match the dolphin tattoo on his ankle...............
............you also have to take into account the colour of your horse, of course

I don't do timekeeping, as I am completely innumerate under the best of circumstances and you described the pressure at a ride to a T! PS I am one of the shouting brigade. Did you notice that an awful lot of horses at rides have stable names beginning with "You Little ........"

[aberlemno]

Morning all. I woke at 6 a.m., so quickly got up lest I fall back into a deep sleep and have the alarm waken me, after which I am fit for nothing all day. His Lordship is tucking into his breakfast and there has been a mass exodus of cats from the kitchen. You can tell it's autumn, as they are q-ing up to come in at night now. Snowy (aka White Cat) is getting braver and braver and we found him sat on a kitchen chair yesterday. He still won't be touched though I know he trusts us now - after 4 years of doorstep feeding. He likes to come in and explore, but OH was NOT amused to walk into our bedroom one day and find Snowy asleep on HIS pillow . . .

We may (only "may" mind you) be getting another pussum. A friend of a friend is divorcing and needs to find homes for her Maine Coones. OH has been heaving sighs of Byronic proportions (oh - the Archers then, they're good at sighing on there!) but has already seen the writing on the wall!

We're planning to go to Brecon today, being that it was the beginning of the holidays when we were last there. I'm getting withdrawal symptoms, being that there are good 2nd hand bookshops, good charity shops (also for books!) and an Antiques Bazaar on several floors.

Our new canter ride is wonderful. Fahly already has it in his mind to explore though. We only have to see a little track leading off the main one and he tries to take me along it!

A very misty, murky start to the day here. Don't know if that means it will clear to the sunshine "they" promised us, or that it will carry on raining from where it left off yesterday! Still, things could be worse - I'm glad I don't live in New Orleans right now. Poor souls.

Kofihorse - Lycra tights - would have to be black (more slimming!) for me, perhaps with an emerald or jade stripe . . . Fahly has a sort of Burgundy colour code for his accessories, except that there appear to be several different shades of burgundy, so it's a bit haphazard really.

Carolwilts - I hope that Skye is OK today. It does sound like an ear infection or something similar. Our oldest cat, Foggy (sadly now deceased), had an ear infection once and was staggering around like he was drunk. He shook his head when standing by the goldfish pond and promptly fell in and had to be rescued, poor old chap. They like to worry you don't they? One of my ponies when I was a teenager, decided to eat what I thought was Deadly Nightshade one Bank Holiday weekend - turned out it was Woody Nightshade, and he was OK. Plus the vet forgot to log the visit, so I never got the bill. Shhhhhhhhh.

Ann NF - Sorry to hear about Hamlet's eye. Quite a worry for you - but at least you have a resident expert or two : )

Glad to hear that Flakey approves of her new saddle. It's amazing what a difference it can make to a horse. Ginger seems to approve of his new bit too - should keep his mouth nice and wet. We have settled for a simple lozenge snaffle for Fahly - he doesn't resist it and is stoppable under most circumstances. (Don't know about half a dozen horses hurtling by though - reckon he'd join them regardless!)

Your walks with the Exmoors and Forest youngsters remind me of when I was a teenager and we all had unbroken youngsters. We used to walk them absolutely miles, hop them over logs and ditches etc, and by the time we came to ride them, they were all totally traffic proof too. Maize was a 1967 vintage, so has probably been pushing up daisies many a long year now. He'd be 38 bless him . . .

No word from Nikki - the phone lines must still be down. I bet she's gnashing her teeth over there by now.

[carol]

Carolwilts, I hope Skye is feeling better today. Echo Jenny when she says animals tend to need the vet most on Bank Holidays etc. Either that or they fall into disrepair at the very hour your are leaving to go on holiday. My friend's choccy lab went through a spell of staggering about and collapsing for no good reason, at least, the vet never got to the bottom of it, and he's fine now.
Jenny, a day out in Brecon "doing" all the charity shops etc, I can think of nothing nicer, just my cup of tea. Whenever we go anywhere, and this even applied on our mad honeymoon on the Isle of Wight, my charity shop radar is up and running, I have to go in and check them out, can't resist. Your new canter ride sounds lovely, wish I could suddenly find one round here, I've scoured all the local OS maps for hours but sadly nothing new has appeared. Which reminds me of series of dreams I had a few years ago, that there was another huge room in my house, hidden behind a wall upstairs. This drove me so nuts that eventually, and in real waking life, I climbed through the skylight on to the roof.....much to my children's horror, I never realised it quite so high....and scrambled around, and ended up peering through next door's skylight into an attic bedroom, where my neighbour was reading in bed. I tried to explain about the dream and all, but it wasn't easy, shouting through a pane of glass whilst hanging on to a roof by my fingertips about 70 ft up in the air, while in the background the Greek Chorus were wailing .."Mum get off the roof!!"...

Anyway, I can't find anymore bridlepaths, but I did find a lovely footpath across the field opposite to my yard at the weekend. I now have to confess to a little bit of semi-illegal metal detectory there. Only semi because the land belongs to my ex celebrity employer.....who I'll now reveal as Jonathan Dimbelby.....and he never minded me digging around on his land when I worked for him.. I found the only two Victorian coins I've had so far, but there where some other promising signals, so I expect I'll be back.

This lycra thing, I've always wanted to take it to new heights, or depths, and if I ever do endurance again I'm going to hire a Spiderman costume. Or a Batgirl outfit.....

[Ann NF]

A beautiful hot morning here . Everyone up early as the boys are both at work ( one earning money, one just off out with local farm vet) and we had to do early morning eye drops for Hamlet. The cornea does seem to be healing but OH and Chris will do a flourescine dye test this evening to get a closer look. If it is looking good then we don`t have to get the vet back, but if not, Ham will need a special contact lens.

Carol - you are absolutely right about Bank Holidays. We have had most of our equine call - outs (thankfully not THAT often) on Sundays or Bank Holidays. It`s not "having time to notice" in my case as I`m always peering at my lot looking for the abnormal. They just DO things when it is "out of hours call out" time! My old horse Rufus had colic on Christmas Day once which put paid to Christmas dinner for Chris and me!

So - guess what Flaky did yesterday ? A "glad to be alive" broncing session alongside the hedge dividing her from next doors` Shetlands, and she turned up five minutes later with two gashes from front shoes. One small graze on the right hind and one deeper 2" graze on her right front cannon :0( She was very good about being caught, hosed down, Hibiscrubbed and then smothered in Germolene and Tea Tree ointment. Later on I redid the front and had found some Sudocrem for the top layer. It looks OK this morning so I`m crossing everything that it will heal like this. It`s not a cut for stitching and I really want to avoid stabling her if possible. She`s a nightmare kept in. So- that`s Chris`s riding finished for a few days........

Yesterday evening I rode Ginger in the new bit. He is getting his tongue over it regularly! He seems happy enough playing with it and his steering, half halts and halts were fine. Otherwise I kept a very light contact. Chris was walking alongside me and watching his mouth. Any ideas please? I`m going to try Sarah`s 4 1/2" Myler comfort snaffle but I have a feeling he will get his tongue over this too.

What have you all used for youngsters? Is it fair to think about a flash noseband? I don`t like the idea but I`m open to suggestions. I wish I were brave enough to ride bitless when away from home as Ginger responds well to his Dually when ridden, but we have such heavy traffic very near to many of our tracks and I`m not happy to ride a green pony bitless out there. Apart fom the bit, we had a lovely ride and his transitions in and out of trot were better.

Carolwilts - I read your thread about Skye. I hope it is something easy to sort out. Our younger collie has back end collapses if he has gone crazy and run too much. He gets very breathless and sems almost "switched off" and doesn`t listen. We have to monitor ball games etc very carefully. When it first started happening , Whisper had extensive (and expensive) tests at the vet, but everything came back normal and the vet thinks he is just a "nutty collie" who doesn`t know when to stop and drives himself to exhaustion.

Skye`s problem sounds different to this if he is losing his back legs at slower times. Fingers crossed for a simple solution when he sees the vet.

Carol - is Jonathan D really as physically imposing as he looks on "Question Time"? He always seems to tower over his diminutive guests, but we wondered if they give him a tall chair for psychological advantage?! Oddly enough, my late Mum nursed Jonathan and David D when they had their tonsils out as children, in Haslemere Hospital in Surrey.

I love the image if you looking for a dream room in the roof! Have you read "The Magician`s Nephew"?

Carolwilts, I am very impressed by your maths under pressure. I would rather muck out all the lycra clad brigade`s Arabs than work out their speeds ! I bet some of them get very intense about it all.........

Aberlemno - you can tell your Mum a funny story. I was out walking Ginger in the heather this weekend when I thought of you and her. I picked a spray of heather to send her and tucked it into the purse that holds my mobile phone. Nearer home, we stopped to say "Hello" to a neighbour. Suddenly Ginger made a grab for the precious heather and scoffed the lot ! I shall get her another bit as I expect you and your parents spent many happy days in the Forest at heather time, as I did . Do you remember having to take the old road from Southampton to Lyndhurst, before the A31 was built? Once we were past the Happy Cheese at Ashurst we were "in the Forest"!

I LOVE Maine Coons! Very sad about your friend`s divorce, but it will be a relief for her to know that her cats are in Cat Heaven with you . Snowy sounds to be gaining trust all the time.

I wonder if Nikki has gone to Malta for their annual holiday? I think they have a shared family house there. If not, the phone lines MUST be driving her mad.....

Must go and do Flaky`s leg and sort Hamlet out again.

I had a thought...How about starting a new Wakey Wakey on the first day of the month?

[carolwilts]

Glorious day here.. guess we are all basking in the sun.

Skye has had no re-occurrence of the staggers, and having searched the web for hours. I decided to watch him carefully, but only rush off to the vets if it happens again. he seems very perky and is eating OK.... I suspect he just knew it was a bank holiday and wanted more attention.

So I spent the morning sculpting at my weekly class.. have a nice blister to show for it as I got carried away bashing at a bit of Portland stone. My sculpture class group of people are really nice... we have a laugh whilst bashing bits of rock.. .. especially led by the beautiful gay stained glass artist! Our teacher is a jolly soul (sort of retirement age) who has (in the past) done a life size self portrait of herself in the nude, complete with nipple rings..... so you can guess what sort of time we have....

Perhaps I will seek the sculpture class views on the best Lycra outfit and matching underwear.. I'm sure we will come up with something original! Not sure the underpants over the trousers would suit me though. Maybe I should go for all black.....and let my silver hair grow a little. Then perhaps train my black cat Fitz to perch on the saddle..... and Mara to rear on command..... (or maybe not the latter, come to think about it.. her airs above the ground are already a little tooo impressive for my liking).


I have to say I was quite amused by the group of three women who ride together in matching tack and outfits (pink) and even have the pink ladies spayed as a logo on their trailer.... Much more fun than the outfits worn for dressage, I have to say. And less chance of being disqualified for not wearing the right thing (the guy who gives me lessons was disqualified at the regional dressage qualifiers for forgetting his gloves.. WHY did they not tell him as he entered the arena I have to ask....)

Ann NF.. your walks sound idyllic... taking pones out and jumping over streams and logs in weather like this sounds just the ticket. Though I guess the flies are not so good down there in the forest. Hope Hamlet is getting better... and Flaky hasn't done too much damage. For some reason we are blessed with not so many flies where we are.. clouds of harmless black ones, but very few horse flies and bots or anything equally nasty.

Aberlemno.... gird your loins, girl... OH's just have to cope with us mad animal loving peeps..... and a Maine Coone would be good to own. MY OH now knows it is useless objecting as I will do it anyway.. though the sighs and sulks do come out... (but I have heard from a third party that he actually quite likes our new dog.. but wouldn't of course tell me!). Hope you had a good day in brecon.. sounds just the ticket.

Carol.. I had to laugh at your real life exploration of the house.... mainly because I recognised the dream, but hadn't thought to act it out in real life! I can imagine your neighbour's face as you peered in through the roof light! I also dream about finding rooms in my house that are secret.. usually (in my dream) i have to squeeze through some narrow place and then come across this whole area of the house that nobody else knows about. It variously is either beautiful with log fires, antiques flagged floors etc., or magnificently large, and baronial, but also falling apart and dangerous .... Hmmmm ..... did you know that "house" dreams are often related to our sense of ourselves/our psyche etc. - so hidden rooms that nobody else knows about are often about unexplored facets of the self. ....

[carol]

That is really exciting, about the house dream thingy, what you describe is EXACTLY what I used to dream, the tight narrow space a bit like the inside of a chimney, or a tiny little narrow staircase. And coming out into a vast room with tapestries and flagstones and huge windows with sunlight pouring through them. Not that I can remember them being in disrepair, but the excitement I felt stayed with me when I woke up.......hence the mad search.

more later, off to chuck a bit of spaghetti around....

[Ann NF]

A bit of hopeful news. Hamlet`s eye is much better. We just did the flourescine dye test and the abrasion is about a third the size it was on Sunday. He`s still on four hourly drops & ointment for a while longer and still needs to stay in. Flaky is still co operating with her wound cleaning sessions and so far, so good......

I don`t think I`ve ever had the house dream, but there seems to be a dream landscape that I go back to that is a composite of lots of places I have lived in over the years.

I`m feeling guilty tonight. I should have been doing school work today but it has been far too hot up here where the computer lives. Not sure it will be finished when it should be- for Thursday :0( It is sad when the summer holiday comes to an end. I love these long days outside in the fresh air with animals.

Carolwilts - wouldn`t the three Pink Ladies make a wonderful equine statue ? Are there any endurance ladies of a certain age with purple lycra and a red hat?

[kofihorse]

last night I dreamed I went to Manderly again.................no, no,actually i dreamed that Robbie Williams was truly, madly,deeply in love with me and had saved up £200 pounds to take us away for a romantic weekend. In the dream, I found all this perfectly feasible. I can NOT imagine what that says about me. It was a most enjoyable dream, I must say. Usually, I dream about all my teeth falling out or about flying around the place. This is done by being in a sort of crouch and flapping my hands down around my ankles. Nobody ever seems surprised.

I am so glad that Hamlet will not need a contact lens. It would be hell finding it in the straw if it fell out (as sod's law dictates that it would!)

aberlemno - a Maine Coon would be great. They are gorgeous cats - what colour is the one you're having? Coincidence - Kofi's colour is also burgundy and I know what you mean about all the different shades but I'm kind of stuck with it now.

carol and carolwilts - the pink ladies are a hoot! Dumfries branch of SERC has purple as its colour and there are several ladies of a certain age with purple stripes and accessories. The most over the top colour person is one we call "The Lady in Red" - everything, and I mean everything, including her tent, dogs' collars, chaps,scrunchie at the end of her plait,is red. I once asked if if her knickers were red and she said "if I wore any, they would be"! A lot of people go commando in their lycra tights. Not me, I like my Sloggies.

AnnNF - Intense!? INTENSE!!?? Totally and utterly knicker-knotted if you're out by one single minute!!!!! Complaints will be made, letters will be written! Kofi has a Myler Comfort snaffle - we have some brakes and a certain amount of steering, albeit a fairly "are you sure? are you absolutely sure? weeeeelllll, Ok then" response when excited. Much, much better than an ordinary snaffle which he jerked and pulled at all the time.

Who mentioned the first of the month? Now I'll have to go and get a new tax disc for the car........

[carol]

PLease can I borrow your Robbie Williams dream? Promise to wash it before it's returned. I did once dream about Micheal Barrymore......but let's not go there.

I had a luverly ride on Rups yesterday, the Blackberry Ride. There's a nearby lane where the blackberries grow in abundance, so I trolled off down there with him, and every 10 paces or so we had stop and pick blackberries...two for me, two for you.....both of us ended up with rather attractive purple mouths..his frothier than mine.

My 25 year old daughter Jessie is stranded in Greece. The machine has eaten her cashcard, her mobile phone has packed up, she's utterly fed up, has no money, and is desperate to come home. We've been trying to find ways to transfer some cash to her that dosen't involve having to use her eaten cashcard. Gaaagh kids !!! On the other hand I'm not too keen for her to come home straight away, which probably sounds a bit harsh. I've been looking after her precious pone, the Mad Lucy, with strict instructions to not let her get too fat. Well she has put on a bit of weight, somewhat due to naughty Tess trashing the fences to let others through to the big grass. And today, of all days, I found Lucy with some very nasty gashes on her upper near fore. I think she's cut herself on a wicked metal post that holds up a water trough. I've washed and dressed her wounds, and taped up metal post, but if Jessie sees her pony injured I'm going to be in Big Trouble. BIG TROUBLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rups had an eye ulcer a couple of years ago and I had to put the drops in every two hours all night. It saved his sight but it must have been the longest night of my life, he absolutly hated me going anywhere near it and I spent hours being pulled up and down on the lead rope, and ended up with badly wrenched shoulder muscles.


I was chucking spaghetti around last night, tonight it's stir fry, but first we're off to a community meeting to object to the local night club opening 24 hours. The nightclub is about 40 yards from where we live....Friday and Saturday nights are hell. On the other hand, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em LOL !!

[kofihorse]

carol - I don't believe it...Michael Barrymore??.......so did I!! We are obviously psychic twins. And yes, you may borrow my Robbie Williams dream as long as you don't wear it out.

Kofi + dentist = me yanked up and down also. No fun smelling of Ralgex for the next few days.

It's chucking it down here this evening after a long day of very hot,grey and muggy headache weather. The rain isn't clearing the air much so far. Yet another ride postponed as neither of us like getting soaked.

I fear our stay at the livery yard is coming to an end. The horrible girl is still there and has been joined by her equally horrible friend. It's very difficult to get into use the arena as they monopolise it and I can't ride in the big field as their mares are in the field next to it and Kofi just won't behave. All he wants to do is demonstrate that "I'm a STALLION,baby!" - which he isn't but apparently remembers when he was, all too well. One is just going out of season and the other is just coming in so he doesn't know where he wants to put himself from one minute to the other. At least he's exercising himself making threatening moves to chase the other geldings away - not that they are in the slightest bit interested and just give him "you and whose army?" looks.

So he's coming home just as soon as I can find the right companion for him. I still can't decide whether he'd be better off with a Shetland or another goat or two. Any advice welcome.

Now I'm off to throw spaghetti about - I've discovered these Dolmio pouches of sauce, microwave for one minute and pour over. Taste OK, too, with plenty of ground black pepper. I expect I'll be eating standing up again to ward off predatory, starving Siamese.

[Ann NF]

A day of sitting in front of the computer doing school work ( IEPs, Targets, Planning sheets ... gobbledegook in other words and very much NOT the reason I went into teaching). A stuffy, thundery heat and several headache pills later and I still haven`t finished. It`s good to get onto here for some sanity and whacky dreams :0)

Hamlets eye is still looking better and better, but he still needs regular drops for a day or two. I`ll be rushing home from school at lunchtime tomorrow.... 13.2hh is bad enough when the head starts wafting about but Rupert must have been great fun (NOT) in the early hours Carol?!
Flaky`s leg seems to be healing and she`s being good about her treatments.

I had Flaky`s insurance reminder through today. She is fifteen this year so I though they would be downgrading her to a Veteran Policy but apparently Pet Plan now carry on until they are twenty. Not sure if I should carry on or not as she has exclusions for laminitis and for her hoof abscess foot now and the premium is quite a whack and I have BHS Gold for third party. On the other hand, there is a lot she would still be covered for. What do you all do about insurance?

Carol - I hope your daughter gets sorted out in Greece. Could Jessie not get help from the British Embassy if she is near Athens? There`s a nice DG er called Susan in Greece out there somewhere if you get desperate for local help.

Kofi sounds as though he would have a calmer life at home and so would you Kofihorse, away from the unsympathetic girls ! Sarah W has a lovely little blue eyed remedial Welshie x who is looking for a companion home. A long way to travel but he NEEDS an IH person and a handsome friend to live with. He`s a very good doer :0)

Must go and do some more Targets.
Shall we begin WW24 tomorrow, on the Ist September?

[hazelhorse]

Ann, poor Hamlet, is he being co-operative about his drops? I always dread the vet telling me to "just put these drops...." that usually means flat toes, bruises and pulled muscles, together with a YO who stands and watches,making useful comments, and shouting at the patientas soon as they twitch, which stresses them completely, making the job almost impossible!

Kofi sounds as if he could do with a rest from flirting women, so perhaps you should take a look at Sarah's pony, to give him a chum.

Carol if you fail in your efforts with the night club, you could always invite Kofihorse and get her to bring Robbie with her. Mind you she could aways drop him off at my house on the way, if she doesn't mind a detour, I promise to give him back almost as good as new.

Been a bit quiet for a few days as I have been busy putting stuff together for a business plan to put another suggestion to the bank. We saw a house on Sunday, which isn't far from us, which has nice yard and 28 acres, but it is very unkempt and overgrown and the house although only a few years old is tiny, and seems to be falling apart. Not really a problem antil you see that they are asking £120,000 more than a very similar property about 8 miles further south. I think the owner is slightly deluded about the value of the place, so we are going to try an convince him to take a major drop in the asking price, and then convince the bank that we can make the business work from there. Must have spent about 24 hours on the computer since then trying to make headway. Just remind me never to move again, could you if I think about it again in the dim and distant future! ;D