Cat Funnies

...saw this, and thought of you...x

TCJpart75 Olympic Fever

EQUESTRIAN EVENTING
Olympic Tickets...and the run-up to the eventing.

...the anticipation has finally got me. When I thought I might get 2 tickets to the final day of the eventing, the showjumping...I calmly waited, not to assume until the pieces of official invite papers lie in my hot little hand. 

This attitude I learned from my Dad: never expect anything then you'll never be disappointed. I did a lot of showjumping as a kid, so naturally I'll be giving John a blow-by-blow about 3 faults versus 4 faults, time penalties and whether I'd have gone inside that line for a faster time....he'll be so interested!! (it's pay-back for the off-side rule!).

But the time has come, the tickets are here, via tracked Royal Mail, and I can't help the feeling that John and I are about to witness the single most important equestrian event, on our home soil, of all time. Except those events back home at WW, T&H related!

We have the strongest team we have ever had, with fantastically talented horses, Tom & Henry were washing their hair that day.

They'll be used to the venue, it's on home turf so acclimatising wont be a problem, the horses wont have to travelled very far either.

Relaxed and happy, and the fittest they've ever been, we stand a greater than good chance of medals.

A female strong team for the eventing, I find myself excited to see Mary King again. John and I stood next to her Auntie at Burghley and cheered her past the finishing line - amazing, we clapped and shouted so hard, a tear came to our eyes as she passed us all happy and cuddling her horse still galloping along..

Tom & Henry will of course be cheering on Team GB as they lounge around in the shade with a cool drink at home, or playing a game in their fields. Glad it's not they who have to get up early, brush their hair and perform in front of the worlds press.

No, my 2 will be at 'The Paddock', a trendy retreat for gorgeous horses, it's where they stay during the hot spells, it's a very classy establishment, breakfast in bed, the works!

By the time you read this, it'll be almost time to go. Greenwich Park final day of the team eventing. Can't wait....






















..and T&H, they'll be resting up, chilling out, galloping around and having an Olympic breakfast!

If there was a stay-at-home-event for the most gorgeous Trakehners..T&H would have to share joint gold!

Letter to the Editor

Dear Jo,
An e-mail I wrote to Jo Browne at HORSE Magazine after the 'GreavesleyGate' scandal.

I think it’s important that everyone remembers horses are creatures with their own ideas about what is safe and what isn’t, and they can’t be ‘fixed’ , ’once and for all’. 

A horse is perfect for what he is: a fast, fit, flighty creature who considers safety his primary focus in life, above all other considerations.  The reason we love them so much is that despite all these things, they choose to be with us, to let us touch them, ride them and ultimately ask them to be ok in unfamiliar and scary situations – I might add we’d NEVER force ourselves to face our fears...so why is it ok to make our horses do it?  The fact that they do trust us, that most horses with sensitive training out on the roads alongside road users who are kind and thoughtful, a horse can become comfortable with traffic, but it only takes one scare to put all that work back to the beginning, and some horses will never recover from a fright, and neither might the rider.

 

I feel so cross and saddened that there are people we share our planet with that have so little empathy for their fellow creatures that they’d be willing to risk the safety of all concerned..who are these people?

I think I must be very lucky indeed, because I have the nicest drivers in my village...cyclists on the other hand.....are a bit better at slowing down!

Thanks for reading my rant,

Shelley

The 'Greavesley' Report

... a rather alarming letter from a motorist Roy Greavesley.





HORSE MAGAZINE: AUGUST 2012 ISSUE

Anyone who has read the JULY issue will have noticed on the letters page of HORSE magazine a letter from a motorist.

If like me you were so upset and cross by the sentiments of the motorist that you couldn't bring yourself to reply, worry no more Karry Gardner has spoken for us, what a brilliant letter, and despite her accident as a child she still loves horses!! 

Now, before I get all cross and emotional as a horse lover, here are a few FACTS:

The Law of the Land or what's commonly known as the Highway Code and what it says regarding horses on the road or 'vulnerable road users'.

Once an individual has applied for a licence to drive he is accepting these regulations and guidelines, it's his obligation to demonstrate not only the skill to operate a vehicle but an duty of care to fellow road users.  

Now most of us riders would rather be riding on a bridleway and not have to ride on the roads at all, but there aren't nearly enough bridleways  around so a certain amount of roadwork is necessary for most of us.

Whilst we all wait with bated breath for the 'Greavesley Report' to be published so we can finally tackle  the 'problems' most of our horses have with traffic on the roads, we'll just have to carry on with 'mollycoddling' them and do the best we can when drivers drive past us without any thought because they're in a hurry and don't believe anything or anyone should slow them down, though some feel 'obliged to' at least Roy did slow down. 

We'll eagerly await any new technique, where we can 'teach' our horses to leave behind every natural instinct in their millions of years of evolutionary development.  With little insight or any experience not just of horses, but of other human beings or creatures of any kind, it's wrong to suggest we can make another living creature bend to our will when every primal instinct is to the contrary....

....and all of us creatures get scared, not just horses, is there a programme in the pipeline to cure us humans of our fears too?

The point is, not only does this kind of simplified approach seem to lack any kind of empathy with the living creatures we share this planet with, because horses have humans on them too, it assumes horses can be fixed 'once and for all'.

I shudder to think!

Horses don't need to be cured, they need to be understood.

There are so many things in our environment horses might be worried about, not least the traffic, but it's because we're in the traffic when horses get scared that means it's the drivers that we are asking to deal with a situation and be kind and courteous.   As a rider, it's conceivable we may never identify the thing that's spooked our horse when we're on-board, he sees things and hears thing completely out of our range, it's what he's built for.  A vastly superior sense of potential danger that has kept horses pretty much unchanged for millions of years.

A thoughtful and courteous driver can make all the difference in a tricky situation, and can even make a situation so much better and safer for a horse, he could even save his life and that of the rider by slowing down and giving a scared horse room to move and think.

...and for all those such brilliant drivers out there, and in my experience there are many more of the nice ones than not, we thank you very much.

SOME THINGS A MOTORIST MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT HORSES:

...and they've been around much longer than humans!

*A horse lives in a world of constant safety assessment, he is acutely aware of his surroundings and makes second by second behaviour adjustments depending on which dangers he perceives.

*Horses have prey animal instincts, if they decide there is a threat to their safety, they will run to achieve an approximate quarter mile distance between them and the foe. They will turn to face the threat and reassess.

*A horse needs time to think, an average of seven seconds to size up a situation, where he will often ‘plant’ himself rigid to the spot in order to give a problem his complete attention.

Horses can react in surprising ways to perceived foe, that’s why it’s important that horses are given lots of room by any vehicle passing them.

*A horse is an intelligent and powerful creature, millions of years of instinct development mean he judges danger in different ways to humans, and though not a natural fighter, he can and will defend himself if he feels that is the only way to avoid certain death – if the horse wasn’t like this, it would have died out millions of years ago...eaten.

*Horses take exception to unexpected things to maintain their own personal feeling of safety – and being safe is the most important thing to a horse...even more important than food.  It is difficult for humans to understand these reactions, because we are the opposite of horses, we are predators and have developed a very different existence. All we can hope for as keepers of horses is an understanding of our horses needs and give them the space they need to express them and to help them manage these reactions.

Cyclists and vehicles: ‘please pass slow and wide’

Wednesday Whimsy

...saw this, and thought of you....xxx

SPECIAL SHINY EDITION

SUNGLASSES ON!

Too hot to ride (or do anything) and finally I'm wearing flip-flops!  ..still wearing wellies in the fields though, this mud will take more than a hot weekend to dry out!

The boys have spent all weekend in their stables getting out of the heat and away from the flies, despite Saturday morning being field-swapping time, and they have access to new grass and venue, they have decided the yard is the place to be.  Of course they have fresh haylage and sweet smelling clean beds to lie-down in, so it's all very luxurious.

Even the young swallow babies are leaning over the rim of their pre-fab  RSPB nest John put up for them, and panting...I have warned them Africa is hotter, but they don't go there until September!!  The swallows arrived late and by the time they got here and started mending last years nest, Min had discovered a way into it....

.... despite John putting up barriers so the cats couldn't get near....she's very cunning.  Anyway, we felt they were running out of time if they were going to have babies and fly back to West Africa by September, so John put up a pre-fab, which they've had 4 babies in!

Tom & Henry have been brushed to within an inch of their lives, and are super shiny.  Here are a few shots form the weekend...

...wish I could get my hair as shiny!

...yummy

...such a beautiful neck Tom has.

..and Henry's bottom..can't be beaten either...like a polished conker!
...being hot, drinking from the buckets John put up for them, having a leisurely brush and generally living the gorgeous life..Tom & Henry xx

TCJpart74 Spike Milligan

SOLDIER FREDDY:


Soldier Freddy
was never ready,
But! Soldier Neddy,
unlike Freddy
Was always ready
and steady,

That's why,
When Soldier Neddy
Is-outside-Buckingham-Palace-on-guard-in -the-pouring-wind-and-rain-being-steady-and-ready ,
Freddy
is home in beddy. 

Spike Milligan

This morning, I noticed the boys lying down asleep in their stables on the ponycam monitor, as I left the house, I grabbed my phone to take a sneaky shot of them.

Henry, like soldier Neddy, being always ready and (never) steady was up on his feet before I even entered the yard!

Tom, thought it best to stay where he was, soldier Freddy at home in beddy, because in all likelihood breakfast would come to him! He was right.

I love Spike Miligan poems, and as I was sweeping up the yard the scenario reminded me of this poem.

Blimey!! TCJ is getting all poetic!!