Ah, Worcestershire life!<\/p>\n
This morning I had breakfast in bed.<\/p>\n
Woo-hoo!<\/p>\n
The Lovely S woke me with a mug of tea and a bowl of porridge. I don’t want you to think I’m pampered. Because I am. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Fed, showered, shaved, dressed and smelling sweetly clean we went shopping in Bromsgrove.<\/p>\n
The tally was:<\/p>\n
A new sidelight bulb for my car
\nA five litre container of battery water for the lorry
\nA heavy duty battery charger (see lorry above)
\nVarious food-related things<\/p>\n
Flushed with the success of shopping we went to Costa where we did those things that The Lovely S and I do very well.<\/p>\n
She drank coffee, I drank hot chocolate, we read newspapers and we people watched.<\/p>\n
Bromsgrove is a great place for people and chav watching, it’s not the capital of chavdom – which is Worcester.<\/p>\n
But we discovered a new subcategory today:<\/p>\n
Wannabe chavs.\u00a0 These are very young schoolgirls who dress as if they’re chavs, but everyone can tell from their young-girly-but-not-chavlike behaviour that really, deep down beneath their badly applied tarty makeup they’re respectable girls.<\/p>\n
Which makes me want to ask why such girls would to dress like wannabe chavs, but I guess that’s an unanswerable question, here and now.<\/p>\n
Much watching and reading time later a visit to Blockbuster beckoned. Evan Almighty<\/em> was duly selected. A trip to Greggs for lunch and then home to eat.<\/p>\n About 15.00 I changed in to riding clothes and drove to the yard.<\/p>\n To be met by Christine who asked if she could borrow my power pack because her lorry wouldn’t start.<\/p>\n We coupled it up and tried again; bloody thing still wouldn’t turn over. I offered her the use of my newly-acquired heavy duty battery charger which we connected and turned on, then Christine rang Gary the lorry mechanic that we both use and I went to groom and tack up.<\/p>\n Vin took one look at the slice of apple in my hand and whickered just like Beech used to. Bless!<\/p>\n We jumped today; flushed with success from some gridwork last night, I thought Vinnie would be ready for a little undemanding jumping.<\/p>\n The minute I mounted in the arena the heavens opened and it pissed down.\u00c2\u00a0 I thought ‘oh well, we’re here now’ and carried on.<\/p>\n Perhaps – with hindsight – that wasn’t the greatest piece of thinking I’ve done this week. Or month.<\/p>\n After working in (flatwork) and establishing all three paces and doing a little work on transitions we cantered in to the first fence – a small crosspole.<\/p>\n I should preface all further comments with this piece of information…<\/p>\n Jumping Vin scares me. He’s a big, fit, strong and powerfully fast horse. And he was bred to race and trained for racing for two years. He jumps fast and although he and I have a brilliant partnership on the flat (we’ve been placed in our last four dressage competitions), our jumping partnership has barely been established.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Anyway, on with the day.<\/p>\n The first fence was a simple crosspole, we cantered in to it at a steady, balanced pace and…<\/p>\n He put in a dirty stop on the take-off stride, we skidded forward and he knocked it over.<\/p>\n Christine rebuilt the fence, we came in again, met it on a perfect jumping stride and pace and sailed over. Jumped it three more times.<\/p>\n However at the more challenging staggered upright we came in just a little too quick, landed much faster and with each of the next three strides, got much, much quicker with every footfall.<\/p>\n We were at the end of the arena, I steered him around the corner, even though we were much too fast.<\/p>\n Vin put in a little buck as we were motorbiking around the corner and with me so far out of position and still trying to get speed under control he unseated me. And I hit the deck.<\/p>\n Slightly winded with a bruised leg I climbed back onboard.<\/p>\n He was totally hyper, I could feel how flashed out his head was.<\/p>\n We flatworked to re-establish some kind of rapport then came at the fence again – this time I was prepared for him to tank off on landing.<\/p>\n I took a firmer contact than I would normally like and rode him up to the bridle.<\/p>\n We circuited and jumped that fence five times, gaining more control, balance and rhythm each time.<\/p>\n Then we called it a day.<\/p>\n I was soaked through, Vin felt very pleased with himself and my leg felt less sore.<\/p>\n Back home I stood inside the front door and peeled each sodden layer of clothing off then naked, dashed up to the shower.<\/p>\n The Lovely S had tea ready. Then Evan Almighty<\/em> was watched.<\/p>\n What a day.<\/p>\n And now I’m sitting here wondering what the weather’s going to be doing tomorrow. If it’s good I’m going to jump him again.<\/p>\n Feeling brave, obviously.<\/p>\n \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ah, Worcestershire life! This morning I had breakfast in bed. Woo-hoo! 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