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!

Make a change

What to do on a rainy day?! Paint your feature wall of course!!

I was aiming for Mulberry when I originally painted it but it came out a lot more pink than I’d planned (bottom photos are before). While I did love the pink, it wasn’t the look I was going for. So today I got the colour I was aiming for.

Goodbye Moroccan Velvet, hello Mulberry Burst.

Isn’t it amazing how a coat of paint can completely change the feel of a room? It looks so luxurious and decadent. I love it!

Road trip

So we went out in the lorry for the first time this year! I wasn’t sure how it would be as it’s been a long time, but Buddy loaded first time! We headed out to Brampton for a lesson with Nick Turner. Learnt a lot and came away with homework. Buddy was Mr Chilled today.

Fuel

While I was in hospital after my surgery, one of the senior nurses became very concerned about my weight. She told me that because my BMI said I was underweight she had to refer me to a dietician. I wasn’t at my best granted, having just redecorated my room several times, so wasn’t really paying much attention. A morphine migraine and low blood pressure will do that for you.

To be honest I hadn’t really thought too much about it. But today had a call from a dietician to discuss everything.

We went through what I eat, my attitude to food, my views on my weight. It was a really good conversation.

She was happy that I have an awareness of my relationship with food and that I’m trying to do my best. I’m one of this annoying people who forgets to eat, so that fact I know this helps me to be more proactive.

Food is the first thing to go with me. If I’m busy, tired or stressed I stop eating. And struggle to put on weight.

She was happy that while I’m slight, I have a varied diet and am trying to get the calories I need.

Memorable

I haven’t said anything till now but sadly my relaxed chilled out long birthday hack didn’t go to plan as we have an incident with a car.

We were walking down one of the country lanes when a car came up behind us at speed. It got too close and unfortunately when Buddy spooked at some people behind a hedge, he span round and hit the car (showing how close it was to us).

The road was very narrow with drainage ditches both sides so there was nowhere for us to go.

It was an awful incident as the driver (and his passenger) were verbally abusive to me and tried to blame me for the incident. He wouldn’t listen to me and kept shouting.

Buddy was understandable stressed, as was I, and it was hard to stay calm and try to calm him down with everyone shouting. I’m afraid I lost my temper as I couldn’t believe that the driver would risk injuring Buddy, me, the other rider and horse I was with as well as themselves, just to get past us. Not proud of that.

The reason I’m sharing this is for awareness to my fellow riders and non-horsey people.

So to all non-horsey people: if you see a horse on the road, please slow down and give it space. They are flight animals and can react quickly to perceived danger. We will do our best to control the situation but giving us time to do that will keep us all safe.

We were wearing Hi-Viz and it was a clear road so we couldn’t have been missed.

The main thing is that everyone is OK. I’m very grateful for that. It could have been so much worse. I have reported it to the Police and on the BHS website.

Mary Poppins

I love the new rug racks in my lorry. They’re going to come in so handy. I had wanted to open up the Luton for storage, but it’s a false Luton so rug racks it is! Aren’t they great?!

Spent a rather energetic 4 hours cleaning, sorting and organising. So now there’s a place for everything and everything’s in its place. And that makes me very happy.