Oh my goodness, when was the last time I blogged ... September!?! What's that all about? Well, goodness me, I swear time passes quicker the older I get. Actually, having said that, I shall be glad when this year is over. I think its been one of the worst years ever for me, starting with my Dad's death in March (may God rest his soul) and the very near break up of my marriage in October. We are hanging on and trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy. A serious lack of funds is hampering our efforts and I'm not sure how we're going to get through Christmas. Everything is considerably down-sized so I hope people don't think we're just being stingy with presents. Hopefully in the new year my other half will get off his backside and get himself a proper job earning proper money (and pigs might fly, but we can only hope!).
I will not give up mine and my daughter's horses unless we are completely destitute! At least Jasmine has got herself a job to pay for her livery - she works for two hours after school every day for the cleaners at the school. It means she's not home until after 5.30 but it leaves her weekends free.
Talking of horses, Santana is still looking fab. I've never seen him looking so good. Everyone at the yard says how great he looks - it makes me swell with pride.
In an attempt to combat my confidence issues I had a lesson with Caroline at our yard in October. She was great - making me think of all sorts of things at the same time (multi-tasking, gah!) and by the end of the hour I had completely forgotten my worries about Santana. He was feeling the difference and was so relaxed and chilled out - just like he used to be. This gave me something to work on and I rode on each of the next two weekends.
Then we had another mishap. Santana had started forcing his way through the rather flimsy fence around our field and I had to get it repaired several times already. One morning we had to bring the horses in because there was a "shoot" on the farm. No horses anywhere in our field and we finally found them a couple of fields down having destroyed several lengths of fencing, electric and other sorts. We brought them back through the gaps they had made when Rambo, Jasmine's pony, took a dislike to one of the gaps and suddenly freaked out knocking us both over in his panic. Of course me, being the one who always gets injured in any incidents, was the one who got trodden on. I had a perfect hoofprint on the inside of my thigh and, boy, did it hurt! That was about six weeks ago and its only now starting to get better.
I have managed to ride the last couple of weekends and I'm pleased to say it has been good. I am concentrating very hard on relaxing and all the things Caroline taught me which seems to be working.
Next problem: Jasmine had a very bad fall from Rambo about a month ago. Fortunately she escaped unharmed but it really shocked her. It has left her with a lot of distrust in Rambo which she's got to build back up again. She is such a confident rider, and with good reason - she's got great natural ability - I've never seen her nervous like this. I'm really hoping she can get back to where she was.
What a pair! We're as bad as each other now!
Anyway - now for some pics:-
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| Riding in the menage |
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| Alex, my son having a lesson |
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| Early October - chilling by the "lake" in his field |
