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