We had a lovely relaxing weekend - the calm before the storm, literally, as now the weather has broken we have brought 15 horses in and four more to follow shortly. They are all really content and clearly very pleased to be out of the rain.
At the end of the week we will be fully staffed again as we have a girl coming to work for us called Kerry who used to be the groom for Izzy Taylor, she had a riding accident two years ago and has been driving lorries since then but has now been passed as fully fit and can't wait to be back riding again. She is a really good rider and will also be very handy for doing flat work with the horses that need it. We also have a girl called Holly who is going to be helping Lucy manage the yard and a lovely and very enthusiastic young chap called Will, who will be sharing the novice rides with Phil. Poor Will - on his very first day Doug decided to try him on the Tikkanen filly, he had done all the preliminaries with her and she had been as good as gold, almost too good, I thought, and sure enough as soon as Will put one leg over one side of her she went absolutely mad and bucked like a bronco - Will did really well and sat about seven bucks but then gravity took its toll and he hit the deck, Doug then legged the poor lad straight back on and she did exactly the same again. He is as brave as a lion though and it didn't phase him at all. Dickie came up with the idea of putting her on the walker and legging Will up on her back whilst she was going around - We all had ringside seats and were watching through our fingers but she behaved herself and so far so good...
Yesterday evening I was checking the youngsters who are in a field over the river. To get back I take the short cut which is across a weir, which controls the water into the lake and on one side is a waterfall with a steep drop - the dogs have always followed me with no problem at all, but this time Poppy must have got distracted and slipped. I heard a plop and to my horror saw Poppy being churned around by the turbulent
water. There was no way she could get out on her own because it was vertical concrete sides and she didn't have the sense to swim down river where she could have got out more easily
To cut a long story short I had to jump in with all my clothes on to rescue her - I then couldn't find Spud who was last seen standing on the weir looking down at Poppy with a concerned look on his face so I had to go in again to check he wasn't under the waterfall too!! He was fine, he had just gone the other way to try and help. Grrrr!! We had some shepherd hut guests who were sitting around their fire having a barbecue as I dripped and slopped past them, they thought it was hilarious and were still giggling when I saw them this morning!
At the end of the week we will be fully staffed again as we have a girl coming to work for us called Kerry who used to be the groom for Izzy Taylor, she had a riding accident two years ago and has been driving lorries since then but has now been passed as fully fit and can't wait to be back riding again. She is a really good rider and will also be very handy for doing flat work with the horses that need it. We also have a girl called Holly who is going to be helping Lucy manage the yard and a lovely and very enthusiastic young chap called Will, who will be sharing the novice rides with Phil. Poor Will - on his very first day Doug decided to try him on the Tikkanen filly, he had done all the preliminaries with her and she had been as good as gold, almost too good, I thought, and sure enough as soon as Will put one leg over one side of her she went absolutely mad and bucked like a bronco - Will did really well and sat about seven bucks but then gravity took its toll and he hit the deck, Doug then legged the poor lad straight back on and she did exactly the same again. He is as brave as a lion though and it didn't phase him at all. Dickie came up with the idea of putting her on the walker and legging Will up on her back whilst she was going around - We all had ringside seats and were watching through our fingers but she behaved herself and so far so good...
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| Butter wouldn't melt...... |
Yesterday evening I was checking the youngsters who are in a field over the river. To get back I take the short cut which is across a weir, which controls the water into the lake and on one side is a waterfall with a steep drop - the dogs have always followed me with no problem at all, but this time Poppy must have got distracted and slipped. I heard a plop and to my horror saw Poppy being churned around by the turbulent
To cut a long story short I had to jump in with all my clothes on to rescue her - I then couldn't find Spud who was last seen standing on the weir looking down at Poppy with a concerned look on his face so I had to go in again to check he wasn't under the waterfall too!! He was fine, he had just gone the other way to try and help. Grrrr!! We had some shepherd hut guests who were sitting around their fire having a barbecue as I dripped and slopped past them, they thought it was hilarious and were still giggling when I saw them this morning!
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| Poppy and Spud before the 'incident' |
