As promised....

Horseball!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch on video Zorya bucking! She really is the most extraordinary horse! On Monday she came 4th in the Ridden Hunter class at Flore Show. Smem has got her going beautifully (see pics of them warming up at West Haddon show).

Bad news on the Ruby Doo front. She's not in foal. Never mind, we're all very disappointed but ready to have another go early next spring. Smem's disappoinment is tempered with happiness that, if she can get Ruby fit, they'll be able to go team chasing! She's going on Zorya but apparently Ruby's a good lead horse cos she doesn't care what everyone else is doing and can maintain a steady pace.

Why tidying up is bad

Because normally I can make a good guess at where something might be by working out where I was when I used it last. Hence losing my USB camera cable. Of course it's either upstairs by my pc or on the dining table from when I last used my laptop. But no, it was nowhere to be seen. Did I leave it at Annie's? I did have it at Annies but she says it's not there.

I eventually found it in my laptop bag. Why was it there? No idea. Even my laptop doesn't live in my laptop bag!

More posts and possibly pics later. Off on a jaunt with Smem. Also hoping to get a new gullet for Ruby's wintec as Zorya's saddle no longer seems to fit either her or her rider.

Mostly I have been....

Cutting the hedge.

I got up at some ungodly hour while it was still cool and spent most of the morning cutting the hedge in the back garden. I had intended to get the boy Thos to help me in the garden this week so that he could earn some money and I could get it in some sort of order. Silly boy went and did his knee in at Rugby Trials on Wednesday. He's now on crutches and can't drive and his (we're not going out with eachother) friend Claire is having to run round after him. More fool her! Hopefully he's not torn any ligaments, otherwise it'll be a long job. I've decided that Smem can help me instead, although it will mean I'll have to drive to the tip!

Yesterday morning was spent watching Smem and Zorya at Horseball Practice. Can I just say that it was a little more sedate than the full on version shown on the British Horseball Association's website. Even so, I was quite impressed. For a highly strung thoroughbred, Zorya does do a passable impression of a gymkhana pony. Totally unphased by balls flying around her head. Smem can't get quite low enough to pick up the ball off the floor but I think if she tried it on a smaller horse to get the knack, she'd soon be able to do it on Zorya too. There was a lot of walking and passing the ball down the line, then doing the same at a trot.

Her friend's pony, Ramin, is great at it of course (he's good at nearly everything he does and is very sweet natured as well). He can even canter the perfect 20 metre circle with no reins! They had a short game at the end of the practice and Smem and Cait's natural competitiveness and sporting skills were evident. Gosh those girls aren't afraid to go in for the tackle! Zorya did get a bit excited when she broke free of the defence and cantered off to score a goal. There was definitely a little buck in there! Just another thing for Smem to get involved in! She really is one of those people who wants to do everything and do it well!

I took my camera with me, hoping to get a shot of them parting company as Smem leaned down to try to get the ball but they managed to stay together. I did get some short video clips of them practising but unfortunately I can't find the USB lead for my camera so I can't download them! BOO! No photos either.

Sorry!

Monster Truck

The guys at work have started calling it 'The Monster Truck'. A slight exageration.

For the benefit of BiL down under, here's the lowdown on the new vehicle. It's a very dark green Daihatsu Fourtrak 2.8 diesel . First registered Oct 1993. Physically quite small for a 4x4 but can pull 3.5 tons same as a land rover/ range rover/discovery, which means it won't have any trouble with Ruby & Zorya in the box. It's also got 7 (yes seven) seats although the two in the very back are fold down ones and don't have seat belts.

It's basically the same as the big red bus but it hasn't had quite the same amount of work and the insides haven't been destroyed by jack russells. If it is a complete lemon, I can at least give the seats to sheila for hers.

It's done 117k miles and has 12 months MoT and seems to go ok. Nice CD player and good speaker system. Doesn't appreciate going above 50mph. Oh, and I understand that you can take the back off. It looks sound underneath, the body has a bit of surface rust in the usual places but nothing despirate and the engine seems to go OK. It looks fairly straightforward so I might get in there under the bonnet and at least attempt an oil/filter change as I understand it'll need one about every 6k. Oh, and you can get at least two spinning wheels in the back without any difficulty. It is a bit like driving around in a greenhouse cos there's so much window - which is a bit wierd. I've already invested in some rubber mats so Smem doesn't mess up the carpets.

I just need an insane collie dog now to hang out the back and frighten passers-by!

Extensive Car Collection

Here's the new addition to my extensive car collection. I've either got a real bargain or a complete lemon. But that's always the case when you buy a used car (or even a new one sometimes).

OK so the rest of the family thought I was slightly (or completely) mad in purchasing a car off e-bay but I did go to have a look at it before bidding and met the seller AND I didn't pay over the odds.

My BiL was particularly disparaging, until we got it home and he had a good look at it. Then he forewent the pleasure of going shepherding so Annie and I went instead, but he stayed by the phone just in case. The 4 wheel drive worked fine. (It runs on the road in 2 wd and you have a little gear stick to switch it when you need the extra traction. ) Even the cows liked it. A bit too much. One tried to lick it! At least it's got some mud on it now. It was a bit too clean.

Smem's already booked me to take her to a horse show on Sunday. That should mean the spotless inside gets messed up a bit. Let's hope the weather's not too wet.

All Right Now

I was waiting to post this until I was 100% sure that everything was OK. I'm afraid poor old Ruby's been having a bit of a bad time.

A week last Sunday I had been pulling Ruby's mane. She hates it and makes eversuch a fuss but I managed to do a bit without her trying to crush me. Her usual trick is to wait until you've got both arms in the air and then lean on you. If you're really unlucky you get pinned between her and the wall. Anyway, I let her into the field and she decided to go to the trough for a drink. For some inexplicable reason Zorya decided at that moment to bite her. Although Ruby's a big strong girl and Zorya's a weedy little thoroughbred, she's a bit of a wuss.

Unfortunately, in trying to escape, she managed to get one of her front legs through the gate. As she pulled away the gate followed so she panicked even more and got both legs stuck. Then she fell over with the gate on top of her. Stupidly I tried to lift the gate off and got hit in the face for my efforts (no, I didn't get kicked in the head as rumour has it!).

Luckily one of the lads from the farm came to the rescue. He was brilliant. Rushed into the barn and grabbed a rug, put it over Ruby's head and sat on her until I could get the gate off her. It weighed an absolute ton! Once she was up she was limping badly on her offside foreleg, but she obviously hurt all round. Luckily she'd only (only?) got deep tissue bruising and skinned the fronts of her legs. With a great amount of coaxing we finally got her back in the barn.

When the vet arrived, she asked if I could walk her up. I could barely get her out of the stable. She was very brave and didn't make much of a fuss at all but was obviously very sorry for herself. Ten days later and she was chasing Smem up the drive at a brisk trot!

Unsuprisingly, her scan on wednesday showed that she was not in foal. Fingers crossed for another go on Friday. I'm beginning to think she just enjoys being a lady of leisure. At this rate, she'll be foaling in December!

Zorya does seem to be a bit of a trouble-maker. If she hadn't run off, Annie would never have slipped over and Ruby would never have fallen on her and broken her ribs. And just in case you're thinking that Ruby's clumsy and a bit of a Dobbin, you should see her Team Chase! I think if Smem asked her to jump the moon she'd have a fair crack at it!

Herding Cows

I just had to nick this piccy off ra's blog (knit-tigger) just to show Tiger being useful. OK so we were out on a walk and we didn't actually need the cows to follow us but it's a lot easier than chasing round after the little darlings! He does actually herd them properly when he's out in the field and helps to move them from one place to another. He prefers sheep though. They're more his size. And they don't tend to kick if they get annoyed, unlike cows!

On a grimmer note, Tiger won't be doing any country walks in the near future as there's been an outbreak of the dreaded Foot and Mouth. It sounds as though they've brought in movement restrictions much quicker than last time, which is a blessing. Hopefully they have it contained. It'll be another few days before they work out exactly where it's come from though.

We weren't too badly affected last time, but it still made life difficult. Not nearly as difficult as it was for those that had their farms quarantined, then lost all their stock and had to make the mamoth decision on whether to give up.