Royal Highland Show, what a week!

Hi all

well the weather didn't improve following the cancellation of Balcarres, and on the first day of the RHS i heard that Oatridge Horse Trials had also cancelled (which was a week away) and Hutton in the Forest due to run over the RHS weekend had also had to sadly call a halt to their plans. Such a shame for all organisers.  Anyway I am now heading to SNEC for some BS so will have to see how we get on!

Getting back to the Royal Highland Show I can honestly say despite the weather it was AWESOME!

We took the sheep through during a quiet time so did not have to fight to get to the pens, this year we had 3 pens with 4 sheep.  We had entered Yellabelly Rudolph in the aged tup class, Bryland Carna in the shearling tup and Bryland Magic, with Bryland Twilight both being in the shearling ewe class.

The show started on Thursday with heavy rain, nearly all day but it was still very busy with visitors and many school parties trying to get lost in the sheep tents.  We left the field around 5pm after making sure the sheepies were happy

Early start on Friday morning to get into the showfield and prep the sheep before showing started at 9am.  There were five classes in total: Aged tup, shearling tup, aged ewe and shearling ewe and besst four-horned sheep.

So John started showing, and was thrilled when Rudolph was awarded first place.  Rudolph seemed to love being in the ring, and he certainly loved posing for photos!
Next up was Bryland Carna in the shearling tup class.  Although this class was smaller than usual there were still plenty of entries.  And we were amazed when Carna was called in first!  We have never been placed higher than third so it was fabulous to have won two classes!

In the shearling class, John asked me to take the larger of the two, Twilight, who after the judge reduced the class and removed John and Magic along with a couple of others, was awarded 2nd place.

So we were absolutely thrilled to have done so well, we had to take the two tups into the best male judging, Rudolph was award this, which means the tup who came second to him has to come out to challenge for the reserve.  I think Carna decided he quite enjoyed the attention as he stood beautifully for the judge to examine him and was awarded reserve :D

So Rudolph was in the championship against the lovely Shearling ewe that belonged to a friend of ours.  We were blown away to be awarded Champion Hebridean with him.

You get a sash, trophy and lots of frillies.  As you can see from the picture, John was thrilled!

So as you can imagine, despite the weather, we had an AWESOME time at the RHS!  

Show report: a change of plan from BE to BS

Hi All,

I was entered with Jack today in the BE100 at Balcarres, from the photos it looked like it would be fabulous but unfortunately the torrential rain we had for days leading up to the event forced the organisers to sadly cancel. I really don't blame them, they must be gutted. I also heard from a friend who ran in the Novice yesterday and she said it was such a shame as the ground was very muddy.

I really hope it doesn't put them off organising and that they run one next year.

Anyway, was having a little chat with John when I found out it wasn't running and said I might take Jack over to Rowallan as they had a progressive show on indoors. He said that would be fine

I then asked if he thought I should register as they have a 6 month membership - John mentioned that last year I did this and only went to 2 shows I did say in my defense that the weather was rotten and we did manage to be placed at those 2 shows so at least I won some money back whereas I wouldn't on a ticket

John said that it might be worth giving it a try again as I have Trudy the Truck now, and if any more events cancel I can rearrange the day to go BS instead if I am a member. I was quite surprised that he agreed but renewed immediately . Unfortunately I have yet to mention that the computer would only let me renew Jack for a whole year (not 6 months) so it looks like I'm going to have to do some 3 days over winter to show him its worth it!

Got up at 6am which isn't too bad considering what times I have been up before. Bathed and plaited (decided to plait as his mane is a tad long and I couldn't be bothered to pull it)

I thought I might miss the British Novice (90cms to those who don't know - like my John ) but I arrived as the first one went in. Entered and headed back to the lorry. Threw tack on and then climbed aboard only to remember I hadn't even watched one go so had no idea of the track!!! Idiot that I am!

Thankfully Rowallan has a big enough entrance that I could watch one go. It was a 2 phase and someone thankfully pointed out that there was a fence 14 - I would have missed it!

Warmed up and went in. It was a lovely track with loads of room, J popped round for fun, and ended up with a double clear. I did try to do an easy flowing turn inside fence 3 back to fence 10 but J was having none of it as there was a large white plastic horse standing next to fence 3 surrounded by flowers!!! Lost a bit of time trying to convince him before giving up and going round but I was a bit gobsmacked when they announced we had come 2nd (out of 30)!

So we won £20 (John will be pleased) a nice frilly and if I remember correctly £12 notional on his card to add to last years £2

Discovery (1m class) wasn't as good. Firstly I didn't warm up well as there was only a couple of us in the collecting ring, the upright was a nice height so after warming up I popped it a few times, then went to jump the spread only it was around 1.20m there was some guy and his grooms building it bigger each time. So I waited until they finished, but they walked off and left it big by this point I was next to go, so jumped the upright a few more times and went it.

Now the first fence (a parallel ) was beside the scary gremlim of a plastic white horse and J hit it quite hard. I thought he had it down and later in the round I saw the coursebuilder standing close to the jump so assumed he had put it back up again. Once over fence 8 (2 phase again) I carried on to the double, (expecting the bell to go off) cantered wide around the arena with no bell still so decided to carry on, had the next fence, but jumped the rest lovely.
Annoyingly we ended up with 7 time and 4 faults. Kicking myself about it now!

Anyway, following the Discovery, I made a cup of tea using the lorry stove (for the first time) and sat and shared a packet of crisps with dug and watched an episode of friends (have the full set in my lorry now ) while Jack dried off and had a munch.

No piccies of me jumping, should have worn my helmet cam but not sure about BS rules on that. The only pics I can show you is of my chief course walker:



Note she has a seat belt for safety in the cab! (and the photo was taken while we were stationary!)

And J in the truck:

Charlie. 8th June

Unfortunately Charlie’s joint tap came back today as re-infected. He was PTS

So devastated. Everyone worked so hard to help him.

RIP Charlie. Such a waste. He was a beautiful horse.

Charlie update, :(

As my previous posts says, Charlie wasn't right at the weekend, spoke to vet and booked him in for 4th June to have a scan/x-rays - thought maybe a fragment/sequestrum perhaps.

Anyway vets looked and found that not only does he have a fragment, but that the infection has tracked into his elbow joint gutted is not the word.

So Monday night, he went into theatre. Arthoscopy showed the cartilage didn't look too bad and they removed alot of fibrous material, lavaged the joint and debrided the wound. Once into recovery they called to say it all depended on his joint tap on Wed

So joint tapon 6th June showed the cell count was down but that his wound is still infected and pus filled. Still a tiny step forward with his joint but he is still at high risk . If (and at he moment its a big 'If') they can get the infection under control then he stands a good chance. Not even wanting to think about 'if not'.

Charlie in hospital:



He has been such a good patient, and I am holding him out daily for grazing.

2nd June 2012. Injuries & sideyways riding

Thought you might like an update on how the horses are doing.

Jack:
Last week we were aiming for the RC horse trials qualifier but unfortunately Jack’s eye had swollen up and we identified he had an ulcer. After a few days on chloramphenicol eye ointment it got better! (Phew).

Eye pics:






You can see the ulcer in the corner of his eye and some abrasion on the cornea (where the dye uptakes)


So on Tues, we went in the truck to a David Gatherer lesson Our maiden voyage in the new lorry 'Trudy' - Jack was brill, ate hay, stood and looked out of the window

I have to admit to buying some orange over-reach boots however having seen them on, I probably won’t wear them again! Think it’s a bit much tbh!

So for a laugh, we wore the matchy matchy boots and numnah in the lesson.

Pic before the lesson with Trudy (I think Jack looks embarrassed!) She doesn’t look as orange in some light, so is more red in this pic:

Lesson with DG was FAB (he did shake his head at my OR boots), we were doing placing pole, bounce, one stride, one stride as he wanted to get the horses thinking and for the rider to not interfere. He also brought the last fence in to encourage them to work out the distances. Jack jumped fab – he did bounce the last distance once but came round again and corrected himself, which DG was very pleased with. Big pats.

Had a small celebratory drink of pimms in the truck with a friend who I shared my lesson with.


Pingy pony:


Charlie:
3 weeks ago C was kicked in his leg, vet came out, staples put in and some of the wound left open. Anti biotics given with bute and an expectation that it would breakdown – which it did So out came the staples and continue bute/antibiotics. Unfortunately he has been switching between being perfectly sound to being extremely painful, leg swollen etc. It’s a bit confusing as it could be cellulitis but doesn’t look typical, could be an abscess but its draining and nothing when manipulated. So the next thing is to take him to work, x-ray and ultrasound him I think and see if there is anything else. He is a good patient as long as you are only hosing his leg – anymore and he finds it sore

Pic from a week ago:

Side Saddle Sunday 3rd June.
Helen and I went to have a play on her boy. I am going to use him this year at the local side saddle show as he seems to go well in it. Today was the 3rd time he has had a side saddle on, and apart from me having to get used to his very active trot he is pretty much perfect!! Just need to spend a bit of time working together on transitions and aids into canter but he was great fun to ride and I think he will look amazing with all the kit on







So a big thank you to Helen for allowing me to ride him

Vid: http://youtu.be/4eLa7rPyS2g CC welcome.