Mandyworld

Ardnamurchan

We got back from Scotland late last night. It's a really long drive, but well worth it. We had a great time, I just wish we'd had a few more days. As it happened I wasn't well prepared at all and spent the whole journey up remembering stuff I'd forgotten to pack, despite the car being stuffed full. We managed anyway!
We went to a house that belongs to a friend of ours. It is in the most gorgeous setting, completely remote and wildly beautiful as so much of Scotland is. The house was built in the sixties (I think they must have shipped everything in by boat) and it is a bit like stepping back in time. There are even loads of old books there. I found a biography of Pat Smythe who was the first British female Olympic showjumper back in the 50's. It was a fascinating read. The sport has changed so much since and become so technical. Back then the British were unbeatable. At the last Olympics we didn't even qualify a team! Anyway I digress..
Emma was really good and I was so proud of her. Actually both the children were. They played really nicely and I think became quite fond of each other. We went to the beach and collected shells and built sandcastles, sometimes in the rain but it didn't matter. In the evenings we sat around a lovely open fire and drank and ate ourselves silly. Perfect!
We also had a close encounter with the local wildlife who came to rummage through our bins. I have to admit that at first we didn't know what they were. They have cat bodies, with badger feet and weasel faces! It was Cath who identified them as pine martens and I wasn't sure but after checking on the net today she was absolutely right. Apparently they're quite rare, but this little chap wasn't very shy!

Anyway a great time was had by all, it was just the break that James and I needed. Thanks guys!

BYe Bye

We're off to Scotland today! Yipee, it feels like we haven't had a holiday in ages. I'm packing wellies, waterproofs, suntan lotion, hats, insect repellent, warm clothes, cool clothes...I feel I'm prepared for any eventuality. We'll see, byeee!

Car trouble

When I was little I had a Sindy Range Rover (it was red) and a horse box that I could attach behind and tow my plastic horses to little pretend shows that I set up on the landing. Now I'm all grown up and I've got exactly what I wished for. Well almost, my Range Rover is grey, my horse isn't plastic and show jumping is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, but other than that hey presto, I'm set, wishes fulfilled, my life is complete. Well almost. The damn Range Rover keeps breaking. It's had lots of little things wrong with it, then the front diff went. I'm not exactly sure what that is but it required major surgery, now a brake caliper is jammed. It was an expensive car, it's expensive to fix and the warranty has run out.
Sindy never had such trouble. Oh boo hoo I hear you say, diamond shoes are too tight and all that. I know, I'm just saying, be careful what you wish for.

Annie's story

One day I will write about my own super steed and our showjumping exploits but today I want to tell you about one of his stable mates. She is at present more news worthy and I have been thinking about her today, for while it has been pouring with rain and blowing a gale here she is in sunny Spain. A horse on holiday I hear you ask. Is she sunbathing on the beach right now? Not quite. She is in fact working hard competing at the Madrid horse show.
Annie or to give her her full title Fresh Direct Animation II belongs to my friend and trainer of 19 years Diane Jay-Ing. She bought her as a yearling from a friend of hers who owns New Priory Stud. This was nothing unusual as Di buys a youngster nearly every year, but this particular year she was a bit short of cash and came back with a very ugly looking thing that she got for £1500. Even worse she had a very twisted front leg. (Her left foreleg is turned in from the knee down.)
Everyone told Di that she shouldn't bother to keep her but Di just kept saying that she didn't cost very much so she may as well see how she turned out. Then it came to breaking her in. Di sent her away to be backed first of all. She didn't have much help at the time and we have found that sometimes horses that are broken at home are always a bit difficult at shows. She sent her to some professional friends who sent her back saying they would never have another one of Di's horses again! Over the next year she earnt her nickname "the mule". Why Di kept going with her I'll never know. She tried long reining her for a bit but she reared up and fell over in the field then jumped out over the gate with the reins trailing behind her. We caught her up by the main road.
Di would often ride her for about 3 hours a day. Most of this time she spent in the hedge just behind the barn as Annie refused to leave the yard. I used to ride my horse beside her up and down the lane to the school for ages until Annie would do it without making a fuss. Many people would have given up on her but luckily Di is even more stubborn than she is.
Eventually she was ready to go to shows but that wasn't easy either. She often wouldn't leave the lorry park. Di took her to a 3 day show and rode her all day every day and never actually went in a class. Everyone thought she was a waste of time. We went to Dorchester show but there were flags and we couldn't get her anywhere near the ring so we had to just come home.
However, once Di got her in the ring, wow did she jump. There was one show in an indoor arena and Annie refused to go down the far end. Di could jump all the jumps at one end but then Annie would look at these mirrors they had on the wall and Di couldn't get her to the next jump. The height wasn't a problem though. The classes that day got progressively bigger and Di took Annie in every one. She won the last class of the day.
By now Annie was 17.3 hh, which is very big, and getting very strong and Di realised that if she was going to do much more she would need a man to ride her. Since then she has had a succession of riders and has done progressively better with each one. She jumped at county level with James Rosewell and then at national level with Geoff Luckett.
Also whilst with Geoff she jumped her first Nations Cup, that is she represented Britain on a team of 4 horses in Copenhagen.
This year she is being ridden by Tim Stockdale and should go on to even better things. She was second in the Jaguar Grade A class at Royal Windsor last week and I think another Nations Cup appearance will happen soon. I haven't had a full report from Madrid yet but I think she has been placed. Currently she is number 35 in the BSJA rankings list of horses and has won £13,184. Not bad for a £1500 mule with a bent leg! I'll be catching up with Di when they get back from Spain so I'll let you know how it goes.
Meanwhile my poor Balu is stuck at home in the rain, but at least when he meets other horses he can tell them about his high flying friends.

Happy days

I'm not a 'natural' mother. A lot of the time I find it bloody hard work and I only have one baby. I think if I'd had twins I'd of had a nervous breakdown. However some days it all pays off. Today was one of those days. Emma visited her Grandparents this morning, we had lunch with them, then she came home and went straight to bed for a nice long nap. As a result she woke up in the sunniest of moods (not that she is ever really difficult) and we had a lovely afternoon. She has learnt to make herself dizzy by spinning around as fast as she can (not very fast when your only 16 months old), then she staggers off sideways and falls over laughing. This was interspersed by dancing to Bon Jovi. I was in hysterics. Sometimes you love them so much it hurts.

Reblogging

I'm reblogging or blogging again after a considerable absence. I had a blog before but I tried to be clever and I couldn't keep it up. So here it is a simpler blog, my diary of Mandyworld, my own little place full of babies, horses, dogs, houses and my camera.
Why would you want to read this? I don't know, but I do often have interesting thoughts and say to myself, 'If only I had a blog I could write about that'. It's probably just mindless waffle clogging up the ether but who knows, maybe I'll make a friend or two.
Today I learnt about taking professional photographs of the interior of houses. We had a photographer come to shoot our house (it's on the market). It's actually a lot harder than you would think. I tried the other day and my efforts were pretty dull. Apparently all lamps and lights should be on. Fires should be lit with paper so you get a nice bright flame and some extra studio type lights and a bit of flash don't go amiss. The chap was very clever at moving the lighting around to give the room the right depth and balance. He did find the kitchen tricky though, this showed I was not a complete moron. It was good though I think I could make a reasonable job of it now.
This is my effort, the pro's was much better.