Awesomeness

For some reason the boys were really antsy this morning. Toffee just wanted to pick a fight with Merlin and as always, Merlin was ready to oblige. These boys fight like wildcats but today's spat was quite low key. Merlin has been dying to show off his 'moves' since the weekend, and I'm guessing that Toffee was just sick of hearing about it.

Merlin and I are just so close now. What can I say, I just love this little boy to bits :)



In between every good battle, there has to be a moment of mud slinging! I think Merlin is saying "Yeah? you wanna piece of me?"



"Have some of this!"



Merlin made a swift exit, behind the bramble bush, but Toffee flushed him out.



They were about to start all over again and then noticed me taking pictures. How innocent do they look???



A nochalent scratch of his beehind on his favourite tree and then a bit of casual eating followed :)

Southern Show.

Our first day out to a 'proper' show was a hoooooge success. Merlin had been practicing loading and popped up into the trailer with no problems at all. He wasn't so keen on having the doors shut and must have picked up on my tension, as he was pretty keyed up. I stayed in the box as we crossed the field, but realised this was a very bad move, as he wanted to be on my side of the partition and I jumped out as soon as we reached the gate.

I could see his face through the little window of the trailer and he was looking right back at me. Every time I turned back to him, his ears pinged forwards and he looked very happy and relaxed. The journey was fine and the roads good and empty.

The weather was atrocious on Saturday, so I hadn't had the chance to bath Merlin and he was the most filthy that I'd ever seen him, when we arrived on Sunday morning. We tried to give him a quick scrub down at the show, but once the mares arrived, it became apparent that this was completely pointless, and therefore he remained 'antique white' for the rest of the day.

If you've ever seen Shrek 2, when Donkey turns into a stallion, you'll have some idea of what I had to deal with :) He posed and postured and announced loudly that 'Merlin is in the house' for the best part of the day. Thankfully the reaction of the mares was 'seen it all before sunshine' and his poor ego deflated more and more as the day wore on. When a rather lovely mare aimed a whiplash kick at him, he decided to back right off, but not after he'd shown everyone why he considered himself worthy, with a lovely display on two legs! I was a little embarrassed and that's all I'll say on that subject!

We didn't get as many pictures as we wanted, although I do have a couple taken by a friend to scan and I'll post those as soon as I can.

So here we are ready to go up to our class,


and about to enter, ponies in hand,


After the class, and happy with 3rd place.



The other pictures are of us doing Handy Pony, which was immense fun and gave Merlin a chance to show off his really useful skills, like bending round poles and going over a carpet between cones. He does all this at home and so it was a great way to finish the day. We came a very respectable second. We also won a rossette for show special, as the judges seemed to find Merlin very amusing ;)


When we got home he was very pleased to see Toffee, ran up to him and screamed right in his face. Toffee groaned 'oh, you're back then' in his best Eeyore voice.


This is just a little 'Arty' picture, for a painting I'm going to do. I just love Merlin's gorgeous black eyes :)



How do I sum up our day. Well, I think we've become a good deal closer and seem to be a little in love with each other at the moment. I know it's mutual, as Merlin has taken to 'chatting' to me in quite a surprising range of noises, like he's conspiring with me. Bless him :) Will we do it again, well we'll see :)

Hurtling onwards.

That's how it feels, like I'm hurtling towards Sunday and nothing can save me now :) It's been less than a week since I found out that Merlin can go to the Eriskay Southern show in Cholderton and I've been rushing around trying to get everything ready in time. Having given up on doing any shows this year I find myself woefully ill prepared, but then it would seem that I thrive on adrenaline and it doesn't give me too much time to worry. Merlin has certainly stepped up to the plate and is lungeing and moving like he's had intensive training for months. He has a peramanent smile I think :)

He performed so well for the vet last night, that he was disappointed when the vet drove off and neighed at his car to come back and see more. He's a shocking show off! If he keeps his mind on his work and off all the lovely totty then we'll be fine on Sunday, so please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Today we are tackling obstacles to prepare for the trailer arriving on Saturday. I want Merlin to load like he's always done it, and then we'll take him for a little drive in the evening. I'm a little worried about Toffee being left on his own for a whole day, but I've asked a neighbour to pop in and check him and give him a cuddle. So hopefully he won't feel too alone.

Other than that, we're just about ready to go!!!! I'll be back with lots of photos in a day or two :)

News!

Hokay! So I don't want to say too much and jinx things, but I've made contact with some wonderful people in the South that also keep Eriskay ponies. One lovely man has been breeding them for over 35years! He is hilarious, slightly irreverent, and a font of all knowledge. He is the man that has bred Mish, featured on Oakmoon, and I'll call him Mr.F. He assures me that he's in his 90's but I find that hard to believe but wouldn't dream of arguing with him! Meeting his ponies was such a joy.

This is Nonnie, the mare and Mish her daughter. Mish is short for a gaelic word that means 'Water of Life' or Whiskey :)



There is also someone else that I've spoken to who is incredibly passionate about keeping the Eriskay breed alive. I think she is a crusader, but is funny and interesting with it. We have children of a similar age and many more things in common, so it could be interesting when we get to meet in person.

I suppose the most important thing though is that Merlin has been offered the chance to be inspected for his stallion licence. This is HOOOGE and I'm so very happy that he has this chance. If he fails, nothing changes. He will always be my special stallion and he will carry those important genes with him wherever he goes.

Here he is in his new gift from me. It's a lightweight fly sheet and an attempt at keeping off the flies and Toffee's teeth! It would be awful if he turned up for his inspection looking like a scabby dog! The neck piece is held together with baler twine though, as his stallion crest is too big to fit in it and I didn't want him to strangle just for the desire of a smooth coat!


He is so unhappy and asking nicely if Andrew would 'just get this bloody embarrasing thing off me!'
I think he looks ready to go jousting, personally, and always loved 'My Little Pony' (actually that last bit's a lie. I hated my little pony because I'd never, ever seen a blue one in real life!)