sleep in!

Hehehe I don't start work until 1pm today, so i got to sleep in, mind you i didn't manage to get past 8:15 before I just couldnt lie there any longer, but that's ok... it's one extra hour.. sort of...

I'm feeling quite guilty, I was meant to be working hard on my Cert III stuff so that I would be up to date.. On monday I did three topics (the first semester is made up of six units, which are made up of however many topics which are made up of however many.. well they don't have a name, [GAR ALL THE STUFF ID WRITTEN AFTER THAT JUST DISAPPEARED!!!] so I'll call them subjects).. so now I have 15 to go... 4 today, 4 tomorrow and then 5 on my day off... sounds acheivable!!! lol then we're into next week.. when I'll have a heap more to finish.. But I'll be up to date.. so that's ok... I can do this! Lol!

Hmm so my shopping list/things to do this morning is:
-deposit cheque (hehe nice healthy bank account for me)
-buy hoof oil
-buy float boots
-buy french snaffle (lol part of a bridle...I left mine on the wheel arch of the float as we drove away.. so it's somewhere on Peats Ridge Road....)
-buy sugar cubes
-work on Cert III

That's quite a lot... Better actually start eh? Tata!

5 year plan

I've been working on my five year plan. At the moment all the stuff in the 'work' column depends on whether we buy the property we're looking at in Richmond. You see, if we don't, we will probably end up moving onto a smaller acreage, and I will probably end up working at a whole heap of different places before I end up on my own proper property. I was actually thinking that after working for Gendy for a year maybe I could go back and work at Pip and John's for somewhere between 6 months and a year, because I know that Sandra will be going home in a year, and so will the new girl, Ashleigh.. So that would work. After that maybe I would spend two months in england, come home for a few months and then spend two months in germany, or maybe do the whole lot in one go and spend a month in each country. Before I compete at Adelaide Internationals I would want to spend at least two months training with Gill Rolton (the 2 time Olympian who lives in SA). Maybe even some time with the Tinneys.. Have to see about that one though!

I think this all sounds very exciting, and I've also worked out how I can pull it off. You see, everything I earn while working for Gendy will be saved, once I've bought a dressage saddle (which I need). The same thing while I'm at Pip and John's (I'll pay all the usual expenses etc, but most of it will be saved) and this money will pay for my time overseas, as well as what it will cost me to keep Fox at Pip and John's while I go overseas. I know that this is based on the assumption that they'll let me work there, but I think they will!

It also means that I would have to put off my diploma for a year, but that doesn't matter, I'll have my certificate three by then, so I'll know a fair bit of that stuff, and what I do at Pip and John's would be more 'hands on' experience. I would also have my Level Ones, which wouldn't necessarily help me while I'm there, but at least I wouldn't be thinking about how I have to do that!!!This time I would also try to stay up there the whole time pretty much, rather than driving home every time I have a day off. Anyway, I don't really have any of my school friends around at the moment! :P so I think it sounds like a good idea! I can see my riding friends at any of the events I go to. Any opinions? Hehehe!

OK well I'm going to get off the net and continue writing this down on my plan.. I'm very excited. It's a pretty good alternative to that property, cause mum doesn't seem to believe that we can afford it :(. Oh well, it means that in a few years we will be able to move somewhere fantastic.

Tata (I will actually try and write something sooner than a week from now)

Showjump School and day off

I went to John's showjump school yesterday. It was so great. I just love it at their place, I love the people, I love everything! Fox and I jumped a huge course again (1.15m again)and he was great. In the first round which was slightly lower we knocked a rail, but in the second round we went clear (no rails), so that was good!! Hehe I love learning! I've sheduled a lesson next week with Pip and I'm going to their next showjumping school (I'm addicted, as I told John.. lol).. Yeah, I'm not going to go into too much detail, because I don't think anyone who reads this would really be all that interested in the nitty-gritty (who came up with that saying, it's pathetic?!) details of riding.. Actually there were some funny things too, but I don't think they work as well if you write them.

Today is my day off.. Yay! Actually, strictly speaking yesterday was too... but today I got to sleep in and I'm doing all the day-off sort of stuff! So, I slept in until 8:50.. well 8:30 really but I stayed in bed until 8:50.... then I rang Rita to see if she wanted a lesson today.. I'm also going to ride Darcy.. and put all the stuff I have on the video camera onto tape cause I've sort of fallen behind on that front. I'm also considering going shopping.. lol yes, me! I might go to Hornsby... I think I will. Hehehe isn't that great?! LOL I know that everyone else seems to have quite a lot of time off because uni doesn't take up many days, but my time off is very rare, so I plan to enjoy it! I also have to do a LOT of work on my certificate three, because I was behind from the start, and at the moment I'm REALLY behind.. So there will be a lot of work too..

I'm also thinking of drawing up my 5 year plan again, because it's a bit wrong.. Some things have happened too quickly and I think some things will have to be put off, so I will do that today as well!! I really enjoy drawing it up, last time I spent a day on it and enjoyed it so much! Lol!

OK well I think that's about all for today. Oh, I went to the RSL but couldn't find Amanda at all, then realised that I didn't have her mobile number, so I had a ruski and left... It was very pointless. I did see Adrian from school (strange that I don't know how to spell that name) with his parents, but that was about it. Fun. It's very big.... hahaha...

OK tata!

Polo groom..

I know I haven't written much lately, haven't really had all that much going on. Today I groomed for the first polo game of the season. I screwed up a lot but it was ok. It was quite funny though when all the other (female) grooms told me that they think Hugh is really good-looking (Hugh being Gendy's husband, and one of the people I was working for)... then, like a minute later, he took off his shirt.. lol and they were jealous of me cause i had to take the shirt that he had taken off, and hand him the other one.. lol then the other guy who I was working for (Willzy) did the same, and they proceeded to tell me (once the game had started) that they now believe Willzy is almost as hot as Hugh.. Lol... it's very funny... i work for them... and for Hugh's wife... lol.. I wonder if they know how much money Willzy has too (he owns 'a few pubs' and made an offer to buy the c/hill tavern for 42mill before it was bought for 56mill...) lol what's that line from Pride & Prejudice.. "he would not be quite so handsome if he were not quite so rich"... LOL... it was so hard not to laugh.

So that was my amusement for the day. I'm going to a jump school at John and Pip's tomorrow. Luckily I got in without paying up front (which you are meant to do).. hehe I rang John up to ask if I had a place despite forgetting to send him the cheque and apparently I do but only because I'm 'special' - which I have a feeling means that they know how terrible my memory is... lol Oh well, it should be fun.

Willy, if you read this, I'll drive you to the station on Monday!! Hehehe and I'll do something tomorrow night if you want to! I'd call but I'm lazy... I'll call tomorrow...

Haleluya (lol how do you spell that, Steph?), two days off!! Wooo!!! My feet can recover!!!

Hum hum, well I think that's all I have to say, I'm meant to be going to the RSL with Amanda and a few other people (having second thoughts about it, but oh well). Tata!!!

Macarthur

Well, after that reasonably bad dressage score yesterday, Fox and I were 18th. Joy. I suppose it did take the pressure off today. He jumped well in the showjumping but still took a rail, which was a little annoying, but overall it was good. He was a little champion cross country, so that was nice anyway.

I was really happy though, I helped three of my friends to warm up for cross country and they all went clear (had no refusals at any of the jumps), so that made me really happy cause they are all champions and deserve to do well. Hehehe.

Um... damn I have to wake up early tomorrow morning, which is annoying. I think I might go and read and then go to sleep at like 9:30 or something.. Hahaha it's 8:30 now and I'm exhausted.

Tata.

Haiku

Inspired by my wonderful book of haiku, Leah and I have created a blog of our own haiku. These aren't based on novels (although some may be in the future).. They are just based on anything at all. The site is: http://deeplysignificanthaiku.blogspot.com/.. enjoy. Feel free to inform us of any wonderful haiku you have written in your spare time (lol) and we will happily add it to the blog.

Well Macarthur is going well-ish. I was really happy with my dressage but it didn't get marked too well (62%) so that's rather annoying. Oh well, I'm sure I'll live, anyway it means that the pressure is off entirely, which is good.

I'm researching Vitamin B at the moment. I've been told that my horse might have a deficiency, and I previously knew nothing about vitamin B (except what's in the vegemite ads) but have since found out that there are lots of benefits to it and also how it would help my horse to get more energy from his food because he gets tired quite easily, despite being fit. So that is all very interesting.

Interestingly enough I solved our country's problems today. I know, amazing you say. Well, here was my idea. People complain about the rising petrol prices. So if there was to be good public transport, which ran on time and could get to and from anywhere then more people would use it because it would be cheaper than paying for petrol. This would make the environmentalists happy because it would reduce the number of cars used, and thus the amount of pollution in the atmosphere. It would also make the government happy, because although they may lose some of the income that they make on petrol, they would probably receive it back in public transport fares. The government would also have the added benefit of being able to show how wonderful they are because they have managed the transport issue, helped the environment AND made people happy. Travelling by public transport would be more enjoyable because the busdrivers etc would be happier, because they would now rank higher on the employment hierarchy and become an integral part of people's lives. It would make for more community spirit, as travelling together daily would mean that most people would probably form some sort of friendship with fellow travellers. It would make commuters happier because everything would run efficiently, and thus they would get to work on time and not be as stressed throughout their day. It would make those who worry about the amount of importing Australia does happy, because cars are usually imported to Australia, and very rarely exported, which means that Australia loses money, if there were less cars however then there would be less worry about how much money we are losing because of our high wages etc. While you may say that it would make the people who own petrol stations unhappy, I disagree, the people who own the petrol stations would still have buses buying their petrol from them, and should there still be a problem, they can always get into the new high-ranking job as someone in the public transport system. Overall, I think it is a good idea.

Feel free to comment. Actually, please comment, because I really want someone to tell me what a great idea it is. My mother just nodded. It was very disheartening. If you are going to say that there is something wrong with the idea please don't comment. No I'm just kidding, you can comment, you just have to tell me five other reasons why it is a good plan :P.

OK I am going to go and read my "BHS Complete Manual of Stable Management" (BHS being the British Horse Society).. It is very interesting stuff. OK, tata.

Boring old blog

I apologise for the boring-ness of my blog lately. I have no real inspiration, hence the daily timetable thing.

Today and tomorrow I'm competing at Macarthur. It should be fun. I hope so anyway!!!

Yeah, so I've spent the week working. It's not as tiring as Pip and John's was, but still tiring nonetheless. I think at Gendy's it's more to do with the heat than the actual workload. She called me yesterday. Oh wait, that's right.

Gendy went into hospital on Thursday cause she has some sort of infection. So Thursday and Friday I was on my own, except when Hugh came up to have a chat. Hugh is an interesting person, I shall discuss him. He is Gendy's husband. He is quite good looking but pretty shy, I mean in the 3...4 years I've been going to Gendy he would have said 'hi' twice, and never any more than that if I did see him. Since I've started working for her he's all friendly and comes over to have a chat with me, and discusses my horse and his horses etc. He also attempted to teach me how the pump works (sadly anything mechanical just eludes me, so that was useless.. but he tried). Anyway, he works a lot so I don't really see him there all that much.

So anyway Gendy called me yesterday because apparently she is bored. Hahaha. Trust her to be bored. Poor thing though, cause she was in heaps of pain on Wednesday, so it can't exactly be good. Anyway, amoung other things she asked me to weed the garden around her house - did I mention that grooming includes a huge range of jobs, and not a lot of them have anything to do with the horses?!

Yeah.. so that's about all really.

Apparently I'm going to the RSL with Amanda on Saturday night. I asked mum to drive me and she goes "how much are you planning on drinking?" and I said that the fumes of alcohol is probably enough to put me over the limit, so to have one drink is far too much. She forgets these things. She's also a very suspicious creature. Anyway, should be fun.

Um well I'm going to go, cause we have to leave to pick Fox up in.... 39 minutes, and I have to have a shower. Tata. Will write more (hopefully something interesting) tonight.

Grandmothers, who needs them?

It's amazing. My grandmother has been out of this place since.. before Christmas.. basically since before I left for Pip and John's, and my mum has been fine. Today she's come back, and now they're having their usual deep and meaningful in the lounge room which means I'm not stuck indefinitely in the office until they finish and my mum stops having a whinge. GAR! Stupid old fart, I loved her not living here.

I'm off to read my extension two. I've ignored it for a while, but it seems like a good time to read it again. I like the ending. It's good. No, actually, for a story it's a crap ending, but I like it anyhow. I should write in a bit when the grandmother dies. No, that's mean. They should just put her in a retirement home.

Work work work

Hehe as I write this, my hit counter is up to 198.. After I post this it will be at 199 (unless someone looks at my blog between now and then).. Hm, I wonder who will be the 200th?

OK so yes, I went to work. Now I'm tired, and sunburnt, must remember sunscreen tomorrow. I also need a bigger hat. I have a better idea of my timetable from now on. It's changed a little.

Monday-day off
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday (when not competing) -
-6:30 wake up
-7:10 leave for work
-8 start work
-12 lunch break
-1 start back
-5 finish work
-5:30 go to gym (not Sunday)
-6:30 drive home
-7:10 get home, have dinner, sit around a bit, blog (hehe had to add that in)
-8 do an hour of Cert III work
-9 do whatever

Wednesday
-6:30 wake up
-7:00 do hour of Level Ones
-8:00 get ready for work, sit around, blog, read etc
-9:10 leave for work
-10 start work
-1 lunch break
-2 start back
-7 finish work and drive home
-7:40 arrive home, watch TV (hehe Wednesday is TV night)

Saturday - Day off

If I have a competition on Sunday I will work on Monday instead. Every second Tuesday I also have my Level Ones, so hopefully that will only take two extra hours and I can make it up at some point.

Darcy will hopefully move to Gendy's next week, because otherwise I'm not going to have a chance to work him at all... and he needs work. Poor bubby, he always gets left behind, and I feel really sorry for him. For this week I think I'll skip the gym and come home and ride him :D that will make him happy.

So, today!

Today I had to wash the 7 polo ponies because the farrier was meant to come at 10 to shoe them, and the clipping lady (Sharron) was meant to come at 11 to clip their manes and tales. Needless to say, Sharron was on time and the farrier was an hour late (they always are.. it seems to be principle). I discovered that Bobby and Walter are friends (these are polo ponies by the way) and can't be seperated, Bobby also constantly spooks for no reason and breaks whatever she is tied to. Pete and Vixen are friends, Pete is hard to catch and Vixen is headshy (she wouldn't let me put the bridle on). Cos, Don and Danger are owned by a guy called Willzy. Cos is generally a pain in the ass about most things, Don is good, and Danger is good. Luckily we only had a few horses escape etc.

The deal with polo ponies is that they get turned out for three months at the end of each season, then brought back into work and competed every weekend for three months. After that I'm guessing they either get turned out again or just stay in work, then compete for the next three month season. So these ponies have just come in from being turned out for three months, which is why they were particularly bad to handle, and why they were being clipped, shod etc.

This all took until lunch. After lunch I was meant to wash the float and ride them all to make sure they weren't going to be naughty. I didn't end up getting a chance to wash the float because riding/rugging/catching loose horses took forever. Then we just fed them all and I went home.

Tomorrow we take Fox up and I'll start riding the ponies on the track, which won't take as long because you just ride one and lead three then ride one and lead two. So not long at all to do.

Hum, it's very tiring. Hopefully the money will be worth it (at least because the days are so long I won't have time to spend it all). Ah well, only a year and hopefully I will be working for myself. I'm also not sure where in all this I am meant to fit in teaching lessons. I guess I'll just have to do that in the afternoons while the days are still long, and then move to doing them in the mornings or on my days off. Will have to see. Anyway, it's all very busy.

OK well I should go. Tata

First day of workkkkk

Okidokie, so its... 6:47a.m. and today is my first day of work for Gendy. Unfortunately I have to wake up at 6:30 rather than seven until both my horses move to her place, because I have to feed them, give them an hour to eat and then let them out. So yes. I've decided that my school jersey will be my long sleeve alternative to my polo shirt. I've also decided that in winter I'll have to get a long sleeve shirt, one of those thickish cotton ones. Like the ones John Grisham always talks about in his novels for some reason. Sandra had one for work and it was really good, and useful, and all that. So that is my plan.

Hum hum. I'm sort of half excited and half not. I've always sort of hoped that she would ask me to be her groom, and when Kylie left and she hired Charlotte I was a little umm (i have the words annoyed and upset in my head.. whats a less powerful word for upset? Lol OK well you know what I mean.. unhappy, but not.) __________. Then when she got rid of Charlotte I was happy again, and when she asked me I was really happy. The only thing I'm not all that happy about is the whole thing with working from 8-5 (with an hour for lunch). I mean, that is a lot of time. On the upside though, I do get Saturdays and Mondays off. Although I'm competing a lot so I'll probably spend my saturday competing and have to give up my Monday to make up for not doing Sunday. Oh well, I can deal with that!!

So yesterday I went to a dressage competition in the morning. Fox was good, he got 67% in the 2.2 and came fourth, and in te 2.1 he got 68% and also came fourth. So that was good. It was harder competition than last week. Hopefully next weekend at Macarthur it will be really easy competition! Hehehehe!

I spent my afternoon instructing at pony club. It was pretty bad, they sort of hand you 15 kids on ponies and say "teach them something about ________ (insert possible discipline here)" For example yesterday it was "teach them something about equitation"... Now equitation is a rather hard concept to grasp for someone my age, to ask a group of 5-10 year olds to grasp it is just impossible. Needless to say I think it was a complete and utter failure, but the kids seemed happy, and their parents seemed to think they learnt something (where they got that idea I'm not sure, but oh well)... So yeah, that was my afternoon.

After that I was sort of 'alternate realityish' (yes that does make sense) from the heat.. Very sort of spaced out.. So I lay down on the lounge and read two chapters of Bleak House and fell asleep. I woke up for dinner, and then watched CSI Miami (have I mentioned before how hilarious I find Horatio in CSI Miami???I swear it's the only reason I watch) then I went to bed.

OK well I have to go have some breakfast and make my lunch for today.. Getting changed would also probably be a good option. OK, tata!

Reader, I married him.

Hehehe just kidding. How strange, I'm up at 6:30 in the morning, and the first line that pops into my head is from Jane Eyre... Very odd. Well, I'm going to a dressage comp today. It's up on the central coast (again) so that should be fun. At least this time we won't get stuck in traffic on the way home because it will be the middle of the day. The F3 is terrible when it comes to traffic, which I find amusing, because I was up there for two months, and drove there and back probably about 12 or so times and NEVER got stuck in traffic. My mum drove there three times and got stuck in traffic every time. Hehe, does this say something about my mum?

I'm still in the process of typing up my diary from when I was there. I get really enthusiastic about typing it, and then I decide it's not a good idea pretty soon after that. Riding friends have asked me to type it to see what I learned because I'm not very descriptive when it comes to that. I just don't know how I can tell them every thing I learned, I mean as far as my riding goes it's a new way of thinking pretty much (don't get any extension one ideas from this). Some people have said that I can save myself the trouble of typing it up and just let them read the actual thing, but the actual thing is too personal. I didn't think that people would want to read it, so I wrote exactly what I thought/felt at the time... I don't think anyone has the right to read that. What I post on here is fine, because I (usually, I didn't a little while ago) consider who will be reading it and edit out some things. It's funny that I can be so protective of a little book isn't it? Oh well, they're definitely not reading the original, so they'll just have to wait until I type up what I want to type up (then edit it a million times and probably end up deleting it!)

OK well I have to go, so I'll write some more later.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (yes, that's me screaming)

WELL. I'm back to my nice disorganised ways it seems. I got an e-mail from my "teachers" on Thursday telling me that I had three assessment tasks on Friday (yesterday). Now the way this Cert III works is that there is a website, you sign in. On the left there is a little column, which among other things has "Units" as a heading. There are 6 units and you click on one and it has all the topics within the unit (which have topics within the topics) and have the information etc. Above that it also has a little thing saying "unit assessment" and it has a little table which tells you when assessments are due. Now, me being me, I had gone to the first unit, and gone through (nearly all) of the topics within that unit, thinkin that is what I was meant to do. I knew that I had an assessment on Friday, and assumed this was the sort test where, on the day you click on the little link and do a test. No, it was an assignment. So I worked this out yesterday (the due date). Great.

To make matters even worse, I then found out that actually we were meant to be doing one topic for each unit per week. I had done just about all the topics in the first unit, and none in the others, so this was fun to find out the day stuff was due as well. So I ended up having to do the first topic in 2 other units, then write an assignment on one of them (vaccines) and do a test on the other two (Personal Protective Equipment and organising for contractors in the industry).. GAR... So that was a very nice realisation!!!

I am quite proud though, I finished all of it, and now I'm just going to have to keep up with ALL of my units (geez there is a lot of them)... as well as everything else I'm doing at the moment... O well, I'm just very relieved that it's over and I can safely say that I know know a lot about vaccines which I didn't know before.

In fact, I am so proud that I'm going to post my report thing on vaccines on here. It sounds very technical (i think) considering that I didn't think I really knew that much about vaccines:

1. Which diseases will you need to vaccinate against?
I would vaccinate my horses against tetanus, strangles, EHV1&4 and salmonella. I would also recommend that all visiting mares be up to date with their vaccinations.

I would also vaccinate all horses for strangles, and again recommend that all visiting mares be vaccinated.I would vaccinate all my mares for equine herpes virus 1 and 4, and recommend that all visiting mares be vaccinated. I would also try to isolate visiting mares as much as possible from my mares, just as a precaution.

I would vaccinate all my mares and foals for salmonella and recommend that all visiting mares be vaccinated. If the visiting mares are staying on my property after they have foaled I would also insist on vaccinating the foals.

2. Which horses get which types of vaccine?
All horses would be vaccinated for tetanus, strangles, EHV 1-4 and Salmonella as soon as they were old enough. The owners of visiting mares would be recommended to vaccinate their horses prior to transportation.

3. What are these vaccines called and which companies make them?
‘Equivac’ make a combined strangles and tetanus vaccine called ‘Equivac 2in1‘.
For Salmonella, ‘Vetivax’ makes a vaccine, called ‘Vetivax Equine Salmonella Vaccine®’.
For EHV 1-4, the company ‘Merial’ make a vaccine called ‘Pneumequine’.

4. What are the storage requirements of these vaccines?
The ‘Equivac 2in1’ vaccine should be stored between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius and should be protected from light - According to http://www.horsesuppliesdirect.com.au/prod436.htm
The ‘Pneumequine’ vaccine also has a recommended storage temperature of between 2 and 8 degrees Celcius.

5. Outline the vaccination programs for mares, stallions, foals and young horses
Horses may be immunized for tetanus and strangles from 12 weeks of age. It is recommended that the first time horses are vaccinated, they receive three doses, 2 weeks apart. According to http://www.horsesuppliesdirect.com.au/prod436.htm, “It is recommended that the first dose given is ‘Equivac 2 in 1‘, the second dose is ‘Equivac 2 in 1’ or ‘Equivac S‘, and the third dose given is ‘Equivac 2 in 1‘”.

When using ‘Vetivax Equine Salmonella Vaccine®’, www.equinehospital.co.nz recommends that “mares are initially given 2 doses, 4 weeks apart, followed by annual boosters given one month before foaling to provide good colostral immunity to their foals. Foals born to vaccinated mares can be given 2 vaccinations, four weeks apart, beginning at 4 months of age, a booster vaccination is given as a yearling. Foals born to unvaccinated mares can be vaccinated from 2
weeks of age, followed by boosters 6 months later than as a yearling.”

According to ‘www.equinehospital.co.nz‘, when using ‘Pneumequine‘; “stallions should be vaccinated 1 month before breeding. Mares may receive 2 doses 4 weeks apart before service and then a booster in the 4-5th month of pregnancy or 1 dose each at either 3, 4 & 6 months or 4,5 & 7 months of gestation.”

6. What records need to be kept for your vaccination program?
You would need to keep a record of when each horse was vaccinated last, and when they are due to be vaccinated again. I would also keep a record of which brand of vaccine was used, and whether it was their primary vaccination or a booster. A record of any cases of the disease in those horses would also be useful.

Hehe good eh?

My timetable

This is (I think) what my timetable will be like from Monday onwards:
7am wake up, get dressed, have breakfast, make lunch
7:30- leave
8:30- arrive at Gendy's for work
??:??- finish work at Gendy's
- go to gym in richmond
7 at the latest -drive home
-have dinner
-spend an hour on Certificate III work
-spend half an hour on Italian or Level Ones work (alternate)
-read/TV
10:30 -go to bed

Haha I wrote that ^ at 7pm last night, it's now 7:45am the next day. Ooops. Oh well, good morning!

OK well I actually don't have anything to write, so tata.