Author: langlep

So 2020 was going to be my year. The year I got my life sorted after being served redundancy notice from my job in November 2019. The year I ticked off more things from my horsey bucket list. The year I got my mental health back under control and reduced stress in my life. I had a plan. And it was a good one. Then the plan changed dramatically on 2 January. I came off my horse at speed and broke my ankle. Badly. Like all good equestrians, I got back on and rode back to the yard, sorted Buddy out and then drove myself to A&E. That’s where this journey really began... I was sent home from A&E and told to crack on, only to receive a phone call later to say they’d missed a fracture (and a rather serious one at that). Whoops! So fracture clinic on 3 January, surgery on 5 January and home to recover. I started this blog as a way to chart my recover back to the saddle. As I cleared clinics and competitions out of my diary and wondered what the next few months would bring, it's been a safe space for me to say how I'm feeling. The new plan was to get a new job, to keep Buddy is kept ticking over and recover from my injury. Another good plan! I didn't expect a global pandemic, lockdown and all that happened in 2020. This blog has changed over time but it's continued to be my safe space to share the things going on in my life, with Buddy and the cats. Enjoy!

Community spirit

Not sure I’ve ever seen a vicar directing traffic before. But that’s what happened today!

I’m back in West Sussex for a flying visit to see my parents. I needed to go to Kent for a site visit so two birds and all that. Mum had a nasty fall on Friday (nothing broken but a large plant pot) so wanted to make sure she was OK.

Came the back way and the traffic lights were stuck on red. But the Rev was on hand to keep things moving. Well they say the Lord moves in mysterious ways… Talk about Community Spirit.

Deery me

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than riding round a deer park, jumping a few XC jumps and having a bloody good gallop! And in the sunshine too!

Headed over to Gunton for a pony play date for Buddy.

We’re so lucky to have access to a country park like this. The deer weren’t bothered by us at all. We hacked round as a warm up, jumped some jumps, splashed in the water and finished on a gallop up the hill.

Buddy found top speed and fully embraced his TB bloodlines. I do love my little boy. If we can crack the rest of it, I have no doubt we’ll make the time after today’s turn of speed.

Ginger Ninja

Some of you may remember that I had an intact tom cat coming in my house. I was contacted by Lost and Found Cats Norwich who helped me trap him and took him to a foster home where he could be assessed.

He was in a bad way sadly. He’d several broken teeth that needed to be removed. He had a high worm burden which is being treated. And he’s now been neutered.

He’s been in foster care for two months now and he’s come a long way. From being hard to get near to purring. But he’s still got a long way to go as he’s still very scared and shutdown.

Today I went to see him. And for the first time, I got to give him a little stroke. They’ve nicknamed him Ninja.

He’s safe, warm and gets fed regularly. He’s a lovely boy. And clearly had a hard paper-round. I felt dreadful trapping him at first. Given his broken teeth, he must have been in so much pain. I know now that I did the right thing.

Sweet treat

I was given a sweet treat today while I was peopling. One of the clients brought in a crème egg for us all. Very sweet indeed.

For many years, I found crème eggs too sweet. But they’ve either changed the recipe or my tastes have changed, cause this one wasn’t too bad.

It reminded me of having to order enough crème eggs for people at Aviva when we did the name change. We had the idea of ‘how do you wear yours?’ to encourage people to switch their security pass to the new branding. It worked as we didn’t have many passes or eggs left.

John Wayne

Buddy had his first bath of the year. He needed it after our rather intense lesson. One of us was a tad fresh and one of us had to do a lot of sitting trot. I’ll let you guess who was who.

Let’s just say Buddy was still in XC mode. Now as much as it’s good to have forward, we also need rideability. There’s always a balance to be struck.

Still we got some wonderful trot work by the end of the lesson. I may be walking like John Wayne tomorrow. Definitely found new muscles. There are some times when I wish I could have a bath too. At least the hot shower helped.

Snapshot

I’m a big fan of a cracking photo. Especially one of Buddy in full flight. I’ve bought one or two (hundred) over the years. There’s a reason.

I don’t have many photos of my first horse Mac. In fact I only have a handful. And no footage. I had him in a time where we didn’t record every minutia of our lives. Some may say it was a simpler life. We lived with the jeopardy of sending a roll of film away to be developed. You could get a masterpiece. More likely you’d get a packet of blurry images. We were busy making memories to think about recording it.

So when I bought Murphy, I said I was going to document our journey together. I’m grateful to have professional photos of my horses. And videos too.

When I’m feeling down, I sit and relive the memories we’ve made together. When I’m struggling to see my achievement, I look at the Wall of Fame and I remember I can achieve anything I put my mind to.

So I had to buy this photo from Sunday’s clinic. I really need to work on my jumping face…

Good news, bad news

It’s been a good news, bad news kinda day. But some days go like that, right?! Is that what they mean by balance?

The Buddymobile is back! That’s very good news! Bad news, the bill. But it drives so much better. The mechanic joked I was going to need a crash helmet it would go that fast. He wasn’t kidding, I felt like Ayrton Senna driving back compared to before.

I was meant to be giving blood but bad news, they missed my vein so I couldn’t donate. Good news, I got an email offering me a place at a training camp in May.

Bad news, the weather has turned colder again. My fault, I foolishly changed my duvet to a lighter one. Good news, I have a Dodo shaped hot water bottle tonight.

Basking

I didn’t sleep very well last night. My brain was swirling. I haven’t had that sort of night for a while. I did a meditation before bed that stirred things up for me. Very odd as they usually send me to sleep.

As such I overslept. Not the best start to the week. So I decided a bit of self-care was in order. I finished up a few bits of work, then popped out into the garden to do a bit of weeding. At lunchtime, I headed to the conservatory to bask in the sunshine.

It was fresh outside, but it was toasty in there. It felt so good to feel the sun on my face.

Knight with shiny trailer

I was booked onto a XC clinic today. But The Buddymobile is still at the garage. Thankfully my friend became my knight with shiny trailer as she offered to take us.

It was at another new venue for us. I was a little apprehensive to start off with as our last XC outing wasn’t the best. After a shaky star t and a bit of a peptalk, we were soon flying (in a good way). And finished on a really good note.

It was very undulating, so felt wonderful to let Buddy gallop between the fences. We conquered tyres (Buddy’s nemesis) and even ended up giving another combination a lead up and down the steps.

We’ve got a 8 weeks till the Champs, so lots of training and competition on the cards for us.

Layer on, later off

I saw this quote and it seemed quite apt for today. I’ve been like some sort of equestrian Karate Kid today. Layer on, layer off, layer on, layer off.

Throw the wind into the mix and it was a bit of a challenge getting the wheelbarrow to the muck heap without the contents blowing off. So then it was sweep the yard, sweep the yard, sweep the yard, sweep the yard.