Making hay....

while the sun shines. Last year we made hay in September because it had been so wet that it couldn't be cut before. This year it was so dry there was no grass, but after the rain in earl August, suddenly there was enough to cut. Thank goodness we had a week of dry(ish) weather to get it all in.

I was called upon for Tractor Driving duties, and here's the lovely machine. A David Brown - this is the 4wd version. BiL also has a 2wd with smaller front wheels and a lift.

Sheep Sales

Spoils from the Woolfest Sheep Auction. Don't know what their names are as they're both very quiet.

Woolfest - Yay

Tomorrow we're off to Cockermouth for this year's Woolfest. This year we'll be taking four Kerry Hill fleeces from Ann and John's shearlings.

I was getting a bit worried that they wouldn't be shorn in time but John came up trumps and sheared them last Saturday.


And yes, he is shearing them on the roadside! And no, none of them escaped! They were real scaredy-cats before, but since being shorn they're getting rather bold. I couldn't believe how big they are!

More Baby Photos

Tiger is now in the next field to Kanga and is totally besotted with her. He runs up and down squeeling (he's too little to have a proper neigh).

His previous love, Rosie, is now totally ignored. Mind you, she doesn't do much except eat grass. Kanga is much more interesting. She runs round and chases people and attacks cars and everything.

He's obviously more keen on dangerous women. It's a pity he doesn't realise she's only a little girl and probably won't be interested in him when she grows up. He can still dream though.

Cross Country Practice

Can't quite remember when I've been as wet as I was on Wednesday evening. There was cross country practice at Ettington and unfortunately I volunteered to hold the video camera!




Considering he's been out of work since Easter he did very well




You can't tell from the vids just how wet it was. And the grass was soaking wet!

Baby's all grown up

Well she's 13 months old and she's already in a cob size headcollar - even if it is a little large. She stands about 15 hands high and doesn't have the look of a yearling at all.

This week she has resumed her education and is now being led around the field in a headcollar - albeit with a handler on each side. Most of the time she manages to behave herself. Every now and then she has a bit of a paddy but nothing like she has done.

Tiger is in the next field and is totally smitten with her. When she's being led up and down he follows the other side of the fence, whinnying. Only because he's so little it's a really high-pitched whinny. He's so cute! We might try them together, with supervision as I'd hate for her to bully him. I'd also hate her to become one of those horses who won't go anywhere without their companion.

Saying that she manages to behave herself, she's really good to catch and is quite happy to be made a fuss of. The problem is when you try to leave. She'll do anything to keep you there and can get a bit bargy, chase you, bit and kick at you. A wee bit scary. And if you try to drive the car away from her she stands in front of it and bites the bonnet. Naughty Kanga!

We were trying to find out if anything would phase her. She doesn't seem to mind umbrellas much.

Snow Babies

I was getting a bit concerned that the girls are out in all this cold weather. Ha! They couldn't care less!

My baby girl

Kanga was 7 months old in this pic. She isn't actually as big as Ruby but it's only a matter of time! I think she might be even bigger than Mummy when she's fully grown and she's got attitute in spades.

Unfortunately she takes after both Mummy and Daddy in her attitude and is extremely intelligent (or do all proud owners think that?).

Nah, Jack's a bit simple!

And this is her trying on her new rug. I don't think it's going to fit for very long.

My Boy Jack

I've never had a particularly high opinion of geldings. Compared to mares, they just don't seem to be very bright.

Take Ruby for example, she could undo her stable door and escape within days of coming to our yard (that's with it bolted top and bottom). Her door now has to be bolted and tied. And now Kanga's following in Mum's hoofprints. Last week, she watched while the drive gate was hooked back. Ten minutes later, the gate was swinging. She'd worked out how to unhook it. I can see this being a bit tiresome when you're sure you've left the gate open and, blow me, it's swung shut!

Apparently Jack's getting a bit canny as well. Every morning Em opens the barn door and Jack walks in and has his breakfast whilst she moves his rug. Until the day she was wearing a cream coat and cream shoes. Well, it didn't matter cos he just walked in on his own anyway.

That was, until Em had undone all the straps on his rug. Then he turned round and walked out again. And she couldn't follow him. So she hid and he came back in. Until he saw her, then off he went again. So she hid again but managed to swing the door shut behind him before he spotted her!

And they say animals don't have a sense of humour.

And the other side

Of our new stand looks like this.......................











And some very sad saints look like this........














I just love Neil Best. He's almost Tiggerish in his badness! Although to be fair, he's not being bad here!

Our (big) little girl

Kanga was 5 months old last week (17th) and she's abso-bloomin-lutely HUGE!

She hasn't had as much handling as she might have done so is being a bit naughty but, after last week when she kept rearing and got her leg over the lead rope and scared herself, she's just done little rears and thrown her front legs about quite a bit.

And on an altogether different note, it was the first home game of the season last night and the official opening of the new stand. Now my seat isn't in the new stand, but I get a lovely view of it. And very impressive it looked too. It has 10,000 seats and all of them were occupied. I was concerned that moving the stand back from the pitch would dilute the cauldron-like atmosphere and I expect for people sitting there it's difficult to 'feel' part of the action, but the roar was immense (although the Crumbie did win noise-wise cheering the boys on during the warm-up)

New Baby

This is my new Timbertop Thurmaston, purchased from Farnham on Saturday. I seriously thought the lady who was selling it wouldn't let me take it away unless I proved I could spin properly with it. She insisted on me having a go on it for about half an hour. ra had a go too. It's lovely and spins really beautifully, and it's in lovely condition. Made of Yew wood, it's marked as 89 (made in 1989) 1378 (Mr Williamson's 1378th wheel).

Since I got it home, I've spun and plied 2 skeins of brown Shetland and I'm just starting on some grey. It treadles beautifully but it's more highly geared than I'm used to, but I am slowly getting more control.

Some Bad News

Em Txt me last night while I was on my way to Als' for dinner....

"Omg GB broke his leg in the stable and had to b shot last night. Poor jess! x."

Jess and GB had only just got together this summer, mainly for the Area Dressage. And done really well (the best of the intermediate team). GB was a gorgeous grey, owned by my old riding instructor. He was a beautiful horse, a former show hunter and one of Jack's mates, although they did try to nick food off each other. He and Jess got on really well.


Here are the Intermediate Dressage team. From the left we have: Bryn, Jack, GB and Shan. They pointedly refused to all look at the camera together but this was about the best we could get!

And it went like this

The good......

Their best dressage score yet! 34.(something).


The Bad.......

Still needs more work on the showjumping. Four fences down. He can jump, he just finds it all a bit of a lark....

and The Ugly



Jack says: "Oh, you wanted ME to jump it"

Fortunately they were none the worse for it and managed to re-mount and finish the course. Just a muddy pair of Jodphurs, a lost shoe and a bit of dented pride!




Respect to Em for getting back on and having another go.

And tomorrow is.....

Area Eventing.

In the past two weeks we've done Area Dressage and Area Showjumping. The dressage is OK but the show jumping leaves a little to be desired. Jack just doesn't take plastic poles seriously! And we've had to travel to the farthest-flung corner of Area 7 for both. Happily the Eventing is only at Moreton Morrell so we can leave at a reasonable time tomorrow morning.

Let's hope it eventually stops raining.

Jack Eventing

I'm just getting the hang of my new camcorder. Dressage and show jumping was OK but the cross country was a bit more difficult. It's all right until you try and move at the same time. Very easy to lose the fences!




Jack's now a semi-permanent fixture. Long story but it involved him getting stuck halfway over a hedge. Full details to follow......

Wots Been Occurring?

Well, lots! This is the first photograph of Kanga, born 17th April at the Louella Stud.

Because we weren't sure how Ruby's previous foalings had gone, we thought it wise to send her back to the stud, where they've got lots of experience and a vet on call. Sadly this meant that we weren't present at the birth but they did a grand job and Kanga arrived safely. Ruby was an absolute star. She was totally unphased by all the fuss and was quite happy to let us touch the baby when we went to see them the following day. Kanga was a bit shy at first but, once she'd had her bottom scratched, became VERY friendly. We had to stop doing it because she got into the habit of reversing into you whenever she wanted a scratch and she's turned out to be a real groomer, which is lovely, but a bit disconcerting! Because her legs were so long, her joints were a bit flexible so she had to spend most of the first week in the stable with short forays into the paddock.

Her confident personality showed right from day one and on the day we took her home, we reversed the trailer up the the American Barn and led Ruby down the walkway with the foal supposedly following on behind. Only she didn't follow, she strode up the ramp into the trailer as if she was an old hand!

You can see in this photo how big she was (she's about 12 hours old here) as Ruby's a very big girl at 17.1hh.


Since coming home, Kanga's been taught how to lead on her own (she has her own ideas about it but is usually quite good, ), grow at an incredible rate, lost most of her baby fluff, been to two shows, won three rosettes some money AND a cup!

And stolen the hearts of just about everyone who's met her! And she doesn't even have a proper name yet. Daddy is Primitive Proposal and Mummy's Legal Reputation. We've had a view ideas but can't agree!

Big Bump

Ruby looks like she needs a good hair cut. Not the most flattering picture but you can just about see her bump. Her new rug (yes, she's already managed to rip it) is getting a bit snug and the straps are nearly fully extended!

Considering her mane is so long, her coat is looking great. Although she hasn't been clipped this winter, it's very short and fine and really really shiny (her thoroughbred ancestry coming out no doubt!) Unfortunately the pictures don't show what a wonderful colour she is.

This one shows the bump a bit better . She seems to be very contented at the moment. Didn't make the usual fuss when I moved her rug. She's still quite pushy though and needed a dig in the chest to make her move back to give me space to get in. She was determined to escape. She seems to be happier now she's in a big shed rather than her normal loose box. It means that she only has Jack to contend with in the next-door pen rather than rabbit's friends and relations invading her space to tack up outside her loose box (which she hated).

Rabbit's friends and relations - a reference to Winnie the Pooh. When Pooh got stuck in the rabbit hole, rabbit's friends and relations (they were all sorts of forest creatures, not just rabbits) helped to pull him out. In this context it means everyone. Every man and his dog.

Deer Ruby!

Chris from Melbourne asked when Ruby was due to foal. Not an easy question to answer. According to the covering certificate, she should be due around 14 April. I say should be due because, when trying to work out the dates, I realised that gestation in horses is a moveable feast! So if you just count the average 340 days, it comes to 14 April. However, I understand that the weather can have an effect and previous experience. Unfortunately, although she had two foals before we got her, we don't know how either of them went - only that she produced two big foals!

She's supposed to be going back to the stud to foal because they have all the facilities and a vet on call. I have a feeling she might fool us all and just appear one morning with foal at foot!

Although she has been putting her hooves up for the past few months, she certainly didn't take it easy at the beginning of her pregnancy. So far she's:

Been on a week's holiday to Scotland (see photo)
Been reserve champion Working Hunter at a local show (if there had been a prize for the horse the judge most wanted to take home, she would have won that hands down - he was totally smitten!)
Been placed in a number of show jumping competitions
Represented the Pony Club in the Inter-Hunt Relay
Done a week at Pony Club camp

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

This picture really doesn't do the weather justice. This shows just one blackbird in my (very small) back garden. Sadly I was unable to capture an image of the flock of fieldfares that has descended on my garden to eat windfall apples. There are all sorts out there today, the usual family of blackbirds, goldfinch , blue tits and a tiny jenny wren.

It's getting very crowded out there!

After struggling to work on Monday and then having to leave again before lunch I decided to do a recce before setting out this morning. My 20 mile route to work takes me down country lanes but I thought, if the main roads were OK, I would go that way instead. HA!

The main road goes through our village with traffic lights at the top of a fairly gentle slope. Of course, none of the vehicles could get going again when the lights changed so only one or two cars were getting through on each change. One car even got stuck turning out of the village onto the flat! So I and a few fellow villagers gave it a push.

The horses don't seem to be too phased by it. They've got nice toasty warm rugs to wear so as long as they've got plenty of hay.....

Tiger, on the other hand, doesn't have a rug but he does have his extremely thick coat. I just hope he doesn't get lost in a snow drift cos he's got such teeny tiny little legs!

Apparently Annie spoke to the vet about the size of the foal and said vet confirmed that they tend to put on a spurt in the last two months so there was nothing to worry about.