Knight in Hi-Viz

Back home after another great camp. It was an emotional week for many reason. Camp is such a happy place for me. Time away from it all with good mates and Buddy.

So many more memories to add to the camp collection. And another camper rosette too. We came 4th in the jumping competition. I know I’ve ridden better but we went clear and it was a meaty course.

We won’t mention the utter car crash that was our dressage test. Good to know that even though we’re making progress in so many areas, we still make an absolute horlicks of pretty trotting.

Still there were definitely more pros than cons to my camp experience.

Talking of experiences, the journey back was certainly one.

The fan belt went on the Buddymobile not long after I’d left Swaffham. Managed to limp it to the garage at Necton. Fun times with no power steering!!

My knight in Hi-Viz then drove to Dereham to get a replacemen fan belt and fitted it in the pouring rain. Buddy was as cool as a cucumber on the lorry while we waited. I was definitely not. I was rocking the drowned rat, overly tired and slightly emotional look.

Still we were soon on our way again. Then got stuck on A47 and my diesel went from 1/4 tank to light on. Cue minor freak out!! But as soon as we started moving, it went back up to 1/4 tank. Bizzare.

Stopped at the next petrol station to get more, just in case.

It took us nearly 3 hours to get back. A journey that normally takes just over an hour. I’ll have to sort the lorry out on Sunday. For now, it’s bed for me ready for my 5:15am alarm call tomorrow as I’m working in London for the day. No rest for me!!

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…

All the Queen’s Horses

Oh my goodness what an incredible day!! I got to walk in the London New Year’s Day Parade as supporter for my friend Sam and her amazing Haffy Halo!

It was worth the 4:15am alarm call. The Buddymobile made good time to Hyde Park ready for the parade briefing. After a leg stretch through Green Park for Halo, it was time to get Sam into her stunning costume.

Then we headed to the start of the parade. The crowds cheered and waved. And I’ve never said ‘Happy New Year’ so many times!

The atmosphere was electric. I couldn’t get over how well-behaved the horses were.

After we’d finished the parade, we headed to Horseguards Parade for a photo. Then up The Mall to have more photos outside Buckingham Palace. What an honour!

Definitely a special way to start 2023. Lots of memories made today, that’s for sure!!

We will all sleep well tonight….

Feel good songs

I’ve been covering the reception desk at my chiropractor’s this week as her receptionist is away on holiday. It’s been a lot of fun.

One of the other plus side is that I get to choose the music. Yesterday we had 80s hits. Today it was feel good songs. It’s proved quite the conversation starter. So many comments about the tracks. I even had a few people say they’d never noticed music was playing before.

Lots of toe tapping too. And I may have had a dance between clients. Music really is emotive. It was so interesting listening to peoples memories linked to the tracks.

Spider

I had a trip down memory lane tonight as I walked past this car. I got an Alfa Spider in 2000. It was a proper driving car as it felt like it had a mind of its own sometimes. Very twitchy at times.

Totally unpractical of course. Especially for a horsey girl. I remember having to borrow a car on many an occasion to pick things up.

Sadly it didn’t last long as it was written off when I was rear ended by a 7.5t lorry. Yes, that’ll do it! It was significantly shorter after that. On the bother hand, the fact it was a soft top actually saved me from being seriously injured as it had extra reinforcement.

Mine was bright red. And I loved tearing round the country lanes in Sussex in it. Talk about low profile!

Meatloaf

Another rock legend has gone to the stadium in the sky. I saw him in concert at Wembley Arena in the late 90s. It was epic! My ears were ringing for days afterwards.

Around that time, Bat out of Hell was played to death in my car. Literally as it was on cassette and got jammed (even the pencil trick didn’t work).

Brings back very happy memories of full volume, windows open, cigarette on the go and singing as loud as I could through the country roads of West Sussex. I might have to download it…

Photo proof

I was a bit wrung out today after yesterday’s event. Spent the morning cleaning out the lorry, doing the washing (mostly his) and getting ready to head off to a training camp tomorrow. Found his XC boots, so they are now back where they live.

I’ve had a chance to process the goings on yesterday. Let’s face it there was a lot to process. I’m getting my head round it now. I’ve seen that most people in my section had dressage scores in the 40s. So I don’t feel quite as bad about it. Still don’t feel it was a fair score for our test, but can’t change it now.

The rest I can work on. I know where we can improve. There were improvements on last time. We stepped up a level. It’s not going to go right straightaway.

And I did get a lovely photo. Always a bonus. Another one for the wall of fame. To remind me we can still achieve things, even in the face of adversity, the deck stacked against us and the blistering heat.

Think Buddy is good with the height. Just needs to pick his feet up. 😂 Is it me or does 80cm look tiny?!

Memento

A few weeks ago one of gentlemen on my meal delivery route mentioned that he’d run out of books to read. So I took him a bag of books that I had in the garage. Tonight he handed me this. He’d found it in one of the books.

This was for the flight when I got married. For a long time afterwards, I couldn’t think about my wedding without being sad. It was the last time I saw my brother before his death.

NLP coaching really helped me to look back at the events in a different way. I’m grateful I found it. And very grateful I get to help others using it too.

Even though I’m no longer married, I smiled tonight when I saw this boarding pass. It brought back happy memories. All part of my life story.

Hugo Boss

Awwww look who came upon my FB memories today. A teeny tiny Hugo Boss. This was the photo that made me adopt him after losing Tom.

He and Dodo have grown into handsome little boys. I can’t imagine life without them.