Three Days And Counting.

I’m sitting up in the Luton (for those Americans in the audience, that’s the little bed bit above the cab in the horse lorry and not an airport in England). It’s a most glorious night out there; the storm clouds have sidled away to reveal a beautiful full heavy harvest moon and the tiny twinkle of thousands of stars. I’m taking it as a good omen, especially as I’m afforded this splendid view because I’m up on the hill, at Cavan Equestrian Centre in the run up to the National Championships on Friday.

The journey up was a terribly long one, raining cats and dogs and thunder and lightening, (those omens I chose to ignore!) Rex as usual traveled like a saint and not in the least bit put out. He was especially excited on arrival as his haynet was constantly being refilled. After an arduous search of every nook and cranny in his stable as well as popping his enormous head over the wall to cheerily greet his neighbours, he settled back down to more haylage and wasn’t much interested in anything else. He was not happy however when I arrived to take him away from his haynet to do some work. He has been going wonderfully well over the last few weeks, just playing with the work at home. An absolute pleasure to ride, he manages to brighten up my day no matter how many times I’ve had to chase a horse around a muddy wet field in the rain. I do hope and expect him to go well on the weekend, as he really deserves it, such a marvelous horse. He has consistently stepped up to the work each and every time without complaint; so willing for every challenge he has been given.

For me, the last while has been those tiring lack lustre sort of days with a flu turning into a chest infection. With the help of lots of ginseng and my old friend coffee I’ve managed to trundle through but not without letting everyone know how uniquely sick I am. At this point most people are quietly grumbling “man flu” as they walk away, just loud enough for me to hear! They are possible quite right, I never was a good patient, I enjoy being looked after too much. On that note I do have to thank everybody for the endless cups of coffee, food and sympathy in exchange for my sniffling and coughing and a great big thank you for the superwoman Susi Burton Allen for all her help and the use of her lorry for the weekend. It is just heart-warming to have somewhere quiet and peaceful to come back to after facing the dressage divas on the showground (I’m including the dressage men in that)

With just Rex here in Cavan, even though he is the size of two horses I could potentially be accused of sitting around on my ass a lot if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m meant to be learning off a routine for a fitness class. I knew I wouldn’t escape the gym entirely this week, especially with gym sponsors, The Ormonde Leisure Club and GT Fitness checking in everyday. Several attempts to stretch my body to places it was neither designed or intends to go as well as copious loud grunts of effort has, I’m sure, made the people in the lorry next door wonder what on earth is going on in here.

Well, off to bed soon, up early to get Rex acclimatized to the show grounds and to find a decent cup of coffee, I’ll never survive till show day on Friday if I don’t locate a good espresso!