Tuesday 31 December 2013

Review of 2013

We hoped that She had forgotten that She set us performance targets for 2013, but no, she hasn't, and we have all had Performance Reviews.

I have been let off my performance targets because of having arthritis in my forefeet as well as my hock, but I was graded 'Very Good', both for my expert baby sitting and for stepping into the breach when Posy was indisposed and prancing round a dressage test in her place and Doing Very Well.

Posy has been graded 'Could Do Better'.  Although she has made it to a fair number of shows, her tendency to run round neighing and not pay attention means that she has performed well below her ability.  Only Posy's show jumping successes have saved her from an outright 'Fail'.

This leaves Hanuman, who has been given 'Horse of the Year' Award.  Not only has he managed to avoid permanently maiming himself, but he also waltzed through his Horse Agility tests and then exceeded expectations by putting in a sparkling performance at his very first show.


We are waiting with some trepidation while She works out next year's performance targets for us all.

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Happy Christmas

Seasons greetings to everyone.  We are all having a nice rest and She gave us each a lick for Christmas, which went down very well with Posy and I.

Hanuman spent his time playing with the lid, but then he is only a baby.

Sunday 22 December 2013

Posy acquires red pom-pom

Yes, I had to babysit for Posy once more when she was taken to a show.  There is a pattern developing whereby I have to travel in the lorry, then twiddle my toes in a stable for hours while Posy charges madly round and round, and then back in the lorry again to listen to Her wailing on the way home about how disappointed She is at Posy's performance.  Posy won the red pom-pom because there were only two competitors in the Freestyle class and the other competitor was even worse than Posy.  I have been asked to gloss over Posy's performance in the first class ('dire' She said), even though three were worse than Posy, and the organisers had charitably given her a 'Placed' rosette as it was Christmas.

Posy says she found the whole competition shebang overwhelming and felt compelled to charge madly about with her nose stuck out.  That wasn't really dressage in the view of the judge.  However, She was greatly cheered because the judge liked Her 'lovely' music, so She is putting the CD away to bring it out again when Posy can do dressage.

Posy is having a rest now to get over the mental exhaustion she suffered from yesterday, whereas I have been busy delivering Christmas gifts and collecting eggs.  Then I had to trot round the arena in front of the video camera as She is now plotting some kind of music performance for me...

Sunday 15 December 2013

The ride that wasn't and Hanuman has ear trouble

My services were required a couple of days ago to babysit for Posy on a lorry journey.  I was then abandoned in a stable while Posy went off to practice her prancing, so I made sure everyone heard about my displeasure, before consoling myself with the contents of the haynet. 
 
I was then promised a fun ride to make up for having to do babysitting duties, only to find that She decided, after a very short period, that I would be unable to keep up and would have to go home.  Actually, I am sure that She was less concerned about my welfare, and more concerned about scrambling about on an exposed granite outcrop in gale force winds. 
Kit Hill, Callington, Cornwall c Martin Bodman

We noted that She still managed to drink the mulled wine and eat snacks by the simple expedient of inviting the ride round to ours to have their refreshment break.  We can be seen in the background of this cctv snip, checking anxiously to make sure that we didn't miss out on any horse treats.  And no, they had selfishly bought themselves food and drink and got nothing for their mounts.  Shame on them.


Poor Hanuman had a fright today because he was unable to work one of his ears properly.  His left ear could move normally, but the right one had very limited movement.  She had to rescue him and remove the headcollar causing the problem.  Hanuman had no idea how it got stuck on his ear like that.

Posy denies making mischief

Monday 2 December 2013

Posy does more jumping

She has decided that Posy needs to go to more show jumping contests so that she will become more sanguine about the hanging around waiting for her turn.  Posy says that she can tolerate half an hour, but after that gets increasingly desperate to do something and has to whizz round and round the warm up arena to let off steam.
Posy did redeem herself with a sparkling second place in one contest.  The other wasn't quite so successful.  Perhaps, in part, due to her rider becoming frazzled after an incident in the collecting ring when, just after jumping the practice fence, someone cantered across their path.  Posy reacted quickly to avoid a collision, but She was too surprised to react at all and fell off.  Posy was left wondering whether she should get a more reliable rider, one who didn't keep falling on the ground.
There are pictures from this show that She is too mean to buy, again.  She thought that She looked quite composed for someone who had come to grief in the collecting ring two minutes earlier.



Posy's charm, good looks and enthusiasm for jumping has earned her a couple of fans among the equine students.