Elf On A Shelf
...
As we all know horses don't take days off for Christmas or New Year. But we do do quick, easy days on Xmas day and New Years day and only ride the ones that are racing the following day. But working over this period more than pays off when you have 3 winners in 3 days and every horse running well! Our Christmas party was, as ever, entertaining and not without drama but I won't go into that just now. The beans can spilled in the book I plan on writing at some stage! The boss always insists on giving us a fancy dress theme too which everyone embraced this year for a change! Normally we huff, puff, whinge and panic buy something with 2 days to go! We had a couple of Suicide Squad people (including one guy dressed as Harlequinn - hot pants and all ...) We had a full on Shrek and a Grinch, a shark?!? etc. I did Wednesday Addams. But enough of the peopley stuff!
Today was one of those average days that we all hope for. My day started with clipping an absolute toad of a horse! Yes I get that fit tb's are ticklish etc but the ones that move about ... a leg ... at ... a ... time ... just ... enough ... to ... p ... you ... off ...!!! They do my head in! It took me about an hour to clip this darned thing because he kept fidgeting and the fact that he is a very long 17hh! I was not amused!
Sky is on day 5 back in work and he is wired to the moon! Muahahahaha! Bless him he still stands rock still to do all of the gates, the ones you can do from on board and the ones you have to get off to do. He is an epic gate pony when out happy hacking! And at the moment he has to canter sideways every so often along with squealing and squiggling his feet! And then he shuts up and walks like nothing is happening, then he goes off on one again hehehe! He is awesome! He is also a sneaky wee beggar! He likes putting his ears forward and trying to speak to other horses whilst he is walking along but you need to watch him because he will nip their necks - then squeal and squiggle his feet! I have honestly never met a horse with such character! He heads over to the other yard tomorrow which means I am going to have to get the super glue out for going round the fields ... He would never, ever get you off intentionally but he will give you an, how shall I put it, an entertaining ride!
I only had 2 horses toady and my other was Fatty. Fatty is a horse that scares he bejesus out of me because he has been known to whinney when pulling up from a hard piece of work. My experience of horses that whinney after hard work is they usually drop down dead moments later ... So I was working upsides Beth and the horse she was on hangs to the right a bit. I said to her that I may have to take the right hand side 3rd or 4th time up incase mine dropped - I wanted a clean roll into the field and not crash into the stone wall like Maisie did! So that got her panicking! Heading up the gallops first time we go up in single file, Beth was just behind me and Fatty started broncing which made her take a pull! And then a song went through my head which made me laugh, and is still in my head now ... So we got to the top and i just burst out with - I'm going down! I'm yelling Timber! You'd better move! - she didn't appreciate that! (Sorry! Morbid sense of humour sometimes!) Fatty was on fire today and worked really well with no whinneying.
If you have been missing Bucket Heed you haven't been missing much. He is working away nicely, Derek had him today for a bit of work and he worked all over his partner - which is another of Beth's charges so that brought on a whole new meaning and round of Timber! I have been winding her up with it all afternoon - she is not amused! I did consider parking outside her house and blasting it out of my car but I'll save that for tomorrow!
Here is Bucket Heed leading the string up the gallops:
Today was one of those average days that we all hope for. My day started with clipping an absolute toad of a horse! Yes I get that fit tb's are ticklish etc but the ones that move about ... a leg ... at ... a ... time ... just ... enough ... to ... p ... you ... off ...!!! They do my head in! It took me about an hour to clip this darned thing because he kept fidgeting and the fact that he is a very long 17hh! I was not amused!
Sky is on day 5 back in work and he is wired to the moon! Muahahahaha! Bless him he still stands rock still to do all of the gates, the ones you can do from on board and the ones you have to get off to do. He is an epic gate pony when out happy hacking! And at the moment he has to canter sideways every so often along with squealing and squiggling his feet! And then he shuts up and walks like nothing is happening, then he goes off on one again hehehe! He is awesome! He is also a sneaky wee beggar! He likes putting his ears forward and trying to speak to other horses whilst he is walking along but you need to watch him because he will nip their necks - then squeal and squiggle his feet! I have honestly never met a horse with such character! He heads over to the other yard tomorrow which means I am going to have to get the super glue out for going round the fields ... He would never, ever get you off intentionally but he will give you an, how shall I put it, an entertaining ride!
I only had 2 horses toady and my other was Fatty. Fatty is a horse that scares he bejesus out of me because he has been known to whinney when pulling up from a hard piece of work. My experience of horses that whinney after hard work is they usually drop down dead moments later ... So I was working upsides Beth and the horse she was on hangs to the right a bit. I said to her that I may have to take the right hand side 3rd or 4th time up incase mine dropped - I wanted a clean roll into the field and not crash into the stone wall like Maisie did! So that got her panicking! Heading up the gallops first time we go up in single file, Beth was just behind me and Fatty started broncing which made her take a pull! And then a song went through my head which made me laugh, and is still in my head now ... So we got to the top and i just burst out with - I'm going down! I'm yelling Timber! You'd better move! - she didn't appreciate that! (Sorry! Morbid sense of humour sometimes!) Fatty was on fire today and worked really well with no whinneying.
If you have been missing Bucket Heed you haven't been missing much. He is working away nicely, Derek had him today for a bit of work and he worked all over his partner - which is another of Beth's charges so that brought on a whole new meaning and round of Timber! I have been winding her up with it all afternoon - she is not amused! I did consider parking outside her house and blasting it out of my car but I'll save that for tomorrow!
Here is Bucket Heed leading the string up the gallops:
