I had all the best intentions of getting up early to beat the heat. When I woke up and heard the rain and thunder, I decided against it.

Having said that, I still got a lot done by the time the heat really hit. I walked Bert, did Maid Duty, rode and poo picked. By the time I got home, I was cooked.

It felt so good to be back in the saddle again. Well when I managed to get my riding tights on. That was a sticky affair. It was much easier peeling them off. I was rather happy to put my shorts back on.

The World really does look better through these ears…

Without stating the bleeding obvious, it’s been a tad warm today. It was 26 degrees at 9am when I got back from Maid Duty! And the temperature kept rising.

So my challenge was to keep Bert calm and cool. He really wanted his ball, but it was far too hot for that. I put his cooling jacket on. Somehow we managed to undo the front Velcro. Not sure how effective it was round his tail. He’s sulked for most of the day. At least he didn’t overheat though.

I ventured out this evening to do some food shopping. That was like visiting the Arctic after being in the Sahara all day. I didn’t think I’d got that much. The Upgrade clearly thought otherwise and kept telling me to fasten the passenger seatbelt. I’d put the bag on the front seat for ease.

Much giggling as I drove home. Well after I’d worked out what was going on and my car wasn’t malfunctioning in the heat. Not that I would have blamed it.

Today saw a return to the Norfolk Show. I haven’t been for a while. I was driver / groom as I took one of the liveries to her first Norfolk.

She was competing in the in-hand concours d’elegance class with her pony Bobby Dazzler or Daz. She looked gorgeous in her Mary Poppins inspired outfit.

Daz did his best stallion impression as I walked him to the ring. He bust out his best moves. Gosh that made me laugh. He was having a wonderful time.

They did brilliantly. Coming second and going on to take reserve champion. Not bad for their first effort.

There was a lovely cooling breeze by the ring. Daz didn’t even break a sweat. The same couldn’t be said for us watching.

I have so many happy memories of horsey days out at the Norfolk. This is another one. Maybe it’s time to venture back in the show ring again next year. Veterans anyone…?!

Bert and I were up out early this morning for his walk. OK so probably not as early as some. I’m not really a morning person.

Don’t get me wrong, I can do it. But it’s not when I’m at my best. Once the Baby Sprocker was safely back in the cool, I headed to do Maid Duty. That was a sweatfest! And it was only 8:45am!

I thought I’d take Buddy out some recovery mash and put some electrolytes in his field water. The latter looked like I’d sprinkled fake snow in it. The former was tipped on the floor in his eagerness. He loves it a little bit too much me thinks.

All my animal duties done, I then played the game of how to keep the Baby Sprocker cool. I put his cooling vest on. Honestly, he is rather suspicious of it. And when I refreshed it, he acted like I was assaulting him.

Thankfully there was some shade by the shed. In fact, we both hung out there for a bit. I had some online learning to catch up on so it was rather pleasant, especially as the breeze picked up. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I was a little chilly in the shade. Then I headed into the sunshine…

As it’s been a lovely week, I broke out the sun lounger yesterday. It gave me distinct ‘I’m going to collapse’ vibes. It’s probably 20 years old. And while it doesn’t get that much use, the fact it’s seen better days isn’t wasted on me.

So I thought I’d pop to the local camping place and treat myself to a replacement. Typically they didn’t have any I liked. When I got home, I found one I liked online. But thought I’d risk the sun lounger once more and get a replacement another day.

Someone clearly had other ideas as I managed to spill my coffee all over it. So off I headed to the shop and picked up a new zero gravity chair. I put it up and sat in it (and got out again) without injury.

And yes I was singing ‘Defying Gravity’.

Well that’s less than ideal. I’m still at a loss what happened either. I was mowing the lawn and heard a very loud bang. Turned round to find this!

First thought was that a bird had flown into it. OK that wasn’t my first thought. My first thought was crap I’m going to need a new conservatory. And wanted to throw up.

The outside pane is intact. It’s just the pane inside. I say just. The whole panel has gone crackled. It was making a very weird creaking noise to start off with too.

The only thing I can think is that while I was mowing the lawn, a stone flicked up and hit the glass. Given I wasn’t close to the conservatory at the time, it’s a bit of a one in a million shot. Only me huh?!

I’m sure the panel can be replaced. Well I really hope so. If not, that’s why I have home insurance. For now, it’s on the ‘things to do before winter’ list. I’ve covered it with. Bin bag for now.

Trust me to have a smashing time.

Given that Bert is borderline obsessed with balls, I thought he’d find the tennis rather interesting.

He was more interested in his bone. He wanted me to throw it for him. I declined. So he kept putting the rather soggy, chewed bone in my lap. Subtlety isn’t on me of the Baby Sprocker’s strengths.

The tennis match was a real rollercoaster. It was the men’s final from Queens. Not long till Wimbledon now. I can almost taste the strawberries and Pimms.

Wimbledon has been on my bucket list for a long time. I’ve been in the ballot for many years. Not got a ticket yet. One day I’ll get there. Till then, I’ll just have to be content with watching from afar and my own little ball boy.

My everyday riding hat was getting a tad pungent, then I remembered the liner is removable. So brought it home to wash.

Pungent was the right word. I guess the clue is in every day, I wouldn’t want to have seen the colour of the water washing this one.

I have some hat deodoriser, but clearly it needed a bit more. After our rather sweaty ride today, it really needed it. Buddy got a lavender wash down and I had a shower. It’s pretty humid still, so hopefully it dries quickly.

And hasn’t shrunk!

I popped over to watch a few friends riding in a clinic today. Gosh it was a hot one. I had thought that being near the coast, it would be cooler. I was wrong.

I ended up being a walking hydration station to make sure the riders kept drinking. We ended up having an interesting conversation about hydration. As riders we make sure our horses have electrolytes, but rarely ourselves.

This is definitely something I’ve been working on. I keep electrolyte tablets in my lorry so I can have them when I’m out and about.

Of course, that didn’t help me today as I didn’t have the lorry with me. At least I was able to have some when I got home. I may have sweated a bit. And I wasn’t even riding!

I washed Bert’s bed the other day and think more stuffing came out than was left behind. It was his first bed, so had been chewed considerably. Funny how you don’t notice the holes till there’s stuffing everywhere.

He’d been using another old one. But that had seen better days too. Definitely time to get him a new one. I’d been holding off till I was sure we were through the ‘chewing / destuffing’ phase. Needs must though.

I had to run some errands today and accidentally fell into a local garden centre. They had a pet section, so new bed for Bert.

It hasn’t made it into his crate yet. He’s claimed it already. He seems very happy on it. Let’s hope it’s still intact in the morning.