Exam Success

A lovely large envelope came in the post for me last Saturday, containing my certificates from the BHS Stage 2 riding and horse care management.  Amazingly I passed all the modules, flat work and show jumping. To say I was relieved is an understatement; I made some clangers during the practical exams, particularly around shoeing and clipping, so I wasn't sure whether I would pass it all. Even on the flat work, the first horse I rode was completely lazy and I had to use my whip quite a lot and then the second horse was the opposite - it was all het up and fizzy so neither ride was brilliant.  I did enjoy the show jumping though, the horses I rode for that were great.

So onto my teaching qualification (the PTT) and Stage 3.  Ever the dedicated student I have already received the text books and have started reading them.  I have also bought "How to teach Children to Ride - A Guide for Instructors", which is proving very useful bedtime reading.  I will put some of it into practise tomorrow on Luke and Claudia. The ponies are doing fine, they are quite fat but they have settled in really well:

The turkeys are huge and can go on the field in a couple of weeks.  Andy, from the Rodings Plantery, is coming out to see us tomorrow to advise us on electric fencing for the turkeys and some landscaping. He is also the guy we are buying the 6 lamb ewes from and they will come to us at the end of July. We really need them, I have had to pay twice so far to have the grass topped, we have too much of it and its going totally wild man. Everyday it grows taller and taller and I look out at the (already) fat ponies and think oh my, we need a whole flock of sheep to help keep the grass under control.

We have met with the architect who is going to create some inspired drawings for the stable block. He is the brother of our planning consultant and they compliment each other very well.  He really focuses on the design and throws caution to the wind when it comes to the planning aspect, whereas she is very risk averse and cautious and keeps him in check. Hopefully between us we will come up with a design that is acceptable to the council, but does not compromise too much on style, design and practicality of the building.  I have also been in touch with the water people, the electricity people , the env agency again etc etc so I feel that things are moving (albeit slowly) again with the project.

I have also booked Jack in to get the snip.  We are sick & tired of him running off to spray his scent all around Barleycroft End.  Whilst he is starting to be a good guard dog (helped I think by the fact we haven't had him "done" yet) I don't think our neighbours will really appreciate a male lurcher running all over their gardens looking for lurve. 

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Is it summer?

The weather has been awful, the fields are boggy and muddy like they are in the winter months and Quito has been going out at night in his lightweight new zealand rug.  Hard to believed it is actually June.

The meat chickens will have to be moved to the field this weekend as they are wrecking the few plants and flowers I have in the garden.  I haven't got the heart to leave them in their run any longer, they hate it in there. The turkeys are doing OK, one is a runt of the litter as it were and is very small.  Russell and I have been watching it and it does manage to eat and drink, but it is around a third the size of the other birds.  He is my favourite, and if he survives we may have to keep him. They make such a mess it is unbelievable, and the smell is fairly pungent. I had to clean them out at about 11pm the other night as they just couldn't be left any longer.  Every other day they need to be cleaned out and it is not a pleasant job.  Plus the little sods are always escaping as their run is being cleaned. We still have all 26 (we think) despite Luke and Cassia letting most of them out one afternoon without me realising.

Russell is spending all waking hours when he is not at work on the turkey house.  It is another high spec design, so when it is finished it will be amazing, but it is taking a lot of time and Russell is a bit stressed in case he won't have it ready in time.  He comes home from work at about 7.30 - 8pm, has some dinner and then heads out to the shed to cut wood until around 11.30. Every night. We tenderly removed splinters from each others hands one evening this week, how our relationship has changed :-)

I've got my BHS stage 2 exam on Monday, which I'm trying to prepare for.  The kids are on half term this week, but they have done a lot of drawing with me at the kitchen table as I try to revise.  I do need to practise plaiting, putting on bandages etc on the ponies but it is too wet to tie them up in the garden and the kids don't want to traipse down to the stables in the rain with me to work on them out there.  I'm hoping the field will dry up a bit over the weekend so that I can practise lunging and riding.

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