Storm Dudley, Storm Eunace and Storm Franklin versus Top Barn Challenge and A Dressage Test!

 Ok so this is not a weather Channel! However it may as well be.  After jinxing things with the last blog, by daring to mention how kind the Weather Gods had been to us so far in The Top Barn Challenge, they threw their toys out of the pram and sent us Storm Dudley, and Storm Eunace ....and Storm Franklin. Thanks! 

So week 7 of The Challenge started with Storm Dudley....  It was a bit blowy, but we are used to wind here on the East Coast. This coincided with my Nurse duties being upped as my Mum had hospital and hairdressing appointments. That was 3 days written off. As the well publicised Storm Eunace was do in on Friday I decided to take my Rollover Week ( still saving Holiday week for the Snow!!!).  Having banked 2.5 hours, I snuck in the needed half hour on Thursday, filming Rhi's Random, in between storms.  A Lunging task....Lunging is Charlies Nemesis.  However we have been working on it, and he completed the task.

 And so Friday dawned. Remembering the Non Hurricane of '87, I half thought the Weather Boffins were just covering their arses.  The other half was slightly excited at the thought of a mighty wind. Yup it blew a Hoolie.  I had to ride the hay trailer, to hold it down, standing upright was a bit of a problem, but it wasn't hurricane force.  The horses couldn't have cared less.  Bringing them in from the Summer Grazing to their Night Field, I got caught by a gust and the field gate.  As I sailed past Charlie, like a Galleon under full sail, I grabbed a handful of his mane.  He immediately anchored up and stood firm as if to say "I got you Mum". He's got Brownie Points for at least 3 weeks! 

 The wind got up, so I went for a walk down the Beach with Freya Dog, and Other Half.  I say walk!  They went for a walk while I filmed the sea. And got pushed nearer and nearer to the waves. Eventually I grabbed the anchor rope of a beached boat and pulled myself away from the Sea. As soon as I let go I was blown over.  My Other Half (Mark The Mechanic and Part Time Horse Whisperer) said it was like watching a rag doll being shaken by an angry Bear! Freya Dog who is 20kg lighter than me, had no trouble staying on her feet, although she is slightly lower to the ground and all muscle. 

And so Week 8 began.  With Storm Franklin, who was never mentioned until it started. Not quite as blowy, but very wet. Poo Picking was like having a power shower.  If I'd known I would have brought shampoo, and saved some time!

But this is the Top Barn Challenge, so to hell with the weather!! I seem to have entered The Hub In-hand Dressage Comp. It involves running....I mean who am I kidding???  Charlie and I set about practicing, in the 'School'.  Heaving for breath I measured the 'School' knowing it wasn't 20 x 40, but hoping it wasn't far off. it was!  In fact its 35m x about 14m.  So I set about making a 'Dressage Arena' in the flattest part of the Summer Grazing. The sun shone, the birds sang, spring was in the air. I grabbed Charlie and we started practicing. Suddenly all Hail broke loose. The 'Arena' was white within seconds. But this is the Top Barn Challenge...so we carried on!

Friday we had a Round Pen Session working on sharper transitions, and some standing at the mounting block. Of course I was up on the mounting block with my coffee. Charlie moved, so I asked him to reposition himself. He kicked the (flimsy) block, my coffee flew skywards and landed all over his ears. he curled his lips and that finished me off.  We may have to rework this!!

Today was warm (9c) and I was able to have my fleece surgically removed to soak up some Vitamin D.  Charlie and i spent a glorious hour playing at Liberty, starting Spanish Walk and generally having fun.  And so I have not got on him yet (again) as we have been pushed back a week......But next weeks looking good!

Top Barn Challenge - Weeks 6 - 10. Snow and Stuff!!!!

 Oh wow its been soooo long since I had time to sit down and write it all down.  Blame Top Barn (haha).  So where were we???? Oh Yeah Week 5. With 2.5 hours done, THE WEATHER GOT ME!!!! Despite only half an hour to go, the final day brought SNOW......Lots of SNOW!!!! Sideways Blizzard in High Winds Kind of Snow. Just seeing to the Ponies was enough!!  So I used my Rollover Week, with 2hr 45mins in the Bank I only have 15mins to make up (which I still haven't done).

So week 6 started with SNOW!!!! So much SNOW.  So much SNOW if fact that the little town I live in was cut off from the World.  Even the Snow Plough got stuck!!! I tried for 2.5hours to get to the Yard.  Every which way was cut off by enormous SNOW Drifts.  Luckily Jo got through and the horses were watered and fed.  If I hadn't got Dodgy Lungs and a Dicky Ticker, I would have walked the 5 miles.....but Mark The Mechanic and Part Time Horse Whisperer banned me from even trying. I discovered my Land-rover has had the Prop-shaft removed, thereby turning it into a 2wd. I discovered this while going down the road sideways, while all the engine lights came on, telling me that Traction Control, ABS etc was off. I had already figured we shouldn't be half-passing down the road!!  Although if it had been a horse, the movement would have been impressive.  

The rest of Week 6 did not improve!!!!  The snow kept coming, the East Wind kept blowing. The drifts were so big, we struggled with just hay and water.  It was so bad we even rugged the Big Herd, as they had no shelter from the direction of the Weather. I declared Week 6 my Holiday Week.  Jo took it as her Rollover Week.

Luckily Week 7 brought a thaw.  We rejoiced as the temperature climbed to a whopping 4c.  We only had a few days left to film the Mid Challenge Competition, so we practiced. I had several attempts at filming , but the Pivo couldn't seem to follow us for a whole take!  On the Thursday, with 3 days to spare, Mark the Mechanic and Part-time Horse Whisper said he had 10 minutes to spare to film me. It was getting dark!!! I rushed over to meet him, pulled Charlie off the Hay and offered a practice run. We didn't have time!!! So we did it in the first take with the sun rapidly setting.  Charlie was a star. We did the whole course at liberty without even a headcollar.  We went under an arch with streamers, over a wooden pallet, touched and rung a bell, round a jump wing covered in streamers, jumped through the hoop, waved a flag, smiled and bowed. We didn't get placed (ahhhh boo), but i was very proud of my clever, complicated cob!   Jo left it even later, being buggered by strong winds, but did a brilliant course on the Final Day, which included Lu following her while blind-folded.  We had to do a very swift video conversion from my phone to a memory stick. 

Thank you Top Barn for giving us something very concrete to work on, and Well Done everyone who took part.  The creativity that went into some of the performances was astonishing!

Week 8...Time to stop messing about and get on Charlie. I have been trying for 4 years to ride him!  Slowly I go....Doing the Groundwork. Gently presenting the saddle, and the Rider (me).  Sometimes it has been OK. Most times not. I have ended up on the floor more than I haven't!! He basically goes into full panic mode when he can't see me.  Being partially blind in the Offside eye hasn't helped. Catching sight of a movement coupled with Mum not at his head, has sent him from OK to Terrified in 0.2 seconds.  Once terrified, he has lost the plot, setting us back to me not even being able to show him the saddle without a violent reaction.

So after all these years, doing tricks, walk outs blah blah blah, it finally feels like he is ready. He trusts me, he is fully grown, and has a new grown up outlook. So week 8 was mostly spent Tacking up, getting on, getting off, getting on, getting off....you get it. We even tried a few steps forward being led by Jo. All good!!!

Week 9 has been the high-point so far.....With a beautiful calm sunny day on Tuesday, I got on Charlie and rode him round the "School", following Jo and Lu in hand. Naturally the Pivo chose this moment to not record !!!  Then the wind got up, so we worked on Chill Mode, Lateral Work and Balloons (obviously).

Week 10 has brought us 50mph wind most of the week, along with hail, sun, rain, freezing fingers!!! Oh yes.....The weather for this Challenge has certainly been challenging!!  I have stuck to groundwork this week.....and balloon popping! 

So 2 more weeks to go!!!! It would be nice if we had some calm spring sunshine to finish off with. But that doesn't look like that's going to happen. So lets all gird our loins for a big finish!!!

Out Of Puff ,Solo Rakes and On-Line Showing?????

Just a quickie......
Welcome back to the weather Channel!!  After a very mild Winter, we finally got Snow....for a day.  But that was followed by Storm Eric. Three days of 20-30mph winds, gusting up to 50mph. Now my dodgy lungs and dicky ticker just cannot cope with wind.  It literally leaves me gasping for breath, so I had to take my Holiday Week in the Top Barn 12 week Challenge. Just in case you are slightly interested, today dawned calm and sunny, with a high of 9c!! Work with Charlie began again (well actually, we had a play, while i drunk my coffee).

And a sort of review.........Last year at a pop up tack shop at a show, I bought a SoloRake, made by SoloComb.  I always liked SoloCombs, so I thought the rake would help me with the thick dreads that is Charlies mane.  Having chopped it all off last Summer, to help him stay cool, it has grown again.  So last week I took to him with the SoloRake.  Maybe its only meant for coats??  The blade is good and strong, so I started raking his mane.  To my surprise, it broke.  The handle is made of plastic (a weak point), and i was literally left holding the handle, while the rake was in Charlies mane. I have emailed SoloComb, so watch this space for their reply.

Finally as part of the Top Barn 12 Week Challenge, I have entered an On-line show. I had never heard of On-line shows before..... Back in the day we took the horse to a show-ground, having got up at stupid-o-clock, to bath, plait etc. We then had to hope the bugger wouldn't get too excited, and behave itself!  Having spent all day in inevitable blazing heat, dressed up to the nines in thick woollen show jackets, we then spent 3 hours loading the bugger to come home (or was that only me?), with a sunburnt neck (from the hairnetted hair), to finally arrive home at midnight, then having to unload the lorry and bed the horse down before finally falling into bed clutching a 6th place rosette.

So, does anyone know of any good On-line showing sites?  The one i found had a class for the dirtiest pony!!!!!!  I entered this.....

This Week We Have Been Mostly Fencing! And News From West Meadows.

Yes, now we don't have to put hay out, our time is taken with moving fences!! With no rain in sight, we have been moving the ponies along the field, opening up new grazing, and closing off old grazing.  In the hope that it will rain, and the grass will grow back for the Autumn.

Along with the sun, we have had oddly cold nights still (3c) and chilly North Winds.  Yes, us English Are obsessed with the weather!! 

We have been given permission by the landowner to graze the 12 acre field, which has been planted with a thousand trees, but left with 20m clearings, in which one day, in about 10 years,will contain Teepees for camping. We are now able to graze the circles.
So Jo and I set off on the tractor to explore.  Wow....It was like being on Safari....without Lions etc.  We actually got lost! Some of the trees are pretty tall.....some are stunted.  The grass is high everywhere.  Having hunted high and low for the clearings, we found 5.  Unfortunately, they have a lot of ragwort in them.  We had hoped to move the Shetlands straight away, but we have a bit of work to do first. And Jo picked up a tick!!!! And so we continue to move the Shetlands around.  Although Sweet Pea seems to be sound, we don't want to risk her running about with Dora yet.  Its times like these I agree with tethers, which would be handy to graze the little 'uns for a few hours while we are there.

Of course we wouldn't leave them tethered overnight.  I don't agree with that at all.  Equines being prey animals, get stressed if they are unable to run away at the first sign of danger, real or imagined.  Which brings me on to a brief update from West Meadows in Ipswich.  The girls from Voice of The Horse Facebook Page, worked long and hard to get the majority of....dare I say it.... The travellers ponies,off tethers last year.  Despite the Admin of the group getting asbos for harassment, the council did indeed fence the wasteland/water meadows in Papermill Lane, Bramford, so that 80ish mares could run free. However, the owner has 40 or so mares on land close to West Meadows Traveller Site, that he rents off the council, so its been hard to monitor these ponies. All through the Winter there have been reports to the RSPCA and Redwings Horse Sanctuary of distressed ponies.  Unable to go and check we have pursued the council about the amount of plastic hay wrappings strewn over the field. I spent a cold Winters afternoon lurking on the A14 embankment, dodging police cars and taking pics. As the council are keen on Ipswich becoming a centre of excellence for re-cycling plastic, this seemed a good place to start!! Anyway, after a council visit 2 weeks ago, this week reports have come in that two Redwings lorries were parked in the entrance of the Site.  The same night, the shelter that houses the Colts waiting for the Meat Truck, was burnt down.  There only seems to be about 15 ponies left on this site.  This can only be good news!

In other news.... We have lots of children coming to ride at the weekend with Eli teaching them.  Its all good fun and we are planning a 'Pony Day' with lessons, stable management, a picnic, Pony Painting and a Gymkhana.  
Charlie joined in today in-hand.  Fully tacked up i led him round. Then Jo took over the leading while I walked alongside, leaning on the saddle.  He was pretty chilled and quickly got over the fact I wasn't by his head.  This is extremely good progress on his behalf.... We will continue.

Daisy and Dora giving lessons

Charlie with Jo...Learning to go without me.

Polly and Scrumpy in our lovely wild flower meadows

OK So This Is A Weather Channel

Yes It is a weather channel....for those that like to know what the weather has been like, as opposed to what its going to be like.  Just in case you want to know....Horrible, in both cases. I am calling this Charlies brief turn away time. Just as we thought winter was over, and very short, it has arrived.  We had sleet and hail today in a very cold north wind. Yes the smurf hat is back. In December it was 14c, now its down to 5c.  But we still have April showers, leaving us the usual spring rugging dilemma. When the sun is out, it has warmth, so we don't want the ponies over-rugged and sweating.  But when the next sleety squall blows in, its like the Arctic.  So they have lightweights on.....and we hope they are not too cold at night. To keep them warm, we are supplementing the grass with hay still. And running around (well not actually running in my case....A cold North wind is not brilliant for PH lungs), to get them fed, and poo-picked as quick as so we can get back in the warm. I have more time to play with the photos I take!  

Bad Hair Day For Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea and Bee keeping warm

A Quick water-colour of Sweet Pea

This is NOT a Weather Channel.

Although you may be forgiven if you have made that mistake. And so, to the Weather.......March has certainly come in like a lion. Its been wet, its been windy, its been really cold.....and mostly all three. 
And so on the 1st of the month, we moved the bigger ponies into the Three Acre Field.  The grass has been growing there since last August.  It also has a lovely sheltered dip.  This is usually where I strip off to a tee-shirt, only to realise how damn cold the wind is when I come back up the hill.  The little ponies have been given pretty much the whole 4-Acre Field, and are finding grass that the bigger ponies couldn't seem to find.
Charlie certainly seems to have felt a shift to Spring.  He has been very amorous with Daisy and playing gelding games with Lu, who seems up for it. The rest of the time he has been amusing himself with massive twisting corkscrew bucks.  I can only hope he doesn't try that with me on board. Or he may have to be sold to the rodeo.

Yesterday my other half appeared to fix the brakes on the tractor.  Its been a bit hairy in the hilly parts of the field with no brakes.  I was about to try some different bridles on Charlie, as he still has an issue.  Its not the bit, but the bridle going over his head. So Mark wandered up to the field with Jo and myself, holding a selection of leather. He may have been a little horrified to watch Charlie violently overreacting to having just a headpiece and browband popped over his ears. So then I wanted to put his normal bridle on, just to try and calm things down. "Hold this" I said, passing Mark the lead rope.  He kind of anchored himself, as if he was trying to stop the iceberg hitting the titanic. I was about to tell him to give Charlie a little slack, but thought what the hell. The bridle went on so smoothly I was shocked. Not a pull back or rear in sight.  Did Charlie feel the extra strength?  Or have a got a horse whisperer for a partner?

The Horse Whisperer Chatting to Daisy

The Great Escape And The Mobile Phone Episode

So the warm weather continues (and the rain and wind today).  Xmas day itself was warm and sunny... Yup t-shirt weather.  All the ponies had a xmas day feed as a treat.  Not sure they knew why though.
So on Boxing Day we decided to move the minis right to the far end of the 4 acre,  fence off the whole way along giving them a fairly narrow strip, and move the shorter cross fence back daily to strip graze them.  That's the sort of thing horse owners do on Boxing Day, as opposed to getting up late and munch leftovers while watching naff xmas movies!  We let them run free while we did this, much to the disgust off the biggies!
After 5 hours of fighting the self tangling fence wire, and the hose pipe connections that refused to connect, we caught them up and went home to enjoy eating leftovers and watching naff xmas movies.

And so to yesterday...the fence needed moving back.  Jo does the moving, while Prudence and I fend off the circling sharks (I mean ponies).  Scrumpy usually shouts instructions from the other side of the fence.  We had a longer strip to defend than normal, but armed with a poo picker, for about 20 minutes I held all the ponies in an obedient row.....Hey I said, Olympia here we come next year.  Liberty ponies!!  The ponies meanwhile were making plans. First they sent in Jasmine, the smallest and cutest miniature Shetland. My favourite as it happens.  And I had a pocketful of polos.  While she fleeced me of polos, pretending she didn't understand that I wanted her to lift a hoof and say please, the others watched obediently from distance, lulling me into a false sense of security and dreaming of my Olympia Liberty Ponies.  They waited until only the middle strand of fence was left,then Jasmine legged it to the right. Being nearer the fence line, I lunged right, flailing like a beaten goal-keeper, as Sweet Pea and B, made the run for it on the left, clearing the wire (god knows how they even saw it).  Polly, who probably couldn't see it stopped, while dear little Jasmin simply ran through it.

Well you have to laugh.....me and a Bulldog, beaten by Shetlands, a mini tb and a welsh pony!  Jo and I convinced ourselves that they would stop eating when they were full and the ground wouldn't get so poached.  We commented on how the bigger ponies were not as sharp!!!  So far Sweet Pea hasn't come up for air.

Today I was at work till 12-ish, and Jo was finishing off the minis field when I arrived.  "That bloody Piebald", she greeted me with.  Oh no, whats the boy done.  Apparently Jo got warm and left her fleece in the trailer, which Charlie is obsessed with.  After a while she looked up to see him cavorting around holding something fluorescent. Yup it was her mobile phone, which he had removed from the fleece pocket.  Apparently Jo had a bit of a tussle to remove it from Charlies teeth.  Needless to say the screen is broken, and Jo can't see who is calling.  Oh dear....it wasn't that long ago Scrumpy stood on Jo's bag, squashing an ice cream carton, which caused her bag and the said phone to be filled with cappuccino flavoured goo.  I think I owe her a new phone!!! 

enjoying the sun

xmas lunch