February 2012

February 29, 2012: 15 going on 50...

Yeah, I'm fifteen, which feels distinctly odd, if I may say so. Fifteen seems so much further away from fourteen than fourteen is from thirteen. Weird. Anyways, for my birthday Skye was given a rain sheet (Skye generally hijacks most of my Christmas presents, too) which she hates but I love because we occasionally get icy rain and sleet in winter, during which Skye gets terribly miserable and shivery, so now she has a raincoat and I can quit worrying even though she says the leg straps feel funny. It fits, a great relief, since we never had very good luck getting a blanket to fit on Arwen (although we did end up with one that fits most Jersey cows like a glove). My poor well-intentioned family attempted to cook me a birthday supper; then we ran out of gas for the stove, a meeting with an insurance lady went on for much longer than expected (as meetings usually seem to do) so by the time it was done all the restaurants were closed, the rollmops had gone suspicious, we'd run out of leftovers and eventually French toast and kettle-fried chips came to the rescue. I thought it was hilarious and far more entertaining than any ordinary birthday supper even though Mom, Dad and Rain were positively mortified.

Back to business, my little riding school has more than doubled (i. e. there are three new students). I finally have some girl students to balance out the two boys; Danielle, Tanya and their mom, Lizelle. I always find teaching grownups very unnerving because, well, they're grownups and are supposed to boss you around not the other way. I suppose a more teen-like teen would quite enjoy screaming at grownups but during the first lesson I was extremely nervous and kept on saying "tannie" (much like the Afrikaans version of ma'am), as in "Please tannie won't you push your heels down a bit tannie?" and "Now tannie kan turn left a bit please tannie," making my internal editor bang its head on desks.

They are doing fine; Skye is being an absolute angel and tackles every lesson, despite uncomfortably bouncing riders and my incessant squawks of "Heels down!", with unrelenting enthusiam, head in like a dressage horse's wherever she goes. Arwen is lazy but hey, what's new, at least she isn't throwing them off.

February 23, 2012: Catching Up

I know, I know, I haven't blogged for ages and ages, sorry. Life has been a little crazy. (As usual). Everyone is doing pretty well, though I managed to catch flu and not ride for an entire week, but now I am back in the saddle and everything is going well.

Skye gave a few bucks after her holiday but no one fell off and she is back to the fiery but dependable creature I know and love so well. She's in excellent health with a shimmer on her coat reminscent of burnished steel and, when excited, with her proud head high and every muscle rippling under that molten-gold coat, "splendid" is too meek a word for her. She's doing great. Arwen is finally over her horse sickness vaccine so now we can go ride out on other farms again (Skye's best).

Early this month I started putting a halter on Secret. Halter training can probably wait until he's three months old (um... next week), but for now he wears the halter and doesn't seem to mind it at all. Secret is going HUGE - he can barely squeeze into the foal halter. He and Copper are both losing their foal hair and look, to say the least, a little goofy. I'm not sure what colour Copper's legs are trying to be.

Blizzard, the smallest of the Disasters, was constantly itchy and seemed to have a rash so I gave her a good bath with Sunlight soap. Although this involved me getting even wetter than the dog and a very soapy Blizzard planting her paws on my shoulders in a desperate attempt to get out (my strangled "Down! Geddown, you nutcase!" mingling with rising strains of 'Panis Angelicus' from my cellphone), it went, on the whole, very well. She ended up clean and the itching has diminished.

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