The Trials and Tribulations of Animal Ownership

I love owning animals and would never be without them but sometimes they really do cause you a lot of worry. You can go along for years and then boom within a month its one trauma after another. And it seems that this is my month!

It started with the equine in my life getting a mild cough that would come and go as quickly as the sunshine this month! The vet checked everything was okay, putting my mind at rest and significantly lightened my purse with the prescription of ventipulmin. Even on that the cough seems to still occur at weird and wonderful occasions but touch wood it hasn't reappeared it the last few weeks! So one drama over and on to the next...

While family are away on holiday we are looking after their border collie Charlie alongside our 13 week old puppy. However one day in to this stint Charlie came down with a bad stomach bug so we had to keep the dogs seperate, find a willing puppy sitter and live in seperate houses! 10 days later and Charlie is slowly improving.

You'd think that would be enough but this morning I was treated to our puppy Lexi being stung like mad when she jumping into the cut stinging nettles on our walk this morning. Poor thing was beside herself, crying, and inconsolable. I don't think my mum was impressed either when I dropped a manic puppy with her on my way to work. After a fair bit of sobbing and some soothing cream she is back to her normal happy self and we wont be doing that walk for a little while!

So there we have it- My week of animal madness. And to top it off the house bunny Dave has just gone and chewed a hole in the bean bag chair, they are flooding the lounge as I write this....now where's the dustpan?!?!?!

Cambridgeshire County Show

Last weekend I took my first ever visit to Cambridgeshire County Show. This was held at the beautiful Wimpole Home Farm (also worth a visit if you are ever in the area), about 30minutes away from us and an easy drive on a Sunday afternoon. We were expecting a few rain showers so we were pleasantly surprised when a bright and sunny day was upon us. As promised here are a few snaps of the event. However I had another camera disaster! This time the batteries were well and truly charged up, trouble was I left the camera back at home- Whoops! I did manage to get a few of my phone camera so here they are....

The Pony Club were there giving the audience a great display of their skills! The youngest member was only 3 years old and she was sitting on a very gorgeous and well behaved shetland pony!

The Suffolk Punch gave a spectacular display of their strength and beauty...

And who says heavy horses can't do dressage? The below shire is one of the shires from the heavy horses kept at Wimpole Home Farm. This was only his 5th time wearing a saddle but he behaved perfectly. The aim is to use this horse for dressage competitions - I cant wait to meet him at a local show! Looking at the display they put on at the weekend I think he'll do rather well.

Below is a picture of another one of the shires at Wimpole Home Farm...

As you can see from the snaps we weren't the only ones who enjoyed a lovely day out at the show. It was lovely to go to such a busy, fun event and we will certainly be returning next year!

Who doesn't love a Bank Holiday?

The last couple of months feel like they have been full of bank holidays and I cant say that i'm complaining! This weekend I took advantage of the extra day off work and went along to the fantastic Hertfordshire County Show at the showground in Redbourn. We had a fantastic day (despite a few drops of rain) and I would thoroughly recommend this as a great day out for all. There is plenty to do, see and eat and drink! You can spend hours wandering around the trade stands, watching the show jumping and showing classes and don't forget the amazing Devils Horsemen and Shetland Pony Gold Cup. Don't worry if you're not a horse lover, there is lots to see and do for everyone- wander around the craft tents, shopping marquee, make friends with the farm animals (including the basset hounds) and watch the incredibly fast Flyball Team. Unfortunately my camera battery went dead rather quickly...but I did manage to get few snaps of my lovely day out.

How cute are these lovely shetland pony foals? I am lucky as two foals have been born very close to my house so I love going past them every day watching them have fun in the fields whilst mum watches on in amusement!

One of my favourite heavy horse breeds- The Suffolk Punch. I watched a very impressive display of their skills and power and got to meet them after. Such handsome horses.

So after a great day out at one county show i'm off to another this weekend- The Cambridgeshire County Show at Wimpole Home Farm on Sunday 5th June 2011. I've never attended this one before so i'll let you know how I get on! I may even see some of you there.

Enjoying the Sunshine!

I have to admit that I have been rather lazy with my blog during the past month but instead of sitting at the computer I have been out enjoying the sunshine with my four legged friend! I hope you have all been busy with your horses? Do let me know what you have been up to. Having taken some time off work I set about with my daily horse riding, reschooling my cob, and I have thoroughly enjoyed having much more relaxed time with my horse. It's great to be able to ride so much as work hours and daylight hours tend to clash during the winter! I even tried out a bit of bareback riding...(which didn't come as naturally as it used to let me tell you) but I loved every minute of it.

Having returned to work today it seems like i'm not the only one who's feeling a bit tired after ten days of intense equestrian work. Look who I found having a good old roll around in the sunshine this morning and catching 40 winks in the field. What a cutie.

Now i'm determind to keep up with my new schedule so fingers crossed the nice weather continues. I'm using my new horsey weekly planner to keep track of what we are doing on a daily basis and am looking forward to all the bank holidays this month to enjoy some more time at the yard as well as an Easter weekend trip to Badminton Horse Trials. I might even see some of you there!