Fact 2: That is no surprise at all.
Fact 3: Baggy has made up for it today!
Yesterday she was up before 7.00am. Today she didn't emerge until 10.00am. Yesterday it was in the twenties degrees Centigrade and sunny. Today it is twelve degrees and has not stopped raining. That's little old England for you! Baggy dragged herself out of bed and flopped about for a bit, then, after her morning phone call with Calum, decided that she needed to take Grotty Groom over to the yard to ride the Boy Wessles. If Baggy is to have any chance of making the most of Grotty's July trip to Ashen Equestrian Centre, she needs to ride and get her core strength back. Now this is a BIG deal for Baggy. Hormonal Hannah has no idea whether she is repeating herself - if she is then apologies bloggees - but Wesley is not the innocent little coloured cob that he looks. He is very very sharp and due to his kissing spine (a very painful back condition), he has put Grotty in hospital four times, when it has hurt and he has felt the need to bronck Baggy off his back. Along with his over-spookiness, this is a disaster waiting to happen, so Grotty doesn't usually ride alone - just in case. The Boy has a "quirky" personality, but he doesn't have a bad bone in his body and when things do go pear-shaped with him (very, very rarely, to be fair), it is never nasty, but frequently dramatic! But needs must, as all her hacking partners have left the yard! As Calum pointed out, unless she rides often, she will not get her muscle memory back.
So Grotty was determined, in spite of the pouring rain, that she was going to ride! Clever Bird decided that rather than Wesley and Grotty getting soaked, they should go in the little indoor school. Remember folks that this is a Clever Bird decision! Wesley has only ever been in there about five or six times and only once since he returned to Boyton Hall eighteen months ago! Plus Baggy was nervous. Plus it was pouring with rain and pouring off the roof out of the guttering, down the wall. So Grotty decided to switch the lights on and leave the doors open, mount up (in the rain) on the yard and ride him in. The arena was full of cavelletti-jumps (a long line of little jumps in a row), so Baggy dropped all the poles to the ground before they went in. Because Baggy was nervous, Wessles wasn't too sure either, but he went in. He was a little lively, but listened to Grotty and Baggy soon realised that she was being an idiot. Wesley has been looking after her ever since her operations - he definitely knows that she is not totally fit. So she relaxed and although he still was a bit nervous, from the constantly flicking of his ears, he was paying attention to Grotty while he fretted about all the spooky noises. At one point he did exit the school completely, to check why horses were going past, but he went straight back in again when asked.
Grotty decided that as Wesley was being so good, she would check out how wonky Baggy was, by aiming for a coloured panel on the jump poles that were on the floor with her eyes shut! This required riding for about ten yards holding Wesley in a straight line from feel alone i.e. if she didn't sit straight, he would not go straight. On the first two attempts Grotty had steered Wessles about three feet to the left. On goes three and four she hit the spot perfectly. Yee-hah! Little things! Baggy loves that horse so much! It is hard work schooling when you're out of practise, for horse and rider, let alone a "recovering" rider, so after fifteen or twenty minutes, even though they had only worked in walk, they stopped. Baggy hopped off. Wesley just stood, even though he was completely loose, with an open door, while Grotty undid his girth. She is very proud of the lad. Baggy drank tea then took Grotty over to groom Joey, who you couldn't really see for mud (he had a lovely roll last night!). The metal tool that Calum had bought, made the job so easy, that Grotty decided that Wessles needed one too. Good excuse to visit Long Melford on the way home.
While there, Baggy decided that she needed a new bra. All this weight loss means that Grotty is bouncing her around rather a lot when Wessles trots! The shop however, was shut for lunch. As Baggy's favourite café is next door, it seemed sensible to go and have a cappuccino while she waited. Then of course the Heavenly sausage rolls screamed at her and she just had to have a bit of lemon sponge! Well she had earned it. Fat Club will be interesting this week! But life is short and Baggy wanted to celebrate Grotty's success............
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