I win Horse of the Year accolade!

Yes, She has awarded me the Horse of the Year accolade!  I have exceeded my 2014 targets and have ridden Achievements this year, in spite of my physical disabilities.

I look forward to receiving a handsome reward

It has to be said that the opposition for the Horse of the Year title has fallen by the wayside.  Hanuman has proved rather erratic in the arena as yet, so She has decided to take things slowly and wait until he can walk quietly round for more than two minutes before progressing to trot and canter work.

Posy hasn't done anything lately at all and is just ambling about getting fatter and fatter.
So I am the clear winner, and a most deserving one!

Season's Greetings

Thank you for your Christmas greetings.  We have celebrated here with extra carrots for breakfast.  Sadly, when I opened my Christmas gift and discovered a bumper bag of minty treats, the bag was taken away again with only the assurance that I would see them again on 'special occasions'.

Yum, minty treats

Still, it was better than being dressed up in tinsel and made to go out in public, like poor Freddie.

Freddie prepares for his annual public humiliation

Anyway, Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year to everyone!

Christmas Social

I was invited to a Christmas party but alas, I had nothing to wear.  My little friend Luna was sporting red tinsel, jingle bells on her noseband and some fetching antlers, leaving me feeling somewhat under-dressed for the occasion.  

Luna seems proud of her Xmas get up

 She said that dressing up was for girls, and just look at Laddie who was not at all happy about being made to wear antlers on top of his head.

Laddie is less than impressed by his comedy antlers

She was imbibing mulled wine and scoffing snacks but didn't offer me any, although I note that Luna was being given mulled wine.

I spy mince pies

I wasn't even allowed to eat any mince pies and it was only at the very end that I managed to extract an apple from the organisers.

Poorly me

I felt pretty good yesterday morning but by the afternoon I was dripping with sweat and had come out in hives.  I didn't know where to put myself I was so uncomfortable.  I went up to the yard and when I saw Her I neighed loudly to draw attention to my plight.  The vet speedily followed and was suitably impressed as my mouth had swollen and various other lumps and swellings had appeared.  There was a lot of fussing and the inevitable injections followed.  I am very brave with injections as I do find that they help.  Then I was confined to barracks, feeling sorry for myself, although I did manage to force down some haylage.  Touchingly, Posy kept a vigil by my stable.  The photo below shows that some swelling remained even the following day.

There was nothing actually wrong with my eye

I felt much better after drinking several large buckets of water and eating quite a lot of haylage.  Nonetheless, She had started to panic by the next afternoon because a lot was going in but nothing was coming out.  I was taken on several forced marches and threatened with more injections until finally my digestive system started getting back to normal - averting a second vet visit in the nick of time.  I have to face another night in tonight, but am hoping that I will be allowed back into the field tomorrow.
She has been wracking her brains trying to figure out what happened, and Her favourite theory is that I must have disturbed a bee that was trying to hibernate and it stung me.

Party Invite

She has decided that I am not to compete in affiliated competitions any more because She says I now need to have the magic powder in my food and it is not allowed.  Nonetheless, She was jolly pleased to received this - 

I thought perhaps I could go just for the drinks and nibbles, but She says it wouldn't be that much fun and has promised me extra carrots at local competitions instead.