Upside-down Update: Beau's Big Road trip (v.v.long)

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Festive_Felicitations

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This report earns the right to be in CR because it is about my 'competition' horse, on his holidays and moving house.
We will have lots of new competition venues and comps to explore and go to when things start up again in Feb...
;) :p :D

(More photos here:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=10338424#post10338424)

So last Oct Beau pulled/stained/tore something high hooning round the field and had to have his holidays early. After 5 weeks of field rest he was sound(ish) and getting bored and starting to run round his field again.

So much to his excitment (inital outings involved a fair few high school moves :rolleyes: I brought him back into work to see how he'd cope - fortunately well! :) By Christmas time we'd built up to 1.5 - 2hr walking hacks with some short controlled trots.

End of last year my contract ended and was renewed down south, but Christmas came along in the middle so over the last few weeks Beau and I have clocked up a few kilometers...
roadtrip.jpg

I think I can safely say now Beau is a good traveller as he only a scrambled once the whole time when I had to take slightly evasive action round a moronic driver :cool: - horn got a nice work out ;)

Stop 1 - Richmond, NSW which was home last year - 'hat cam' pics.
Setting off:
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Round the Uni:
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This is the main drive way (1.5km) into the Uni and the grass (old turf - been there a good 50yrs!) up the side made an excellent 'verge' for fast work ;) Gave a few cyclists a shock thundering past :D ;) :D

Round the Uni farm:
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It is all river flat / flood plain country and flat as a pancake apart from the levees.

Apparently all the walking work was too boring or stressful so Beau passed his time grinding the bit :cool:
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Recovering from the strenuos ride...
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to be cont...
 
The we went up to mum's for Christmas (Road Trip Stage 1) which wasn't quite as flat but had lots of grass - mornings:
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The men in my life - Beau & Best Bear ;)
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Even though it is meant to be summer it was still cool enough at night to warrent PJs!

The neighbours...
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Mums other two horses aren't that fat so we didn't think the grass was that rich / good but apparently Beau managed to stuff enough in to possibly give himself the early stages of Laminitis :cool: (attention seeker!) resulting in a minor panic attack and shutting him in a starvation yard - which he promptly jumped out of! :eek: But it was1 strand of electric tape at 1m so impressed ;)
Not doing his prior injury any good and catching one foot on the wire all the day before I headed south so that I was transporting a possibly laminitic horse, with a swollen leg and sore hip :rolleyes: :cool: - ARGH!

Broke the trip south into two stages overnighting with friends 1/2 way. When we finally arrived Beau was decidely UNimpressed with me and his location and did't talk to me for days :eek: :( But carrot bribery eventually won :)

This photo could have been taken in so many places in NSW:
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There are 100s of km of road that look like this, the trees & grass might change a bit and the crops change but apart from that it could have been taken anywhere between Narrabri & Albury (see map above)

Gave him a rest on arrival while waiting for the swelling to go down, Beau helped it by insisting that the only pace to get round his field was a canter :cool:
View from his new field:
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I did a tiny bit of schooling today and was so delighted by how good & sound(!!) Beau felt that we went out for a short leg stretch :D I think it did both our mental healths good! ;) :D :D

There is a clear round SJ comp in early Feb and all going well I think I will take Beau in the 50cm just for something to do! He can trot over them so shouldn't strain anything and he should be fit enough for that by then. Fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong between now and then!
I'm also near (another) Uni that has excellent facilities (including a full XC course!) that can be used by staff and students so got to get access to that sorted, and when the heat clears off again - I will hopefull have some more interesting updates to post! ;)

I did warn you it was long! ;) I hope you enjoyed my waffle!
 
Huge road trip, do you now live in Wagga Wagga - I always wanted to meet someone who lived there, sounded like it really is like living in Woop Woop.

Funny about the rugging, I think it would take my horse ages to acclimatise to hot weather, he is not very good in it at all (despite being half portuguese!) and was one of the reasons I didn't pay to move him out there when I went, well that, the cost, and the fact I thought he'd get bitten by a snake, he's pretty stupid ;)
 
That's a seriously long road trip:eek: I won't complain about the travelling that we do in future - although to be fair the traffic on the M6 is maybe a little heavier:D:D Do you have to travel a long way to comps? Btw I'm not too keen on your neighbours, what on earth are they, some kind of frilly lizard, are they venemous? Good luck with your competing, onwards and upwards in 2012 hopefully for all of us :) My daughter has a Beau as well!
 
I'm very jealous of the empty roads but you can keep the neighbours thanks. Beau is looking pretty good - hope you can stop him self-harming and you both have lots of fun competing very soon :).
 
Wow what a trip. Thanks for posting though, will stop me moaning about travelling. Where are you based now?
I used to ride/work in Mudgee so interested to know.
Good luck keeping Beau on the straight and narrow!
 
Stencilface said:
Huge road trip, do you now live in Wagga Wagga - I always wanted to meet someone who lived there, sounded like it really is like living in Woop Woop.
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Well now you do! ;) Its not quite a whoop whoopy as Broken Hill but its decently 'west'...

Maisie2 said:
That's a seriously long road trip:eek: I won't complain about the travelling that we do in future - although to be fair the traffic on the M6 is maybe a little heavier:D:D Do you have to travel a long way to comps? Btw I'm not too keen on your neighbours, what on earth are they, some kind of frilly lizard, are they venemous? Good luck with your competing, onwards and upwards in 2012 hopefully for all of us :)
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I'll travel 2.5hrs max to a comp which is generally about 200km, while everything is miles away quite often, you can mainly get there on empty freeways! :D

Lizard is a frilly necked or water dragon not sure - all talk and not action (ie not venomous(?))

mik said:
wow, stunning photos, what an amazing trip!
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Glad you enjoyed the pics!

FrodoBeutlin said:
This has got to win the Fascinating Thread of the Month award!!! :D The area where your mum lives looks fabulous!
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:D Ta! Where mum lives is very pretty except when the mozzies are in full swing :cool:

angelish said:
wow that is an awful long way :eek:
good luck getting back into the swing of things with him :)
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Yep not a trip I want to repeat in a hurry! and thanks.

kerilli said:
super pics, WHAT a trip. great to hear he's sound and fine now. i love the neighbour, i want one! rabbits are really boring by comparison!
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Unfortunately we have rabbits too :cool:

Quadro said:
WOW amazing!! Your pics are fab! How cute would best bear and albert pig be together though :)?!
Q
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OMG! Albert & B.Bear would just be a cuteness over load!! Thats it he and I will have to come so soggy Scotland ;)
Bear travels everywhere with me and I have pics of him all over the world. I might have to do a Bear thead in PG one day ;)

Rosiefan said:
I'm very jealous of the empty roads but you can keep the neighbours thanks. Beau is looking pretty good - hope you can stop him self-harming and you both have lots of fun competing very soon :).
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nikkimariet said:
Super pics. Love the neighbour :) Hope Beau stops self harming sometime soon!!
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I don't he is going to give up a habit of a lifetime anytime soon :cool: I cant wait to get out doing stuff again even if it is just 50cm clear rounds and walk trot tests initially! ;) :D
 
Festive_Felicitations said:
OMG! Albert & B.Bear would just be a cuteness over load!! Thats it he and I will have to come so soggy Scotland ;)
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You should! Just make sure to time it for Blair weekend! :D :D :D

What a fascinating thread, really great seeing all the different photos of different areas, glad you guys made the journey fine and are settled in. Best of luck getting back out and about with Beau and look forward to comp reports soon. :D
 
Lovely pics and great report. Your neighbour's definitely a water dragon. Some people here have them as pets :eek:. Good luck with the jumping!
 
Festive_Felicitations said:
So erm when Blair? I'd like to explore this 'roudy party bus thats reputation precedes it!!!' ;)
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devilgrin.gif
This year it is the 23rd-26th Aug, usually the last weekend of August as a guide. :D

Although Nic and I are off to the Olympic eventing at the end of July/start of Aug so not sure how many pennies will be left for Blair 2012... May just be a day trip instead of the full 3/4 days. :(
 
Thanks GB! The things you learn on HHO........ ;)

FigJam said:
devilgrin.gif
This year it is the 23rd-26th Aug, usually the last weekend of August as a guide. :D

Although Nic and I are off to the Olympic eventing at the end of July/start of Aug so not sure how many pennies will be left for Blair 2012... May just be a day trip instead of the full 3/4 days. :(
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:eek: No party bus? No over night mayhem and raving? :( :( :( Sounds a bit tame.... ;)
I'll pencil the date in and see what happens this year...

Who knows between now and then I'll win the lotto and shout HHO Scotland to a 'Big Blair Bash' - stranger things have happened :cool: ;)
 
Yep it is an absolutely massive mushroom! I took the photo from the dizzy heights of Beau's back...
Its growing in summer as well! Sydney has been having such a cool, wet summer! Strange but very nice for heat-phobes like me. just a shame I moved :cool: ;)

Will let you know how we get on ;)
 
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