The NagTivity Play, And a Happy New Tier!

 Hope you all had a Happy Xmas, and Wishing you a Happy New Tier. I mean Year! Yes as we rush headlong into 2021, we here in Suffolk are in virtual Lockdown again, having been placed in Tier 4 on Boxing Day. For anyone reading this outside of Britain, here is a brief explanation!?!  To combat the plague our government has put us into a Tier system, depending on how bad the plague is locally. At the moment Tier 4 is the worst place to live!!! Essentially it means pubs, restaurants, non essential shops, gyms, cinemas etc are shut. We must not mix with other households indoors. We must not travel out of Tier 4 into other Tiers. We must not stay away from home.  However this does not seem to apply to the 10,000 Londoners who have flocked to The East Coast to spend Xmas in their Holiday Homes! We are sharpening our Pitchforks and preparing flaming torches!!!!!

Somewhat lacking Xmas spirit, I only decided at the last minute to recreate The Nativity Play with our ponies. None of them are trick trained, except Charlie, and he is only beginning his journey into the world of tricks.  What could possibly go wrong?? I had a title....The NAGtivity play. And the cast.....Charlie as Joseph, Daisy as the Virgin Mare-ry (although as she is the only one to have had foals, is the least Virgin like), Lulu in her golden magnificence as The Angel (and the Bar Keeper), the 3 Minis as The Wise Ponies (Mini also had a part as the Town Cryer), and of course The Maligator as a lone Dutch Shepherd. Ok so she is a Mali, but had Dutch Shepherd blood.  Prudence the Bull-Dog desperately wanted a part, so I made her the Director and The Elf and Safety Officer.

Now to film the scenes with a bunch of ponies not trained to perform certain actions (like standing where they are put, holding things, ringing bells etc). I started with Lulu as she at least ground ties. However I was unsure is she would like being dressed up, especially the Angel wings attached to her ears!!! But she was a superstar!

Charlie and Daisy were a challenge!!  Although they live together, they have a strange relationship. They nag each other like an old married couple, but in their field they have Lulu to sort out any squabbles.  Without Lu as a referee, I just kept filming and got some good bits!!  Daisy decided she must be a film star, and acted like a Diva, with more dressing room Riders than Christina Aguilera!

The mini herd were as good as.....almost!! Mini was a star, ringing the Bell briefly as The Town Cryer.  Unfortunately she thought she had done her bit, and as a Wise Pony, ate her gift of Burrs.  Lily has never been dressed up before, and was a little wary of her clothing.....and her gift of Frankies Mints! Coco happily accepted the Costume and was happy to hold (and eat) her gift of Golden Hay. The main problem was stopping them wandering off!!

Both dogs played their parts well, and with the use of a voice changer and a LOT of editing THE NAGTIVITY was made........

https://youtu.be/OvTbrPbw1Yk

And so as we free fall into 2021, we are ready for the snow and The Top Barn Challenge. Happy New Year. x

Life As We Know It!!! And 25 Things

So, nearly the end of April.....and life is still weird!! In fact with 6 ponies to look after every day, life is actually pretty normal for Jo and I.  Except it isn't! 
Everything seems in slow motion.  Its blissfully quiet at the Farm, with a lot less traffic going past on the road. April has given us warm weather, vast blue skies and nature in abundance.  Its almost like everything is in HD.  And we seem to have slowed down too. Not in the sense of getting the basic work done.  In that respect we have got it down quick. But it almost seems we get done and go home.....as if being outdoors for too long is dangerous, or illegal! 

With me being one of these boring people that are supposed to be shielded, everyone is avoiding us.  Its OK to come up.  We are missing you all.  Just treat me as if I have the plague....and don't be offended if I stay 12ft away from you at all times, wearing a bandanna.  We have soap, hand-sanitizer, buckets of bleach and a system for scolding the cups every day.  I have my own towel and will not touch anything anyone may have accidentally picked up.  The ponies would love to see someone else!! As would we!

The Ponies are of course unaware that the World As We Know It has changed. Although they may be missing certain people.  Mini has asked me where Nancy is!!  They could all do with baths!! Any volunteers???

Daisy is in self isolation...of a fashion.  Although fit and well, we are so scared she may get into trouble with the Spring grass, that we have confined her to a Pen within the Hill Field.  The Minis surround her, and she spends a couple of hours each day out with them having a bit of grass, before returning to her pen with a feed full of EMS fighting supplements and 3 soaked hay-nets.

Its a Catch 22 really.  She could do with the exercise right now, and its a brilliant time with the roads so quiet to hack out.  Just fighting with the guilt of What If?  Its ridiculous. I have never even come close to coming off Daisy, and of all the falls I have had, over a lifetime of competing and working with horses, the last time I ended up in A&E was when I was 17! 35 years ago!!!  Ridiculous but there's always Sods Law!!!  Jo had never fallen off Lu, ever, until last week, when a sudden spook n spin unseated her.  Shes Ok, but had a huge bruise and now has protesting back muscles.  Not to mention the fact that before the pesky chest infection in Jan/Feb that floored me, I had high hopes of riding The Gypsy Cobs by now!! 

But anyway....Worst Things Happen At Sea and all that!!  So I have been steadily working on a series of short videos called 25 Things to do With Your Horse on The Ground.  I have just posted Number 9 entitled 'SMILE'.  If you missed them (shame on you 😊), I have covered #1 Hang Out, #2 Lunch Date,
#3 Lunging, #4 Follow Me, #5 Begin Clicker Training, #6 Correct Leading, #7 Ground Tie, and #8 Long Reining.  Still to come is Parking At the Mounting Block, Pole work, Backing, Teaching Pick-Up and more (12 more if my math is correct, which is highly doubtful).  

So check out YouTube UCLYQBYhWqo_WPVdz9MFkCtA.  Please hit the subscribe button. 🙏 I only have 12 subscribers 😩.  It doesn't cost anything to subscribe. But once i get a 1000 subscribers I can monetize the videos and that could pay for next years hay!!!

Yours beggingly
xx

https://youtu.be/nnhrn4XVQOE