Ooooooooooooooooh Madam!

Little Madam showed some temper today - tee hee :-) She didn't want to restart work after a free walk on a long rein, and started hopping up and down. When that didn't work she tried one very half hearted buck. Then she ran for it. She has a trick that Scooby used to do and it is why he was ridden in long cheek bits. She opens her mouth and swings her head in a deliberate attempt to get the bit ring to slide into her mouth. If she manages it, then she bolts. Of course in the barn all she does is meet a wall pretty quickly! To get round it with a non-jointed bit (you can't get a mullen mouth long cheek snaffle, can you?) I have to be sure to use almost even pressure on both reins, to stop the bit sliding. Anyway, as you can tell, I really love this demonstration of a bit of "edge". As long as she is not dangerous, which she is not, then some spark will just make her more fun to train and more capable when she performs.

Tomorrow, if the brakes aren't frozen on the lorry (a neat feature of the older Cargos - if the temperature is below freezing the brakes seize on and you can't move it ;-) ) then we will be going cross country schooling tomorrow while Allan is at work. I can't wait, it should be SO much FUN!! I am lucky to have a schooling course for hire where there is every conceivable jump set in 60 acres of grassland, all with prepared take-offs and landings. I pay £15 an hour, stay for 20 minutes, call at MacDonald's for lunch as I pass on the way home, and have a grin on my face for two or three days :-) :-) :-)

I have a grin on my face anyway today. It has been a superb day here today. The temperature was nothing to shout about, but the sun shone all day and the sky was a perfect blue and there was almost no wind to speak of. Because he has been so sound, I took Tetley out for our first whizz of the year and he had a whale of a time. I'm not sure which of us had the bigger grin on our faces when we got back. OK OK I know that doesn't qualify as "light work" but he was SO up for it I just had to do it. We'll see tomorrow how good an idea it was.

And in case the weather, Tia and Tetley weren't enough, the lorry passed its MOT with flying colours, indeed compliments from the mechanic, so we are really pleased about that and having a bottle of wine to celebrate. Seemed a good excuse to us and we're sticking to it! I missed my Marmite on toast this morning because Allan was out unfreezing the brakes to get it there, so I'm entitled to a little indulgence - oops, just given the game away there, haven't I? Yes, she said guiltily, Superhubby really does bring me breakfast in bed almost every day .....

C