Promising

So, Promise has been with Cathy Ryan now for almost a week. On day 3 we visited Cathy in Spring Grove, and were amazed by what she had alreadyh achieved. Cathy is full of praise for Promise: a "bloody good horse" that has, according to Ryan, the three qualities any good horse should possess: she is calm, smart and brave, and apparently they do not often all occur together. Promise is up for anything, takes things into her stride (including a dog who thinks he is the horse in the area -look for it in the video...) and takes no time at all to learn new things. The short movie clip will show you where we are but Cathy is also giving us written interim reports. You will see that at this stage Promise could...

Ground work

• stand relaxed while rubbing her all over with stick and flag, and throwing string over her with rhythmn
• tie up
• lead naturally, from near side and off side
• lead off another horse at walk and trot
• pick up feet relaxed
• come to you with a light feel
• back with light feel on nose
• back with rhytmic feel on the lead
• circle left and right, moving shoulders out and away
• flex laterally both left and right
• move hind to disengage on step
• while handler sitting up on fence, stand parallel to fence and wait, then move hind round both left and right
• move head to ground with light feel

Obstacles

• weave through barrels
• figure 8 round 2 barrels
• pop up and down small ramp
• float load

Saddle

• mount off the fence or block
• lateral flexion left and right
• disengage hind both left and right, and beginning to go somewhere happily

Orse

A lot of the recent posts seem to be about animals, our animals - rest assured we are all well! Another photo of Promise, whom we shall be visiting tomorrow morning, showing her progress. Nice saddle, huh. (Not ours...)

And this is where I work...

Well, this is where the humans work, and I think I am supposed to be in the same spaces as where they are, sooo ... I guess this is where I work, too. Not sure what I am supposed to do here, though: I mean, there's no ball involved, so it can't really be that important. Hm. Have I had breakfast?

Hello? Anybody? Sigh. I'm bored. Better get some shut eye.

Not too bad. Might get used to it.

It has to be said...

You know, one can be philosophical about it, or even contemplative, or perhaps a tad pensive. Pondering the chimeras and delusions of life, I might even be tempted to turn introspective and find myself in brown study. But where I actually found myself this morning was here, and it doesn't really need any further speculation, imagination, musings or reflection now, would you agree?

It has to be said that it really doesn't get much better than this ... So, why do us canines end up with dog baskets and the humans get this? Gee.

Permanent

We had totally forgotten about this. We had mentioned the other day that 'it was taking quite a bit of time', but no more than in passing, and it sunk back into that little nook of oblivion called Daily Life. But today - as I was checking the Bails (on account of Cathy moving out) I suddenly heard shrieks and howls from the house, which made me think: "Snake!". My love came running around the corner of the Bails and jumped up into my arms. 'I've got it!"I've got it!' Before I could even wonder about what it was that she had got, it became clear that Niki was talking about ... The Permanent Visa! She is now proudly a permanent resident of Australia, almost an Aussie. (She can apply for citizenship at the end of December 2014).

GREAT news!

Promise!

Today was the day that Promise was taken to her trainer, Cathy. In fact, the cattle mover was supposed to have picked her up yesterday, but seeing as there was no cattle ramp at Donna and Craig's place (where she was agisted), he refused to load. Traipsing around the properties around Craig's at 8 in the morning (most residents still fast asleep....) I had no luck in spotting another 'race' or 'ramp' - apparently most of them around this area are 'hobby races' and most of them have rotted away over time. Also, I found out (much to my surprise) that there are in fact no horse movers in the area, at all: there were three in the Yellow Pages and they had either stopped trading or moved away... Realizing that my only option was the cattle mover, Tony, whom I had contracted to to the job and the only professional ramp was my neighbour Peter's, I had to walk (yes, walk!) Promise (and Samson!) from D & C's to home in the pelting rain. Two walks, clothes change in between, soaked on both accounts. Both Samson and Promise were angels, though - this was Promise's first long walk along a road, but she was not phased by cars, trucks, rain, a big slasher tractor, splashing puddles, other horses and assorted distractions which gave me hope for her training. She just ambled along on a loose rope behind me.

Having arranged a new time with Tony, which he couldn't keep, and after further subsequent delay this morning the horses were finally picked up at 12.30. Samson was dropped at Cedar Creek where Fiona will re-train him; and Promise was introduced to Cathy, in Spring Grove, and her dog Cowboy (a true blue Red Dog!). Already this evening, Cathy sent us this beautiful picture of Promise under saddle!

Promise?

Promise is going to be broken in! Today we decided that she is going to go to a natural horsemanship trainer, a Mrs Cathy Ryan, in Spring Grove, 10ks or so outside Lismore, for a month. Cathy will break Promise in, and teach her all the tricks of her trade including, apparently, standing on top of a big tractor tyre Without Worrying About It At All, while Cathy stands on her back, and also more useful horsey things like accepting a saddle, taking the bit, running around barrels, jumping, floating, trotting, cantering, leading etc. She'll come out a ride-able (and therefore salable) horse, green-broken as 'we' call them. We met with Cathy this morning and we really liked her. Monday morning The Truck (same one as last time when they were moved from our place to down the road) will pick both Samson and Promise up from Donna and Craig's and then take Promise to Spring Grove; and Samson to Cedar Creek (just down the road), where he, too, will be trained a bit just to get him Back Into Things and can also be sold. In Promise's case breaking her in is an investment which should make her more attractive to prospective buyers. Here's fingers crossed that it will all go well and that both of them will soon go to good new owners who will have the time to care for them and ride them. Fiona, Niki's riding teacher, will take on the job of selling them for us (advertising, talking to buyers, showing etc) so with the help of all these good people I'm hoping that we'll be successful in the not too long term. (Oh, P.S. - to start her training, Promise will need to go to the dentist apparently, which the trainer will also take care of).

I knew it...

Do we sometimes feel the lids drooping after lunch? Do we feel like a little nana nap might refresh mind and matter? Well, you may be right to give into it. And you can now give it a name: post-prandial dip. So, a typical conversation might go like this, preceded by a yawn. "Hmm. I feel a tad post-prandial, dear. I might have to just lie down for a tick." (Followed by silence, and the sound of snoring of conversation partner, who has already tucked into a good afternoon nap).

From an article in Yes! "7 Ways to Find Your Wild Side (Start With a Nap)", 17 January 2013."The modern conveniences that increase our productivity and synch us up globally—electric light, jet travel, computers—may also be disrupting our bodies’ natural sleep cycles. The phenomenon called the post-prandial dip—that drop in energy after lunch—was traditionally treated by many cultures with an afternoon nap, a practice largely abandoned today. And science writer Jesse Gamble reports that in the absence of artificial light, humans revert to biphasic sleep that is quite different from the standard sleep pattern in industrialized society. Rather than an uninterrupted eight-hour block, we naturally sleep twice per night in roughly four-hour segments: from just after sunset until midnight, and again from 2 a.m. to sunrise. In between is a quiet, meditative time during which humans historically talked, went for a walk, or connected with a partner. Today, night waking is often diagnosed as insomnia and corrected with sleeping pills, but a book may be a better prescription. And a midday nap." 

Chin

How nice is it, at the end of a hot summer's day, on which we've worked well, to slide into the not too cold, not too hot pool with a glass of Vinho Verde? How nice? Well, it's awfully nice!

Hot

OK, so in Sydney today they measured 43 degrees Celsius, and there are 143 bush fires burning in New South Wales at the moment (43 of which are out of control, but don't worry - nowhere near us). Still, a venerable 40 degrees on the car thermometer - it warrants a towel on the head ... no?

Grand

A wish come true for Ton and Ellen, to have at least four of their grandchildren together, sharing time with them. The big smiles tell it all. Beautiful.

Wag

No, I swear, we never let da leedle phuppie onto the bed, let alone, in the bed. 

Never. 

Ever.

...

80 ...

Today is 80 days till we leave for Europe ... Tess and Yarrow are still as excited as they were when we announced the trip, as are we! People in Europe are also looking forward to us descending on them. We've just the other day arranged / added a night's stay in London, with Richard, Niki's second cousin, and his family, which will allow us to spend a bit more time in that city and enjoy more of its sights and perhaps even take in a Shakespeare play.

Killin you softly

Today I took Niki to see Killin Falls, a wonderful waterhole close by (only 20 minutes down the road). Daleedlephuppie also come along and tried to swim along with Niki, but somehow he doesn't seem to like the skill very much ... On account of the summer holidays it was a bit busier than we had expected (normally there is noone there...) but it was a nice break in the day anyway. Niki has gone back to work today...

Sheridan

Peter and Ann gave us a wonderful present for Christmas 2012: a 2nd edition of Thomas Sheridan's Dictionary of the English Language, carefully restored and rebound. 

Sheridan (Swift’s godson) originally published the dictionary in 1780; this second edition was published a year after his death in 1789, while the French Revolution raged across the Channel. 

Interestingly, it has a section of advice to Foreigners who want to learn to speak the English language properly - his advice is (from our perspective) quite idiosyncratic and a long way from how we teach learners of English as a foreign language to speak nowadays but fascinating! The first word we looked up was Tess' favourite word of the day, solipsistic: and found it to be a word that was (according to Sheridan) not part of the English vocabulary at the time.

Thank you, Peter and Ann, for this wonderful 223-year-old present! It will give us many an hour of vocabularian pleasure!

N & E

Tess and Yarrow's cousins, Nick and Esmée, have 'descended' on our home and are spending the week with us. They're enjoying the pool, and spend time with us and Tess and Yarrow, getting to know 'these distant cousins' better every day. We had a lovely Christmas lunch on Christmas Day with the whole family, and today (Friday) we left for Natural Bridge where we admired lots of natural beauty, waterfalls, lookouts, animals, vistas etc. A great day (admittedly quite a few kilometers...), after which we dropped Tess off at work to return to an enthusiastic Daleedlephuppie who had been patiently waiting our return tied up on the deck (with food and water, of course).

Here is another fantastic picture, taken by Tess made of the Natural Bridge cave! Wow!

 

Mystery

Going through piles of old paperwork I came across a document stipulating that our cat Elliot was sterilized in the womb. According to the document it was done before she was born! How good is that ... (I know, of course, that her 'official' birth date was only decided on after she had come to us, but still, it looks kind funny, doesn't it.

Mystery

And suddenly five girls, among whom were Tess, Yarrow, Bryony and Bella descended on our home today. They specifically aimed for its pool, with great delight and a lot of squealing, which they rapidly descended into fully clothed. Of course. The fifth girl, Jess, seemed to be on photographic duty (but got thrown into the pool for good measure once they were finished, without camera I hasten to add). We wonder what they are concocting ... They seem happy enough going about their concocting business ...

China

It's very interesting to see one's books on websites that are linguistically so different, but visually quite recognisable. The first level of English Grammar for Teens (FLTRP, China) is for sale on the Chinese Amazon site and on another Chinese site, dangdang.com.

However

However... today's batch of tough-touch, or chewy-chewy came out really well (thanks partly to advice from Anjes who suggested less cooking time, and I also got the measurements right!) and was enjoyed by all and sundry at a lovely pre-Christmas party at our friends Ken and Louise's. I'm keen now to bake many varieties of this yummy stuff, so beware of more taai-taai Down Under! Thank you Ann, for the recipe for pepernoten - slightly different but next on the list of gourmet bakery products...