Photo Essay - The Mudpig

This is what greeted me in the paddock yesterday but I had neither the time or the energy to deal with it so I left him as he was.

And today I brought him in for an industrial strength wash - This is what I had to contend with:

Snuggles with Doug to start

Hello boys

Dusty Doug the feline assistant

Just chillin' with ma homies

More snuggles

Leg close up - fronts

Tail dread

Leg close up - backs

Mudpig is a pony again (and noisy with it!)

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Clean clean clean!

and cute cute cute!

Now, don't do it again Brennan! Yeah, right!

I have moved him so he can now no longer trash the fenceline to show off to his (in his dreams) girlfriend Meg. Take that Brennan! Rawr, I am such a mean mother!

I will leave you with Doug who can have the last word:

Building bridges

'Build a bridge and then get over it.' I like this saying because I just don't see the point in bearing grudges and dragging up old things that should be long dead and buried - it's kinda like living with scabby old sores that you keep picking off only to make them bleed again when they have nearly healed - all you end up doing is creating an ugly scar. Surely it would be better to put a plaster on your sore and then, once it has healed, just remove it?

If people do wrong by me or my friends, I just distance myself from them as I find that it's much easier to do this than create a negative focus and dwell on it. Life is much nicer when you surround yourself with positives and push the negatives away. So, I just don't understand people who can't let go and who insist on letting things fester and eat away at them - It must make life really horrible to be so focussed on negative emotions. I feel genuine sympathy for those who carry the heavy weight of bitterness on their shoulders and the chains of paranoia around their hearts. It cannot really make for a very cheery existence and God only knows there are enough hurdles in life to face without wasting energy on suspicion, rumour and innuendo.

It also bugs me how easily people think the worst of others. What is with that? And how can a person make a decision on someone else based solely on on what they think that person may or may not have said about them according to a third party or parties? Surely it is better to go to the source and listen to what they have to say and then decide? Everyone has agendas it seems and some people will stop at nothing to advance their own agendas. That is just sad.

Seemingly random as this may be for a blog entry from me (not a horse in sight!), I have been reminded recently of the inability of one particular individual to let go of something and allow herself to move on and this has sparked a revisit to a blog entry from a few years back - I thought I would re-write it in the hope that anyone reading it who is currently bearing a grudge thinks about how this negativity is affecting their everyday life and the way that they treat people or the way that they are perceived by others. In my experience bitter and suspicious people don't make very good friends, which is often a real shame as they inevitably are good people who have allowed bad things in their lives to affect them too deeply.

Life has its hurdles, it's true and we can't all get along but I think it is how you deal with the hurdles that face you and where you focus any negative feelings that helps define you as a person. So, what does this say about you? Me, I am a bit of a live and let live girl. I believe in being honest about my opinions with others but don't believe in intentionally hurting the feelings of others. There are always ways to say and do things that can help negate the hurt or, sometimes, it can be better just to say nothing and keep your feelings to yourself. I am fortunate enough to be living my dream. It's not always easy and there are aspects of the dream that are missing but it's my dream and I am definitely doing everything I can to make the most of it.

Peace.

Team Brennan's First Red Ribbon

Well the final day of the Autumn series dawned cold and wet! Yuck! The stable has really come into its own with the arrival of winter and keeping the boy in work/having him out competing. It really was a Godsend to be able to put him in there last night and pull him out this morning dry and, aside from the shavings liberally through his mane and tail, clean!

Today Brennan spent some time in one of the stallion boxes at the grounds. They are small, dark and fairly run down and the door is too high for a 14HH pony to see over the top of. He wasn't particularly thrilled about being in there but it was a good lesson for him. At one point the other stallion in the competition was put in the box right next to him so, rather than upset him or the other stud, we elected to move him to a box further away. This one he could just see over the top of on his tippy toes - Too cute!

Before each test Karen stopped and had a quick chat to the judges to let them know that she would be circling/repeating transitions/movements if he did not get them right the first time. We were aware that this would lose us marks but the point of the exercise is to teach Brennan that he is to do what he is asked when he is asked and if he does not, he repeats until he gets it right. Pleasingly he did not have to repeat any movements in either test and, aside from losing his forwardness in his first walk (which was firmly corrected, resulting in a bit of lost balance) and attempting to exit the arena at A again (cheeky little bugger), the test flowed really nicely and they came away with 76% and 2nd place (2% behind the winning test). Thrilled!

The second test was also very pleasing and Brennan was obedient and obliging and got all his transitions. The walk was better this time so he had clearly learned his lesson from the first test. Final result was a First placing with a score of 70% - Way to go Brennan and Karen!

Karen rode Brennan beautifully and very tactfully and the outing was a great learning experience for him. We're both absolutely thrilled with him. So, now we work on stepping things up a notch to come out in First Level at the next series starting in October. Bring it on I say!!