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In the veg bed ♥May. 17th, 2020 // 03:02 pm♥ [Tags | garden, riding ] Busy week in the garden. We earthed up the potatoes for the first time, as we expected (and got) a frost, then yesterday we planted out the summer squash and the beans, as we’re fairly sure that that was the last frost. Today, we put the peppers and aubergines in the polytunnel, but the aubergines are very pathetic-looking, so we might have to try to buy some plants. Just the autumn squash and sweetcorn still to go, and the chillis and tomatillos to pot on. I do feel sorry for all the people not in frost-prone areas who lost plants to the frost. I guess there are advantages to having to be cautious. I don’t think we took any real damage from it, although a few of the leaves on the wisteria look a bit frazzled. My mum (stuck in the UK for the summer) was vaguely thinking about trying to get tomato seed, so I suggested that she cut up a tomato and put it in a pot. She now has a pot full of little seedlings, which she’s very proud of! I’ve bought a little temporary wire fence, small enough to step over, and put it around the veg bed to keep the ducks out: they are good slug control, but they also have a habit of stepping on things and partially uprooting them. Once the plants are a bit more settled in, I should be able to take it down and let them back in there. In non-garden news, I had a riding lesson yesterday. We had to wait until our instructor got the go-ahead from her insurance company, but they decided it was ok with the new guidance mid-week. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Soggy ♥Oct. 16th, 2019 // 12:08 pm♥ [Tags | cooking, garden, going out, pictures, riding, weather ] Even though we had another inch of rain yesterday (we kept the horses in. It's October, ffs!), today was nice and sunny so I managed to do some weeding for the first time in weeks. I could only do along the edge of the drive, as I don't dare walk on the flower beds and am dubious about walking on the edge of the lawn, but it's something at least. The wet weather and warm nights seems to be suiting grass seedlings, as they're popping up everywhere (and are tricky to weed when they're in amongst the bulbs that are starting to come up). One end of one of the garden beds, that backs onto the field, looks like it will need mowing soon, so that's going to be tremendously fun if I can't get to it before spring. I did put bark down around the strawberries, to see if I could stop quite so much grass coming up, but it's not been tremendously successful. We had the muck skip emptied last week, and when it came back it was a nice fancy new one, rather than the one we used to have with a partly rusted-out floor. We were initially pleased, but then it rained some more and now Mike can't empty wheelbarrows into it because his boots are only fully waterproof to about two inches.... (And I took that picture before yesterday's rain. Mmmm, soupy.) Other things that I've been doing: - getting my first flower delivery (they are lovely, I'm glad to be getting them again); - partially putting the polytunnel to bed for the winter (still need to clear out the old grow bags, but everything else is done); - making jam (we're growing a different variety of hot chilli this year. The first batch of chilli jelly was a bit too hot, but Mike says the second is more normal, so I'll have to poll the usual recipients and see which they'd prefer); - going to London for lunch (and a check up) with my dentist; - going to the Brogdale Apple Festival, which was much the same as usual. We did go on the walking tour this year, which we'd never done before as they don't allow dogs in the orchards and we always used to take Jo with us. We also went to a local riding school and had a lesson on a couple of their horses: we're still struggling with Benny's canter, so we hatched the plan with our riding instructor to go and have a ride on a different horse to remind us what it should be like. It incidentally confirmed that it's trotting on Benny that's been causing me back pain for the last year or so: we gradually narrowed it down to riding (and fiddling with his saddle helped a lot) and then to trotting, but trotting the riding school horse didn't hurt. Mike's having a second play of Red Dead Redemption 2 and we've just finished the first season of Stranger Things, so I've been getting quite a lot of sewing done. Progress remains very slow, but I think it's about half done now: (And I've nearly finished the cherry since I did that.) Link 5 kisses // Who loves you?

"I was hoping to see the ducklings" ♥Jun. 8th, 2019 // 05:10 pm♥ [Tags | ducks, quilt club, riding ] Said ex-Mrs-Up-The-Hill, mentioning that she'd driven past a few days ago but had only seen the adults running around the stableyard. Had to break it to her that those were the ducklings.... I've been out sewing today, starting what will end up as a purple quilt with stars on it. We were in a village hall that has fancy skylights, which open and close automagically depending on the temperature in the hall. Every time the sun came out, they opened. Every time it poured with rain, they closed again. They were very busy, today. It's been funny weather here (especially as Mike reports very little rain at home, fifteen minutes' drive away). Last night, we spent the evening sitting on astonishingly uncomfortable wooden bench seating in a drafty barn, watching our riding instructor's second-favourite riding instructor giving some lessons. Quite interesting to watch and, as our riding instructor was also there, we now have a very good idea what we'll be doing in our next few lessons. We're thinking of getting shutters with built-in blackout blinds in our bedroom, and in the course of getting a quote learnt that pretty much all wooden shutters (other than ones hand-carved by monks from 5000 year old trees fertilised with unicorn poo) come from a single factory in China, and are imported into the UK by one of two distributers. What I've been able to find online seems to support this, so it's interesting that there are so many companies selling them. There's obviously the installed vs fit them yourself distinction, but other than that I'm not sure what there is to choose between John Lewis and some bloke working out of his garden shed. Except possibly the fact that John Lewis don't seem to do the ones with built-in blackout blinds. Link Who loves you?

Idiot animal ♥May. 12th, 2019 // 09:22 pm♥ [Tags | pictures, riding ] I was riding Benny in the school yesterday when some pigeons flew out of the hedge and startled him. In the split second while that was happening, I fully expected him to spin away from them and head into the middle of the school. But no, the idiot animal turned towards them. Which also meant towards the fence. And the gate post. And as it happens, my leg was between him and it. I've got a lovely lump on my shin now, and my knee is quite raw. Link 13 kisses // Who loves you?

Things I have been doing rather than update DW ♥Feb. 28th, 2019 // 07:55 pm♥ [Tags | bob the dog, craft, ducks, eastercon, fandom, fanzines, garden, pictures, quilts, riding ] - Setting up a Top Sekrit Grow Room in the study. The tomatoes are doing well, but the germination rates for the chillis have been pretty bad (we're now experimenting with soaking them overnight in camomile tea, which apparently both softens them and is mildly anti-fungal). - Eating duck eggs! Zu Zu started laying last week. Hurrah! Poached eggs, and tasty pasta, and yellow cakes! (This is daylight-related, rather than temperature, although I'm sure the sunny days helped with the light levels.) - Hatching (ho ho) a plot: muscovies are supposed to be good mothers (as opposed to runners, who just lay an egg wherever they have to be, including in the pond); fertile runner duck eggs are about a pound a pop on eBay. Ella was particularly dutiful in her attempts to hatch a fake egg last year (I had to take it off her in the end), so I'm going to wait until she starts getting broody and then order her some eggs. - Writing, with lots of help from various people, biographies of past-Doc Weir winners, with varying degrees of difficulty: some of the early women winners are almost cyphers, some of the early men required a huge amount of editing of their many recorded achievements. On the other hand, many of the recent winners, who I thought would be easy ("I know her!") are actually quite tricky to write anything substantive about ("And the only fannish thing that she does is faithfully do that one job every year without fail or fault"). See the recent Eastercon PR if you'd like a paper copy of it. - (Possibly) destroying Doc Weir mythology: a decade or so back, the cup was valued at about £4000 (because you can't buy an equivalent today and so would have to get it custom made; a source of some stress to winners as they then had to pay to add it to their insurance). The paperwork was lost, though, so I contacted a local auction house to ask if they could do a valuation. When I sent some photos and the history of it, their silver expert said he could buy one tomorrow for £250-£350 so it wasn't worth paying for a formal valuation. - Riding in the weird weather: very odd to be going out, shivering in a t-shirt, to the frost-covered school and being too hot fifteen minutes later when the sun finishes rising. Benny and I went down the lane and back, for the first time since I had that fall. Planning a tiny little hack on Saturday. Benny is shedding (this is also daylight rather than temperature); on recent form, that means GB will start shedding some time in about June. - Doing a bit of gardening, mostly tidying up last year's dead perennial growth. The wild garlic is just starting to poke leaves up, and the early irises are now just about over but were lovely a week or so ago: - Taking Bob to the vet, where he unsuccessfully tried to fake the vet out and pretend that he didn't have a limp on his front left leg (worried I'd leave him there if he showed weakness, maybe?). Nothing obvious wrong, so metacam and rest, and trying not to identify too many parallels with this time last year. - Working on an experimental quilt. I have no idea if it will completely fall apart, or just look crap, or actually work as planned. - Failing at email (sorry, Carl, Juliet and others not on DW). Tomorrow, we're going to take the DW cup to another auction house for a third opinion and then collect a new, white runner, provisionally called Letice (but better suggestions are welcome: I don't remember any of the witches being famous for dressing all in white, does anyone else? One day I will find someone to sell me a pure black duck, and she will be called Tiffany). Link 10 kisses // Who loves you?

Busy busy ♥Jun. 27th, 2018 // 01:57 pm♥ [Tags | benny, bob the dog, carpal, family, horses, pictures, riding, visitors, weather ] We had Mike's family visiting over the weekend, so it's all been a bit busy. Still, it seemed to go well. Bob did very well, once he'd settled down after people arrived. He's very noticeably more barky at men, especially if they have beards. Fortunately, the dog-phobic visitor found the combination of howling and wagging tail to be very amusing, and even brought herself to feed him a treat, so that was good. The kids made a huge fuss of him, which he seemed to enjoy tremendously (at least, he didn't get up and walk off after a few minutes, like Jo would have). ( The Bob theorising bit ) ( The horse theorising bit ) Before that, I'd ridden Benny in the school, just some dressage basics in walk. He was being a bit of an idiot about going into one corner, by the orchard, which makes me wonder if our grass snake is back. I'm very pleased if so, because it can help the little owl to keep the rodent population down: (Ok, it's a bit Sammy The Brown Pixel, but he's quite shy so I took that from the house! Click to embiggen. Which is now a word!) After I'd ridden, while we were waiting for the Back Lady, I shut the gates to the field and the road and left them by the school, where the grass is in need of a trim. When I went back half an hour later to get them, GB was mooching around in the school (he quite likes to have a little run around in there for old times' sake, and he *loves* to have a good roll on the nice big, flat, soft surface) and Benny was... standing in the middle of the field eating grass. I suppose, if he's going to jump the gate, it's better that he goes into the field rather than out of it...? (I'm reminded of the way he tried to jump into the field when we first got him.) Other things? I've been saying for a good year that there's something wrong with a couple of keys on my Macbook keyboard, and a couple of weeks ago the spacebar started to go iffy as well, which is good timing as apparently they've now admitted that it's a Thing and will (hopefully, as this is the original and worst design) give me a new keyboard: handy, as I've now had this for long enough that the keycaps are wearing off! My wrists are misbehaving. They were really bad a couple of weeks ago (I always struggle at this time of year, from weeding), but seemed to have improved. I am finding that my right hand is going numb whenever I drive or ride, which is annoying. I've been off the sewing, because of this (and visitors), but have done two swans so far. My mother said the other day (from Greece) that my sister said that their lawn was all brown, because it had been so dry. I woke up today to the news that the moors are burning, so I guess it really has been dry there. Hope they manage to get it under control. I'm quite glad that my brother-in-law is retired from the fire service. Link 9 kisses // Who loves you?

Bits and Bobs ♥Jun. 6th, 2018 // 04:37 pm♥ [Tags | benny, bob the dog, garden, riding ] Bits: - We have tomatoes in the polytunnel! Nowhere near ripe, yet, but there are plenty of fruit starting to set. Since those first two courgettes, we've not had any more (they didn't like the grey damp weather), but there are now a few mange tout and a couple of pods of peas, and the runner beans are shooting up. - My leg is now almost entirely back to being leg-coloured but is still very swollen, so I still can't fasten my riding boots properly. On the plus side, it's much less sore, and I'm pretty much back to normal riding again, because... - ... Benny is getting over his pulled whatever-it-is much more quickly this time, presumably because he was more muscled up in general, and is now almost back to normal. and Bobs: - Bob's leg is healing nicely, although not as nicely as it would be doing if he didn't keep catching one of the scabs when he's rolling around in the grass. For now, he's still wearing pooch pants, but only because of that little surface wound. He's back to walking, zooming and jumping over stiles as normal. - We had a good session with the doggy shrink last week (although I got rather sunburned: I'm used to walking in the woods, not at the seaside!), and she gave us various tips for getting / keeping his attention when there are other dogs around or when people come to the house. - Over the weekend, Bob walked to the pub and met lots of dogs, often very abruptly, on the way but was good with all of them. - He's also improving with people around the house, but he's by no means where we want him to be. We had visitors at weekend, and he got a bit over-excited when they were arriving, but nothing too bad and he calmed down after a zoom in the field. - Today, we've had a visit from a man to look at the boiler and another to read the electricity. The first didn't even merit a huff, the second he barked at constantly until he was off the property. I suspect that the difference was largely because we were on the drive waiting when the boiler man pulled up (he'd phoned me, twice, fifteen minutes apart, from the same spot, to get directions. And then drove straight past the house...) but the electricity man rang the doorbell. This suggests an obvious training opportunity! Link Who loves you?

Animal magic ♥May. 13th, 2018 // 03:09 pm♥ [Tags | benny, bob the dog, ducks, riding ] I've not really ridden since Monday, as my leg's still sore (it rained last night, so I couldn't just go around in my trainers this morning. After an attempt to get my boots on I gave up and wore an old pair of Mike's: ankle and foot are still rather swollen), but Mike's had a few goes on Benny. He's started hopping again, which probably means that when I came off him he re-tweaked whatever it was that he tweaked to make him go hoppy in the first place. Sigh. Hopefully it won't take so long to get better this time. We're trying out clicker training with Bob. He's now excellent at dropping his toy to have it re-thrown, with much less trying to play tug-of-war. He's a bit better at coming when called, although he's still crap if he's busy with an interesting smell. We're having a bit of success at stopping him from barking, but not a huge amount. Yesterday, we left him in the garden while we moved lumps of concrete across the stableyard to the skip. Unfortunately, next door's cat came into his view and the next thing we knew he'd jumped the gate, run across the stableyard, and jumped the wall onto the road. Fortunately he lost sight of the cat at that point and stopped, but annoyingly he now knows that he can get out. Even more unfortunately, when we got him back into the stableyard he was still excited and decided to play with the ducks. No harm done, but he spent the rest of the time we were out there with his muzzle on, and being busy rolling around trying to get it off was enough distraction that he left the girls alone. The local dog trainer's been on holiday, but I'll be giving him a call next week. (The rescue assured us that they'd tested him with cats and he was fine. Then again, they also said he'd been chipped and vaccinated, so.) We also have a bit of an egg mystery going on: Zu Zu laid consistently for a fortnight, then stopped and hasn't laid for a couple of weeks now. In the gap, Magrat laid for about four days and then stopped. This morning, Agnes had laid. I had some rubber fake eggs, which I was trying to convince Zu Zu were really hers without much success, so I bought some apparently very realistic sand-filled ones. I popped one in the nest this morning, when I took out Agnes's, and left the other two, along with the two rubber ones, on a pile of bricks in the stable. When I went to feed the girls at lunch time, the two realistic ones and one of the rubber ones were gone (although the realistic one in the nest was still there), which rather makes me think that something is stealing them, and possibly that Erzulie has been laying all along and we've just been missing the eggs. As she tends to lay late morning (unlike the runners, who usually lay before they come out in the morning), I'm not sure how we're going to stop it happening, short of popping out every five minutes to look for an egg (and disturbing her from laying in the process). Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Back on the horse ♥May. 11th, 2018 // 04:41 pm♥ [Tags | garden, pictures, riding ] I had a go on Benny this morning, for the first time since I came off. Then I decided that it was too uncomfortable, and Mike got on instead. My leg is going all sorts of interesting colours. I just hope that the swelling goes down some more before Sunday, when the weather forecast makes me suspect that I'll want to be back in my boots, rather than the trainers I've been living in for the last few days. We've been busy in the garden. I'm not sure how it is, but even though we keep planting things out in the garden there always seem to be more things left to do. Well, ok, part of that may be that I ordered a load of plants online for the former veg bed, and they're gradually being delivered.... Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

The trouble with plans.... ♥May. 7th, 2018 // 10:23 am♥ [Tags | benny, garden, ow, pictures, riding ] The plan for today was that I would dig over the new veg bed while Mike mowed the lawn, and then we'd move some hay bales onto it (we're going to experiment with putting the squash in hay bales, as we have plenty of spares) and plant out the courgettes (crossing our fingers for the weather, but they are about to flower and we can always put fleece over them if we have to). Oh, and moving lumps of concrete into the skip. But first, lovely sunny day, I took Benny out for a hack. Tootling along the lane, a car came up behind us. Inconvenient place for it, as it's a long way until the next passing place, so we switched up to a trot so as not to delay them for too long. Benny was going along quite happily until he caught sight of a sheep through a gap in the hedge. There are sheep in the field next to ours. They frequently stand around watching when I ride Benny in the school. He is entirely unconcerned by them when he's at home, so I don't understand why they suddenly become so terrifying when we're out on a hack. They are, though, so he span 180, I went off the side and he tried to head for home but couldn't because I'd kept the reins. Unfortunately, when he tried to head for home I was between him and home, and one of his feet came down on my leg. Fortunately, the people in the car were the (small animal) vets, on their way to their practice open day. After I reassured them that I was ok and only a little bit trampled (I think they were thinking that one of them would drive me home while the other led the horse back), they came and held Benny while I sorted myself out and got back onboard, and then reversed back down the road and went the long way around so I wouldn't have to worry about holding them up. I decided it was probably best if we didn't go for a canter in the woods today, so instead we just pootled around the lanes a bit more, passing as many sheep as I could because really he needs to get over this, and then headed for home. In our absence, Mike reports that GB was very well behaved, only calling for Benny once, when he saw us coming back down the hill, which is excellent news and does make me hope we'll be able to stop sedating him. I was slightly worried that I wouldn't be able to walk (to the extent of having Mike stand ready to catch me when I dismounted), but I managed to hobble around the field to poo pick before coming in, being helped out of my jods, and inspecting the damage. I am very glad that 1) the horses are barefoot and 2) that I didn't go with my impulse this morning to ride in short boots so as to be cooler. I don't think I'll be doing any digging, though. Link 8 kisses // Who loves you?

On horses and hikers ♥Mar. 10th, 2018 // 10:25 pm♥ [Tags | riding ] There's a thing that hikers and dog walkers tend to do when they see a horse. They get off the path. I know why they do it, but it is Wrong. Horses are prey animals, and even the most relaxed of them is constantly on the lookout for predators. If they see a person, with or without a dog, standing on the path in front of them then they go "Ah, a person." If they see a person, especially with a dog, lurking behind a tree near the path then they go "Ambush!" Please remember this and pass it on to walkers of your acquaintance. (We didn't have an oopsie this morning, but only because Benny is a good lad. He was, however, frightfully nervous of the three walkers plus dog that he'd spotted on a cross path several hundred yards before they saw us and who then who kindly stayed in the undergrowth until we'd passed. Even more so when, when we were only a couple of hundred yards away, another horse went across our path at speed close to where they were lurking, in what was *obviously* a sensible reaction of running away from the ambush.) Link 16 kisses // Who loves you?

Hacking ♥Feb. 22nd, 2018 // 09:19 pm♥ [Tags | benny, riding ] This morning, I took Benny out into the main part of the woods (where we usually walk) for the first time. Given that it was a horrible cold windy morning, he did superbly. He doesn't like water troughs, and apparently is very dubious about sheep, but even when he was very nervous he was a good boy. At one point, he decided that he'd got worryingly far from home and started calling for GB, but fortunately it was only a few minutes until the path turned a corner back towards home and he relaxed. (Horses have amazingly good direction senses. In his younger days, I'd take GB out for long rides to unknown places. An hour or so from home, we'd get to a junction and I'd be looking up the map on my phone while he looked around and ambled off in the right direction.) I was amused to note that a ride that used to take GB about an hour and a half, including several canters, took Benny 55 minutes with only a couple of short trots. (The trots, incidentally, were fine. No funny business when he's going in a straight line.) Next time I take him up there, I'll let him have a run. For today it was more important to let him look around and learn his way. Plus, it was horribly muddy in the woods. Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Poor pooch ♥Feb. 16th, 2018 // 06:09 pm♥ [Tags | benny, jodie the dog, riding ] Jo was sick yesterday afternoon, which was a bit worrying, but then she was sick again three times in an hour this afternoon. As it happened, the third time happened while Mike was on the way to the vet to pick up more medication for her, so I phoned and they added an anti-nausea pill to the stack. Unfortunately, she turned her nose up at her dinner and she's just been sick again. Fortunately, when I went through it with a spoon I found a bit of cheese but no actual pill, so hopefully enough of it got into her to do some good. Also, no blood, which the vet was worried about. In better news, Riding Instructor came to have a go on Benny this afternoon. I'd not realised, but the last three times I'd ridden him (for the vet, the saddler, and the dealer) Mike wasn't around (and neither was she). Although I've been saying 'he seemed a bit better today than he was last time', I'd not quite twigged that kept happening. He wasn't *right* today, but Mike and Riding Instructor were both impressed by the improvement, to the extent that Riding Instructor didn't bother to get on him. Her theory is still that he Did Something when the dentist was here, and it's just taken longer to improve than we expected. I'm going to go back to riding him, and just try to work through the weirdness. And improve his balance! Right, time to see if I can get Jo to come back in from the garden.... Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Hmm. That's going to be a problem.... ♥Dec. 24th, 2017 // 01:32 pm♥ [Tags | benny, horses, riding ] This morning, I took Benny out for another hack, and we had a couple of nice canters up in the woods. Then I had to duck to go under a low branch, and learnt that Benny treats leaning forwards when hacking as a signal to canter. Oops. Yeah, going to have to work on training him out of that one! Other than that, we had a nice (if tiring) time, although it didn't take as long as I was expecting: we were back in 45 minutes, when that route would have taken maybe an hour and a quarter on GB. Might have to do something to slow the walk down a little! Now that I think back, though, I remember the time when I was plodding along on GB and a nearby neighbour came up behind me, had time to say two sentences, and then vanished off in the distance, all without moving out of walk. She favours horses with the same breeding as we think Benny has.... GB did better this time than last, Mike reports, which is also good. Maybe we will be able to manage without the sedation in a few weeks more? Benny's been doing well in the school as well. No massive progress yet, but we managed a visible leg yield the other day, and we've started on turn on the forehand. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Everything's better with drugs... ♥Dec. 17th, 2017 // 11:44 am♥ [Tags | angelo, benny, horses, riding ] This morning, I took Benny out for a little hack, for the first time since Bugsy left. That meant that GB was Left Alone, which we were a bit worried by, so in a fit of organisation I'd already got a tube of sedative from the vet. He wasn't terribly impressed when I shoved it down his throat ("It's palatable," said the vet, "so you can put it in his feed if you want." "Yeah, right," I thought, and was right: no way he would have eaten his food with it in), but when I went to pick his feet up fifteen minute later he was swaying slightly, and by the time Benny and I left he only managed to stagger up to a trot to chase across the stableyard to come with us. Mike reports that he shouted for about fifteen minutes (as opposed to screaming, which I was worried would happen) and then calmed down to eat hay with occasional shouts. When we got back, he did just about manage to get up to the field, but he was a bit wobbly on the slope: I'm not sure how he'd do if it had been slippery rather than frozen solid, so if we do the same thing on a muddy day we may have to remember to take them to the field the long way around. Benny was also very good. There was one icy patch on the road, which he took very slowly and carefully, and he had a good look at a few things (eg, pheasants, water troughs) but wasn't as worried as last time. When we got to the end of the road and I told him to keep going, he was a bit concerned, but once we got onto the bridleway he was very much up for nice run (which I denied him, keeping it down to a sedate trot instead). We didn't go very far at all before we turned back for him, but I want to take it slowly and was a bit worried about GB! We had his front shoes taken off a couple of days ago (having had the back ones off the day he arrived) but he didn't seem at all bothered by that, which was also good. (Actually, he'll have done better on the ice without them.) On the way home, he was rushing a bit but nothing too bad until we got level with our school, when the mares over the road started running around and GB shouted: Benny did break into a little trot then, but he came back to walk fairly well, so all in all I think it was a success. I suppose I'd better get a permit to go in the woods, after having let it lapse! I've got enough sedative for five more goes (possibly more, if I give him a smaller dose after the first couple of times: he is very susceptible to it), and then we might try him without... or we might just get another tube! Link Who loves you?

Whips (no chains) ♥Dec. 8th, 2017 // 10:56 am♥ [Tags | benny, horses, riding ] I've been riding Benny without a whip since he arrived, because he doesn't need it for the basic stop / go stuff and I wasn't sure how he'd react to one, given how scared he is of being hit. Last time I rode him, though, I was starting to feel the absence of a whip when I was doing things where it would have been helpful to use one to give him a little nudge left or right, so I thought I'd give it a go and see how he felt about it. This morning, I tried it out, and he is indeed terrified of it: he was ok if I just carried it, but every time I swapped it from one hand to the other he jumped, even though I didn't touch him with it at all. We spent a little while going around in walk with me swapping it over, and then I put it down and went on without it. I suspect it's going to take a little while to even get to the stage where I can just move it around stroking him! Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Rain stopped play ♥Dec. 7th, 2017 // 08:05 pm♥ [Tags | christmas, cooking, pictures, riding ] Or at least, rain stopped riding lesson and meant that the horses only got a couple of hours in the stableyard, rather than going in the field. To make up for it, I've been busy with Christmas-ish things. I decanted the sloe gin: (Good year for sloes, unlike last.) Then as I'd done that I thought I may as well put some of the sloe gin, and a last few other bits, into the hampers and, then I thought I may as well box them up ready for couriering off. Then I thought I may as well get the other courier stuff ready, and if I was doing some Christmas wrapping then I may as well do all of it while I was at it. Then I thought I'd take advantage of the Aga being hot, so I made sausage rolls and a cake for the Medium Quilt Club Christmas do. Then Mike had a migraine, so I had to get my own tea. And now I'm a bit tired! Link 5 kisses // Who loves you?

More weather ♥Dec. 1st, 2017 // 01:39 pm♥ [Tags | benny, pictures, riding, weather ] Today has been rather changeable, weather-wise: we had rain, hail and sleet just while we were getting the boys ready to go into the field, which rather scuppered my plan to ride Benny first thing. After we'd mucked out, though, the sun came out and I thought I'd take a chance on it staying there. I think that was the only decent dry hour of the day, so I'm glad that I decided to risk it! Mike even had a little ride around on him, for the first time since we got him home. Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Ah, spring.... ♥Feb. 19th, 2017 // 10:08 am♥ [Tags | angelo, riding ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1200325.html ] It's amazing what riding GB on a warm, sunny spring morning will do for my mood, especially when he's going really well (for a geriatric!) and we get to have a nice session! Link Who loves you?

Bloody animals ♥Dec. 8th, 2016 // 05:18 pm♥ [Tags | bugsy, horses, ow, riding ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1188988.html ] As we do, we rode the horses this morning. Even though it was a bit windy, Bugsy was very well behaved for me, and we started doing some (for him) fairly complicated sequences of movements. He did really well the first time through, and the second time was also going great until he caught sight of TWWOTV's two mares charging around on the side of the hill and took off after them. In much the same way as Mike really needs to stop landing on the same shoulder every time, I really need to stop landing (almost) flat on my back. Trotting afterwards was incredibly uncomfortable. "I'm starting to wonder if we should keep him," Mike said. Still, I'm doing better than I was: I still can't bend over but I can now crouch down. Getting back up again is pretty horrific, mind. Pooch is wondering why she's not getting stroked as much as usual, and indeed why I keep making peculiar noises when she head-butts me to make sure I'm aware of the deficiency. This will rather play silly buggers with plans for the next few days, including how long Mike manages to get to the office for tomorrow (rather depends on whether I can muck out; I couldn't today), the amusing scene of Mike attempting to get the Christmas tree into the car on his own on Saturday, and quite probably Mike having to porter Christmas presents and wrapping paper around the house on Sunday as I get things ready to send off. Poor Mike's had to do everything today, including holding GB for the dreaded blood test of doom. Still, he didn't get smashed into the wall, so that's a win. Link Who loves you?

WTF ♥Oct. 8th, 2016 // 08:10 pm♥ [Tags | hunt, riding ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1180670.html ] This afternoon, while walking Jo, Mike and I came across a length of dark green cord, really quite hard to see in the grey, that someone had tied across the path at chest height. We boggled slightly about why anyone would do that, untied it, and it was only as I was coiling it up to take away with us (annoyingly, or I'd have taken photos) that I made the connection to the fact that the hunt was out this morning (several miles away, as it happened, but I guess that the sabs had the wrong information). It was just at the end of a lovely long canter - up a short hill and then a nice wide, open forestry road along the flat - and I dread to think what would have happened if someone had ridden into it. Whether you agree with hunting or not, I really can't imagine the mindset that would do that. Lots of people ride, and cycle, in those woods, not just the hunt. A couple of years ago, I used to regularly bomb along there on GB. I sent the hunt, and the Forestry lady, an email about it, and one of the masters just called to say he was going to speak to the police so that at least they'd have it logged. I'm seriously boggled. Link Who loves you?

Things from the last ten days ♥Aug. 26th, 2016 // 07:37 am♥ [Tags | bugsy, jodie the dog, pilates, riding, weather ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1174446.html ] It's too hot. We had a thunderstorm last night, but not much actual rain: Jo was alternately terrified at being downstairs alone and then delighted when Mike went to fetch her up to our room. The trees are dropping leaves, it's been so dry. Mike is on his third migraine day in a row, which is not so good. As part of Project Get Bugsy Fit, I've been not having a chance to / being to hot to / putting off cantering him when he's being ridden, but I did so this morning and he was pretty much perfect, which is a relief: I was worried we were going to be back to titting about. Jodie's been discharged by the orthopaedic vet, who was very pleased with her x-rays. She's still having swimming lessons, and she can start to go off the lead at the end of her walk in a couple more weeks. Yesterday at the vet, another dog owner said how pretty she was and then asked if she was a crossbreed. I was confused, and the other dog owner explained that she looked like one because the hair was a different length on her back and one of her legs. Pretty sure that that's not how genetics works.... We had a barbecue, and the weather was much better than it might have been, and people came and seemed to have fun. On Sunday, we have more family invasion: Mike's mother and aunt-from-America are coming to stay. I've spent far too much time curled up on the sofa with a book, and must instead get on with gardening, making passata, and making Christmas cards and presents. Just as soon as it's less hot.... Almost inevitably, I'm feeling under-challenged by my new Pilates class. I'm going to a pole dancing try-out session next week, and am seriously considering trying out Physique 57, which seems to be BarreCore on steroids and has a lot of online classes, with a week of free access. (There is a barre class that uses my current Pilates studio space, and I think a couple of people in the class have been: I might ask them how hard it is / where the instructor trained.) Link 3 kisses // Who loves you?

Things unrelated to lame animals ♥Jul. 10th, 2016 // 06:07 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, craft, jodie the dog, pilates, riding ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1168329.html ] A good one: this morning, I had a lovely ride on GB. He was going brilliantly, and it left me feeling very pleased with how we got on. A less good one: my upper back / shoulders have been a bit sore for a few days, which I'd vaguely put down to being stressed about lame animals until I thought about it a bit more. I was sore in what I think was the same way about eighteen months ago, which is what lead to the hypermobility diagnosis, and which I eventually decided was being caused by something wrong (for me) in the way my then Pilates instructor taught. (And, indeed, this was a part of the reason I moved to a different one not long after.) That instructor (as well as working where I used to go to her classes) works for the place I've just started at and, quite conceivably, had a lot of her training from my new instructor*, which makes me wonder if there's some bit of positioning that the new instructor likes but my body doesn't. I'll have a chat with her on Tuesday, I think. * Who I am liking, although I am frantically Waiting Until The End Of The Six-Week Class Cycle before I say "I thought this was an advanced class?" This afternoon, I made a stripy top out of knitted fabric. I'm not madly keen on the fabric, but it was cheap (nominally seconds, though I can't see any flaws in it). The sewing went pretty smoothly, once I gave up on trying to backstitch my start and end points (which just resulted in the sewing machine eating the corner of the fabric; I was using a fancy stretch stitch anyway, so it was kind of backstitching itself), and apparently I am a high street size 16. Better go and buy a new wardrobe! Lame animal update: we're going to be Firm With Vets, so tomorrow I'm going to call Jo's vet and ask if they have a date for the op and tell them that if they don't get me one by the next day then I'm going to go elsewhere (Mrs Next Door recommended a specialist ortho vets, who will probably be able to fit her in much quicker), and then I'm going to call Bug's vet and cancel this grand day out malarky at least until after Jo's op, and tell him I want him to come and give him the same injection as he's already had in the other leg to see if that cures it. Link Who loves you?

Boys ♥Jun. 18th, 2016 // 06:06 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, horses, jodie the dog, riding ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1162551.html ] This morning, we rode the boys. Mike went on GB, and I briefly lunged Bugs and then rode him as the vet instructed. They both seemed fine. GB was a little reluctant to stay in the canter, but whether that was because he was sore or because he's lazy is hard to say. Mike reported that Bugs looked very good, and he didn't feel at all lame to ride, so fingers are crossed. (Although, as I said to my riding instructor, and never mind what the vet says, my current plan is to work Bugs every day for a week so that next week I can go back to the vet and say "right, he's lame again, please will you come and see him when he's not just had a week off?") One of the things that the vet was muttering about yesterday was sacroiliac, which is some variety of gubbins in the back - a nerve, maybe? It's not a terribly common problem. This vet has been in the area for about six or eight months. He also diagnosed it for The Horse Next Door (wrong) and for Not Very Next Door Neighbour's horse (has had the treatment and is now having the summer off, after which we'll see if it worked). This does rather make it seem as though it's his pet diagnosis. Jo seems to be hobbling less today. Whether that's because of the laser treatment that the vet did or because we're trying to get her to rest it is a mystery. She's feeling enough better that she's doing that 'hang behind when the humans walk off so that I can run to catch up' thing that she does when walk-deprived.... Link Who loves you?

Good animals! ♥Apr. 3rd, 2016 // 09:11 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, garden, jodie the dog, riding, weather ] [ xpost | http://flick.livejournal.com/1150219.html ] This morning, we went out for a little hack on the boys, and took Jo along. They all did wonderfully: GB only balked slightly as he went past a Scary Thing, Bugs didn't get himself worked up about anything and, just as we were nearly home, both of them went very calmly past a terrified lamb that was in the road, on the wrong side of the fence. This last was very fortunate, because Jo was Rather Interested, to the extent of starting to slink towards in until I got her attention and brought her back to heel. We're not sure if she was hunting or herding, but either way we're glad she stopped. (I sent Bad Farmer a text to let him know....) This afternoon, we have been in the Potting Shed Conservatory: we've been a bit slack about starting new seeds in the propagator, so we're rather behind on last year. On the other hand, I think we were a bit early with some things last year, so it should be ok in the end. This evening, just as I was on the phone to my mother, there was a big crash of thunder. A quick look at the rainfall radar and I said "I'll call you back" and dashed out to give the boys their supper before the rain arrived. Not that much rain, in the end, but lots of thunder and lightning, to Jo's misery. She's mostly calmed down now, but it's a measure of how worried she was that Mike's let her lie in front of our sofa, In The Way. Seems to have stopped now, thankfully. Link Who loves you?

Aaaahhh ♥Dec. 29th, 2015 // 08:27 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, going out, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1130932.html ] Sofa. Gin. Tonic. Home-grown lemon. Happy pooch. (We've just got back from dinner out, as Mike was feeling Sick Of Cooking. We went to the Mexican place in Canterbury, which was absolutely rammed when we got there and barely less so when we left: they had people waiting at the bar for couples tables. If we'd known, we probably would have just gone to the pub but, in fact, the food arrived so quickly that I assumed they'd brought it to the wrong table and it never took more than about thirty seconds of staring at the till/kitchen entrance before our waitress dashed over to help, which I was very impressed by given that she said they were as surprised as we were by the numbers.) This morning, we had our somewhat disrupted riding lessons: I did twenty minutes on GB, and then our instructor spent half an hour seeing how Bugs did with being lunged (which she thinks will help him). As expected (and the reason we got her to do it first), as soon as she started he went "time to run around like a loon!", but she did manage to get him being mostly calm after a while, so we now just need to keep working on it: five or ten minutes each time we're going to ride him. Link Who loves you?

Bits and bobs ♥Dec. 15th, 2015 // 04:22 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, christmas, family, glasses, house, pilates, questions, riding, visitors ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1127717.html ] The parents have been and gone. We had a fairly good time, although the weather wasn't terribly nice: at least it was mostly dry. I kept staying up far too late chatting, oops. It was Mike's work Chirstmas do on Monday, so they took me out for a lovely dinner at Deeson's. I picked up my new glasses yesterday, and have been wearing them since I got home: no headaches, which is always nice, so I think they're ok. I also got a copy of my prescription: R -1.25, -2.0, 20; L -0.75, -3.0, 160 (was R: -0.5, -2.0, 25; L: -0.5, -2.75, 155, so the change is more eyesight and less astigmatism than I'd thought). The splashback for behind the Aga arrived, so the decorator came back and fitted it (eventually: it was a tight fit!) and finished off the painting. It looks very nice, now that it's all done, so we're pleased with it. I must leave him some good feedback on MyBuilder: we'd definitely use him again. I had a rather depressing riding lesson on Tuesday: it should have been Mike's turn to ride GB, but I've been a bit worried about his bad leg (I jumped on him for a quick fifteen minute ride on Monday, and he was fine until I cantered on the bad leg after which my very non-horsey mother could see that his walk wasn't right) so I rode him instead. Our instructor was quite pleased that we'd not stuck to the usual pattern because she'd been struggling to think of enough things that he was still able to do with Mike riding to fill 45 minutes. We did half an hour, and decided that he probably can't have lessons with me riding either (I might go back to just doing fifteen minutes, which we did for a little while last winter, but he's worse this year than he was then so it may not work). Just have to play it by ear, I guess. If I can get him through the winter, he should perk up again in spring, but it's still incredibly mild here (nothing below 8C on the seven day, 24 hour forecast!) so I'm very worried about what will happen if we have a bad January and/or February as they've been forecasting. This morning, I had Pilates (we did Pilates circuit training, which was fun but a bit too (ie, at all) sweaty for my tastes), and this afternoon I've been boxing up the presents that need posting ready for Mike to take them to the Post Office tomorrow. I've also put the Christmas tree up, and now I'm really quite knackered. I have a small pile of misc consumer electronics that are looking for a new homes (perfectly fine if annoyingly controlled microwave, digital radio that probably just needs a new power cable, Dyson that works but not as well as it should so probably needs a thorough service). Do charities take electrical goods any more? Any other ideas? Link Who loves you?

Brrr ♥Nov. 22nd, 2015 // 11:08 pm♥ [Tags | going out, music, riding, weather ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1122532.html ] It's been a bit parky this weekend. We had a little sleet on Saturday morning, but nothing more. We've had some very hard frosts (-3C and below), though (note to self: must get a cover for the stableyard tap...), and this morning Mike came back from having a look at the school with a shaking head, so we went for a little hack instead: lovely morning, very cold but sunny and not a bit of wind, so it was lovely. Particularly on the way back, when most of the ice on the road had melted, so the boys were a lot happier. Jodie, of course, was deliriously happy and had a lovely time charging around smelling all the exciting things. On the plus side, it's going to warm up tonight. On the minus side, that's because it's going to rain all night and most of the morning, which isn't going to do the field any good at all. It's already looking pretty grotty. Last night, we went to see (some of) the Oysterband doing Oysters 3, which was a mix of acoustic back catalogue and (variably) amusing anecdotes about the history of the band (turns out that they met and got together in the pub that was our polling station for the general election! We knew they were local, but not that they were that lovcal). Great fun, I would thoroughly recommend trying to get along if it hadn't been the last night of the tour. Link Who loves you?

Felty ♥Nov. 10th, 2015 // 05:33 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, bugsy, craft, photos, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1121091.html ] This week, one of the "done a bit before" women didn't come to the needle felting class, so I suspect she's decided it's too noddy and jacked it in. The instructor remembered that there was a form we were all supposed to complete last week. Just as we were packing up, she remembered another one and promised we'd do it next week. It's only a three week course, so I hope for her sake that that's all the paperwork.... Today I finished my birdie, and made the little spherical robin I'd been originally planning to do as well: It took about a quarter or fifth as long, and I much prefer it! This afternoon, we rode (thankfully getting it done before the rain arrived). It wasn't a terribly positive session: GB's dodgy leg was dodgy, so I was worried about him, and then Mike couldn't really get Bugs to canter on a circle (Bugs doesn't like cantering on a circle-- his balance isn't quite up to it--so it's hard work to get him to do it. Because his balance isn't quite up to it, he can't go running off, so Mike feels safer that way and wants to work up to going all the way around the school when he feels he can trust Bugs to behave on a circle. It's a wee bit Catch 22-ish) so I jumped on him for the last five minutes. I had to give him a bit of a kick to get it, but he did as he was told. Then I tried in the other direction, and got what was very definitely a "don't /wanna/" buck out of him. Made him do it anyway, trotted for a bit, asked him to canter again and he did with no bother, so I told him he was a good boy and stopped on a good note. I wish I could figure out what's going on in his head. We're going to suggest that the sitter lunge rather than ride him this weekend.... Link Who loves you?

Another busy day ♥Oct. 24th, 2015 // 04:25 pm♥ [Tags | craft, house, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1116242.html ] This morning, the decorator came to get ready for the Aga installation: taking off the old tiles and re-plastering (wow, he made that look easy!), chipping the bottom part down to the brick on one side to make the space slightly bigger, and levelling off the floor. All done by lunchtime, which was good, we just need to keep Jo off the floor for a bit. While he was doing that, we rode (Mike's first time on Bugs since his Little Moment, all went ok but we did end up swapping because Bugs wasn't *quite* sound and I wanted to give him a canter. Didn't seem to make much different, but we'll see how he is in a couple of days) and I went to a local craft and (mostly) quilting show for a nose around. Some nice stuff, and some intriguing ideas, as well as a quilt made by Mrs Up The Hill, which I made sure to memorise a couple of conversation hooks from! This afternoon, we've had a really big bonfire. We've burnt about half of the fence posts and panels, and none of the leylandii: in retrospect, we should have realised that trees that they removed with a digger would need chopping up before we could move them! We're now trying to decide if it's better to chainsaw them, or just to build the next fire on top of them. (And now it's raining. That's annoying, it wasn't forecast to start for another few hours. Guess we'll get wet bringing the boys in. At least they've got their raincoats on, unlike The Horse Next Door.) Link Who loves you?

This may not bode well ♥Oct. 22nd, 2015 // 06:31 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, house, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1115510.html ] This morning, Mike being off in London, I took GB in the school. (Even though the cows are now finally gone, I didn't want to risk Bugs having another Moment when I was on my own.) I noticed that he didn't have quite the stamina in canter that he usually has. It's probably related to the loss of muscle on his back that the saddler noticed last week, but I don't know if that physical change is cause (he is, after all, in ludicrously good condition for his age) or effect (possibly because I've been schooling Bugs a lot lately, so he's not been worked so hard). Or, indeed, if he was just able to tell that I'm still rather sore (as opposed to actively aching) from Saturday's Moment, and that was making him less happy about going on (he is very good about looking after people, Riding School Legacy). Something to keep an eye on, anyway. Tomorrow morning, we're having the old Aga removed, at ludicrously short notice (I think I failed to mention this: it is roughly when the Nice Man From Aga originally said it would probably be, but they didn't actually confirm it for ages because -- sigh -- there was a note on our file that Someone Else needed to check if the short notice would be a problem, which Someone Else failed to do, thus making the notice Even Shorter). (Sufficiently short notice that the electrician is coming in to put the new power cables *after* the old one is removed, tomorrow afternoon, the plasterer/decorator will be working the weekend, and the Nice Man From Aga will have to come for the site inspection on the evening before the installation, rather than several days in advance.) This evening, as his last, nice-and-quick job of the day (he only lives around the corner, relatively speaking), the engineer from our local Aga servicing place came to quickly cap off the oil pipe so that it was nice and safe for the removal tomorrow. This, I note, is Exactly What The Nice Aga Man Told Us To Arrange, down to the company we booked to do it. As it happens, it was the same guy who combed all his mates' old plumbing supplies to find the right size nut that got the old Aga coaxed back into life last autumn. He's a lovely chap, and I will miss having him in to service the Aga. There followed a fair bit of explaining, use of torches, inspection of pipes, and contemplation of the practicality of removing the cupboard from the wall to give him better access, but he eventually concluded that, actually, there was no way he could do the job that he'd been booked for when the Aga was still there and, even if he did, we'd still need to get a heating engineer in to finish the job off. Naturally (see above re: last-job-of-the-day), I couldn't get hold of Nice Aga Man after hours. At present, the oil is turned off by the valve, at both ends of the pipe (but needs to have caps fitted on them and -- for which we need a heating engineer -- the oil in the pipe flushing out to prevent a fire risk). This isn't strictly safe, because "some idiot could turn them both back on and then you'd have a kitchen full of oil", but should be ok in the short term. There's a Special Box that goes between the Aga and the pipe, which is almost certainly full of oil, so that will make a horrible mess tomorrow when they take it off, but, fingers crossed, they will still agree/be able to do the removal.... Link Who loves you?

Old pains and new ♥Oct. 20th, 2015 // 05:54 pm♥ [Tags | bugsy, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1115368.html ] We're both feeling much better, now, and only a little achy. Unfortunately, Mike's decided to celebrate this with one of the worst migraines he's had in a while, with none of his usual triggers in anything he's eaten, which is odd and very unpleasant for him. This morning, I Got Back On The Horse. He was rather nervous at first, even though there weren't any cows nearby (or possibly because he was waiting for them to pop up out of nowhere), but he did calm down eventually. I decided to play it safe, though, so we mostly walked with a little trotting, tucked away in the centre of the the school where it's safe(er). Link Who loves you?

How do we stand the excitment? ♥Oct. 3rd, 2015 // 03:23 pm♥ [Tags | going out, house, neighbours, riding, shopping, weather ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1110616.html ] This morning, we went to the Country Store, because they were having a sale on horse and pet stuff. The car is now full of sacks of feed, which we keep forgetting to take out (Edit: yay, got most of them out. Damn, forgot to get the last one...). This afternoon, we went to the opening of the new village hall. Unfortunately, we only arrived fifteen minutes late rather than, say, forty: we were early enough to get the speeches and the Cutting Of The Giant Ribbon by An Old Lady Who Was Born In The Village And Never Left, but too late to get the free fizz. It does look very nice inside, though, and the new shop is hugely better than the old one (admittedly, that was in a small shipping container, so it's not much of a leap. You could now go in there and leave with the ingredients of a basic meal, though, and they had some nice-looking small-producer frozen ready meals). I picked up a leaflet for the WI, and I'm glad that I did: I've been thinking about going for ages, and meant to go last month but didn't because I had to pick Mike up from the station. Instead, I decided that I was definitely going to go this month but, as I've learnt that it's the AGM, I think I might wait until November! The new fences are all done, and the dodgy gates fixed, and everything is nice and tidy other than the huge piles of Stuff To Burn, which we wouldn't let them set fire to as what little wind there is has been going towards next door. The forecast for tomorrow looks good for us having a bonfire, though. Igor's Minions are very hard workers, and very nice chaps; their English has vastly improved over the last two years, too, so no more three-way phone calls via Igor. I'd recommend them it would be useful to anyone reading this. It was foggy this morning (at least that means we didn't get a frost, unlike yesterday morning), so we put off riding until this evening, much to Bugsy's disgust ("If you're going to make me come in from the field then I expect my dinner to be on the table in the bucket waiting for me then I get here!"). They were both good boys, though. Actually, one vague bit of excitement: I had an annoyed text recently from Not Very Next Door Neighbour, complaining that the hunt had been up near her house and she'd not been warned. Today, though, I had a another text saying that it wasn't actually The Hunt, it was a disgruntled former huntsman, recently taken to court for illegal hunting, who'd been given permission by Bad Farmer to go on his land. All very mysterious. Apart from anything else, where did he get the hounds? Link Who loves you?

Probabilities ♥Oct. 1st, 2015 // 11:35 am♥ [Tags | riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1109786.html ] We've never seen anyone other than ourselves riding in the woods with a permit to do so (although there are apparently seven people in the area who have them, and I can only name two). We've also never seen the Forestry Commission person, although we did once see a car. We were all rather surprised this morning, then, when we met her while we were riding in the woods: they're about to start some logging work up there (which I knew, because Not Very Next Door Neighbour had told me). Hopefully it won't be too disruptive for walking the pooch, and hopefully moving the machinery around won't do too much damage to the nice canter tracks.... (I think she was quite surprised to see people riding with permits! If they're going to be doing work up there, though, I dare say they'll be pulling people up if they catch them off the bridlepaths without.) Link Who loves you?

Eventful day ♥Sep. 24th, 2015 // 07:54 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, banks, cooking, culture, driving, jodie the dog, phones, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1108970.html ] This morning it was moist, so we put of riding until the afternoon and, after we'd done the yard jobs, I retired to the kitchen: spiced elderberry cordial, sorting the boxes of apples and tomatoes with subsequent passata and apple juice, general tidying. Mike, meanwhile, was upgrading my iPhone to iOS 9, as he'd already got it downloaded and wanted to do it before it started requiring 9.1 (or whatever the never version is). It seemed to be taking a terribly long time. When we got in after walking Jo, the phone rang and a nice young man said he was calling from the bank. I pointed out that my phone was showing a different number to the bank's, and he said he'd leave a note on my account with his extension number. A quick call to Mike's mobile Just In Case and I was soon speaking to him again: First Direct is running a reward scheme for long-term customers, and they're sponsoring the Northern Ballet this year, and they're doing Wuthering Heights in Canterbury next month and would I like to go? Two free tickets, drinks receptions before and after, talk from the director, Meet The Cast. Oh, go on then. I don't think Mike's very keen but I'm sure I'll find a taker (anyone fancy it? I have asked Mrs Next Door as well, but she doesn't strike me as the ballet type). (Mike is in a small huff, because he's been a customer for much longer and they didn't offer him tickets to a thing he had no interest in seeing. I pointed out that they may be deliberately offering them to women. Then I remembered the time they gave me a case of wine for being a good customer, too!) Around this time, Mike learnt that there was a known bug in iOS 9, fixed in 9.1 (see above), that left it hung at the 'swipe to restart' stage, and started downloading 9.1 (ditto) in the hope he could just overwrite it. A bit more faffing in the kitchen, and sticking a cake in the oven, and going Harvesting in the garden (the tomatillos in the ground have done much less well than the ones in pots on the patio, which seemed odd. But suddenly they've gone mad with enormous fruit since I took out the tomatoes plants next to them!) and it was time to take Jo to the vet for jabs and a general check-up. I got about two miles from home and the car started making A Noise, which I thought might be a branch under the car: I pulled into a parking space and had a look. Couldn't see anything but, oh, wait, that corner of the car seems to be lower down than it should be: flat tire. Better call Mike. Oh, wait, my phone's both bricked and at home. Just as I started to swear, a dog walker came back to his car and let me borrow his phone (I think he was a bit worried I was going to ask him to change the tire!). Mike remembered, as I had not, that there was an electric pump in the car, so I got the tire pumped up and made it home. One quick tire change later (he's had practice, recently!) and I was re-booked at the vet and on my way again. Jo was her usual good self, even if she hates having the Kennel Cough vaccine up her nose, and was long-suffering when having her bum squeezed (she's been itchy lately). She didn't want to lie down and roll over for the vet to check where she had the cancer removed, so in the end I just picked her up and sat on the chair with her on my lap, facing out. The vet was bemused and impressed, particularly when Jo stayed in the same position to have her claws trimmed! ("I'll have to remember that trick... although I can't imagine many dogs would stay in that position while I did their claws...") Jo'd not been brushing her teeth properly, though, and needs them cleaning. The vet sternly warned me to keep an eye on her weight until I get it done, as the price for sedation goes up at 35kg and she's currently 34.45. We did manage to ride, after I got back, which was good except that GB was favouring his dodgy leg a little, which is always worrying. There seemed to be an awful lot of washing up when we got in, though, and that plus cleaning the kitchen floor (shocking state, simply shocking. Please don't listen to anyone who tells you I'm house-proud) occupied the time until dinner, and now that I've written this I'm off to give the boys their evening hay! Edit: Oops. It appears that the things we failed to do today was put the ducks to bed after we'd ridden: the perils of breaking your routine. They'd gone in on their own, though, and nothing had followed them home. Phew. Link Who loves you?

Better than expected ♥Sep. 19th, 2015 // 07:34 pm♥ [Tags | carpal, charity, garden, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1107135.html ] This afternoon, I've addressed about a hundred invitations to the House of Lords. My wrist has borne up better than I expected (probably partially because I dug out my fountain pen. I'd forgotten how much nicer they are to write with, it's just a shame I don't hand write enough to be able to use it all the time), although I am getting an occasional twinge. Unfortunately, what I haven't done is any of the envelopes: they were supposed to be sent next-day on Thursday, but they've still not arrived here. I'm trying to decide whether I should do them all on Monday or just say "sorry, we're going to have to have printed labels for the envelopes". (On Tuesday and Wednesday, Mike's going up to see his mother so I'll be busy. I might be able to get some done on Tuesday, but I'm not going to rely on it. And they really should have gone out a week or so ago, but Person A is Young and just assumed that the invites would be done by email, while Person B knows full well that no one would dream of not doing proper invitations to a do at the HoL.) (I'd be a lot happier if Person B had looked in detail at the list of people to be invited that Person A compiled: about half the people have titles and half don't, so I've had to guess some and just use first names on others, and in some of them the woman's name is listed first, which I assume means she's the main contact, but, but!) GB was a bit stiff again this morning when we rode. I fear that it's winter-related, and he'll be this way until late next spring (at best), but we'll see how it goes. We also managed to get out into the garden. I didn't do what I'd planned (move the rest of the yellow flags) but I did something of about equal priority (split and move a big clump of lilies). I have a huge heap of bulbs that need to go in, as well, although some can wait a while yet. (The first of the bulbs are just starting to poke leaves up, but not any of the kinds that I'm due to put in.) Link Who loves you?

Aga news ♥Sep. 15th, 2015 // 04:47 pm♥ [Tags | house, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1105996.html ] This afternoon, after our riding lesson* (postponed from first thing because the weather was foul), the nice man from Aga came to visit us. He was quite taken with our old Aga, and informed us that "she" (no, really) was from 1938-1945, which is older than we'd been told by a service guy and squares up with the story we'd originally been told about it being the only thing left from the old farmhouse after it burnt down. Slightly surprisingly, they will melt the chassis down and use it to make new Agas, rather than reconditioning it. He told us a sad story about a very old Aga that he once found, old enough to have "Patent Pending" across the front, which got accidentally melted down after the "save this for the museum" sticker got put on the wrong one in the warehouse. It's going to be a tight squeeze, both to get the new Aga into the house and to fit it into the space, but it should be doable if we a) take the front door off the hinges and b) get someone in between the old one being removed and new one being installed to take down the tiling and chip away a bit of plaster. We're going to have to have it vented into the kitchen, rather than through the chimney, but on the plus side that means we'll notice if something gets left in the oven and burns! After it's done, I'm going to have the wall behind the Aga painted to match the other walls, which will brighten it up tremendously, and have a splashguard put in at the bottom. * We did the final round of our dressage competition today. I got 69% and Mike got 58%, but then I'd drawn the long straw and got to ride GB! Very respectable performances all around. Link Who loves you?

Mostly grey ♥Aug. 30th, 2015 // 02:00 pm♥ [Tags | craft, garden, jodie the dog, riding, shopping ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1100906.html ] We went out for a hack this morning, with Jo. Bugs was a wee bit frisky a couple of times, but nothing too terrible. We're not sure how much longer Jodie will be able to come with us on hacks, although in her defence it was still quite warm, if not sunny. This afternoon, we've been out in the garden. I did some weeding and tidying up (which I'd actually meant to do to before we had people visiting, oops) and Mike strimmed the orchard, slightly belatedly: I'd been assuming that we should wait until everything had set seed, but apparently that's not the case when you've got a first year batch of corn field annuals to make it look pretty until the meadow perennials get going, oops. On the plus side, we'd been a bit worried about not seeing any sign of the latter but now that it's been cleared a bit you can see things starting to get established down at ground level. Need to leave it for a few days and then rake the clippings away. I'm currently torn about fabric for the next quilt: I have a 10% off voucher for the shop in Canterbury (on account of buying the fabric for the previous quilt there), but I've seen a fabric that I think would work really well and that I don't remember seeing in there last time I visited (although it is a brand that they stock a lot of). I guess I'll go along and have a look: I'm sure that there will be other occasions to use the voucher! Link Who loves you?

Foggy! But then sunny later. ♥Aug. 13th, 2015 // 07:38 pm♥ [Tags | ducks, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1096231.html ] 1) Riding lesson this morning, we're both (possibly all four!) a bit knackered now! 2) I interrupted some hot girl-on-girl action in the pool earlier. The duck's pool, that is: Magrat had once again cornered Agnes and climbed on top of her. What is is with us and gay animals? 3) I've got some saffron bulbs coming soon, so this afternoon I started clearing the places where they're going to go: I've got a whole long bed that's going to come out over the winter and be replaced with herbs and things, but the saffron wants to go in now, so today I pulled out some Lady's Mantle, a couple of boring grass/fern type things and a rather pathetic rose (which fought back). I've left a couple of things that I'm going to move to other locations to wait until the winter. Link 1 kiss // Who loves you?

Bits and bobs ♥Mar. 26th, 2015 // 06:27 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, boots, jodie the dog, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1079071.html ] Today, we saw the first bluebell of the year, up in the woods. It was a bit pathetic, but there are some better-looking flower spikes poking their heads up. Still not much sign of anemones, though, which is odd. I've just ridden GB, because when Mike rode him yesterday he was a bit off. Fortunately, he was fine so it was probably just a result of the walloping kick that Some Bugger planted on his arse yesterday, taking off a big patch of skin in the process.... Jo's been a bit under the weather. Yesterday, she was a bit pathetic and giving an occasional little whimper/yelp as she moved about. I gave her some Magic Cheese (take cheese, add metacam, roll up and insert into moth of dog), and she perked up for a few hours then was a bit stiff-looking. More Magic Cheese today, but I think she was better even with that: hopefully we won't be off to the vet tomorrow, as I think it's going to be her age and thus difficult to do much about. My boots have been looking a bit tatty for a while, and I kept meaning to dig out the new pair for, eg, going to the pub and initial breaking in but never got around to it (I always try to have a pair in the cupboard, if only because I refuse to pay full price for them). Yesterday, in the waiting room, I noticed that a seam had gone on one of them, so I went and got the new pair. And discovered that they're the wrong size. Sigh. Not sure if it was my mistake or the seller's, but I've had them in the cupboard for six months so there's not much I can do: I've ordered a new pair, hopefully in the correct size this time. If anyone wants a pair of Dublin Rivers in a UK size five, shout. They're very comfortable, and last really well: the fact I get through a pair a year is because I wear them pretty much all the time unless it's really hot, in which case I just wear them half the time! Link Who loves you?

I should update.... ♥Mar. 7th, 2015 // 07:13 pm♥ [Tags | carpal, garden, health, horses, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1075229.html ] Um, yeah. Got out of the habit. Must do better. There's been Stuff, of two varieties, of which more to follow, locked. I'm still sore from Bugs' little Incident, but I did notice that I was fine on GB during Thursday's lesson, a bit sore on Baby in the canter transition ditto, and then really uncomfortable cantering Bugs in the woods this morning. I'm starting to think that I did (as I'd tried/thought) manage to land on my side when I came off, and the soreness around my tailbone (which I'm fairly sure is muscular, not the actual bone) is from bouncing up and down on the saddle before I actually came off him! We've been doing lots of gardening the last couple of days: Mike's taken out some shrubs, one dead from the back garden (no idea what happened: we pruned it very lightly last winter and then it was dead in the spring. Don't even really know what it was, it was just growing over the path and needed tidying up) and three living from the border in front of the house. That border now looks very bare, even given the snowdrops that were struggling on under the shrubs, but it can having bedding plants this year and we've plans (eg, a grape vine) for it in future. I've mostly been weeding, and making a concerted effort to actually get rid of the bloody buttercups that are infesting some of the flower beds (rather than just pulling off the leaves like I did last summer). And Mike mowed the front lawn, and then concluded that the ducks must have been nibbling on it over the winter as he didn't actually get much off it. I'm starting to think that I might have carpel tunnel syndrome. For the last couple of months, I've been getting slightly numb, slightly pins-and-needles sensations in my hands, eg when riding or when mucking out, as well as in bed. I did a bit of googling this afternoon, and CTS sounds like a fairly good fit, especially as it's apparently got a fairly strong hereditary factor: my mother had surgery on her wrists when I was about ten, although hers was caused by wringing out cloths. I did an online (NHS-Direct-linked-to) survey and it said I had a 50% probability based on history and symptoms, but then the GP's notes for same say to refer if the patient scores over 20%. I suppose I'd better go to the Doc, which I've been avoiding for complicated reasons related to birth control and my age. Sigh. It's looking increasingly as though the boys' field domination games have resolved with Bugs being in charge. GB seems to be ok with it, though, so I think we'll live with it. He wasn't top boy at his old yard, and he managed ok, but there he had all the other boys to boss around (top boy was only interested in the mares, and GB is apparently gay so didn't care), so not sure how it will play out without Baby around. Today was all very peaceful, with GB and Baby at one end of the field and Bugs at the other. Link Who loves you?

Brrr ♥Dec. 29th, 2014 // 05:56 pm♥ [Tags | riding, weather ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1059579.html ] Yesterday, we took the boys in the school. Not unexpectedly, it was a bit frozen, so I did my usual trick: get Mike to trot Baby around a few times, so that his enormous feet can break the surface up and make it more comfortable for GB to go around on. Only it didn't work: it was frozen all the way down.... We had a fairly slow riding session, after that! Tomorrow, we're going to try riding in the afternoon, when things might have softened up a bit. This afternoon, I was supposed to be going into Canterbury for waxing and suchlike. My usual car park was full, so I went over to the other side of town and tried the one near the station, which was also full. As was the one near the theatre, and the three little ones dotted in between. It took me ten minutes to get out of the one near the theatre, there were so many people driving around it looking for a space. I even tried the multi-story, which I loath (tiny spaces, with pillars between each of them). I gave up and headed for home, and passed the park-and-ride on the way. That had two whole spaces, the sign said. Fortunately, they fitted me in later in the day, so I'm just back now. It was still busy in the car park, but there were spaces. Bizarrely, the girls at the salon reported that the shops hadn't been all that busy when they'd had their breaks. Memo to self: don't try to go into Canterbury between Christmas and New Year in future. Link Who loves you?

Oh, Jo Jo.... ♥Dec. 6th, 2014 // 12:03 pm♥ [Tags | christmas, cooking, horses, jodie the dog, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1055538.html ] At about this time last year, Jo sliced her leg open in the woods and so prevented us from going to Ilford for partyage. A couple of days ago, Mike noticed what looked like a really nasty spot on her leg, next to the scar from the lump she had removed. The internet seemed fairly sure that it was a sebaceous cyst, so I resolved to keep an eye on it and think about the vet next week. Yesterday, I had a look and it looked as though it had burst and scabbed over. Yesterday, I also started making some crystalised orange and lemon slices: the hampers are almost done, with all the bits and bobs tucked inside the boxes, and just need a couple more bits adding. (I'm almost done with the wrapping, too: feel free to hate me.) We had a lovely hack this morning, in the frosty sunshine. The boys seemed to have fun, too, although they got a bit over-excited at one point and we rather went off the bridlepath as I tried to get GB slowed down. It was quite a long hack, too, so Jo was very pleased to see us when we got back. Also very thirsty. This is because we locked her in the house with only a big bucket of tap water, and that as far as possible from our bedroom: when I got back, she wasn't in the kitchen bouncing with excitement, so I went in and called her, leading to an enormous thud, a lot of scampering, and a black blur appearing round the bottom of the stairs. As I finished mucking out, Jo came over to demand tummy tickles and I noticed that her leg looked red in streaks around the whatever-it-was, and it felt a bit warm. It might just be that she's been scratching it, but when we got in I stuck the crystalised fruit back on the Aga hot plate to start its second simmer and called the vet to make an appointment, in case she needed antibiotics. I went through to tell Mike (3:45: just about doable if we bring the boys in five minutes early, dash off to the vet, don't have to wait too long and then dash off to Ilford) and noticed something glinting on the floor of the study. I'd thought I'd tidied up better than that after doing the (almost) last of the wrapping last night, so I doubled back to find that the floor was covered in the foil from chocolate coins. Two nets of them. As scrabbled out of two of the hampers. It could have been a *lot* worse, as there was plenty of other chocolate in the hampers and in other packages around the room, but even so. This may explain why she was so thirsty, too. Sigh. Mike grabbed the vacuum cleaner, while I quickly re-wrapped the things she'd torn the tissue paper on and put replacement coins in (note to self: get more coins, as those were the ones for our stockings!). Phew. All sorted out. Then I noticed that the air in the kitchen looked a bit smoky. Remember that pan of sugar syrup I'd put on the boiling plate for a couple of minutes to heat up before I moved it to the simmering oven....? Sigh. One of those days. Hopefully we'll see people this evening! Link Who loves you?

Bits ♥Nov. 27th, 2014 // 11:11 am♥ [Tags | ducks, horses, house, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1055150.html ] (That's annoying: Firefox just crashed, and I've now been logged out of *everything*. Even Amazon doesn't know who I am.) Yesterday, GB got into the garden: he nipped through the gate as the ducks were going the other way at bed time. He did just walk along the back of the garage and up the steps, before turning around and going back to the stableyard, but he has now seen All That Grass, which is a bit worrying: we'll have to be careful about keeping the gate closed when they're hanging around in there. (Esme, on the other hand, had just had to be removed from the garage and carried back to the garden: she knew it was bed time, and as the gate was blocking her from going the usual way she decided to improvise. I think we might have to put bird netting on that bit of the fence, as they can apparently just about get through the stock netting if they try hard enough.) The day before that, we went to see Smokey, who was way too forward. I should have realised it wasn't even worth getting on him when we saw how much the woman was holding him back when she rode. New rule: if the rider is obviously holding him back, ask to see all three paces on a long rein. Another one tomorrow, just around the corner as it happens. The day before *that*, I was coming back from walking Jo and -- wonder of wonders -- found that the stile was mid-repair. Have just sent a thank you email off to the council chap, who must have put a letter in the post the same day as my last email to him for it to have got sorted that quickly. And before that, we had a lovely visit from S&C&W, who was a bit scared of Jo but then Jo is probably twice her size so it's not so unusual. (Pedro, in the end, got approved by our instructor provided we didn't pay the full price but then sold (not sure for how much) to the person who was already booked in to come and see him the day after we did (as we didn't actually go with the intention of seeing that horse, it is absolutely right that the other people got priority).) Our field is in a horrible state, although we're slightly hopeful that we can get them out for a couple of houses this afternoon after we've ridden: a combination of rain and waiting for a Tesco delivery scuppered the chances of riding in the morning. We have had a couple of frosty nights and cold, sunny days, but mostly it's just been moist. Link 2 kisses // Who loves you?

Bits and bobs ♥Oct. 18th, 2014 // 10:01 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, cooking, garden, house, pictures, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1046998.html ] Still no sign of the road guys. V surprised. The electricity guys, on the other hand, are working away: they were even around on Saturday. Must remember to expect power cuts tomorrow. Yesterday, we took the boys out for a hack. GB seemed to be doing ok until we had a canter along a flat but slightly slippery path: he skidded on his bad leg three times in a couple of hundred yards, so it's obviously not taking his weight properly. We took it very slowly after that, which did at least mean that we could have an enforced walk in the boys' favourite place for a blast. Well, we'll see how he does in tomorrow's lesson, after three days of 'bute. Still, it was very pretty and autumnal-looking (if not feeling: overnight low of 16, last night): (I've got the time lapse camera set up, taking a video down the valley. It's been there for a couple of months, watching the leaves turn: I should probably take it down soon and see how it looks!) After last year's not-terribly-successful marron glaces attempt, and seeing all the chestnuts lying around the woods, I started thinking bout having another go. As I looked around, though, I realised that all the recipes were variations on 'boil the chestnuts in sugar syrup for varying amounts of time, then put them in a low oven to dry out'. The recipe I followed last year, which involved bottling them in sugar syrup and then putting them in the aga avery day for a couple of weeks, is basically the same as the first part of that process.... There was still a jar left from last year, so I tried bunging them in the simmering over for a few hours and it worked! I then spent a week trying to find the recipe I'd used last year (I was convinced it was Mary Berry, but it was the other Aga book that we never use and that is mostly just lists of tips), partly to check if I'd missed a step or the recipe had (the latter, as it turned out) and partly to check the details of the instructions so that I could make some more! (I also used a TKC tip for peeling chestnuts: make a slit in them then microwave for ten seconds. Three seemed to be the optimal number to do at once. They're not only easier to peel than when you boil them but you don't have the un-peeled ones sitting in the water getting soggy as you do it.) A week or so ago, I chopped down some shrubby things by the side of the school, something that they'd obviously had done to them many times before. Yesterday, I sorted through the trimmings and now have a pile of different sizes of cane to use in the garden next year. I've also got a couple of sweet pea and a couple of mange tout seedlings poking their noses out of the soil, ready to use them, and yesterday I planted a second batch of seeds. I really wish that I could retire icons. I don't want to delete them, as I want them to still appear where I used them in the past, I just don't want to have to scroll through them to choose an icon for a post. This is why I so rarely use anything other than my default icon.... Link Who loves you?

Leylandii wars ♥Oct. 3rd, 2014 // 12:21 pm♥ [Tags | angelo, cooking, ducks, garden, jodie the dog, lj, pictures, pilates, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1043908.html ] This morning, I dashed around in a rush: it was poo picking day, and I wanted to jump on GB as well before going off to Pilates. Fortunately, I managed it, and GB was back to normal so I think we're ok for our lesson tomorrow. There wasn't Pilates last week: the receptionist phoned that morning to report that the instructor had tonsillitis. I had a slight niggle, because I hadn't explicitly asked her to re-book me for this week, but we had said 'see you next week' on the phone, so I thought it would be ok (and forgot to call and check). Unfortunately, I walked in and her face fell: the instructor *still* has tonsillitis, but because I wasn't in the book she hadn't thought to call me.... So, home earlier than usual, and we took out a few more leylandii before lunch: Getting there! Bonfire tommorow morning, before the rain arrives. (Bah, I let the LJ app update itself, after this morning's post saying it was fixed. I can now post, but it couldn't manage to upload a picture so I had to do it the incredibly slow way: hopefully, the old version will be re-available soon. Also, can't see a way of making posts default to anything but public on the new version, which would put me off even if it worked.) I'm wondering if it would be beneficial, given how horrible they make the soil under them, to put a layer of horse poo on the bed there. It would be fresh, but would have the winter to break down before any new plants go in. Anyone have any thoughts on the idea? As I got home, I noticed a pigeon in the garage. It didn't fly away when I drove in, which was vaguely odd. After Jodie had said hello to me, she went rooting around in the hedge and flushed it out into the road: presumably, it was injured, because it didn't just fly off. I told her to go and get it, and she brought it into the garden, where she spent a happy fifteen minutes doing a super job of plucking it on the lawn. Unfortunately, she omitted to actually kill it before she started, so I went and stomped it before throwing it for her to fetch before he got bored and ignored it (after which it went into the food waste bin; I think I've made a decision on that dilemma). We saw a fox in the woods, after lunch (well, we saw the rear end of a fox exunting at speed when it saw Jodie heading towards it), which we don't often do. As we were walking down Next Door's field on the way home, the Horse Next Door came to say hello, and see if there might be a treat available (there was). Then two other little shapes started waddling up the hill to say hello as well: it appears that in the rush this morning I forgot to close the stableyard gate*, so the girls had decided to come and demand their corn earlier than they usually do. Thankfully, they followed me home for their feed, rather than making us have to chase them around the field! * I'd gone to close it after I rode GB out through it, but then I had second thoughts and left it open in case I ended up riding in the field and wanted to come back in that way. But I didn't, so we didn't come back through it. I remembered it while were were up in the field poo picking, but then promptly forgot again.... This afternoon, I've made experimental cake (Victoria Sponge with strawberry powder in the mix) in the Aga (it stayed lit the second time, thankfully), set a batch of apple juice going (the not-a-very-good-Vinyard down the road with the quite nice garden centre often has enormous crates of apples at this time of year: you take a bag, fill it, and get charged £1.10 per kg. Russets and Bramleys, today), stripped last night's chicken, and made beds for this weekend's guests. And now I'm having a sit down, for the first time since I went out to start on the boys.... Link Who loves you?

GB ♥Oct. 2nd, 2014 // 11:21 pm♥ [Tags | horses, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1043409.html ] 'Tother day, when I rode GB for the first time in a week or so, I was a bit worried that his dodgy leg was being dodgy when I asked him to do something fast-and-hard that involved leaning on it. But only a bit, and I was having him make an effort. Today, though, Mike was on him and, after a little while, Expressed Concern. I had a watch, didn't like it and so jumped on him myself, and yes: I could feel it dropping away on every step in the walk, which I've never noticed before (it's always just been in the trot, and just occasionally). We had a good go in canter, and he still wasn't right. On the plus side, after I'd put GB in the field I went and got out the lunge whip and we got Baby cantering with Mike on board. On the minus side, I'm now less sure about this whole swapping horses thing: it won't work if GB goes lame without my riding him n times a week. Supposed to have a side saddle lesson on Saturday morning; I'll jump on him for five minutes tomorrow and see if that's happening. TWWOTV is away, so I might take him for a blast and see if that fixes it: it used to, when it was just an occasional trot problem.... (I bought a second nest box for Esme, and popped some hay and one of the fake eggs into it. The next day, there was one enormous hay nest in the other box, the fake eggs had been carefully reunited, and there were -- and have continued to be -- two real eggs in it as well. I guess I'll leave the empty box there, as a support for their combined nest?) Link Who loves you?

Almost Autumnal ♥Sep. 23rd, 2014 // 05:34 pm♥ [Tags | birdies, garden, pictures, riding ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1040857.html ] The swallows and the house martins are gathering into flocks, ready to head south. There was a big, mixed, group of them over a maize field this afternoon: We're also starting to see impressive patches of fungus in the woods: And (coff) I have new Autumn In New York nail varnish colours.... Mike has a peach tree, which arrived last week: it was a birthday present from his mother, and it's going on the front patio to replace the not-terribly-interesting climbing things that we inherited. Right now, it's been left to grow naturally, but in the spring we'll start training it against the wall. We're just about to start another dressage series with our instructor, and this morning we had the first goes at our tests. We're swapping horses, so that should be interesting. I think that the Baby was knackered by the time I'd done with him. I was pondering, while walking the dog later, and now wonder if part of the trouble is that he's not liking his saddle: he has changed shape a lot since we bought it, and each time the saddler's checked him it's been "it should last another six or twelve months before you need to get him his grown-up saddle": if that time has now come, it would explain the bucks he throws when he goes up to canter for me (even GB does that when his saddle's pinching him), and possible also why Mike struggles with the canter: he starts to strike off then goes 'ow' and stops. Fortunately, the saddler's coming in a couple of weeks, so we'll see what she says. I hope he's not going to be a too-awkward (and therefore expensive) shape to fit. Link Who loves you?

Ow, you bugger ♥Jul. 8th, 2014 // 12:09 pm♥ [Tags | orchids, pictures, riding, riding:jonny ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1023758.html ] Normally, when I complain about horse-related pains it's because GB is a git. Today it's because I had a lesson on the Baby: my back is killing me now. I dread to think what it will be like tomorrow. Still, we made some good progress, and Mike did very well on GB, so I suppose that it was worth it. When I was riding with Mrs Next Door, we were talking about side saddle and I was saying that I was thinking of sending mine back, as I never use it. She mentioned that she knows someone who teaches side saddle and lives locally, so: lesson on Sunday. That'll be painful, as well. Yesterday, we went out to the wild flower reserve to walk the pooch. Mike spotted a white admiral: There were masses of pyramidal orchids in the grass: (We're wondering what The Next Orchid will be. There only ever seems to be one kind on the go at once, so far.) Link Who loves you?

Duck duck duck ♥Jul. 6th, 2014 // 03:23 pm♥ [Tags | going out, jodie the dog, pictures, riding, visitors ] [ xpost | http://flickgc.livejournal.com/1023285.html ] Mrs Next Door and I went out for a hack, this morning: her horse is poorly, so she decided that she'd have a go on the Baby. It was nice, and she relaxed a lot when she realised that, really, the Baby is not mad like her horse.... When we got back, we found that the girls had wandered up into the field, and were half way up the hill pottering around: They followed us back down, which was either getting away from the horses or in the hope that it was time for their corn (it wasn't). Of course, the girls are lucky to be getting corn at all: we went to the beach with Jodie and added Alice on Friday, and when we got back the boys (who'd been left with the gate open so that they could go inside if it got too hot) had pulled their feed bin over and eaten the contents. I say 'the boys', I suspect that it was GB. Mutter. Fortunately, the horses weren't poorly after eating a huge pile of corn. Fortunately, most of the duck food is in the big feed bin, in the barn. We've now put a little stretch of (non) electric fence around the girls' house and pond, so that they can come and go as they please but (hopefully) the boys will keep out. Yesterday, we went, with Jodie and added Alice, up to Cambridge, to dorispossum, where we had a lovely time and Jodie gathered a fine collection of special Cambridge grass seeds, which were obviously keen to find a new home in Kent. Link Who loves you?

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