And We Are Off!

Just a quick post to let you all know what I have been up to- Auntie Cecilia!

From a mare up on a hill to a great friend all in about three months. It was known in the past that certain Ex-boyfriends had doubts about my horse breaking abilities, but then you generally have to start with something good in the first place! And luckily enough I have! (Right that's my gibe over with, thanks for bearing with me)

Auntie C has become one hell of a good companion and I couldn't imagine life without her now. I think it must be Clydesdale's in general but they seem to have the most amazing aptitude for learning new things and are so eager to please, I couldn't imagine me going back to Hunter types now.

She started off with the tack and then came the little bit of weight and then the big bit of weight (me!), now she is quite happily wandering round the field with me and all her tack and is responding very well from my leg aids ( this was done in about 5 Times of riding her)

I promise to you all she has never had any work done with her, not past a lead rope anyway, which makes this truly remarkable how well she is doing. When I first started breaking her my mum (rather optimistically) said " you will be in the show ring next year with her", and to be honest I think I will be if she keeps progressing at this rate. I keep waiting for something to faze her, but it never seems to.

Anyway I shall stop babbling now and if you could see me now you would be sick of me as I have the most cheesy grin!

Changes!

Just to say sorry for the changes on the blog!. It seems that I cannot get the text to display properly for the older posts.

All will be well with the new ones though!

Any chance anyone knows how to get a picture next to my title? I tried and it took over half of my page!

Thanks to all
xxx

We Can now see!!

The puppies have finally opened their eyes today. They are so cute! However they look as if they have a bad hangover!! Each time they open them, they roll around in their heads and then close:

"......ah no, the bright lights....!"

Bless them though they are adorable. The only trouble now is getting them all good homes. To be honest I'm the type that would rather give them away to people who would care for them and love them than sell them to someone who would have no real clue and would treat them badly.

Auntie Cecilia has had a good day, she embraced the bit. After trialling round the shops some months ago we finally found a bridle that would fit her massive head. The bit was the next problem, 5.5" is the biggest most shops will stock, so i was hard pushed today to find the 6", but i did and it fits like a glove.

To be honest I'm really impressed at her. she is 10yrs old and has never really been in civilisation, but she has taken to it really well. she has had so much change and taken it all really well. although some change is better than others, bits and girths are bad, but apple or mint flavoured horse licks are great!!! (she has eaten one in a day!)

although i feel her easy going nature is going to run out at some point and i will soon find out what flicks her switch.......

I'm Back!!

It seems that I have been away far to long!

My grandfather, Tom, whom I had been caring for the two years, passed away on the 4th July.
I didn't want to blog as some part of me thought that if i was blogging about day to day life then I would have to blog about this also. I simply couldn't. To be honest I sat down last week and thought right, lets do this thing but I still couldn't. After some thought I decided that rather than force myself ( and only because of a notion I have) then I should talk about him when I can and not deprive myself of my blogging pleasure! so here I am, back in the fold once again!

I have had a bad run of luck these past couple of years and to be honest it couldn't get much lower so it had to get better at some point- and it has, I now have my own home!

What a place though! We walked up the road to see the property and I was buzzing about it, however, when I got through the door it was like I had went back in time. The place was rancid! The previous occupants had decided to let there four dogs pee up the walls and there was dog muck everywhere. It stank!

However one month on, 30 rolls of wallpaper, 7 tins of paint, and about 3 zillion hours of hard graft, its looks like something from a magazine! I love it, so much so I'm frightened to live in it in case I spoil it!

Anyway that's enough raving about it for now. Back to the horse update. The penny has finally dropped for Merlin that he is all man. this occurred after the workmen left the gate open so the mare could wander into the adjoining field. instead of his usual cuddly manner he now has one of pure hormones, although he isn't being rude to me and still knows how to do as he is told when required.

The mare (known as Auntie Cecilia) Merlin's aunt, arrived the last week in July and has now settled very well and is a real luvvie. She did however fail to get in foal as we had hoped and will now be covered in the spring again. Fingers crossed for then!

Rosie the Jack Russell (pictured) has given birth to her second litter of pups, four in total, which are all strong and healthy, and are ready for new homes come 1st November.

Well I think that's me all caught up now- and I shall promise to come back to you all without such a long gap!

Take care

Merlins Magic!

Just a short post today- but it seems that Merlin has magic within him!

A few weeks ago we planted large wooden troughs with vegetable plants not knowing whether they would be successful or not- they are massively!!

At the bottom of these troughs are piles and piles of horse muck- Merlins. When we went to do the usual watering it seems that these plants have made a mad dash for the heavens as they are massive now. Lush green leaves and healthy strong stems. We have put it down to the fact that they must have finally grown down enough to reach Merlin's muck and have now taken a growing spurt.

Therefore we have now renamed his dung as Merlins Magic- as totally is!

If anyone is coming to Northumberland and would like a boost to their veg plots then let me know and I will fix you up with a bag!

What Colour is Blood?

Last night I was round at a friends house and he decided to shock me with his new found knowledge. So he told me our human blood is blue!

Well to be told that blood was blue was a shock to say the least but then my logic kicked in, and I argued the point. He then proceeded to go onto the Internet to prove his point. I was then presented with more clap trap on the Internet, thankfully some logical and normal people had also written on these sites.

Here is my argument:

• The heart circulates blood which is oxygenated by the lungs. Therefore to claim blood is blue until it is exposed to oxygen is incorrect.
• When blood is taken by a nurse, the equipment has to be completely air free, or else air would enter the blood vessels, with fatal consequences to the patient.
• Some people state that blood is blue as that's why our vessels I our wrist are blue. Our vessels in our wrist are blood due to pigment in the vessel. Some people have blue vessels and some have green- does that mean they have green blood? The pigment in these vessels are also linked to our ability to tan, those with green tan better than those with blue.

I know most of his information as I used to study crime scene science and I saw plenty of blood. I also did degree level biology and also went to the morgue to look study bodies.

If anyone thinks that blood is blue then please tell me why as I cant understand how in the world this is so.

Thanks all and I hope you enjoy this post.

We Did It!!

I have finally got it together to report on Northumberland County Show!!

The start to the day wasn't as we had hoped- Merlin wouldn't load into the box and in the end we managed to get him in by physically pushing him up the ramp into the box. However, once he was in there he travelled great and didn't seem to mind the whole job!

We finally arrived at the show ground at 6.30am and then the great clean up began. Merlin who was pristine the night before had thought that it would be good to lay in his shit. Covered from head to foot he had a rather green alien like glow about him! His beautiful white feathered feet also had the green thing going on and my father and I had to bath him from head to foot. About two hours later and a bottle of shampoo and stain remover he was back to the pristine chap he was the night before!

Luckily I met up with some great people who were old hands at the showing malarkey and held my hand right through the process.

Merlin was so well behaved that I am rather dreading the next show as I have a feeling that he has pent up mischief to release!

I was up to high doe by the time we got to the collection ring and the waiting was making it worse for my nerves. Merlin however decided that this was the perfect opportunity to take a nap in the sunshine- I wish I'd had his confidence!

After walking and trotting out for the judge, he decided that we were to take second place which I was ecstatic about. We were beaten by the people who helped us so I was rather relieved as I would have felt bad if it had been the other way round.

We then had the afternoon to chill out (and for me to grin permanently about the placing) before going on grand parade in the main ring with all the other 1st's and 2nd's of the day.

The grand parade was great and Merlin obviously wasn't bothered about it as he decided that this again was another great opportunity for a sleep!

We again had trouble getting him in the box but fortunately we had the help of lots of others so we did it much quicker than on the way down!

After coming home, I had to phone the Clydesdale Horse Society about another matter. The lady was asking about the show and afterwards she said that I was to be awarded to Clydesdale Horse Society shield for the best yearling in show (they had to be fully working downstairs to get it hence why the people who beat me at the show didn't win it as theirs was gelded) and that she needed his full name so she could have it engraved- I shall receive it soon. Wooohooo!

The day was fab, Merlin was an absolute star and the bonus was the shield. But to be honest whether we got anything or not I would still be chuffed to bits as he did so well considering it was all new to him and me. He really settled my nerves, what a lovely chap!

I must be Mad!

It has come to the time where Merlin must go to his first show. Merlin is a one year old Clydesdale Colt ( still has his manhood) and as he is registered, I am able to enter him for the in hand show classes and also the Clydesdale Horse Society Shield. However I was initially looking forward to this, I am not now. Everyday when I think "right I'm ready and I know what I am doing" something else crops up. For instance yesterday I was thinking great, I have all your pampering stuff, you are going to look great- all set". Today I find that I might need to plait him up! This entails more shopping for ribbon and raffia and also its a new style of plaiting that I have never done before! Personally I'm dreading it!

I can see us now.........................

"Merlins wizard is now entering the ring. But whats this? Her steed has taken off round the ring at a flat out gallop dragging Merlin's wizard with him.! After regaining some control the pair look as if they should be entered for the best dressed hedge!"

I think I will be fine (I say completely unconvinced), but I have little confidence in this area and Merlin has never done this before, at least it is the blind leading the blind. I suppose if we disgrace ourselves this much then we wont have to go back next year!!

I will report back on Monday evening on how Myself and Merlin did at the Northumberland Show.

Merlin's Wizard

xxx

My Gran

I wrote this poem last night about my Grandma- its a bit of fun and I hope you enjoy reading it!


My Gran

She's the one who makes my sore tummy feel better,
She's the woman's' whose handwriting you cant read in a letter.

She's the woman who says "put the lights out please",
She's the woman who makes scones with red cheddar cheese.

She's the woman who vacuums like shes got OCD,
She's the woman who loves soaps on the TV.

Everyday I wake up I hope I grow up to be like her,
Because she's my gran, and she's just super!

What a Porker!!

I feel that it is time for a rant!!

I am going to a wedding reception this Saturday night and I discovered I had nothing to wear, as I spend my life in wellies and riding shirts. Hit the shops I thought.

So off i went to Berwick- Upon- Tweed, thinking I was bound to get a lovely dress that would be perfect. Into New Look and all that was on offer was the usual casual wear, all made from the cheapest material and to be honest looked as if it would unravel in the washing machine. Not going to get anything here then, I thought.

Off to Dorothy Perkins, same as the above, not a single thing which could be used for that type of function.

And so it went on and a traipsed into every single clothes shop in the town. In sheer desperation I went into the local designer label shop ( I don't usually go there as I refuse to pay the exuberant prices) I saw this dress, lovely it was, made by Firetrap, and teamed with the right accessories it would be perfect. "What size" said the man. "Well I'm usually a 12/ 14 it depends on the cut". "A large" he says, as he thrusts the £95 dress into my hand. I trotted off into the changing room and slipped it over my head. "Mum can you please zip it up for me?" "Not a hope in hell" she says, "You need at least another 6 inches of material to get it to meet!". My mum is a whiz at sewing and if I had found out about this event sooner she would have made me a dress. She measured my bra against the dress and it was no way a size 12 let alone 14. Outrageous I thought, you pay all that money for the label and you don't even get the cloth to go with it!

My quest for an outfit then took me to Kelso, where I found the most amazing tailors shop. Munroe's near Somerfield (please go a must for bridal/ ball gowns etc). Upon walking in you could tell it was quality, lovely cuts, good fabric and taste! Not some Friday night pulling outfit, but real classy. The problem with this shop is that the dresses were too nice. However if I get a Prince Charming to marry me or even take me to a ball, then I know where to go for a dress.

Eventually I ended up in Galashiels and after traipsing round Next, Tesco, Asda, M&S etc I got something to wear, only in each shop I was a different size, and also I was trying on size 18 clothes when I only officially measure up to a size 12/14. As you can imagine I was mortified with this and vowed to cut out all the labels when I got home, so that no-one could see what a fat porker I had become. I did however really feel down about the job, but when I reflect now, it must be quite horrible for all women to go into shops and have to try on sizes much larger than they would normally wear, a real downer on someones self-esteem.

I do think though that clothes have gone down the swanny in quality terms and that if you pay £20 for a top then you should get a) the right amount of fabric, b) something which is made from decent fabric and not something which will disintegrate in the washing machine.

Well that is it for my rant, and feel much better. My self-esteem is back up as I realise that the its the shops which are a fault, not me.

Lack of oxygen

My breathing became so laboured, I was fighting for air. With each breath in I knew that the supply of oxygen was getting less and may chest became tighter and tighter. I had to get out of there.

I struggled through to my area in the factory and a met a friend, he could see my trouble and told me to go upstairs into the offices.

The stairs were long, my breaths were short- it took some time. When I made it to the top it felt like there was an 18 stone man sitting on my chest.

The people in the offices looked at me as if to say "gods whats up with her, this is going to harm production," to be honest that's all they cared about.

I was told to go have some fresh air and go home, and some body from the factory would check me out in a few weeks- nobody ever did.

I had this terrible feeling all night long. As someone who smoked I didn't want to say anything to my parents as I believed that the cigs had finally caught up with me, I was later to learn that they hadn't.

The next day was lovely, warm and sunny, with a gentle breeze. Perfect for a spot of gardening. My grandma is a keen gardener and I offered my help to her as grandad is unable to help due to his spinal condition. I was still feeling very chesty and tight and had come to the conclusion that it was a chest infection.

Lunchtime came and grandad wanted a kipper so I cooked it for him in the microwave, as I lifted the clingfilm off the top and waft of fish laced steam came up into my face. It was down hill from then.

As I tried to move things in the greenhouse I was unable and spent most of the afternoon on the seat outside the bungalow, shielding what was wrong from gran (who is an ex- casualty sister), I managed but after supper I got washed and went straight to bed as it was getting worse and I didn't want to worry her, still thinking in my mind that it was a chest infection.

9pm came that night and when gran came through I now couldn't talk I was that short of breath. I told her what was wrong at this point and what had been happening and she called my parents and an ambulance.

By the time I got into the local hospital I had waited three hours. This was because it was a Saturday night and all the drunks and people who had been fighting had taken up the ambulances.

I had a chest x-ray there and then when i arrived and it showed that my left lung was full and the right one was half full, full of histamines that my body had produced in an allergic reaction- effectively I was drowning to death.

After three days in intensive care I was allowed home. I was still very weak and it took many days to get better. I didn't get a positive diagnosis of what was wrong for 2 months. I had Anaphylaxsis, caused by occupational asthma that had been untreated, therefore it went to the next level. However it was so severe in my condition that the smell of any type of fish and shellfish was enough to put me into Anaphylactic shock.

I can tell when I am going into shock as my chest becomes extremely tight. I go light- headed and if I don't have my adrenaline pens within minutes of the attack starting then I will go into a coma and die in around 10 minutes of the first symptoms occurring. I also have the usual symptoms of my mouth swelling if I eat anything that contains a fish product (oils and omega 3's), the back of my lips also swell up and burst.

I was naive when I first got Anaphylaxis as I thought that it would be easy to avoid, but potential harmful items are everywhere. I cant go out for meals and socialising in general is quite hard. Ive found that its easy to protect myself but its much harder when I'm in a group or out and about as the people themselves could be a potential threat as I cant in any terms expect everyone to understand my condition as much of the understanding comes after someone has seen me have an attack. I would love to get in touch with others who have Anaphylaxis as I would like to think that my experiences could help somebody else and that I could also be a support to others as it can be very daunting when the condition first occurs.

Ban the 500yr Old Tradition!

Dear fellow Bloggers,

When you imagine a horse, what do you see? This perhaps?

Two months ago I was reading the paper and after I turned the page, I saw an image which struck sheer terror through me - horses fighting.

In china and the Philippines each year stallions are put together in a ring with a mare who is in season, in order to frenzy them so that they will fight to the death. It is illegal in the Philippines (however it is not policed so remains a feature of many villages) and legal in china where they class it as a 500yr old tradition and although the government has been petitioned they have refused to ban it.

The people who run these fights, who are largely organised crime networks, earn vast sums of money through betting and have a total lack of regard for the stallions welfare along with the mare, who used as bait, may be covered by "championing stallions" over thirty times in a 6hr period. even before she has to suffer the torture of being covered yet again, she will be kicked and bitten repeatedly by the duelling stallions in each fight.

In Britain people do not usually leave their colts entire and will have them gelded in the first 6 months of their life, unless the colts will be used for breeding purposes later in life. Anybody who has a stallion ( I do) will tell you that you cannot leave a stallion in a field with another gelding or stallion as the hormones take over and they fight to the death.

The people in these countries do not only watch this barbaric sport themselves, but children are also taken along- so from a very young age think that this sport is acceptable.

To read the articles which I have found please type "horse fighting" into Google where you will get the full reports from both the Philippines and china.

The WSPA Asia is running a campaign in association with the network for animals, in which it would like people to write to the Philippine bureau of animal welfare.

A Little Girl- The Genius of Tomorrow.

I would like to write about a little girl I met recently.

"Are you going to feed the baby pet lambs" she would say, "Of course, would you like to come?" I replied.

Every day this little girl would come with me to feed the lambs, and everyday it would take us 20 minutes to get her wellies and boiler suit on, but those 20 minutes were never wasted. Those 20 minutes were filled with recollections of what happened last week, things she wanted to do, and always flashes of her incredible sense of humour. I was as bad as her for getting ready, as I would tickle her a mess around, but we shared frequent moments of sheer laughter.

One day that particularly stands out in my mind was a snowy Grand Prix Sunday afternoon. After playing games with her and her dad in the kitchen, we started to fool around tickling each other. It was her turn to tickle me. I usually have the ability to resist the urge to laugh but she caught me off guard, and I flew backwards onto the floor taking the chair with me. Her and myself laughed so hard and so long, and couldn't look at each other for laughing- that moment was so pure.

The days grew longer for me lambing sheep and the weather got colder, it was fair to say that my enthusiasm was taking a beating, but things had to be done and I had to get on with it. Then the little girl came out with me, her high spirit, in turn lightened mine, and the day got much better. she really was a bright light on a cold windy day, and from that day on I knew if I was feeling down I only had to wait until the school bus came before I would be cheered up.

The sheer brilliance of this little girl never ceased to amaze me, such intelligence encased in such a young mind must be torture for her, as those who don't know her just see an 8yr old and not the mind she possesses. Fortunately for her she has a fantastic mother who sees this and encourages it.

Another day which stood out for me was when an older lady came to see the pet lambs, naturally I was there with the little girl. The lady looked on at the little girl's bursting personality and you could see the old mind in this lady was just dying to give her a smacked bottom and tell her to be quiet. The whole time I thought, perhaps you would like her to be a little quieter, but just maybe you can see her brilliance, and perhaps you should embrace what is there instead of trying to change it, after all the mind in this little girl is most probably the genius of tomorrow.

Its safe to say that this little girl is has the most enchanting spirit and has the ability to make the best of everything, if only we could all be like her!!

I didn't want to include this little fact at the start, but this Little girl is autistic. I would really like people to comment on this blog as I would like to to know just out of interest whether people would have read this blog differently if they had known right from the start.

The First of Many- I hope!!

I am new on blogspot and I'm not sure what to say. Perhaps I should start with how I found out about this site- crystaljigsaw- I love her bloggs please read them, they're great.

I am dull to many as a person I have 4 Jack Russells of whom I shall introduce later and two horses. My name Merlin's Wizard, and my new baby horse whom I adore (how I came to have him is another story!). He is only 11 months but already towers above me at a mighty 15.3hh!! That's massive I hear you say- he should be he's a pure bred clydesdale, with the most enormous feet and should be at least 18hh when fully grown!!

I also have severe anaphylaxis, and would love to help anybody who has just been diagnosed with the condition as I know how scary it can be.

So between the anaphylaxis and the country living it's no wonder I am a touch dull!! lol.

Take Care

Merlins Wizard xxxx