My blogs are getting back to be intermittent affairs and far from meaning there is little to report it's the opposite, we've been busy bees and to be frank by the time I get  in each night I'm far too bolloxed to have brain cells ready to produce text of any description, let alone worth reading.
I notice my last blog is written from the snow, so too is this, obviously snow means less horse stuff and  more time.

Anyway this blog is dedicated to Turnip as his progress hasn't really featured for a long time, probably because Turnip makes progress at the pace of a snail so you have to look back over a pretty extended period to notice the improvement.

Last year was pretty cruel to us, it seemed that my riding was in recovery so that I once more had two functioning legs and the neck strap was no longer necessary just to balance for canter across the field so I was pretty sure it would be the year Turnip first flew. That never seemed to happen thoug, it started badly with Kev's neck abcess delaying our return to the UK, then the weather put paid to most of the rest of the year cancelling events as fast as I could enter them.

When we did manage to set foot on a showground it wasn't always a disaster, but Turnip being Turnip we always managed to conjure up some magical reason to miss out on a place YET AGAIN.

At Twesledown he did his worst test ever, but poor fellow he'd been munched by mozzies in the trailer while I walked the xc course;


So I guess once again he found his excuse and what with jumping well;  clear xc with only a pole down in the sj, he was let off the hook( meat hook) yet again. We had a pretty close call on the xc when he got bogged on landing after a corner, I was really beginning to worry about his landing technique, but on arrival back at the trailer overheard the girl next door saying to her dad that they'd just pulled the corner out of the course. She'd jumped a couple  of horses before me and said her little horse nearly didn't make it over the fence having got bogged on the take off side, apparently she'd screamed at the fence judges that it needed taking out of the course.It was pretty scary for her and me, but I'm sure some other horses were saved a sticky situation.

Turnip's next novice outing was Aston le walls and  this time it was me who let the side down,I have to commend him for  doing a very reasonable dressage test. He arrived at the warm up buzzing and proceeded to leap around like a lunatic, scaring the wits out of me and anyone else who rode close, but  I adopted a new aggressive approach and was pretty mean. We were fortunate to have a neighbouring arena on only one side so a little bit of discreet timing allowed us to avoid  doing movements down that side at the same time as the horse next door. His show jumping was spot on and clear accept that I forgot to tighten my girth so after the fifth fence the saddle went whoop, he had a little buck and I had to stop, straighten the saddle, do up the girth and get restarted. We restarted four or five strides out from the treble, but this of course is where the flying Turnip comes into his own, nothing please him more than a little upset, broken rythmn and tricky approach so he was a bit of a pro to get out of that scrape, just meant the pesky judges gave us five time faults and four for not moving forward. No bonus points for smart horse getting stupid rider out of hole at all! He was clear xc despite a spook at the photographer after the hedge;


but my oversight cost us a place AGAIN, suppose we were lucky it didn't cost us a limb!


His fourth and final event last year (yes you read that right, FOURTH and FINAL) was at Firle Place. If I'd hoped we'd cracked the dressage nut I should have thought again. He was a dick, no excuses. His showjumping was passable no poles but four faults for a nap at the entrance, as expected the quantity of spectators and stalls around the arena freaked him out a a bit, unfortunate it was lunchtime but he's got to learn. Then a really super xc very close to the time,for the first time I asked him to motor on a little and he was more than happy to oblige;



Once again again  though the cavorting around in the dressage arena cost us a place and he only managed 11th, still our best placing yet.

That was as good as it was going to get in 2012, despite my grandiose plans of Gatcombe novice and Ligniere CIC*. The very day he was accepted I put him out with a pony at my mum's who promptly ( and I mean promptly), kicked him in the knee and split it open. I let them go, heard the crack turned around  andTurnip  was licking a split and bleeding knee. That was the last time that Turnip is ever allowed to play with anyone in the field, he's always egging, taunting,nipping, bullying, so you can't blame his  companions, but it gets a bit costly and bloody annoying.

It was apparent he wasn't lame and it had done little more than split the skin, but it was a right through wound right slap bang in the centre of his knee. The vet said 2 to 3mths recovery, the vet was not wrong.


When he visited St Lo for the dressage grand national back here in late Autumn he still had the smallest place in the centre to heal;



His test there was probably his best to date, a little up tight but pretty obedient, only one false start, a canter stride as we made the last turn for the final centre line.

So 2013 was set to be an uphill challenge where I discovered if the kick to the knee had affected his jumping ability, or perhaps, optimistically, the little break would have chilled him out. 


Of course no amount of break was going to chill Turnip out so he set out at Rennes for his first showjumping class like a prime Findus beef lasagne candidate. Jumping , bucking, screaming his head off, you'd have thought he was four! But he still jumped  a clear in the metre and 1m 10 prep classes.


From there it has been onwards and upwards, he jumped at Rennes again, coming 3rd in 1m10 GP. He jumped at  Auvers at the young horse training show, we just told everyone he was five.





Then the weekend just gone he went to Auvers again for 1m10 prep which he jumped clear, despite feeling like a dead dog, a side effect I'm fairly sure of his flu jab on Monday.Had a pony club moment before we started when I decided it would be a good idea to show him the water features incase he deemed  it necessary to jinx at them during our round. Far from looking at them , he buried his head in the bamboo plant beside fence nos 2 and flatly refused to extract himself despite my best rein hauling. I sat there red faced, incompetent and embarrased while my pony ate the arena dressing.

On sunday he did the 1m15 GP at Beny. By sunday he was back on pogo- ing form , much to my relief as I make a really horrid job of jumping him when he's flat. He had a pole down when I pushed him through the treble too fast and as ever he jumped like a screwy show jumping pony, but that's how he likes it and how I've learnt to ride him so that's what we'll go with while it keeps getting us round. The good news aside from the fact that he came eighth and won 4 euro, enough for a sausage, is that he wasn't dangerous in the very tight collecting ring, a little weyhey but the novelty of playing chicken with passing ponies seems to be wearing thin. He was also a heroic little jumper as I decided to have a melt down prior to going in that the jumps were too big for us. Not helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQH48XKIJ2s&list=UUGIIOedOX-L_TKVr9iw693w&index=3&noredirect=1

As may be guessed all of this frantic showjumping activity is not because I've decided to jack in eventing and take to the poles but because Turnip has been selected to go to Fontainebleau next week. Selected is probably a little generous, allowed is probably more accurate. We have been asked if we can please not make a scene, make minimal reference to being British and control our antics in the dressage arena. I have spoken with Turnip about this, he nodded very sagely and said yes, he understood, it is huge gesture of trust he has been saddled with and he promises to behave, but I'm not sure I trust the glint in his eye. For starters such a long trip alone and stabling away is going be the biggest adventure he ever embarked upon, for seconds he hasn't be able to do one dressage comp this  year yet and xc schooling has also been a no go. I have a ditch and a couple of skinnies at home but that is where it's at.If we even manage to get to them through the snow.

We had hoped to fit in at least one schooling expedition but as you can see that's not really an option;



So although everyone has rallied round to do their best to actually, at very long last, get Turnip off to his first CIC*, we've still got a long way to go. It's hardly the preparation conditions I would have chosen, hacking Turnip around on snowy fields and chemins, even on the semi cleared roads I can reach is a disaster waiting to happen, but hopefully a smaller one than leaving him unridden to go loopy.

To add insult to injury  he is absolutely desperate for a new set of shoes, the farrier was booked in for tuesday but is currently still snowed in at his house in Bayeux. Tomorrow is friday, we have to leave on wednesday, the window of opportunity is slim and whilst I have replaced his shoes a little over the winter I really don't fancy setting off to his first big event with a set of DIY shoes done by my good self. Not that it will be as horrific as it sounds, my very good and generous farrier back in the UK kindly sent me back with sets of shaped stud holed shoes, but I still feel my own basis farriery skills leave a lot to be desired.

S as you'll appreciate we're a very long way from being out of the woods yet.

All this had begun to get me down, not least since feeding and watering eleven horses in deep snow is damn hard work;

So we gave in and did what should be done in snow

which Eeny  recently renamed Chicken poo( due to her sudden penchant for rolling in said filthy substance) thought was wicked,


but her mum was less taken with it.



And yes, you guessed it, those saggy titties gave it away, she and Mud's have popped out another batch of care bears,



this time Jim the jug is dad,


So should you need a cute pup you know where to come!!