The final straight

FINALLY two loads of wood chips arrived this morning. Yay! I celebrated by running up and flinging myself on top of the pile, then running around in a very small circle, eyes scrunched up and fists punching the air.

The next task, faced with the two mini mountains, was to find a way to distribute it around the picadeiro, a challenge which could only reasonably be met by a giant rake. Only thing is, it's a bugger trying to find an industrial sized rake in the small Wealden vilage in which I live, so I bought a small one and hoped for the best.

By virtue of a variety of helping hands throughout the day the vast majority of it is now done - jut a small corner left which I really, really wanted to finish but had to concede defeat as was no longer able to see. Sid has promised to put the lights up tomorrow and then hopefully we can rock n roll. Can't wait to ride tomorrow :happy dance: All we need to finish off is the gate and another couple of loads of wood chips, but I am fucked if I'm spending another whole day raking. No way. Uh-huh.

T got himself in a complete state by rolling and then spent the evening frowning because he doesn't like it when it dries. Silly boy. Am going to have to chisel off the bits where the cavesson goes tomorrow and hope for the best.

The week so far

I am presently fond of saying that I'm clinging by my fingernails for the hols (two weeks! two weeks!). Sidney (the erstwhile Mr Equidoodads) has gone one better and is fond of saying that he is clinging by his eyelids for the hols, which I find still more appealing as an image and bloody funny. I've got a big grin on my face just writing it down.

So the picadeiro saga inches towards completion; the base has been levelled to an extent and Dora has christened it with a giant turd - actually two, if you count this morning's magnificent contribution. I just hope to Christ it's ready for the weekend; it's one of the only things keeping me going atm.

The other thing that's keeping me going is contemplation of the hols, during which I will probably battle the desire to get things done around house and yard with the very real need to get some rest. Not making the trek up to town every day will be a good start. Yet we have managed once again to end up with not one day of holiday to ourselves, as relatives are staying with us from the 21st until the 4th. Not all for that long but the net result is much the same. That'll learn me not to take much notice of the dates when things are being arranged. As a result I have already resolved that I am not going into entertainment overdrive but will instead do exactly what I was going to do anyway and not deviate from that, because nothing else is acceptable . This is a resolution which we will carve on a stone tablet and stow away under a squeaky floorboard behind the kitchen dresser.

Sunday begins inauspiciously with a discussion about yard sharing which I didn't particularly want to have but was glad I did. Maybe there is a time and a place for Frenchness after all.

Went to meet the new neighbours and spent a very pleasant couple of hours (!) shooting the breeze with them. Must have felt quite comfortable in their presence as I found myself telling the story of T and the horse silhouette at camp while not really concerning myself whether it was appropriate to be discussing big stiffies during our first encounter. They've got an excellent setup and would clearly like to embark on a new era of cooperation, which is fine by us. Nice people. I'd left it a bit late to use the arena by then as didn't get home til gone three, so hopefully next weekend.

Well, big fat hairy arses to it. The day began on a note of high irritation with a call from the supplier of the much anticipated 40' lorry load of wood chips to say that the clutch had gone on said lorry and he was therefore, for the second time, unable to deliver my woodchips today. I was resolutely without chuff, because this of course means no bleeding picadeiro for another weekend. Had a text last night from DQ next door to say he was teaching all day and was therefore unable to make our coffee date today, meaning that I was unable to make use of his arena this afternoon either as I thought it would be bad form to waltz onto his yard with one of the boys before we'd even met. By this point I gathered that today was not a day for me to be doing anything horsey.

Saying that, Phil the farmer came around early with the voltmeter so we could test the actual voltage going through the fencing. The answer is about 7000. Dawg help me if I ever touch it by accident. I rather suspect my heart will go into apoplexy and I will die.

On the plus side I felt much more energetic even though the glands can't make up their minds to be up or down, so was able to do a few useful things. I now know for instance how many bales of haylage it is possible to fit in a Toyota Land Cruiser with the seats down; the answer is 16.

The boards have arrived for the picadeiro, whose function will be to stop the much anticipated wood chip leaking out all over. In a moment of unfeasible optimism I thought I know, perhaps I'll put the boards up, you know, just in case we ever do get any woodchip. After all Mr Equidoodad has a nail gun; how hard can it be? What I hadn't taken into account was :

(a) the fact that the nail gun is not an industrial model;
(b) that in any event Mr Equidoodad wasn't about to let me use it unsupervised, industrial model or otherwise, on the basis that my track record in all things DIY is pretty poor;
(c) all the boards need to be cut to size and we don't have a chainsaw. And even if we did have a chainsaw, Mr Equidoodad would quite rightly never let me use it, supervised or otherwise.

So I did the only thing I could and rang Phil the farmer to ask if he could send the boys round tomorrow, during which time I intend to ply them with coffee and bacon butties.

Meanwhile the boys have been mooching pretty happily all day. They had a little moment over the fence first thing (or more correctly, under the fence) during which Q made a remarkable manoeuvre by striking with both forelegs at the same time :O and then they both wandered off. They've been in and out of their stables for a munch several times - I love that! It's why we have put ourselves through all this stress and hassle for just such moments, and they seem to be getting more settled with it. I love the fact that I can see Q wandering in and out from the kitchen window. I noticed that they are starting to coordinate their activities more now too - when Q comes in you can be sure T is in too.

I had to measure up the strip light in T's stable to replace the bulb (assuming the correct term for a light source almost 2m long is a bulb) so grabbed a ladder and the tape measure from the garage and went up the yard. While some horses were wide eyed and snorting at the grey metal monster, I had to close the stable door as T was threatening to come in. They are so nosey, the pair of them. As it was he followed me in once I'd finished, sniffing at the ladder, wanting to know what was occuring. Gotta love Lusos :)

Hurrah, for the sun is shining and it is Friday. Rah, for I am sapped of energy but less so than yesterday so hopeful that I've nipped the thing in the bud.

All being well, tomorrow we will have a working picadeiro. There is a 40' lorry coming to drop off a load of large wood chips for the base and then there is the small matter of scooping it all up into the picadeiro, flattening and levelling it, then dumping rather smaller grade woodchip on top to make a workable surface.

And the sooner the better. It's one thing sitting at home feeling sapped of energy, time best not spent watching horse videos on Youtube because it just makes me want to go and ride.

All being equally well tomorrow we're going to meet our new neighbours. Certainly they are happy for us to use their arena, praise be to all that is holy.

On another subject, I've always felt that yard owners were weird, a stance which I have any amount of evidence to back up. It's a funny thing because as a new yard owner myself looking at things from the other side of the mountain, I begin to develop some sympathy. Maybe it's just our current situation but I find it irks me when people treat the place as their own, especially as Mr Equidoodads and I are the ones busting our chops to pay the sodding mortgage. I am not by nature a possessive or fussy bint, I'm really not, and like to think I would do my utmost to accommodate most things as long as people ask and don't assume. Sigh. One thing's for sure, nothing is ever easy and there is no ideal solution (short of winning the lottery, holing up at home and putting a bit fuck off padlock on the gate).

Newness

Righto. Been meaning to setup a blog for ages and now that a whole new chapter has just begun in our lives this seems an opportune moment to do it. We've taken the plunge into our dream of having the horses at home and are still reeling from the shock to the system that is part and parcel of boxing up all one's wordly doings and transporting it elsewhere, then doing it all over again for the horses. Since that red letter day some three and a bit weeks ago, it has of course Not Stopped Raining and the fields are, literally, awash. The boys dislike being hosed off although on the plus side they don't appear to mind having bits of mud picked off their doodads. The great thing is that I can go and pick bits of mud from their doodads pretty much whenever I like (between 6-10pm weekdays and any time during the weekends) on our very own bit of land :)

Work has been particularly demanding and I feel like I'm clinging by my fingernails for Christmas, with the added disadvantage that I've bitten them all off.

The fallout from this extended period of activity is that I am wrestling with a lurgy, which I hope to be able to batter into submission although it's never a good sign when you can feel each individual lungular aureole and your glands are throbbing. It would be quite typical that just as I have secured the use of a nearby arena without having to box out anywhere, I feel too rancid to make use of it.