My memory is so sieve-like, I keep thinking it must be early onset Alzheimers. In fact, I had to see the doctor about an unrelated issue (don't worry, I'm fine) and told him that I'm tired all the time.
'There's something wrong with me,' I said weakly. 'I'm exhausted. I keep forgetting stuff. It's weird. I need a blood test.'
'Describe your average day,' he said. So I did. He said, 'I'm pretty sure you're just tired.'
I asked him if he could prescribe me something to make me less tired - but apparently there's nothing legal that will do that. I've probably got a few contacts from my old illegal rave days...But I'm a responsible adult these days (curses!) which means my options are a) do less or b) stop complaining about being tired. Option b it is then!
Roxy excelled herself this week by ditching her sharer again. It was during a riding lesson, and I didn't actually see what happened, but she does have a nice sideline in shuddering sideways spooks which can take the unwary by surprise. Sticky bum jods are always a sensible option when riding Rox. Her sharer has decided to go back to riding school horses until the bruises heal, which I completely understand. Luckily, I've got another sharer for Roxy, a lovely girl who hasn't come off her yet and seems to be really enjoying her riding sessions, so fingers crossed this one stays the distance.
I jumped on the little minx (Roxy, not her sharer, although hopefully I didn't really need to clarify that) yesterday for a spot of dressage. I was going to ride Angel, but as I hadn't had a chance to look at, let alone practice, the test, I decided to ride Rox instead as I thought we'd done Prelim 18 before. Turned out we hadn't - it's got a serpentine in it, and I've definitely never ridden a test with a serpentine before - but considering I was literally riding it as the caller called it, we did really well with a score of 64.04%. OK so we were sixth out of six but the highest score was 69% (my lovely friend Claire) so there wasn't much in it. The judge is known to be firm but fair, so I was very happy with my chestnut madam. She might not be kind to sharers, but she pulls it out of the bag for me when I need her to!
Here's our test sheet. It says Angel on it, not Roxy, but it was Roxy that I was riding! We've qualified for the area championships so that confusion could prove slightly awkward, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Got a rosette too, and I do love a rosette.
On Friday, I had a jumping lesson on Angel with Susie Pilbeam, the South Oxfordshire Riding Club (SORC) instructor, who really helped me get going with Roxy. It was in the indoor school at Attington Stud, near Thame, and mine and Angel's first outing together since I got her. She travelled nicely (although I really must get that trailer serviced as soon as I have some cash, I've been driven into and also accidentally hit a wooden shed with it this year so it's definitely due an overhaul) and was a bit spooky at Attington, but remarkably calm really. We definitely need to work on fitness and impulsion, but she jumped everything, even when she was clearly flagging. She's such a good, genuine girl.
I gave myself a day off riding today due to feeling like a limp, used tissue, but even limp, used tissues still have to muck out and feed their horses. I feel even more limp and, er, used (not sure this analogy is really working for me) now. But another week beckons, and with it, the prospect of clipping my hairy beasts. (As soon as I've retrieved the clippers from the Post Office, where they're currently languishing. It does annoy me - if you miss the post, they take your parcel to the sorting office in town which is miles away and has no parking, so you have to drive to town, park in the expensive main car park, then walk across town for the pleasure of queuing up for hours before you can finally get your hands on the item that you PAID TO HAVE POSTED TO YOU! Grrr.) It'll no doubt be another week before I get round to posting again, so see you on the other side!
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