End of an Era

2006
Monday 29th May

Today we took Queeni our horse to her new home, we have had her 7 years and she has served us well, she has gone to a lovely home with two very nice people (Jackie and Paul) it was a sad day but deep down I know its for the best, I can no longer look after her as I have arthritis. Here is a photo of her in her new home with Dean.

Paddy her soul mate was a little distressed as he had lost his women, he is very subdued but is coping much better today. A little lonely I may add. But if tomorrow (Thursday) goes well he will be off to his new home too.

Thursday 1st June

Paddy Failed the vet today, but all is not lost as the Vet Jeremy was willing to come back in a weeks time to see if paddy was any better. He failed on the trotting on a small circle on concrete, any Large older horse would find this hard but there was defiantly something in his foot, he had just been reshod(new shoes) so he could have been a little sore from that. So I have to warm salt water his foot to draw out the bruising.

Friday 9th June

Jeremy came today @ 3.oopm to see Paddy to check to see if he was any better. I had the whole office at work with their fingers and toes crossed. It was good news, Jeremy was happy to pass him and with in one hour he was loaded in the lorry to go to his new home with Wendy Milne.
Wendy was so pleased as she was looking forward to Paddy's arrival, she had waited long enough.. It took over two hours to get to Burton on Trent as we ended up doing a detour..We got lost!!! Paddy seem to settle in very well and loved the fact that there was other horses at his new home, he had become quite lonely.
Here are a couple of photo's as you can see he enjoyed playing in the wood shavings something that always annoyed me, that's why he was on straw with us.

Monday 12th June

Tonight we (Dean and I ) Fly out to the Maldives!! Yippeeeeeeee...... So I will update my Blog soon TTFN.

Tuesday 13th June

Arrived at our Island Veligandu , Maldives, we arrived by see plane that was a great experience.

well what a picture, white sands a crystal blue waters, my first impression was its a bit small and I'm going to be bored! But this wasn't the case, although Dean did read 6 books and I read 3 I still wouldn't call it boredom, just chilling out!!

We went on a night fishing excursion and Dean had the first catch of the Night,

twas a little slow for me at first but after a little patience I managed to catch a large chunk of coral, this was rather disappointing, but I waited and waited, I finally got the hang of it and caught a Red Snapper, and then as we where told to pull in our lines I found an Emperor fish on the end of my line.

I was Well Impressed, Later when we arrived back to the Island we had the fish for tea, and they where very yummy, sorry poor fish!!!!!!

Our Bungalow was in our eyes the best on the Island, we only had neighbor's to our left and we where on the side with the best snorkeling, every day we had Sharks come by to be fed with the bread we borrowed from Breakfast.

Thing is they preferred Meat or fish but I wasn't going to start feeding them meat in case they took a fancy to my leg!! LOL

Dean Some how had another Birthday while we where there, think it could of been something to do with me filling in his date of birth wrong when we checked in , as on Friday the 16th June while at Dinner, the lights went out in the restaurant and 5 waiters came and sang Happy birthday to him in maldivian. It was very funny, we managed to keep a straight face and handed the cake around to the other guests as we had already pigged out on chocolate cake.

Then when we got home to our bungalow we found the bed dressed with flowers , I felt a little guilty really but we tipped them well. We Guessed that Dean must be Royalty with having two birthdays a year just like the Queen.

The following day while sunbathing I got a knock at the door from Suzanne, she was hysterical , there was Spotted eagle Rays in the sea near the bar, so I grabbed the camera and got a few shots although they are not fantastic. Later in the week Dean and I got a chance to swim with them as we caught a glimpse of them while out snorkeling, this was truly an amazing experience, But the under water camera let us down. HONEST !!!!

Dean , Suzanne , Sean and I in the Bar. Me collecting our prize after Rambo won the crab race for us.

We did lots of snorkeling and decided that we didn't need to dive as you could see just as much snorkeling. We saw Sharks, Turtles, Eagle Rays and lots of other fish,.

The experience was wonderful.

The Island was so small it took 10 mins to walk round.

Our second week was very quiet as Suzanne and Sean had gone home, we had a few earlier nights till 12pm rather than 3pm , I do not know where the time went on those nights in the bar.



Sean and Suzanne waved as they left from the see plane, it was quite an emotional time !

The next day we went to another Island about 30 mins away, this was where the locals lived, It was very much like India, we visited ta wood yard where they where building a boat, we where told these take up to 3 months to build, health and safety didn't seen to matter.


We visited a school , the children looked really cute, they where studying GSE's in English.
We noticed that the school name was written in plants and plastic bottles filled with sand, how creative.
While we where on this Island we did some souvenir shopping for our cabinet at home where we collect items from all of our holidays / breaks, we bought a wooden Sting Ray and a Turtle.

We watched the sun set, this was very romantic!
















The only wild life on the Island was one Heron, (there could have been two but only saw one at one time) and a Fruit Bat and plenty of crabs and lizards.

Well Tuesday 27th of June arrived twas time to leave ;-(
We sunbathed in the morning and took our last snaps of the Island, our plane was due at 1.30pm so after dinner we packed all our belongings and headed for the sea plane.



Left: The view from the sea plane looking down at Veligandu. Right :The view from the Jetty.



Other Islands Including Male.

Thursday 6th July

Well we have had 5 days at work and had to have another break. Off to Scotland we went, took under 5 hours which was nothing after a 11 hour flight.
Dean was doing his experience that I got him for his Xmas Box, Keith and Sharon came too as Keith got the same for Xmas. Sharon and I watched, Sharon is with Child we couldn't do our Horse Trekking as planned. Here are some snaps.

We went on a Long Drive to where Keith used to go when he was young as Keith grew up in Perthshire, Dean and I got travel sick ..LOL with the windy up and down roads, it was nothing to do with Keiths driving ..Honest!!

We saw some wooly cows and some Deer, the water falls where not very big though as it was summer, we got some rain but all in all we where very lucky. Right- Dean looking Scottish!!!

The deer where very tame and an old lady fed them by her door.

Dean and I on a dry water fall.

MMM Keith a Cow, there was a black one too!!!!

Keith & Dean looking like Lady birds

We did have a rainy day but the view's where still spectacular, The bridge below is years old.

Dean and I had a night out on the Thursday before Keith and Sharon arrived on the Friday, we had a great night with proper Scottish music with a live band.

MONDAY 10th July

Back to work ;-( Life is rather quiet at home stables are bare, But the sun is shining and its very hot so have been able to do plenty of sunbathing and gardening. But now the sun is not quite so hot Im getting a little bored, Im finding myself doing house work constantly, how sad is that!

A CLEAN HOUSE IS A SIGN OF A WASTED LIFE !

WEDNESDAY 12th July

Barton Bike Night

Well what can I say the streets where packed, the police had coned the whole of Barton off just for the bikes, no cars where aloud, the streets where packed, the best bit was actually arriving in convoy with other bikes, the atmos was amazing! Small children waved as you went past so I kindly waved back, I may be biased but I think Our bike was the best there!! The whole night was about getting to gether with fellow bikers and indulging in greasy burgers and telling story's! I think the police got the most out of the night ! Lots of speeding tickets , there was plenty of bikes with illegal exhaust pipes and number plates! Here are a few pictures.

As you can see the streets where packed!

This Is our bike, a Harley Soft Tail Deluxe

It was very hot and Leathers where not the Ideal things to be wearing!

FRIDAY 21st July

Well we have decided to go look at a couple of horses, yes I know gluten for punishment! So we set of to a little place called Ludlow, The horse we where viewing today was 17hh 7 years coloured. It turned out not to be the one for us, we stayed the night in a B&B in Ludlow which was self catering, this was a first for us. We showered and changed and set out for a night out, If I had known that Ludlow was rather hilly I would of worn appropriate foot wear. I wore sandal's and ended up with blisters !

We stopped at a pub called the Unicorn Inn after walking the whole of the place to find some where nice to eat , which is the first place we thought was really nice.

We had our meal and then we heard some music , LIVE MUSIC , Violin, Guitar, and a Harpsey Chord! Click on the Link to View The Unicorn Inn.

http:/www.unicorninnludlow.co.uk/history.html

We sat Here! Right next to the Band, it was an excellent night playing Irish Music and Irish Ballards.

We then staggered to our B&B and sat listerning to Human League till another couple walked through the door, it was quite romantic until that point.

__________ WE SAT HERE

Saturday 22nd July

The next morning we woke, I had a bit of a hang over but Dean seemed fine! We had breakfast and then carried on to Sudbury to view the next horse which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment to say the least, I was not told about the horrific scars it had on its front feet, well the groom trotted it up for me and , well it pissed off with her so I decided to give it a miss, I wanted a horse that's kind and quite placid not one that drags you down the yard!!. We decided to go straight home and not stay over that night as there was no point, we had planned to come back on the Sunday to try the horse again if it was any good, so three hours later we arrived home!

Tuesday 25th July

Went to view a couple of horses locally at Blyth, Colin Mosley a friend of Tess(my Instructor) he had a couple of horses for sale, one that would be Ideal for me! and one that would suit Dean, Tess came with us to check that they would be suitable, as I couldn't afford to make a mistake this time! After Ben I really needed to get it right, (hey Bens another story in my life that I'd like to forget!!) Lost alot of money on that horse, Plus it had issues!!

We arrived at Colins place, He showed me this very quiet Chestnut MARE ! I know a Chestnut mare...for those who don't know, you tend to leave these well alone! ( they are a bit like mad red headed women) I tried her didn't like wot I felt, very Wooden compared to Paddy, then I sat on the Bay horse, very big stride, laughted as I couldn't sit to her trot, she was 17hh far to big for me, so Dean had a sit! Dean like her and he liked her size, he jumped her and the more he rode her the more he liked her. We told Colin that we would think about it and discuss it tonight and get back in touch. Dean wasnt sure about The Chestnut for me as he said she was too old @ 11 years and persisted to tell me I would find a younger one with the same temperment. I wasnt so sure!

Saturday 29th July

We organised for the both horses from Colins to go to Tess's yard for the week end so we could give them another try, I felt that I hadnt given the chestnut (Harmonie ) a fair chance! and Dean felt the Bay Horse (Solly) was too good for him, but both Tess and I new he would be fine. We hacked out today, whow it was Fab!! we didnt go far but I really enjoyed it, both horses had not put a foot wrong, Harmonie was soooooo sweet to do and Solly was too, The added bonus being the Sun Shone Hot all Day!!!!( yes note this day cos it was very hot)

Sunday 30th July

Went to Tess's yard for a lesson on Harmonie and Dean on Solly, Another Hot day!!! did some flat work and then some jumping, oh wot a star she was, yes her dressage needed alot of work but Tess PROMISED me she would come and ride her and get her so she was softer in her mouth. She also needed to put some work into Solly too as Dean ..well just hasnt a clue and he didnt want to spoil Solly by trying to learn himself when the horse wasnt sure of what to do either!

Monday 31st July

Rang the vet today to start the procedings for a vetting for Purchase, My usual vet couldnt come for another week! Damb!