Okay so now I'm going to do a little bit of the catching up as promised..........
Firstly Le Haras du Pin, after several hundred phonecalls the dogsbody finally managed to discover that every tuesday  throughout February and March a young horse clear round showjumping day is held, from 4yo's in the morning to 6yo's in the afternoon. But noone checks the age or passport of your horse, so it basically means the jumps go from smaller to bigger. They informed us on entering that  the height of the jumps couldn't be changed which was rather bewildering since every rider seemed to have a helper on the ground adjusting the jumps before and during their round. To complicate matters further three to four horses are allowed into the arena at one time although only one is actually jumping and to add a little more spice to the situation there is no running order and you can't put your name or number down,  you just “discuss” it with the other riders.
Now if this was England the effect would be chaos but it's not, it's France and  for starters at a competition it is normally usual to be jumping you round with either one or two other horses in the ring.( I'm not sure of the logic in this, it no doubt allows your horse to have checked out the jumps and definitely speeds up the overall running of the class. I do find it slightly off putting when someone rides infront of number two when your three strides off it, though to be fair this rarely happens and I find it terrifying when they urge you to enter the ring when the horse infront of you is still jumping as I'm on high terror alert  that I might ride infront of someone. My poor brain can only cope with attempting to remember my course, trying to dodge competing horses for three minutes before I even get the bell is more than my nerves can handle!)
So there you have it, several horses in the ring is indeed good practice for horse and rider down the line and the lack of running order just isn't a problem as usually there are only four or five horses ready to go anyhow. The big young horse producers bring a lorry load and stay all day jumping from one feisty green horse to another- rather them than me.
I only managed to get to Le Pin twice this spring as events just conspired against me, Kev being born, a morning of seriously dense fog etc etc.
 However I did manage once with Charlie and Red, Charlie was mostly impressed with some women he spied over the fence when he was being lunged.

This did cause a few minor incidents of in  the air front leg waving but he actually jumped incredibly well over far bigger jumps than he has before. I must have been having a gung ho moment as it was getting on for a beefy metre. Sadly the dogsbody's photography skills were a little lacking, mostly I think due to him worrying about trying to keep up with us whilst dragging round the safety mat for my anticipated crash landing.


Red wasn't really that fab on his first trip, he was all whizz and no brain but by the second trip with Turnip he was a different animal, I just can't believe how unspooky he is, he's come on from my having pricked him whilst shoeing him and having a fortnight off. Obviously he missed it!

Turnip jumped well enough, he lacked a little lustre but I suspect he was a little stiff from having schooled at Gavray the day before. It was the first time this year I really got the jumps up  high again and he just flew so I think perhaps he was feeling a little sore.He wasn't bad by normal horse standards, he just didn't feel his normal harrier jump jet self.

Sweaty snacking ponies afterwards
;

So now onto the big decision I spoke of last week..........

We have finally, after much agonising decided to sell our beloved home in France and move back to the UK. It has been a very difficult thing for me to address despite being forced on me by family circumstances that I shan't bore you with here. Accepting the decision has been harder still, being here can seem like occupying Eden. It is so beautiful, the land is just out of this world, how many places can you ride your horse in the field all year round and the ground is neither too wet or too hard. The granite sand within the soil makes for a springy turf that never holds the water. The house is the home we have made it and all our animals are so cheaply well fed and contented here.The horse facilities are good............ I could go on and on...
But I won't because I want you  please to visit my website and have a nose around our home;

www.normandyequestrianproperty.com

I implore you to click on my site even if you've never had or ever will entertain any dream of ever moving to France, because
A- you'll be astounded by what 140,000 pounds can buy you in France
 and more importantly
B- you'll be another visitor to my site and every little helps my being found by the site engines.

Don't worry you won't be alone. I have just broken my record and last week over one hundred of you were dozy enough to take time to read my drivel. I concede a good twenty hits seem to result from from direct hacking of Verity's facebook page ( I thought she had more friends than this!) but I do have permission, sometimes.
Rather alarmingly my site seems to be best found by Google when people are searching for Jack Russells. Perhaps I should spend more time on the target topic, but no, who cares? I'll carry on bombarding you with cutesy baby animal pictures instead.
Everything else has been ticking along, sun shining, rain raining (thankfully after a big dry spell), grass growing, birds chirping, Kevin lumping........ Kevin is now a three week old bruiser.

I decided having moved Visa to a field further from the house for more grass that I'd give her Monty as a mate since she was probably finding Kev a bit tiresome as company with all his baby talk. Poor Monty he was rather taken aback by his ex girlfriend's greeting;


She looked so cross but so beautiful (something I've never seen in her before), ears flat back, nostrils flared like one of the old carved wooden horses on the fairground carousel. Monty wasn't that fussed out about it, cos he's 'ard enough to deal with it and more of a mellow donkey than most, so they're now all settled down, playing happy families.
Lastly I've been occupying myself with pig farming,


 my sister informs me that this does not qualify as farming pigs but loving pigs. I disagree, how many people have ten pigs and a runt?

WEENER– the weeny micropig! Microwaveable ready meal for one.