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.

Reality check

I was carted off in the motorised cabin to prance to music again.  I gather we were a bit late leaving and when we arrived it turned out that they were running 20 minutes ahead of time.  I was quickly bundled into the warm up where I puffed round for a bit, and the next thing I know, I was in the big arena and being expected to dance to 'Happy' music.  Her friend said I looked befuddled, and She wanted to know why I didn't want to go forward and why I kept feeling the urge to stick my nose in the air.  Well, life just isn't that simple.

Edited highlights are below - 



To her dismay, the music didn't play back as it should and there were a number of unexpected pauses.

To make matters worse, She had made an emergency purchase of carrots from the corner store and they were a) not organic and b) very bendy.  I had to insist on having the mint flavoured treats instead.

Anyway, we survived but I think She has decided that we won't be going to the Regional Championship after all.

"He will grow into it"

Her verdict on Hanuman's new coat.

Hanuman complains that his ears are getting quite hot under the hood.  Poor chap.  
I also have a new winter coat, purchased from the 'Big Horse Company' which specialises in making outerwear for the horse with the fuller figure.  I have to say that it is very comfy and doesn't strangle me when I graze, like the previous ones.
Posy has been praised for looking after her coats, which means that she has missed out on the new rug bonanza.  Posy is quite miffed that she has to wear last season's styles, and says it isn't fair.

Hanuman's first ridden outing

I was surprised to see my chum Freddie arrive yesterday morning when we had no play date scheduled.  It turned out he was to escort young Hanuman on his first ridden outing.
Posy and I waited anxiously in our stables for more than half an hour, and when Hanuman returned we both neighed loudly to show our relief that no harm had befallen the little fellow.  
Initially, Hanuman had been a bit surprised to find that She was behind him, on his back, and not in front of him holding a rope, but he quickly got used to the idea.  Then he was a bit confused because part of him wanted to run madly about with excitement, whilst part of him was a bit nervous and wanted to be very cautious.  In the end, he walked mostly and jigged a bit whilst ensuring that he didn't get too far from Freddie.  This turned out to be a winning strategy that won him much praise and a large carrot on his return.

Freddie keeps a watchful eye on his young charge

Hanuman is praised for his bravery and good behaviour

Hanuman celebrated afterwards by prancing round the field and flinging off one of his new shoes.