Educational

Today has been a very educational one for Buddy, Bert and me. We headed over to Forest Edge for a BHS Clinic being run there. I haven’t been there for a while, it felt so good to be back. It was Bert’s first trip. He loved having zoomies in the forest.

Buddy thankfully didn’t have any zoomies in the arena. Lots of lightbulb moments in our two lessons. Bert slept in the Buddymobile while I was riding. He’s really getting the hang of it all. Good job too as it’s 6 weeks till camp.

Buddy was on top form too. He’s come back from his injury so much softer. It was lovely to catch up with everyone. It’s such a happy place for me.

Sheepish

Buddy and I headed over to catch up with a good friend and her trusty Haffy this afternoon. While out on our ride, we came across these sheep. There were lots of frolicking lambs. So cute!

We also came across a cast sheep. Poor thing was stuck on her back. And heavily pregnant to boot. My friend went to help her while I looked after the horses. Not a clue how long she’d been like that, but she was clearly exhausted. The farmer was called so she could be check on. Fingers crossed she was OK. Good deed done for the day…

Grinch Toes

Well it finally happened. I got so fed up of Bert’s ‘Grinch Toes’ that I broke out the scissors! I worked on the principle that if I can trim Buddy’s little feathers with scissors, I can do Bert’s.

I have to say I’m pretty impressed with myself. It’s not too bad a job. I’m more impressed with him for letting me near him with the scissors. There was a little bribery in the shape of some liver paste. I’ve found that Buddy is much more amenable too when he has food.

Bert is rather fluffy. Not sure if this is his puppy coat and if he’ll lose it. Buddy’s Summer coat is coming through too. He goes so dark in the summer. He’s rather mottled at the moment. The kittens are moulting too. Let the shedding commence…

Rear view

The Upgrade has had an upgrade. And so has Bert. He’s getting too big to be on the front seat next to me. Bless him, I keep hitting him in the head when I change gear. The Upgrade has a much bigger boot than the Comedy Car, so it’s time for Bert to graduate to the rear.

In order to do that, I had to get a dog guard fitted. Ordered a posh boot liner too. The dog guard said it was easy to fit. No tools needed. 10 mins max. My arse!! Whoever wrote that was very optimistic to say the least.

I started last night. After much huffing and puffing, I got the boot liner to fit, so I started on the dog guard. It took me 20 mins and a screwdriver to do step 1. So before I threw the bloody thing on the floor, I quit.

Today saw Round 2. I looked liked I’ve been in a wrestling match by the time I’d finished. Honestly, I needed about 5 hands to sort it. And a hammer! There may have been a bit more huffing and puffing. There was definitely a lot of swearing!

Still I got it secured in the end. Let’s see if Bert actually goes in there now. Thankfully I have years loading horses, there must be similarities. Right?! Fingers crossed he enjoys the rear view…

Hit and miss

It’s been a very long time since I went ten pin bowling. And it showed! It was very hit and miss.

I did get one strike and a couple of spares. I also got a number of gutters. But a fun evening nonetheless.

Bit of a surprise one too. I got a message this morning asking if I wanted to come along. Why not I thought! Sometimes you just have to say yes to things. If it’s ten pin bowling, I’m going to need a lot more practice!!

Side gate

Fort Bert got an upgrade today. A new side gate has been installed. I’m doing my bit for the environment by using an old fence panel and a gate that was going to be binned.

It looks great and should keep Bert safe in the garden.

Planning ahead

Today I did something that makes me smile every year. I paid for my first camp. It’s at the end April, so fingers crossed it warms up a bit.

If you’ve known me for any length of time, you know how much I love a camp. What’s not to love? Spending time away with Buddy. Learning from great instructors. Catching up with wonderful people. Making new friends. And this time I get to take Bert with me. Let’s hope he likes camps as much as Buddy and I do.

He’s making his debut at Forest Edge next week. We’re booked onto a day clinic. So this will be a good test of his ‘Lorry Dog’ status. Buddy will be so happy to be back there too. After his injury last year, it’ll be good to be back there and actually do the riding bit. I’ll always be a supporter.

Nice touch

Super sub went to the football tonight. My goodness it was a cold one! I was definitely ready for my hot chocolate at half time. And my hot cross bun! I do love half-time snacks.

I saw this in the Ladies. What a nice touch. Made me wonder how much I’d spent on sanitary products over the years. A lot most likely. I’m sure someone clever has worked out an average. Anyway, well done Norwich City.

Notice how I’m not talking about the actual match. That was definitely a game of two halves. First half, we scored twice. Hurrah! Second half, they scored three times. Boo!

You can’t win them all… But it would be good to see a win now and then at Carrow Road.

Gallop strip

I was peopling again today, so I promised Bert a good run when we were finished. So I took him out on the gallop strip for the first time. We walked down it and came back on the outside. I say we walked. I walked in a straight line down and up. Bert did the classic Spaniel zig zag. Flitting here and there, back and forth. He definitely did more steps than me.

They’d freshly ploughed one of the fields. He thought that was the best thing ever. Happily running along the margins. Zig zagging away.

Thankfully when I take Buddy on the gallop strip, it’s less zig zag and more speed demon. Though he has been known to zig and zag too!

Sunbather

So it seems Bert is a bit of a sun worshipper too. He and the kittens have been laid out sunbathing today.

He was a rather hot pupster after our walk this morning. But insisted on a bit more sunbathing over lunch. We met a lovely couple on our walk today. The wife was gardening and Bert wanted to say hello. Ended up talking to her and her husband for a long time. She even got Bert a bowl of water while we chatted. They were telling me some of the history of Strumpshaw village. They’ve both lived there all their lives. In fact the husband was born in the house they live in. 81 years ago. She was born down the lane.

I love it when I have random meetings like that. It’s really cool to find out stuff about the area I live in.