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Thursday 28 July 2011

Registration

So today the boys had their papers done for passport registration and to become fully paid up members of Club Lusitano. Well most of them anyway - reading through the breed society paperwork last night I realised that we hadn't received a covering certificate from the breeder which includes the third (!) outline diagram to be completed by vitnery. Why there always has to be something noticed only at the last gasp defeats me, but there it is. Certificates en route from stud sec and we'll get those done asap.

We decided to put Golfinho's headcollar on this morning before I left for work, so he wouldn't associate it with being jabbed with a large and scary needle (microchip) and a smaller one (tetanus). And just as well. Gualter of course was the uber colt, standing for his doings like the fabulous little big man that he is, while little Nom was having none of it! Knickers had to call in reinforcements (Sid) and the two of them kept him still long enough for the jabs to be done and his whorls and markings appropriately inspected. Vitnery reckons he will stay that colour, which I am delighted about. He is such a little swine :)

Meanwhile the girls have been scanned, and we've just missed Xacra's season. Even surrounded by stallions, she shows no signs of heat whatsoever *sigh* so we are faced with the choicce of a PG injection to bring her forward again, with the increased risk of a haemorrhagic follicle, or wait and be really quite late in the season. Argh. Alfama is due in about 10 days, and we have two doses of frozen semen from each of the boys on standby at the vet clinic.

Yesterday Sid had occasion to call in the AA to take his poorly car to a specialist garage, and it turned out that said AA man was a keen breeder himself and dedicated stallion owner, so rather randomly the two of them spent the best part of an hour exchanging notes and ideas about stallion handling, breeding and general horse management. Who'd have thought?

Also yesterday we took delivery of some 15 tonnes of rubber, which will be used in the all weather turnout areas for everyone. The next step is for young Pheel to come round with his giant tool and spread it all over the hardcore.

In other news, Frankie is settling in very well; we took them out for an hour tonight and played hide & seek in the long grass. I thoroughly recommend this as a de-stressing exercise after a busy day, but caution fellow hay fever sufferers that it's probably better to take your antihistamines beforehand than afterwards, when your eyes have puffed up and and you nose is simultaneously blocked and running.

Looking forward to the weekend and the Bento clinic - report to follow. I stopped in at Frogpool on the way home tonight and availed myself of a new black saddle cloth with gold piping - s'nice.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Back in the saddle, and other matters

 On Saturday I decided that it was time to ride T for the first time since his injury, which has kept him out of action for almost six months now.  The trot work in hand is building up nicely and there's less evidence of the very slight unlevelness we saw after he came back from stud, so I'm feeling confident that we can continue building him up slowly.  Besides, if he keeps himself sound out in the field 24/7 throwing shapes for the mares the I'm pretty sure he is doing ok. Spent about 10-15 minutes riding, looking for stretching and relaxing over the back and a few steps of SI. Well, I’m not sure there was much in the way of relaxation; plenty of energy bubbling up though contained, he did feel like an unexploded bomb with a tendency to curl up in front, but then it was his first ride in ages. Amazing to be back in the saddle again and I am looking forward to developing the relaxation levels with him as the work progresses. We've also recommenced the Rachen-Schoenich (or however you spell it) straightening work which is helping him hugely, as I found during my second ride tonight which found him much more relaxed and apt to stretch to the contact. He's enjoying being back in work and is back to his calm and mannered self with a liitle routine to intersperse the Wild Man of Kent lifestyle he's been living.

I might add at this juncture that updating one's  blog with laptop held in crook of an arm while typing one-handed on account of the presence of a cat on one's lap can best be described as "sub-optimal". Isn't it Slim.

In other news, the farrier came on Friday and the girls were done in the field. Gualter stood for his second ever trim completely at liberty - at the tender age of 3.5 months old. How cool is that? Golfinho had his first look over from Robin and lifted his legs very politely (again at liberty) but hasn't had a trim yet. The next thing for them will be the vet visit to do the forms, take the DNA sample and microchip them so that they can get their passports. As for the girls,
Alfama was an old hand but Xacra had the wind up her tail and was very antsy about her back feet – I suspected this might happen as she relies on me very heavily mentally and I kind of knew she doesn’t yet have that relationship with Knickers that allows her to lean on her quite so much in times of need. She oscillates a bit with her back feet and recently we had a couple of moments of concern as little Nom would come and nibble my head while I was doing a hind foot so I ended up fending him off while doing her feet and it got a bit much for her, shaking her fragile confidence and meaning that we've had to regroup a bit. We’ve taken to leaving the three of them in the corral while we do her feet in the field, which is fine until little Nom starts throwing shapes along the fence and winding everyone up :) How he fits all that personality in such a little body defeats me.

On Friday evening I had a lesson with Mandy, first time since being back from Portugal. We did a fair bit of lateral work based around the milling exercise, moving into shoulder in while keeping the collect afforded by the milling, and working that into a stretch, looking for mouthing of the bit, which we got on the left rein but not the right. We then worked on transitions within the trot, using school shapes to assist but always looking to keep the throughness. We finished off with some canter work to maintain straightness and impulsion.
On Saturday it was Noodle's turn to have a lesson on Q, so I rode him first to make sure he was settled and ready. He was a bit skittish and spooky, deciding that the floating heads of Mandy and Knickers outside the school were quite scary  so we had a good canter to settle him and from then on he was fine. Noodle spent the first ten minutes off the lunge doing some basic turning work, with Q very politely ignoring little Nom who was taking an interest along the fence. What a good lad. Noodle has a lot of trust in Q as well which helps her confidence hugely and she knows she doesn’t have to worry about him. I think this is really remarkable in all sorts of ways and is a testament both to that marvellous Luso temperament and Noodle's level of comfort in working with him.  Afterwards back on the lunge to work on her rising trot and I must say she has come on in leaps and bounds, so very pleased with how she did.

On Sunday we found ourselves going to look at a dog that needed a new home, against my better judgement. I know I know, but I blame Sid and Noodle. I’ve decided not to let the two of them out on their own again as this is the second time this has happened. The story was that a couple were looking for a home for their Husky x Collie (!) 5 month old puppy as their young son is highly allergic to him. Of course, I knew that if we went we’d end up coming back with him, but I made sure I agreed with the owners that we would take him on a trial basis to make sure he was ok with the cats. Anyway we brought him home and he (Frankie) was an instant hit with Dora and Willow particularly, and they have formed a happy trio in no time flat. His first introduction to cats was a pasting from Binky and Poppy, neither of whom take any prisoners, so he has been very polite – even lying on the kitchen floor while Slim and Binky took up residence in his bed :) Since then he has settled in very well and the signs appear to be promising. So now we have:

6 horses
3 dogs
5 cats
3 goats
10 chickens

That's 27 creatures.


Friday 15 July 2011

Go Noodle

We had a really nice session with the boys this evening: Q first, who is a little plump sausage of Luso loveliness from enjoying the grazing far too much whilst Noodle and I were away. We both need to embark upon a fittening programme in time for our forthcoming Bento clinic, where I fully expect us both to boil our bananas off if we do not sharpen ourselves up a bit.

In any event we had a very good session and it is always the greatest of pleasures to sit on him again after riding other horses, however splendid or well trained they happen to be. Afterwards I gave Noodle a lunge lesson and she has made excellent progress over the last couple of weeks - rising trot is unrecognisable for one thing but more than that she had her first canters on Q! Really pleased with how it went for her, nice and balanced back to the trot again too, and of course Q was the consummate schoolmaster, expecting only adoration and kisses for his forbearance :)

Worked T again, who is looking much better and in very good shape - well covered and happy to be doing something. Well - I say that but when I went to fetch him he was in his stable and wandered off up the field when he saw the headcollar. I wandered off after him, he stopped and looked around, then trotted off into the next field before stopping to look again. Seeing me still in pursuit, he cantered off to the furthese point in his summer paddock to exchange pleasantries with Q, and waited for me to approach before cantering off again back to his winter paddock. Seeing me still in dogged pursuit, he clearly thought "oh alright then" and walked up to me to put his nose in the headcollar. It's the Vicar of Dibley "no, no, no, oh alright then".

Meanwhile the girls have been scanned and Alfama is not pregnant, so we are considering whether live cover mightn't be such a bad thing after all. We can fashion a teasing wall easily enough and use the picadeiro for covering, so we are currently considering our options.

Portugal visit

We arrived on Wednesday eve to balmy weather: how wonderful to be back in the hallowed land after a three year hiatus. Drove to Sobral in our ridiculous little rental car, which required us to take a run up to each of the numerous hills & hope for the best, but even then still having to chuck ballast out of the windows in order to make it to the top. Had a great evening catching up with our dear friend Antonio.

Day 1
On Thursday we went to a tack shop in Porto Alto where I acquired a presentation bridle and whip, some spurs and a hat for Noodle. Quite restrained I thought. Had a late lunch at a little place which used produce from its own farm; dropped Antonio off and prepared for outing no. 2.

Next was a trip to Quinta da Ferraria, the other side of Santarem. We met up with Teresa, one of my Facebook buds and all round fabulous person, to go and look at a mare I'd had half an eye on for some time.
The quinta was awesome! Huge, very well presented, lovely place. The mare herself was extremely sweet and latched on to us straight away - arg. She is very well put together, good lines and moves really well, graded at 72 points though she has not had any babies yet. She is small at 14.3h but is ridden by children so very calm and giving temperament. If we bought her we'd have to have more land first. Anyway here she is:



The breeder has offered to put her in foal to a stallion called Zico, so we had a look at him too. He was a gorgeous silver at about 15.2h, very compact and well put together. We saw him in hand, at liberty and ridden. This is Zico:
We also saw some daughters of Zico and the rest of Luis's mares, not to mention a drop dead gorgeous young stallion called Cofre - Tigre in a bullfighting body. Wowee.

Afterwards we spent a very pleasant hour chatting to Teresa, catching up on all things Luso and in the process finding a rider for T for the next breed show, so very excited about that. Thank you Teresa for a wonderful afternoon; it was a true pleasure to meet you.

Day 2
With much anticipation Noodle and I set off to Campo Grande for the festival on Friday. So nice to have the festival back at what many consider to be its true home and more to the point back in the place where it was when I first went back in 2000. Not to mention where we first met Q. Let it be said that a combination of circumstances caused us to arrive (a) later and (b) more turgid of bladder than planned, but that was soon forgotten as we met up with fellow Luso enthusiasts and enjoyed a beer, a bifana, coffee, cake and lots of Luso eye candy. I quickly lost count of the number of Spartacus sons and daughters on display. We nosed around the stalls and I availed myself of the opportunity to acquire a programme, a pair of chaps and a very nice portrait of Filipe Graciosa replicating a glorious passage.

So a lovely day, awash with sun, Lusos and bonhomie. Marvellous. As evening drew on we made our way back to the car park, frowning a little as I was quite sure the car wasn't where I had left it. Hmmm. Walked up and down a bit until forced to conclude that yes, the car was Definitely Not There. Difficult to relay the range of emotions that washed over us at this point, but probably best summarised by "oh fuck".

So. Car gone, what to do. Got hold of a number for the car park admin; "fala Ingles?" One quickly realises that the smidgen of Portuguese one relies upon for the basics of restaurant ordering and kindergarten-level pleasantries will really Not Do in this sort of situation. Car park people didn't have it. Called the rental company, got a nice lady called Silvia to ring around for me, who thinks it's very unlikely to have been nicked. It's about now that the realisation washes over me that this was now a PAYING CAR PARK and guess what, I hadn't noticed. I could blame it on all sorts of things but what it comes down to in the cold light of day is utter blondeness. Fuckwittage even. A monumental cock up, the price of which we were about to embark upon paying during the course of the next few hours.

Silvia calls back to inform me that the car has been towed, gives me the details and advises me to get a cab to the car pound to reclaim it. The good news is that it's not too far away and it's open til midnight. We spend a pleasant half hour trooping around to find a cab, and eventually flag one down near the stadium. Off we tootle to the area reported to contain the car pound; no pound to be found. Engage in animated conversation with a number of cab drivers and eventually alight upon one who knows where it is, and gives us directions. On arrival at said pound, I am asked to produce my documents which, luckily, I have on me. I suspect we would still be there if I hadn't. That's 120 Euro please. Resigned, I hand over my card. Sorry, we don't take that type of card, they said. Please try anyway, I said, tiptoeing by now around the brink of a yawning chasm of desperation. Needless to say, it didn't work. Natch. Find the nearest Multibanco, the nice lady advises. Where is that? I ask. In the zoo, she replies. Of course!

We troop back the way we came, into the zoo and track down the Multibanco. Back to the pound, at which stage a queue of fellow fuckwits/miscreants/blonde people has formed and we are obliged to wait while they are dealt with in a fashion which can only be described as glacial. Arg. Arg. Finally, our turn again, I hand over the wedge and eventually we are shown past the array of burly security men through the tall gate with spikes and barbed wire on it to our trusty steed. Well, I say we but Noodle is impelled to wait outside. Perhaps they were concerned that she might try to make off with another of their prized impounds, as though we are a pair of hardened car thieves and not just a brace of incompetent Johnsons.

Finally, the ordeal is over and we can worm our way out of Lisbon feeling, it must be said, battered and beleaguered by our three hour epic contrived entirely from our own stupidity, back to Sobral and the sanctity of Antonio and Joao's house, wondering all the while if a freak tsunami would thunder through the streets of Lisbon at any moment and wash us away, or whether a rogue asteroid would hurtle from the sky and bury itself in the roof of our car just to add the cherry on top of the pile of steaming doodoo. As it was none of this happened and we made it back, somewhat frayed but with the black humour reserved for these sorts of occasions fully restored.

Day 3
In the morning Noodle got a riding lesson with Antonio and Lusitano, which went well aside from a spot of panic at the canter. Not entirely surprising since it was her first one since she last rode as a kid and fell off on her first canter.

Another afternoon at the festival, only this time without incident. We eschew our planned feasting at the fabled Jockey club buffet in an effort to make up ground on the previous day's unforseen expenditure, and tuck into another bifana. And some cake. Spend the entire afternoon watching an array of classes and manage to arrive home again unmolested by any sort of disaster. Not a huge number of breeders present but the crowds were healthy and it was also gratifying to see that not everyone is intent on breeding Lusosauruses.

Day 4
Another lesson for Noodle on Lusitano, regrouping confidence and developing her balance at the trot. Lusitano was such a good boy and really looked after her. We decided to go to Obidos with Antonio and Joao instead of spending another day at the festival, to see a bit more of Portugal. Obidos is a very old town near Torres Vedras and the fact that it is the centre of Ginja production only mildly influenced our decision to go there. Ginja is an excellent liqueur traditionally served in chilled chocolate cups. We enjoyed mooching around the town and catching a couple of tunes from a band dressed in mediaeval clothes playing funky mediaeval music. I imagine the belly dancer represented Portugal's strong Moorish influence but in any case she was really good and it all hung together surprisingly well. We also found a boyfriend for Knickers.

Day 5
Morning: lessons for Noodle and I. I rode a large but quite sluggish Luso stallion called Astro  and Noodle had a lunge lesson on a dun gelding, during which she gained top marks for really finding her balance in trot and making her first steps towards conquering her cantering fears. Go Noodle! We also met in the flesh the sires of our boys, Assirio and Galheteiro. We watched Assirio being worked and he was fabulous - hopefully I can post a video clip soon. Galheteiro was so sweet - an old boy at 23 but still strong and secure through his back and very nicely conformed, along more traditional lines.

We didn't have long afterwards for pleasantries as we were due to drive over to the Alentejo for a visit to the Coudelaria Monte de Tramagueira, near Teja. Let me tell you it's a long drive straight after a lesson and with no time for lunch or coffee, during which time I learnt that woman cannot survive on pasteis de natas alone. Still, it was all well worth it as we had THE most fabulous time meeting the utterly charming Filipe, owner of this magnificent 300+ ha farm and the delightful Angelique who works with Filipe and is doing some fantastic work there with horses. The yard and boxes were immaculate and all the horses had a constant supply of hay. Don Soberano is a truly spectacular stallion and I look forward to seeing how he develops in his career. We spent a wonderful couple of hours meeting all the horses, and I quite fell in love with a one year old Assirio daughter and a two year old colt who is exactly the stamp of horse that I like. Good job my pockets and wallet aren't as capacious as I'd like them to be. All of Filipe's horses are really friendly and well conformed, and of course schmoozing with Lusitanos is one of my all-time favourite pastimes, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I realise I have used what might be considered an excessive number of superlatives to describe our afternoon, but it really was that good.

Day 6
All that remained for day 6 was to make our farewells and depart for the airport. We caused some consternation to the TAP staff when presenting the whip for travel, and ended up having to wrap it up in newspaper before they would allow it into oversized luggage, while the agent told us all about how he rides once a year and invariably ends up with a sore bum because he doesn't do it often enough. Grinning at both the shared experience of sore bums and the incongruity of the conversation in that particular setting, we went our separate ways and headed off into the bowels of the airport - where we waited, and waited, and waited, for 5 extra hours in fact. Yep, the plane was delayed "for operational reasons". So instead of getting home mid afternoon and looking forward to catching up with everyone at leisure, in fact we arrived home about 10pm, just over 12 hours after we left Sobral.