All work no play?

This week has been full of work and only a tiny bit of play. I have become 'used' (and I use that word very lightly in this context) to the idea that for the next 8 weeks of my life I will not see a horse from Monday to Friday.

Let me explain a little further.

I am in my 3rd year at university where I am studying Journalism. My dream as a child was always to become an interpreter. Not many know this but I can speak German, Spanish, a little Japanese and English (of course). I used to be very fluent in them all but sadly as time has moved on I have lost my ability to speak in a range of different languages and now just usually stick to English. 

So, during Secondary School I was adament I would be an interpreter. I wanted to have an interesting job, work for the Police force as one and travel around. Sadly, when I moved to Lincolnshire my plans became a distant memory and here I am following my second dream: to become a Journalist.

3rd year is hell. I'm not going to lie, its the most awful time of my life. I have spent the past three days pulling my hair out, crying, screaming, shouting, moaning and ranting. Whilst being at university I have had to just deal with the fact that Monday to Friday is study time and weekends only are for equine adventures. That was until the beginning of 3rd year begun. Suddenly I found myself with more freedom than I've had in two years and I began to not leave Lincolnshire to go to university until a Monday night and then would go home again on a Thursday. Looking back now I was an idiot and could have got so much more work done if I hadn't have been in a rush to go home.

Anyway, you can imagine my excitement when an old friend, Sam, from my previous yard in Nottingham asked me go and see her and her new horse this week. When I say friend I do mean so much more. I remember throughout my teenage years she was like a second mum to me. We would often joke she was my adoptive Mum and through the years when I lost all my confidence she would be the one standing in the wind and rain with me in the menage willing me to just jump the tiny cross pole.

She keeps her horse not too far away from university so it didn't take long to get there and the whole way there I was really excited. When I arrived I was equally as excited to learn that the girl, Sarah, who used to loan Ceaser - in his naughty days - was there too! It was like a Bowleys Farm reunion and now all we needed was the ample water and poo fights we used to have.

Sam now owns a gorgeous 17.2h ex racehorse called "Chester" and I was lucky enough to be able to have a go.

All week Sam has been messaging me telling me not to expect too much when visiting her but when I arrived at the yard I instantly fell in love. The horses are all turned out in three or four big fields, the stables are big, the menage is nestled in woodland and at a short few steps away from the stables you walk into a adventure. The woodland there is fantastic, it goes on for miles and the liveries have all built some natural fences in there. I truly believe you could hack out all day and not hit one road. Everyone that arrived on the yard greeted me and stood speaking to me like we'd been friends for life. The atmosphere was lovely and I just couldn't get the riding opportunities there out of my mind.

I was lucky enough that Sam let me borrow Chester for a ride and took me down into the woods so I could have a jump on him. He truly is brilliant and if Sam ever sells him I would snap him up instantly. He doesn't at all ride like a 17.2hh and if you remember one of my previous posts I declared I hated riding big horses. Chester though didn't ride like he was so big and I felt comfortable; which doesn't usually happen on something bigger than 15.2hh. He has an amazing jump and his lateral work is brilliant. I have thoroughly had my faith in ex racehorses restored.

Apart from riding, myself, Sam and Sarah spent the day reliving our "youth" at Bowleys Farm and the fun we used to have. It was lovely to hear some of the stories about Ceaser's previous naughty behavior and the things he used to get up to. It seems escaping into the village (which was a good 2 miles away from the old yard) and destroying lots of Garden plants used to be his habit. How did I ever forget all that?

If I ever am competing Nottingham way for a couple of days I will certainly be taking Ceaser to this yard. I am pretty confident we would have so much fun exploring the woodland and jumping those brilliant fences!


Overall I had a fantastic day and it was lovely to be in the company of some equine friends during the week and I certainly have missed days like I had yesterday.

Thank you to Sam and Sarah for taking my mind of the ever growing list of university work I have had this week and for a lovely day.
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