Good Evening,

This will be a quickie, fading fast & need my bed.

Got away with minor injuries today, right foot stood on twice, once by a colt who
got a shock from an electric fence, shot up in the air & landed on said foot.
Secondly by another colt who thought he would run over me in his haste to leave
his box.

We had some real fun & games yesterday. As we were leading a group of colts
from their boxes to turn them out into paddocks, the one behind me took a shine to my colt. He charged across the yard & promptly tried to mount the colt I was leading.

His nearside forefoot missed my head by a couple of inches as he climbed on my colt.
Understandably, my boy was a bit perturbed & because he couldn't go forwards, due to
there being another colt directly in front of him, he leapt sideways.

He performed the most athletic jump over the low hedge to our left, landing, with yours truly still hanging on, in the middle of an immaculately manicured raised turf oval. Once there we proceeded to do what felt like an entire dressage test, he pirouetting & cavorting, whilst I hung grimly to his lead telling him to 'stop churning up the turf'.

Brent's office looks out onto this oval & I was dreading what he would say when he saw his furrowed lawn.

I eventually persuaded him down although needless to say the 4" step down was much more terrifying than leaping the hedge to get there in the 1st place.

With that, we were finally on our way down to the paddocks. Worse was to come though, when the colt which Trina was leading bolted. I won't name him here for reasons which will become clear. He has been an accident looking for somewhere to happen, as he only has 2 gears, reverse & gallop.

Trina gamely hung on for what seemed like ages but he was a shade more determined & made good his escape. She was dragged face down for a few strides, taking all the skin off her palms but still had the presence of mind to close a gate after him to stop him returning flat out into all the colts we were still holding.

Trying to hold ours & persuade them that they did not want to join their friend on a flat-out tour of the farm was no mean feat either. As the colt returned towards Trina, having found a closed gate at the end of his gallop, she gamely stood her ground & tried to flag him down to slow him before he reached the gate she had just closed.

He ran straight through her & cannoned into the gate. He saw it at the last moment & raised his forelegs in an effort to clear it. Luckily the gate was at least 10' high & the chain held under the onslaught. He tore his chest open on the gate & has been confined to his box since. He looks very sorry for himself & Trina was mortified that she couldn't hold him. It was a horrifying scene to witness & best not dwelt upon, otherwise you would end up too scared to move them anywhere. Fortunately, though shaken & bruised, Trina escaped more serious injury.

It was whilst I was hanging off a filly's hind-leg & yelling at her for trying to kick me as I picked her feet out that I became aware Brent was standing at the stable door watching me. I don't know if you are familiar with the management-phrase a sh1t-sandwich ?
The idea is that, if you are telling someone off, you give them the bread 1st, the poo in the middle, & finish off with more bread to take the nasty taste away.

ie. 'Good Morning, you are a very valued employee, we are going to further your career by sending you to answer 999 calls at New Scotland Yard & did I mention how valued you are ?' You get the picture ?

Brent must be on a money-saving kick cos I only got one slice of bread today.

He told me that he had heard I had been leading very well over the last few days.

He burst my bubble immediately afterwards by telling me that I had failed an observation test. (I had failed to notice a cut on a filly's knee today, as I brought her in)

We have been monitored over the last couple of days to assess whether we lead well enough to lead the colts at the sales in Auckland in January. I can't say I would be devastated at missing a trip to Auckland (apart from meeting up with the token chick) but I wouldn't like to miss out on the experience of going to the sales. The report that came back from the meeting was that they felt I had responded well to a couple of big scares from the colts & wasn't afraid to dig my heels in & chastise the colts.

I accepted the praise & didn't tell them it's just sheer stubbornness (sp?) on my part. I am pleased to be going to the sales now (always assuming they don't squash me before January)

Today was so hot that, for the 1st time, I sought shade during our afternoon tea-break.Usually, I will sit in the sun & soak up the heat but today, after midday, it just became hotter & hotter.

Bronwen, the Aussie girl, who seemed to have settled in well on her 1st day, has turned out to be very strange after all. She has spent the last 2 days crying al the time, & is
quite frankly, a pain in the ass. She has decided she doesn't like any of us, quite a feat, when there are now 8 of us to choose from & I suspect she may well leave either tomorrow, or at the end of the week.

She keeps saying she is home-sick too. She is a 3 hour flight from home & complaining to me, who is a 24 hour flight away from home. The urge to tell her to 'toughen-up' is overwhelming. I admit to being miserable & homesick when I first arrived in NZ, but the people I worked for & with would never have known it.

Agnes is fairing better. After a couple of nasty shocks, she is appreciating that these youngsters are a different proposition to the older horses she has worked with in Hungary. She seems to have adopted a more cautious attitude & has improved.

Hitman, your e-mail about Agnes had me wiping my eyes. Sorry to spoil your image but she is early 20's, 5'10", very slim, long legs, long brown hair, large brown eyes. Honest.

If I have neglected farm news at Cedar Lodge lately then it's because I haven't been around to see what's been going on.

The sheep were shorn last weekend & much improved they look too, apart from Lilla, who, with her horns & long tail, looks more goat than sheep now divested of her fleece. The chichens have received a boost to their community, in the form of 8 new ones which Eric has rescued from a lady who was being complained about by her neighbours.

The freezer is being cleared at the moment to receive Petunia or no. 47, Eric hasn't decided yet. My vote goes for Petunia. Which reminds me, I saw the last of Murrays ewes being loaded onto the truck to go to the works today. I was supposed to be loading a wheelbarrow with haylage but found my attention drawn to 2 ewes next to each other, regarding me with calm, interested expressions. In my mind flashed an image of them hanging upside down, awaiting their fate. I had an urge to pull the handle, releasing them & urging them to 'Flee & be free'

2 things stopped me. One was the fact that hundreds of other little woolly-heads would have been liberated at the same time. The second is that Murray's steel toe caps (the object of my recent crush) would have been planted firmly up my butt.

My appointment with the sandman beckons & so I will bid you all goodnight.

Ma & Pa Smith, yes, you will be pleased to know, your Blog comments were
received loud & clear, will forward the e-mail address you requested
in the next couple of days.

Hen, It could have been worse, it could have been a pink skirt & then you would be
asking 'What's wraaaang with you ?'

Cocky, Didn't get the e-mail from work. If you saved it, are you able to re-send (especially
if it's the goss from Quichey's do)


ttfn,

Annie Oakley x