MERRY CHRISTMAS from LIVE TO EVENT

Peter and I were up before the sun this morning...nearly before Santa had delivered our pressies!  6am we jumped out of bed to have our Christmas shreddies before cracking on and getting everyone fed, turned out and mucked out.  All our ponies had a Christmas carrot before breaky and we had been organised last night and put plenty of haylage in the fields for them.  We had finished by 9am including Tilly's walk round the school for 10 mins.  Chris and Sarah had arrived to do some Christmas jumping in the school and we handed out Quality Street and then retreated into the house for the day.

After a quick shower we got down to opening our pressies and Jack and Stan loved their stocking from Aunty Danni and ate all the chews within 20 minutes.  Stan then killed the lovely reindeer (I resurrected it and it is now on the tree) and put all the toys on his bed to stop Jack playing with them!!  As I type I can here the squeaking from the hamburger coming from the lounge!  Santa was very generous this year and brought lots of lovely presents, I am drinking from my NCIS mug now!  I think the 'Lush'  will last until next Christmas and I hope that it is not a sign that I smell but just that people know how much I enjoy my baths!

Santa had obviously got Mez's letter and brought her a new under rug.  This is the first rug Mez has had that is not a hand me down!  She will be snug as a bug tonight that is for sure.  We have had our Turkey and are just about to sit down with our afters and watch some telly before skipping out at bed time and then have to make to biggest decision of the day..............which bath bomb to use first!!!!!

Hope you have all had a fantastic day and Peter is going to check to see if we are Christmas millionaires!!!  Watch this space!!!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL..

Well it is Christmas eve and we are very excited in the Ball household.  I have Peter for a full 3 1/2 days which is amazing as normally we only get one day at a time together.  We still have to do the yard though as livery does not change because it is Christmas.  I know other yards refuse to do livery or charge double for Christmas but I do whatever I would normally do for my liveries just no extra.   The only 'tradition' we have here is that horses sleep in their playing out clothes to make my life a little easier on Christmas morning.
Although we have managed to turn out daily the horses are getting a little full of themselves so I lunged Mez on Wednesday night and got up early to ride her today.  I made the mistake of riding in my over trousers and big warm jacket though and I could not move properly.  We set off and she stopped and turned to look at me as if to say 'What are you doing Mum?'!!!  So I just had a 'blob' round and a canter to get a little bit of energy out of her, bless her she is so well behaved now.   Our next dressage competition is on the 9th January at Myerscough...weather permitting!
Tilly is enjoying her 10 minutes walking around the school every day.  We do 4 1/2 laps on the left rein and then change the rein and have a carrot and do 4 laps on the right rein and have a carrot!  This takes ten minutes.  We then go back to her bedroom and she has her massage pad on for half an hour.  She has now got into a little routine and seems fairly happy with it all which is such a relief.
So I would like to wish you all a VERY VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS and I will go and finish my mucking out!

funny budwiser snowball fight - horses

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow......

This is Kirkby and Maisey in the snow yesterday.  It is the first time Kirkby has been out in it and he was not too sure about his feet sinking into it at first and then he found lots to look at as everything on the way to the field had changed colour! 

Stan however loved it to begin with but then it all got a little too

cold for him and Jack and they had to keep going in the house to warm up.  There little feet keep freezing up and I have to warm them through again!
We have been lucky enough to be able to still turn everyone out each day which has made my life a little easier.  Everyone is putting a bit of haylage out for the horses the night before so I do not have to trail around in the morning so at least they have something to eat.

We have been to look at two yards in the last couple of weeks but unfortunately both have fallen through for one reason or another....so back to the drawing board....I am sure that our perfect yard will turn up at some point!
The dressage has been cancelled on two occasions now due to the weather so I have moved my entries onto the next competitions in January and I am also hoping to be able to take Mez for a show jumping lesson with Richard Barton in January as I can not cope with dressage alone!!!
Joe has been to see Tilly today and is certain now that it is her suspensory ligaments in both front legs.  Today

he scanned both legs but the jelly was too cold at times and made life a little hard for him.  He is confident that given the rest Tilly will make a full return to eventing so I have decided that we will aim for Stafford 2012!  I lunged Tilly today so Joe could see her and she is definitely improved since I took her to Rathmell so this is good and she can now have 10 minutes of walking in hand per day and this will increase by 5 minutes a week until she is up to half an hour a day and then he will reassess her.  I have sent him away with my first insurance claim! 

This was Tilly on Sunday morning asking Peter for another Fox's crinkle crunch!  That is me in my rather fetching outfit!!! 
So Christmas is nearly here and Mez would like Santa to bring her a new under rug with a neck on it but the others do not seem to have made their lists yet.  
If I do not get chance to blog again before Christmas...... HAVE A FANTASTIC CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

Christmas Countdown

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Stallions, my lovely pony, no snow and no dressage!!!

 Alderwood Hot Shot

This handsome fella has come to stay with me for a week while his mum jet sets off for some Christmas Shopping. If you click on his picture it will take you to his Facebook page.  He has caused quite a stir on the top yard with my girls and is now happily stabled next to Millie who just ignores him!  Mez really did not like him and spent two hours showing her distaste at him looking in her bedroom by squealing and kicking out then hugging the wall on the other side of her stable to be near to Millie.  I then moved them around and everyone is settled.  Tilly is a little non plussed but happy to have some company on the days I can manage to get Millie and Mez into the field.  I have been riding him every day and he is such a good boy you could nearly forget his is a stallion.
Work at my other yard Pepper Hill should be starting this week with the indoor school being first on the list.  I am waiting to hear back from the surface company to arrange a meeting to decide what would be the best way to top the surface up.  I went down at the weekend to show three ladies round and hopefully they will be stabling there when the work finishes.
Mez and I were entered in the dressage at Myerscough tomorrow but they rang yesterday as everyone was cancelling to see if I would still go.  I said yes as I thought I might have a better chance of winning!!!  However, they have now cancelled it. :(  I schooled Mez yesterday and she is just getting better and better, what a lovely little horse I have got - how lucky am I!
Tilly is still on box rest and Joe has been unable to come and scan and nerve block as he wants us to be able to trot up and the yard has been just a little too slippy this week!  I have had my first bill through from last Friday and will be filling in my insurance claim form today!!!
We are getting in the Christmas spirit now and this Saturday is our yard Christmas meal at The Plough in Galgate.  Hopefully all will run smoothly and everyone will get what they ordered.  I am not taking any chances and I have saved all the original details of the meals people ordered so they can not say 'I didn't want that'!!!!
Well I'd better go and see what the yard is like and whether I can turn out or not.  The landlord has been digging by the Indoor school yet again and there are huge piles of hardcore everywhere which worries Kirkby so I cannot manage to lead them on my own at the moment and have to keep hassling Shelly to help in a morning!!
Oh....does anyone know when the snow will come????

No snow but anyone for ice skating???

This is what I was up against on Monday morning!  The rest of the country had snow and I had an ice feature!!  We are still snow free in our little corner of the North West but on Monday night it rained and then it froze so yesterday was treacherous.  I had been lying in bed umming and aarrrring about turning out as I am now worried about more injuries and lame horses but when I went outside to discover that I carried on moving even when stood still I realised I had no choice at all! 
So I began the mammoth mucking out session!  I thought that I would be sitting on my bottom at some point but am please to announce that so far I have stayed upright...has one sticky moment with a wheelbarrow though!
This morning we have some grit salt and have managed to get the horses out for a while and they are so good at taking fairy steps...apart from Kirkby who is in his own little world most of the time!  The automatic waterers froze in the new building so I had to bucked water over there and Maisey thought it great fun to upturn hers all over the stable floor!
I had a really good lesson with Hilary on Monday night on Mez.  We worked on getting her more reactive to my leg and then on changing pace within the pace and improving my medium trot.  We did quite a lot of canter work as she is not straight but there were times when I thought she felt crooked but she was not.   I also paid some attention to my position especially when we were working on the straightness so that I am not contributing to the problem.  She was lovely and forward after being in all day and is getting easier to ride every time now....probably have just tempted fate now!!!
We have our Christmas Tree and yard decorations up now and are getting in the Christmas mood......but still we have no snow.......