Buddy had his annual willy wash today. I didn’t think it was right to take a photo of him having his delicates sorted out. He seemed to enjoy it. Well after he’d gotten over the shock of his nether regions being touched by someone other than me. He was actually dribbling at one stage.

Having done all my yard jobs, I came home to do some garden jobs. That’s the downside to mowing the lawn, it makes the borders look very overgrown. So I spent a few hours weeding, pruning and clearing.

I even cleared the patio. With Bert’s help of course. I say help, he kept taking weeds out of the trug and running off with them. He also found a few plastic flowerpots. They were quickly shredded.

I sat on my newly cleared patio admiring my handy work. Given our lack of rain recently, things look rather lush and green. I’d really like some rain though please…

This is the new riding hat that I bought at Badminton. An early birthday present to me from me. Well I need to protect my precious brain!

I’ve been meaning to change my everyday riding hat for a while now. It’s so comfy though. I realised that I’ve have had it a lot longer than I thought. So it needed to be upgraded.

Now I have a Charles Owen head. And love their Ayr-8. I have a very posh one for my competition hat. So knew what I was after. But could I find one at Badminton? Could I hell! No-one had brought any. Rather dejected, I ended up trying on a lot of other brands. With no luck. Couldn’t find anything that fitted my head.

Till I tried on this Champion. It fitted a treat. I’ve had a Champion skullcap in the past, but never tried their fixed peak.

Maybe having Champion emblazed on my forehead will rub off. One can hope… At least I know my head is protected.

Someone needed snacks after school today. The poor Oversized Labrador was clearly wasting away having to concentrate so hard in the school. It’s not like we did much.

He’s loving the hawthorn at the moment. It’s definitely his favourite. Guessing he’s getting some benefit from it.

I love the way he picks things to eat. We humans seem to have lost the ability to pick things that actually heal or help us. Buddy goes though phases for sure. Last year we wanted cleavers. The year before it was cow parsley. This year is hawthorn that’s dish of the day.

Or it could just taste good. Who knows?! Whatever it is, Buddy is a big fan.

It seems that Bert is a rather big fan of wotsits. He ran around with the empty packet having a blast. He also managed to turn it inside out so he could lick the dust off.

I did get it back off him before I mowed the lawn. In fact, I ended up mowing both my lawns between meetings. The ground is rock hard and my lawns look rather parched already. It’s amazing how it’s gone from muddy to concrete quite so quickly.

Eric Winter, Badminton’s course designer, gave a talk when we were there. He said they’d started watering the course in March and had used over a million litres of water!

Let’s hope we don’t get that much. A little would really help right now…

Bert has decided to join the close’s neighbourhood watch. He’s finally realised that he can watch the comings and goings on the close. Good job too as I left the conservatory door open when I headed to the yard. For the second day running…

Not sure how effective he is as a guard dog though. He’s more of a greeter than a guard.

We all had a lay-in this morning. I got back late last night after a magical mystery route home. The kittens were very pleased to have me back. Or maybe it was access to my bed. Bert was very happy to see his bedroom. He slept most of the way back from Badminton and headed straight to bed when we got back.

He’s had a duvet day today. Me, not so much. I’ve done 4 loads of washing and got them out on the line. 3 hours of work catching up on things (the signal was pants at Badders), 2 stables mucked out 2 and 1 horse ridden.

Buddy was very happy to see me too. He had quite the spring in his step. Well he had had nearly a week off.

Bert is officially broken. He has walked a LOT! He has been so good. I honestly couldn’t fault him. I knew it was a huge ask for him. Badminton is a massive event. I have to remind myself that he’s only 7 months. He deserves a gold star for this week.

It has been a wonderful break away. I’m so thrilled for Ros taking the win. A very fitting tribute to Caroline Moore, her trainer, mentor and friend.

We’re now on our way back home. We will all sleep well tonight…

Poor Bert is more tired than the Mayor of Tired Town today. He still managed to do a lot of the XC course before he admitted defeat and headed back to the lorry with Emma. Apparently, he ran straight for his crate and fell asleep.

I carried on walking the course and saw some incredible action. A few spills but overall some very classy riding.

Badminton is such an incredible event. I feel very lucky to be able to come and be a part of it.

Bert had a slower day today. He was a tad dramatic around the shops. He kept flopping and refusing to walk. So I ditched the shops and headed out onto the XC course to check it out.

Well that put a spring in his step. He was in sniff heaven! The course looks fair, but lots of tests out there. The ground has plenty of give in it as well. It should be a cracking day tomorrow.

Having walked 2/3rds of it, we ended up back at the house. Bert clearly felt at home as he posed outside. As we were almost at the campsite path, I decided to take him back to the lorry for a siesta. Tomorrow is going to be a lot of walking and I didn’t want to overtire him.

On the way back, I got him his first ice cream. He loved it! A couple of ladies came to say hello and commented on how cute he was eating his tub.

He had a really good rest (as did I) so we’re both ready for tomorrow. Especially after listening to course designer Eric Winter talking about his design choices. Really interesting…