Hot Hard Summer, Goodbye Dora and Maligation

 Its been sooooo long......I have been officially Maligatored!!!! Yup that is the official term for owning a Belgian Malinois pup!!  They are not called Maligators for nothing.  They are officially the most trying, nippy, attention seeking pups ever. They rarely sleep!  They constantly want to be with you, they demand your full attention at all times. They have huge amounts of energy and want to be entertained at all times. They have a Tasmanian Devil Mode, which switches on at Midnight, where they demand you play with them for 2 hours. If you don't they try to rip you to pieces.  If you tell them off.....they rip you to pieces!  If you try to sleep.....they rip you to pieces! Even the most dedicated Mali owners will tell you....they are horrible puppies!! Thankfully Freya is now 5 months old and we are starting to understand each other.  There is light at the end of the tunnel. We are nearly up to 4 hours sleep a night 😊. I am able to walk about without the leather arm guards now....mostly.

The herding instinct still has to be dealt with.....She cannot be let loose with the ponies yet. She just wants to herd them, they just want to kill her....and she has no fear. To avoid tears, I have had to abandon any training of Charlie, and just content myself with cuddles, while Freya is in her cage in the truck (just enough time to poo pick). 

Still it doesn't matter. Charlie doesn't mind and we get a once a week slot when we can have proper time together.  It is not exactly working time right now. The summer has been Hot...And Dry!!  The ground is baked hard and we are looking like Burnt Grass Ranch again.  The temperatures have been in the Thirties regularly and we are Brits.  We cannot cope with anything above 20c and we need rain!!

So Dora went off to her new home. She hasn't gone far, and now belongs to a little girl and her siblings, where she can hopefully fulfill her potential.  I got on really well with Dora, so thought I would miss her heaps.....but I kinda don't.  She used to try and 'help' me move the fences back.  I don't miss that. We also thought Lily would miss her, as they were always entwined around each other. But Lil has shown no signs of missing her........She is more than happy with her Shetland Herd.  So Good Luck Dora....We do love you.....but ....

The "replacement" i.e Coco is quite a lot cuter!!! She is no trouble at all. She has just fitted in sooo well. Her poos are so small, I can't help think of Coco Pops when I pick them up. Today she had a massage from Jade Monahan which she thoroughly enjoyed.

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A Very Non BHS Legover And Charlies Shock

Woohoo, the sun has been out.....maybe like -7 but the sun is out!  Actually its been around 6c during the day and the sun has warmth to it now.  So I have been working Charlie in the 'school' with both saddle and bridle on.  I have added some stirrups now as well.  At this point if you are very health and safety conscious, or a member of the BHS, please stop reading......
Anyone left?  So he has been very good about the saddle, even with the stirrups.  Oddly enough when I produced some baler-twine from my pocket to tie the stirrups together under his belly, he nearly reached Mars!  That said, he lunged very quietly, apart from one bucking, snorting fit, which I expected anyway when the stirrups first banged his sides.  Long reining not so good yet...He doesn't feel confident going in front of me.  Jo came to the rescue and walked by his head. So all good.  I then put my feet in the stirrups and sprung up and down a few times. While at the mounting block, which I am getting him to stand quietly at, I leant my weight on him.  Then slid a leg over, letting it rest on his bum for a while.  It was so tempting just to get on. But not without a hat (take note bhs people.....i'm not completely mad).

Daisy and Lulu also got lunged.....First work they have done since October, so they were both a bit woohoo about it.  Daisy appeared to have springs on her feet.  As I haven't ridden since October, I couldn't resist getting on. BHS peeps look away....Ok so I was bareback and hatless....Please do not try this at home. As I jogged about on an excited Daisy, I nearly fell off......Not through her jogging, but the look of sheer amazement on Charlies face.  He did a double take!  Thinking about it, he has probably never seen a horse being ridden.  He just thinks we are foot friends. I could practically see the penny drop!

Charlie in saddle and bridle

Daisy is keen

Like Climbing Everest, and A Teeny Tiny Saddle

So having a few ripped rugs, on Friday we set off to the Tack Shop for repairs, and so I could ogle a whp saddle out of my price range.  It had gone!  Not to be deterred I found a step ladder, and climbed up to examine the saddles higher up. Something caught my eye.  Yes a teeny tiny 15inch whp saddle. 15inch sounds a bit small, my last whp saddle I had for Paddy was 16in.  But whats an inch between friends?  And it looked to be a wide/extra wide fit.  And only one hundred english pounds! And we have a weeks trial on it.

I couldn't wait to try it on Charlie the next day.  Even though he's never had a saddle on before.  He accepted it with his usual laid back attitude. It looks tiny, with teeny tiny saddle flaps.  But it fits across the withers which is most important.  A quick lunge, and it proved not to move. 

So the next thing is to ride in it.  But Ok the pony isn't broken yet.  I'm going to have to use Daisy. As she hasn't worked since October, we may well have to re-break her!!  So I'm waiting for a day when its not blowing 40mph winds. 

As we have the tail end of Hurricane Imogen lashing the country, that's a tall order at the moment.  Yesterday, I could barely walk against the wind.  Going up hill against it felt like climbing Everest.  Every step forward was a victory. Its days like that I really feel the dodgy lungs, as I gasped for each breath, and my dicky ticker powered along around 130bpm.  Putting hay out without losing it all was a serious mission.  We have found if we tuck rugs over the trailer full, we can at least get to the feeders in one go. Getting it into the feeders is interesting. I have adopted a new method....I call it Underwater hay feeding.  Yup, take a breath, Hold it.....Close eyes......And go for it!