Bloody horses!

21 Jul 2013


What a delight today has been – can you sense my sarcasm already?! There was no long lazy Sunday lie-in for me this morning. I was up, on the treadmill, and then off to the stables to load my Mum’s mare for her journey to Lincolnshire…or at least that was the plan!

Five hours later, she was back in her stable and I had called in the reinforcements…a great horseman who worked with my bolshy young Welsh Cob a few years ago. My poor Mum – who has fibromyalgia and arthritis – was absolutely shattered…she had done most of the work as her mare really trusts her…but can also take advantage – as evidenced today.

The day started off well. All of the horses came in nicely, and were nice and calm. We got her ‘suitcase’ ready and I tried to relax my Mum who seemed a bit stressed about it all. The lorry arrived, and despite our attempts to cut the overhanging branches down, we had failed and I thought that the lorry wouldn’t get in – but my friend and her husband are troopers and got stuck in! They are genuinely the nicest couple you could ever meet – seriously!

We all had a little catch up, packed the lorry, and then Mum calmly walked the mare towards the lorry…and then it began! At one point we had her front feet near the top of the ramp, but her bottom feet wouldn’t budge. This happened a few times. Either Mum or I were trying to coax her with her favourite foods, I got firm and gave her a talking too – never any violence or whips though…I would take somebodies head off if they tried that around any of my horses – but that didn’t work.

We then walked her around and did some groundwork – which means stuff like moving her feet, turning in circles, backing her up…just to keep her feet moving, as she had got very comfortable with the idea of standing at the bottom of the ramp to the lorry with her back leg resting and having a doze in the sun!

The sun – I forgot the sun! It was a cloudy day, but this stupid English rose decided to get the bingo wings out in a vest top…with no sun cream. I now resemble a lobster and if I hold the palm of my hand a few inches away from my arm, I can literally feel the heat coming off it. I am paying an emergency visit to my sisters soon to pinch some of the kids aftersun cream! I won’t be making that mistake again.

My Dad then decided to come and see us, and he tried getting her up the ramp…no joy. We then tried a combination of penning her in with ropes…no joy. We then tried reversing the lorry down a ‘run’ which had our hedge on one side and the field fencing on the other…no joy – she ran through the fencing and ended up having a nice graze.

By which point in time, four hours had passed. None of us had eaten, we were all pretty stressed out and just wanted her on the bloody lorry! I made an emergency call to a chap I knew…but he couldn’t help as he was on his way back from holiday. So as I was calling another friend, I was surprised to see him call me back…he was going to detour and come and help…I think he felt sorry for me! So I headed off to the cashpoint and to pick up some food for everyone. The cashpoint for the chap – as good help doesn’t come cheap in his case…but when I got the call to say he’d arrived and had already had her on and off the lorry about fifteen times, I was over the bloody moon! I arrived back at the stables to find the ramp going up, my Mum’s mare safely tucked up inside, and my Dad asking this chap if he also knew how to ‘whisper’ to cars as his engine wasn’t running right!

They then headed off in the lorry, whilst we stayed with my Dad and de-stressed – a little. I put the horses back out, and after all of my worry being centred on how my youngest chap would cope without his big sister…he didn’t really bat an eyelid – typical! We then grabbed lunch – at 5pm – and headed home not long after this.

So it was a long day – a very long day. I was pleased that I could help – this time last year I would have been sat on a bale of straw frustrated that I couldn’t stand for more than a few seconds. However, it was also very frustrating for me – as if I had lost weight sooner, I could have worked this mare more and maybe she would have loaded fine…I also could have tried more today. Yet progress is being made, so I can’t dwell on the ‘if only’ and the ‘should have’, ‘could have’ and ‘would haves’ – it was just horrible seeing my Mum being towed along by this bloody great beast of a horse, although I did manage to help prevent a few such instances too…and have the rope burns to prove it.

No great moral in today’s blog post I am afraid…other than don’t try and load a horse without lots of practice or expert help! I know that my friend was frustrated too – she is an excellent horsewoman, yet has an issue with her eye and a bump on the head could prove very damaging indeed for her…I could sense her itching to jump in at times. My Mum showed today however that she has excellent timing with her mare – she was doing all of the right things but I think they had both passed the point of no return with each other…so our expert made it look incredibly easy. I think that I might tell my Mum that she ‘loosened the lid’…as happens when someone comes and opens the jar that you have been struggling to open for bloody ages!

Anyway, Countryfile beckons…as does my bed…

Breakfast: Two Alpen light bars (1 x HEB) and a banana.

20130721-190140.jpgLunch: Fruit, chicken tikka and Babybels (2 x HEA).

20130721-190254.jpgDinner: More chicken tikka, beetroot salad, normal salad, cherry tomatoes and two slices bread (1 x HEB).

20130721-190411.jpgSnacks: Crisps (8.5 syns).

20130721-190530.jpgI have had a bit of a mish-mash food day today! I hadn’t really anticipated that I would be at the stables that long, so a quick dash to Asda before closing time meant a late lunch of pre-packaged food. We also quickly bought similar stuff for dinner before we had to head back to the stables. It was all on plan though – the chicken tikka chunks from Asda are syn free, as is the beetroot salad – so it was fine…just not really a culinary showcase! ;-)

Exercise: 1 x 30 minute treadmill session…plus all of the faffing around at the stables – albeit there were a fair few deckchair breaks for me! Today was supposed to be a rest day, but as you know, I like to do a little bit on one of my rest days hence the treadmill session.

Thank you for reading – and I hope that you have a wonderful week,

Weight Loss Bitch xxx

  

WeightLossBitch

On a health and fitness driven journey to lose over 32st / 448lbs / 203kgs – yes, it is a considerable amount – I am committed to losing my excess weight without the aid of weight loss surgery, diet pills, or quick fixes…as there aren’t any! Changing my eating habits and building up my fitness levels, along with addressing the ‘head issues’ will be crucial in order for me to achieve my goal. Living in England as a 31 year old super morbidly obese woman can be challenging to say the least. I have been shouted at in the street and verbally abused far too many times to mention; hence the name ‘Weight Loss Bitch’…the day I am just called a ‘bitch’ instead of a ‘fat bitch’ will be the day that I know I have cracked my weight loss! With many reasons to lose this weight I am documenting my journey for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to keep a record of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the challenges I face with such an enormous task to tackle. Secondly, I would also like to inspire and encourage other people who are in a similar situation and to show them that significant amounts of weight can be lost naturally…with a bit of motivation, hard work, dedication and will power. Thirdly, all of the blogging, Facebook-ing, Tweet-ing, Pinterest-ing and YouTube-ing keeps me occupied and keeps my fingers out of the fridge!

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