2008 February | Chris's Blog

Tweets from Talygarn

Mini Show Jumping Wed 8th feb 5.45pm Schedule A To be held indoors. Classes LR 1'6 1'9 2' 2'3 2'6 Entries £7 per... http://t.co/tY4nnghO 2012/02/01
Dressage Feb 5th cancelled Next Dressage Sunday March 4th 2012/01/28
25th Jan Wednesday evening show jumping 5.45pm starts with 2' clear round then 2'3 2'6 2'9 &3' qualifiers for... http://t.co/lKilSp6L 2012/01/25
Tuesday 14th Feb Taster lessons in Equestrian Vaulting, suitable for riders and non riders from 4 to 18yrs of... http://t.co/rUFqMIzx 2012/01/23

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Archive for February, 2008

Riding on the Road

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

Well after my hair raising ride on saturday which also resulted in Muppet getting a slight overreach, I thought he might settle down. I rode him out again on Monday and he wasn’t as bad although we didnt go too far and he has been in the field every day. Yesterday I rode him out with Freya who was riding Blue. He started off fine went down the main road over the motorway bridge and down towards the old brewery with no problems in fact he was fine for about the first 20 minutes and then he seemed to start getting a bit more awake and forward by the time we had gone another 10 mins he was tossing his head and getting very agitated and things just got worse from there. By this point he is jogging sideways and tossing his head which caused him to loose his balance and shoot forward which alarmed Blue who flykicked quite big and shot forward which then unbalanced Freya. This had the effect of making Muppet worse as he got extremely stressed when Blue left him behind but because he now had no concept of what to do I couldn’t get him to go forward. Each time he caught up with Blue she got alarmed and was shooting off and bucking. It is somewhat scary being on a horse I have no control on and knowing I have the main road to contend with before I can get home. By the time we got to the road I had no control at all and was extremely worried about Freya as I new the whole situation was worrying her Just before the motorway bridge Muppet lost it completely, spun round several times, reared twice would not stop and headed sideways straight out on the road, I nearly came off him at that point and thats the closest I’ve come to hitting the ground in a long time, at this point Freya tried to stop the traffic and I wish I knew who the lady in a small blue car was so I could thank her for ignoring Freya as I was know leaping and spinning at the start of the motorway bridge in the middle of the road. Fortunately the other cars did stop mainly I think cause they didn’t want their cars damaged and they couldnt get past me anyway, somehow he seemed to calm down just enough to jog him sideways behind Freya and get off the bridge. I have to say Blue put in some big bucks and on a couple of occasions I saw Freya swinging round her neck, I know Freya must have been pretty worried but she made herself stay calm and did the best she could to get us both home and it just goes to show that her riding has improved so much since she first came. As for Muppet I don’t know whats got into him I have ridden him out many times on the road and not had problems and even hunted him I can only assume that he was so poor and weak when we had him he just didn’t have the energy and as he has had some time off whilst I have been away and is obviously feeling stronger and better and spring is in the air, its beginning to show. Needless to say I rode him in the school today. I think we will leave the road until he calms down I don’t mind too much what he does but I do worry about horses causing accidents on the road. A note to car drivers, Horses have brains of their own and unfortunately don’t always make good choices, please pass us wide and slow and when someone on a horse is frantically waving their arms at you please stop.

Posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 1:00 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Home from Thailand

Saturday, February 16th, 2008

I left the Island at 10am Thursday and arrived home at 10pm on Friday (or 5am Saturday morning Thailand time). It was so nice to be in my own bed, I dont think they have heard of springs in mattresses in Thailand, the beds were like sleeping on the floor, most of the pillows were quite solid too. Its also nice to have tea at home it never tastes the same away. I think it is going to take a while to adjust to the Jet Lag. I went to bed at 11ish and was wide awake at 5am, most unusual for me. Anyway I thought I would use the time to put the 300 and odd photos I have taken on the computer. Jen chatted to me for a while on MSN, she went on her first dive yesterday after I left and found a blue spotted Stingray. Then I had Lunch, I did like Thai food as long as it wasn’t to spicy, they can be a bit too handy with the Chilli, but its amazing how something simple like cheese on toast can taste so good. After lunch Kelly and I went for a ride. I took Muppet and Kelly rode Cleo. Muppet has been poor since I bought him and hasn’t been ridden for the last two weeks cause I thought the break would do him good. Well his energy levels have certainly improved, he started off ok little bit jumpy but mostly calm, Cleo was a bit eyes on stalks and bouncey because we had gone a different route to where she has been before, over the motorway bridge was fine although she did look a bit. After our first trot Muppet seemed to wake up altogether and from that minute on was a nightmare, He seemed to think he could only jog and sideways at that, trouble with him is if you take up the slightest contact he throws his head back at you. By the time we got to coming back over the motorway bridge Muppet was besides himself prancing and leaping my only concern was to stop the traffic and get him over the bridge as quick as possible, then I heard Kelly shout, because Muppet had left Cleo she had now become alarmed and was running backwards towards cars. Managed to get a headshaking, leaping Muppet back towards her and then managed to get them both off the bridge. Muppet then leapt, pranced sideways and chucked his head about all the way home. A client was having a lesson on Fred in the outdoor school, who got alarmed when Fred decided that he could copy Muppet for a few minutes. So my first ride after holidays was rather Hair raising and I think Kelly was going home for some wine. Well its 8pm now and I feel like its after midnight.

Posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 9:12 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Koh Phangan

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

We arrived on the island of Koh Phangan on Friday. After a 13 hour train journey, 2 hour cramped bus and a 3 hour ferry crossing. We took a taxi to Maa Haad on the north west side of the island. It is a quiet part, very jungle like with a lovely beach and palm trees over the beach. We rented a beach hut, which consists of a bedroom and a small bathroom with cold water shower, although the water warms up naturally in the afternoon anyway. This part of the island is the best part for snorkelling and is quite close to good diving sites which jen is going to do next week. I did some snorkelling on sunday. Visibility wasn’t great but we did see a lot of different varieties of fish and coral. Tuesday we moved to the south east part of the island to the beach Haad Rin Nok which is famous for the Full Moon Parties. The sand is much whiter here and the sea warmer, I think the temperature is much hotter too as I managed to burn myself today and I wasn’t in the sun that long. There isn’t a full moon whilst we are here but beach parties go on every night anyway, yesterdays was good fun although most of the games and activities seem to involve fire I have a couple of pics of Jen doing limbo under a flaming pole. We are going back to the North of the island tomorrow as Jen wants to be based up there next week to do her diving and on thursday I will be leaving the island and should be home by friday evening.

Posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 2:35 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Bangkok

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

We left Chiang Mai on Monday afternoon on the Night Train for Bangkok. That was an experience in itself. We got a ticket which cost roughly 600 baht (9 pound) and boarded the train at 2.50pm. Around about 5pm we visited the restaurant car, apparently food used to be very cheap with sellers getting on the train at stations to sell food and drink. That has been stopped now and there is limited over priced food available. It isn’t dear compared to our food here but it is very dear compared to theirs it was also unedible. so anyone planning to do any train trips there – take your own food with you. Its a 15 hour journey and you will need some. We stayed in the restaurant for a while and had a few Chang’s (Beer). When we got back to our seats they had been converted into bunks, Jen slept on the top and I slept on the bottom. They were quite Comfy considering.

We arrived at Bangkok at 6am. Now I know why young people back pack to Thailand – Because it is so cheap. If your happy with a shared toilet and shower, no hot water and a very small basic room you can be talking one pound fifty a night. Ideal for students I suppose with little money. Bangkok itself is not a pretty sight. It is overcrowded, polluted, congested, smells very bad, lacks even basic hygiene. Every building in the streets looks like they could do with pulling down. Shanty towns and sweat shops are everywhere filthy market stalls line every street with massive temples and gold leaf Buddha’s every few streets. Tomorrow we are going to see the Floating Markets and a Lady Boy show in the night. Then on Thursday we leave here on another night train for an island in the south. My friend did warn me that there was nothing special about Bangkok, I’m glad we came here and the experience has been good but one I don’t think I’d repeat.

Posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 3:18 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Thailand

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

We arrived in Thailand on Tuesday. Bangkok airport is massive. We caught a plane to Chiang Mai and found a room to rent. Chiang Mai is a much bigger place than I thought it would be and it is so busy with markets everywhere. Everything is very cheap our room costs us one pound fifty a night each and Thai food costs no more than two pound for a meal and a drink. Chang beer is the local drink and varies in strength from place to place costs about 40p a bottle. The lady that owns our guest house also works for the police. She invited us to go to the lake with her and some of her work colleagues. It was a beautiful place we sat on a large bamboo raft on the lake drinking and eating, only problem was a lot of the food was insects, they looked like worms, fat maggots, live shrimps, and grasshoppers. Jen tried them but I didnt fancy it Yuk. The other drink they seem quite partial too is whiskey and coke or soda water and the other thing I noticed was the police don’t seem too bothered by the drink driving laws!!!!!!! Today we left the city and went out to the hilltribes. We went on an elephant trek for an hour Indian Elephants are smaller and easy to tame whereas African elephants are huge and fierce. Unfortunately I didnt get to try schooling it and I didnt find out if they jump either but it was a nice trek, had to hold on a bit tight down the slopes though but it seemed quite sure footed and even went through the river. It has the same 4 beat walk gait as horses although elephants have 4 knees. This was followed by a ride in an ox cart then lunch and a very sedate trip on a small bamboo raft down the river. The weather here has been very hot although it did rain most of the day yesterday. Tomorrow we are going to the flower festival then on to Bangkok on the night train on Monday.

Posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.