Brennig Jones (and friends)

Cross country training last night at Lincomb with Alan Nolan.

In the rain.

Actually, ‘rain’ doesn’t even come close to describing the downpour.

Anyway.

Alan’s style is broadly similar to that of Matt Ryan – which made me far more relaxed than I was a fortnight ago when the cross country trainer was a stand-in.

But he’s much more ‘in your face’ than Matt – or perhaps it was because there were just two of us in the group last night.

For example, the first fence that Alan started us on was the fourth fence that Matt put us to.

Challenging.

Yes, that’s a word for it.

I used a different word.

Ofuckme!

The second fence was a ditch/palisade combination and Vin was very uncertain about going near anything that big with a freakin’ ditch right in front of it.

Eyes on stalks and a refusal.

But we got him over it.

The first time he over-jumped it by what seemed like three feet from where I was sitting (which considering it was a 1m fence was scary enough), but he also slipped back to racehorse speed which really had me cacking myself.

Because: gusty wind, hard and heavy rain, soft squelchy going, skiddy slidey take-offs and landings and diminishing light – all of these things don’t combine to make for happy cross country experiences, do they?

Well yes actually, they do. Or they did last night.

As mentioned in Podcast No 9 about Saturday’s show jumping training with Mandy Kent, but moreso applicable to last night…

Vin’s a star, I’m not bad, we kicked arse.

It’s that simple.

We were brilliant.

We worked over fences bigger, much more technical and far more complex than the Intro level we’re looking at competing in, in June.

And, as previously mentioned the conditions were far from perfect.

So that’s it then, it’s official.

We’re on track.

By the time we were finished (ironically we did a lot of work into and out of water) and had hacked back to the lorry we couldn’t have been any wetter if we’d been stood under a full-on hosepipe for a couple of hours.

I loaded Vin straight away and untacked him in his stall, slipped on his ‘string vest’ (it’s a slightly too-short sweat rug so that’s what I call it) and gave him his haynet which he dived on as if he hadn’t eaten for days.

When he was right I had a quick chat on the phone to Rebecca from the riding club who had organised last night (and all of the many training sessions we’ve attended this season) and a few words with Alan.

Then I disappeared in to the living accommodation, stripped off, towelled down and changed in to my emergency set of riding clothes.

We trundled back to the yard in a haze of adrenaline-fired excitement and joy.

Because everything was so wet it took ages to get straight.

But Vin got his tea and a thorough grooming, the tack got wiped over before it was put away (it all needs dismantling and being thoroughly cleaned before next use though!), and the lorry got mucked out, tidied, swept up and put away.

Vin and I are competing next on Monday at a Hunter Trial at Hilltop.

But I think I need to ask Gary to check the lorry over, the steering made a peculiar sound when I was reversing it in to its parking bay – I wonder if the new hydraulic pipes he put on a couple of months ago might need checking.

The washing machine at the yard has two numnahs, Vin’s tailguard and a full set of brushing boots in it.

Must remember to nip in, empty it and hang my things up to dry.

Although it’s Wednesday today Vin is going to get this evening off.

Though I will stop by and shove a couple of sliced apples down his throat at teatime.

Because he’s a star.

And possibly part fish.

B.

I have just finished listening to the iTunes feature ‘Meet the Author‘ where the focus is the author Nick Hornby.

Damn him.

Does he have n0 sense of moral decency?

No sense of, of, of… responsibility towards his fellow man?

Well actually.

Yes he does.

He has all of these things in abundance.

He comes across as a sensible, sensitive, caring, compassionate guy with his feet firmly rooted in the ‘normal’.

Much of the focus of the talk is on his new novel Slam – he reads a beguiling passage which hooked me straight away.

There’s also significant chat about Fever Pitch and the brilliant High Fidelity.

And that’s why the ‘damn you Nick Hornby’.

Because now I want to read Slam.

And then buy yet another copy of High Fidelity, lock myself away for eight or nine hours and selfishly wallow in his work and my own memories, as they are triggered by his words.

Damn you Nick Hornby.

B.

I find myself being negative.

Words and phrases like; please don’t; and, put it away; and, you don’t need to do that…

Unduly negative and, to my ears, far too frequently.

This negativity drops an unwanted, unwelcome shado0w across the relationship.

And it isn’t a negative relationship – these words leave a bad taste in my mouth every time I use them.

So no matter what my intentions, no matter what the reasoning behind the thoughts behind the words as of tonight, this evening, I am stopping.

There, I’ve said it.

I. Am. Stopping.

And damn the consequences.

B.

I thought I’d throw this one out to see what views come back. I kow the answer to the second question, I can guess the answer to the first.

But I’m interested in what you might think.

Q1:
What punishment would a 13-year-old boy, convicted of breaking in to an office and stealing items of clothing, get today?

And then…

Q2:
What punishment would a 13-year-old boy who was convicted of breaking in to an office and stealing items of clothing have received if the crime was committed in 1835?

Views in a comments please?

B.

http://drop.io/thisreality – a place where you can upload any kind of file you like to the podcast.

B.

That’s how it feels.

I am totally wiped.

The word ‘knackered’ doesn’t even come close.

I’ve caught the sun while I was out too, can feel my cheeks burning.

It’s been a brilliant day.

Soph gets back from her weekend in London in about three hours.

I hope I can stay awake long!

For the record, we were unplaced today; 60% in both tests whereas the tests were won with marks around 68%.

I feel we could have done better but given the total lack of flatwork schooling we’ve done lately… the result wasn’t unreasonable.

And now I’m probably going to fall asleep on the couch for a few hours.

B.

Leaving the house now.

Ah… the competitive world of equestrianism!

B.

Awake.

Again.

Mug of hot chocolate, two rounds of toast and then back to bed to read.

The alarm will go off at 04.45.

Brilliant.

B.

Episode 9 (30 minutes running time)

Advisory… There is some (but not much) explicit language in this episode.

Citronella and Adam Curry do the introductions to Episode 9 which was recorded on a very warm, sunny afternoon in Studio K (the kitchen) in our house in the middle of the Worcestershire countryside.

There is the promise that next week we’ll have an update from Citronella, lack of hours in the day meant there wasn’t time to prepare for her audio file this week.

Music:
We kick off with the punky and very danceable The Futureheads.

We the Living sing about the London Rain.

The very lovely Black Lab give us Lonely Boy.

The topics this week include Cyclists, BMW drivers, posh people at the airport check-in and that hardy perennial… SatNav drivers.

Podcast admin:
All music played in this episode of This Reality comes courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

If you’d like to send in a contribution or air your views you can email the podcast: thisreality@brennigjones.com (killer anti-spam software requiring once-only validation!).

B.

Hi.

Look I’m sorry.

I promise things’ll get back to normal.

Waddya mean ‘normal?’ with those raised eyebrows?

It’s 08.10 now, right?

I’ve got to take Soph to Worcester to catch the train to some place called Lon-Don in a couple of minutes…

Slightly handicapped by me being still in my bathrobe.

Then I have to dash back to the house and prepare for show jumping.

Dash to the yard, get Vin, groom him, tack up, put him in the lorry and drive to Lincomb.

Jump our little bottoms off.

Take him back to the yard and do the usual ‘putting away and grooming things’.

Get me back home.

Record a podcast.

Fall asleep on the couch (prolly).

Wake up, go to bed.

Wake up horribly early.

Get dressed and stuff.

Go to the yard.

Give Vin breakfast, groom him, load up the lorry and take us off to Allenshill for two dressage tests.

Except our first one starts at 09.00 and we need to work in for 40 minutes and then there’s travel time and all that adds to why we need to leave the yard so early.

Afterwards I’ll take him back to the yard, love him up, groom him, turn him out, muck out the lorry, put it away, put the tack away…

Drive home.

Fall asleep (prolly on the couch again).

Wake up when Soph rings.

Go and pick her up.

So not much time in this weekend really.

But please be patient with me.

I’ll get done what I need to get done but it’s just going to take some time.

Ta.

B.