Le professeur a dit "dans le français, s'il vous plaît".

J'assiste à une classe de conversation française tous les lundis et à la demande du professeur, aujourd'hui , l'entrée sera dans le français.
Hmmm, c'est difficile pour moi parce que je n'écris jamais dans le français.
Ce matin, malhereusement, je me suis levé très tard (pas si inhabituel pour moi) et je me dépêchais parce que j'étais en retard.
Heureusement, je suis arrivé à la leçon à temps et c'était très intéressant.
À cause de la leçon, je n'ai fait rien avec les chevaux aujourd'hui, mais cet après-midi j'espérais faire un peu de travail dans le jardin, il a certainement besoin de travailler, mais le temps était affreux, il pleuvait durement, j'en ai assez!!

Collective noun for cyclists?

It's weekend so the chasse are out and about. They're not close today as I can only just hear the bangs, but I don't like riding out just in case I come across them, so I took Anky up to the school for a short in hand session.
She was quite edgy and distracted ( that's so NOT a surprise!!) but we did a little lead work and then some lunge work at walk and trot. She was quite full of herself which was good to see, and I really did want to see her moving as she's been well the last week or so and moving about so much better in the field. She was taking a longer stride in the walk and much less tight in her shoulder, and the transitions to trot and then back to walk were so much more fluid. Her physique is better also, she is losing the bloated belly and finally putting on some condition and topline, so, I am very much hoping we're finally getting there!!
I took Remy into the picadero and he was very calm and responsive until a group of cyclists( don't know if there is a collective noun for cyclists, perhaps I should say peloton as I'm in France!!!!) complete with lead car equipped with siren came past. He was quite worried about this, grew to a great height and started pawing and snorting. He then managed two or three revolutions at a lovely cadenced trot interspersed with the most beautiful canter. I let out the line a little and waited quietly until he came to a standstill, stock still, head in the air snorting. When he does something like this I realise what a big boy he is and I felt like a very little me stood on the end of the line. This doesn't worry me however and it was lovely to see him with so much presence, but,obviously I needed to get his attention and have him focus on me, so I walked from the centre of the circle and stood in front of him about 3 metres away (which was the only way I could get his attention without pulling on the headcollar), and asked him to come to me,which he did, so I started leading him around, changes of direction, halts, backing up until he was calm and totally focussed on me. All this was done on a loose line and I was so pleased that he'd refocussed on me so quickly and willingly.

The sun shines (briefly).

I awoke to bright sunshine this morning and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride. Jim said that he would ride Corky, so we groomed, tacked, booted up and set off.
Anky was very forward and although alert she was quite relaxed and for the first time ever she left Corky behind. We went around the small fishing lake and headed back towards home past the stone cutting hut. At this point it's left turn for home and right turn to extend the ride. Anky was on the buckle and I presumed she would turn left towards home, but she turned right (hmmmm) and continued to walk on down the lane. It was quite funny as Corky predictably tried to turn left, she looked very miffed when she had to turn right and you could almost hear her tutting! I don't know why Anky decided not to turn left (she knows the direction for home) but I was really pleased and we continued on for another 10 minutes before heading back.
We were out for about 45 minutes and they seemed fine with their boots.

I've just had a little chat on facebook with my nephew Thomas. He's been a big part of my life since he was born, but now that we've moved to France, of course, I don't get to see him as often as I'd like. He was just a boy when we left the UK -it's his birthday soon and he'll be 15, and he's growing up so fast. I really miss him.

A lovely afternoon.

Went over to see Trudi today.
When a friend tells you that they have pneumonia, it certainly has some impact, so was worried on the drive over. I was very relieved to see her cheery smile when I arrived (antibiotics to the rescue methinks). We chatted all afternoon and I had a lovely time. Thanks Trudi.

Another wet and miserable day.

I'm ashamed to say that I've done nothing with the horses for five days. I could blame the weather and it really hasn't been very agreeable, but, to be honest, I've not had much motivation. Anyway, I'm sure it will return with brighter weather. On a positive note Anky seems to be feeling good at the moment. Yesterday they were all having a good play in the field and she was leading them a merry dance, rearing and spinning, and looking pretty much like a normal healthy horse (touching wood).

After our breakthrough with Tiger we didn't see him for 24 hours and thought we might have scared him off. But,I think, having thought it over, he's decided he's onto a good thing and he's back twice as friendly and spent last evening cuddled up on the sofa with me.
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Tiger in the house.

I just had to blog this. Our lodger in the barn is at this moment sitting on our sofa. He's been hanging around since April and we've been feeding him in the barn. When he first came he was dirty and skinny, but he's now a very beautiful healthy boy. He's been appearing on the window sill for a few weeks, just looking in, and a few days ago he allowed me to stroke him whilst I fed him some ham ( I know, it's only cupboard love, but I really do think he wants to be part of the family. I don't know what's happened to him in the past, he's very wary). Since then he's been back every night and about half an hour ago, as I was stroking him I picked him up and brought him in. It took him a few minutes to settle but he's now lying on the sofa watching the tv.

A couple of hours later.........

Riding Anky

For some reason yesterday I really wanted to ride Anky.  Hmmmm, why?
Perhaps because she's looked really well the last week and , well, I just wanted to ride her.
Anyway tacked and booted we set off. We managed to get to the corner of the field near the wood before she said, NO I aint going. Had to get off and lead, she was nervous and distracted as usual. I walked her across the road into the wood by the lake and round to the stone cutters hut. I then spent 15 minutes getting her to stand so that I could remount in order to ride her back the way we'd come. She was edgy but forward on the return journey and had relaxed a little by the time we returned home.
It was misty and damp this morning, but I wanted to take Anky out again, so we set off, the same route as yesterday. She set off at a trot up the yard as if to say 'ok, then, let's get it over with'. She remained forward the whole ride, looking left and right for the monsters, but forward and willing. We did the circuit of the lake and returned home pretty chilled. Despite the miserable weather, I felt like the sun was shining on us!!

A day indoors

I've been a bit fed up today as I wasn't able to do anything with the horses. I cheered myself up by playing my sax and messing with my new recording setup (ahem, it still needs tweaking!).
A few days ago I accidently deleted my pictures folder from my computer, so thought it would be a good time to transfer the back-ups from disc. Anyway here are a few pics that I liked.

Happy Riding but Sad Boot Day

I'm happily typing on my newly restored laptop. Everything is right with the world,the sun is shining again today, I've had a lovely ride with Corky all on the buckle and very relaxed.
The only fly in the ointment is that I finally had to make myself throw my riding/yard (extremely comfortable and well loved) boots in the bin. It sounds trivial and I suppose it is, but I really liked those boots! My new boots that have been sitting in their box for the last six months waiting their turn are now freshly oiled and looking forward to a long and active life!!

We had the same performance at the gateway today. They all went down and stood looking pathetically at it. Except Bonbon of course, she has it all worked out. She carefully checked out the ground and walked calmly through. The other three stood looking from the other side as I fed her an apple. It took Corky and Anky a couple of minutes before they decided they would risk it, which left Remy standing alone and pitiful. I went into the field and stood on the other side of the gateway and asked him to come to me, which he did, so I was pleased that he placed his trust in me, but I don't know how long it's going to be before he's comfortable enough to come through on his own. The funny thing is that he'll come through from the other direction.
Superhorse Remy!!!!

Finally, welcome to geekyandnerdy thanks for joining us.

A beautiful day with Happy Feet.

After my post yesterday, Gareth (barefoot trimmer) phoned to say that, if convenient, he would call to trim the horses in the afternoon. He arrived shortly after 1pm and set to work straight away. He was happy with all four, especially Corky who has very flat feet, but is doing much better than we expected. Considering that Corky and Anky only had their shoes removed 7 weeks ago, both are doing well and are already showing improvement. He thinks the two youngsters both have excellent feet and should have very few problems remaining barefoot. So I'm a happy bunny.

This morning was bright and sunny, but with quite a blustery wind. I went for a ride on Corky which I think I enjoyed more than she did. The fact that I turned up with tack for the second day running didn't go down very well. I'm sure she'll get into the routine though, she does make me laugh.
I thought I'd make the most of the wind and take Remy out for a walk. We haven't been out in the wind before and I wanted to see how he'd behave. I took him up through the field to the school, around the school, over the trotting poles and then down the little green lane between our fields. He knows that there's an apple tree there and was quite happy to go check it out.

We have electric fencing on the fields and a couple of days ago we had a short in one of the gateways (the wire is underground, but must have broken somehow).They must have all felt it as they wouldn't go through. It's been really interesting to see how the horses dealt with it after it was fixed.
On the several occasions that they've gone through since, Bonbon has been the first to check it out, very sensibly putting her nose close to the ground to see if she could feel it and then quite calmly walking through. Having watched her , Anky first, followed by Corky, would then canter through quickly. Remy, on the other hand, has just stood and refused to go through, not panicking, but just not willing to risk it. Jim said that there was a large hoof print just over where the wire was broken and perhaps it was Remy who got the worst of the shock, I don't know, perhaps he's just a wuss.

Leading him back to the yard this morning I brought him through the gateway and he was still a little hesitant, but he came through when I asked, I'm fure he'll get over it.

My laptop is back from the repair man after having a new hard drive installed, so now I'm off to re-install all my 'stuff'.

Aaaaaah, that's more like it.

I've just come in from a lovely ride on Corky, just a short ride as she has to get used to her new boots. Not wishing to be a drama queen, but the feeling I got as I sank my backside into the saddle was, marvelous, darling!!!!!
It's a beautiful day, warm and sunny,so when I returned from my ride,I took Remy for a walk, just me and him up the lane, through the field towards the wood. I expected him to be calm, curious and perhaps a little bit hesitant at times and he was just that, but mainly he was calm, relaxed and despite being distracted by "new things" he was still focussed on me.

Weird but strangely compelling..........

Omar Khayyam and times past......

“The moving finger writes; and having writ, moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line nor all thy tears wash out a word of it"

I came across this today, like a blast from the past. 
The  Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam    was shown to me by my aunt and uncle when I was a kid and this quote was on the cover.  I remember it still, I don't know why it made such an impression, but it always reminds me of them. They supported me so much when I was a kid and still do. I had lots of fun with my aunt. I'd like to see more of them, but being in France doesn't make it easy.  I miss them.
Love ya Joan and Rod.

A difficult day. I groomed Anky, spent some time in the stable with her. It felt good just to be with her. I mounted in the yard and she immediately hung onto the bit and refused to turn up towards the gate. She does this, she doesn't want to go out. I sat patiently waited for her to relax, asked again, eventually she softened and we turned towards the gate. She stopped again and I sat and waited patiently until she relaxed, asked again and walked up to the gate. It wasn't a day for hacking out, I've not ridden for 2 weeks and getting on and off to lead her if she was worried wasn't an option, so I took her up to the school. It was a little blustery, but not too bad and the sun was fighting it's way through the clouds. I was so happy just to be onboard. My intention was to walk her around on a loose rein, large circles and changes of direction, asking her to look in the direction she was walking, hoping to create a soft relaxed bend and a little stretching down. She was distracted, which wasn't unexpected, she's always distracted. We continued, Anky eyeing with distrust the little wood at the top of the school. We continued, asking on the inside rein lightly for a little softness, trying to keep large circles, soft to the inside leg and turning from my body. She had one big spook, which is not really a problem, but of course, she then loses the little focus and attention that we had. We continued calmly (me not Anky), I felt very calm, but I also felt a growing sense of futility. She stopped at one point to deposit a large, wet dropping, which contained a glistening mess of something that looked suspiciously like intestinal lining. Not a lot, but, today, the fact that it was there was enough to crumble my world.

It's not a matter of confidence,or having too high expectations, Anky doesn't test my confidence and my expectations are never high, but she certainly tests my patience. I don't know if it's a matter of me having more patience, or a lack of moral fibre, I just don't have the resolve to carry on with it. I made a decision, there and then, I'm not going to ride her, it's not what I want. I feel like I'm giving in, I feel ashamed, I feel saddened by my decision. I want to ride, I don't want to plead, cajole, argue ( I try NOT to argue with her),worry about her health, etc, etc, etc. There's too much emotion involved with her.
So, if I want to ride I'll ride Corky. She isn't the horse I want to ride, but she's willing and she meets me half way. I can take her out and hopefully, I'll get myself fitter, get her fitter and healthier, she certainly needs it, and perhaps try to gather together my thoughts.

It seems like ages.....

....since I've ridden, hoping to ride tomorrow.

A visit from the vet.

The Uk vet that has been giving me help and advice about Anky is over on a 3 day visit. He's here to liaise with one of our local French vets, seeing a few horses and giving a talk to our horse group, which is always very interesting and informative.
Yesterday he came to see Anky, we chatted about her progress, he examined her and seemed to think that we'd turned a corner and she's well down the road to recovery. I hope he's right. He said she felt supple over her back which bodes well for when I start riding her again. Her droppings are still very heavy and very acidic, it's obvious she's not absorbing the nutrients as efficiently as she should be and her droppings are too wet. We feed her alfalfa nuts ,as, apart from being a good high fibre feed,  it is also a good buffer for stomach acid.  He did say, however, that some horses can't tolerate alfalfa and having examined her droppings he felt that this may be the case here.  I've already done quite a lot of investigation with a view to changing her feed regime to something which would help her in the long term. I'm now in the process of changing her feed and some is on order,hopefully to reach us in the next week or so. Rob agreed that in his opinion the new feed would be good for her. It has a blend of fibres, proven to extend eating time , to slow gastric emptying and deliver balanced hind gut fermentation, maximising digestive health. So, I'll go with that.
I'll have a look in the ether for intolerance to alfalfa, see if I can get any more info.
He had a quick look at Remy and thought that he had a lot of growing to do. Hmmm, he's done so much growing in the last 6 months, he can't possibly be that strong. He agreed that I should do very little with him this year, perhaps back him, but , just back him and then leave him until next summer. That's what I intended to do anyway, no riding until he's 4. So we'll continue to do the walking out and in-hand in the school.
He said that Bonbon is a lovely filly, (what!!!) no, really he thinks she'll turn into a lovely horse ( we knew that anyway :-)). I told him we bred for a medium sized, compact horse and as we already know, he said we'd failed in that respect!! ( she's 16.2h at 2 yrs)We've bred a heffalump. So, a reassuring day, positive feeling for Anky and looking forward to getting back on.