Happy New Year

And what a welcome relief after yesterday, 38 degrees yesterday and still hot last night, today is a pleasant low 20's.

Anyway we digress, meet Clark the soon to be gelding, he is just over a year old and starting to make a nuisance of himself with the mares.

He is looking happy and oblivious to the feat that awaits.

Hallucinations

Was a warm afternoon and had a couple of friends around enjoying a coldie or three, looked up and saw a glass of beer and a footy, must give this away..........

It's a pretty savage crop and the quality has dimished somewhat but you get the general idea.

Kate again

Her first attempt at a bigger XC jump, she and Rose (the donkey under the saddle) cleared it well and boosted the confidence of both.

She has another horse, Captain and is looking at starting to ride the bigger still Zeus by the end of 2010.

Ferret

Ferret is 4kg of pure hate and aggression, she had an accident about two years ago and lost her back leg, she recovered pretty well and is still as active as ever displaying her distaste for cats and anything else that is bigger than her.

She gets to sleep inside at night now as she is getting old but she still the same cunning Ferret of old.

My Guitar

Apart from cameras I also love playing guitar, this is my pride and joy, the Maton C50 classical.

No longer made after Bill May retired.

I studied with Sue Ellis for a while (she is the late Bill Mays daughter) who was a student of Sadie Bishop who was a student of Andre Segovia.

The strings are La Bella Gold 900 with a wound fourth, gold plated give it a richer sound and for me they last longer as the nickel string seem to break in a week or so, cost difference is minimal.

Can I post my music, we'll see.

Horse events

Spent Sunday at the Neerim Ag Show and while parading around ran into one of the harness Judges, meet Peter, with his large moustache and bowler hat he was an outstanding character at the event.

He edxplained the differences to me about the different types of 'vehicle' used in these events and further explained that he now spends a lot of time in the UK where this is much more popular, he also has an interest in dog breeding, judging and showing.

A very amicable and genteel gentleman, Peter is one of those rare gems that you meet only a few times in your travels.

The two types of carriage on the day were the four wheeled Viceroy and the two wheeled Jinker or Sulky, depending upon whether you are competing in NSW or Victoria.

The Ladies here enjoy the pursuit and are quite happy to explain the intricacies of the sport to anyone who is interested, they dress for the event and I must say they are extremely elegant.

Horses

We have heaps of pictures of Kate riding but she loved this one with Rose with all four feet (hooves) off the ground, this was Mornington Peninsula Pony Club One Day Event held on Sunday 15th November.

I remembered my hat and didn't get a bright red head for a change, it was a good day and she did well.

First post

Sitting here trying to work out how to set up my website and this is a welcome relief from everything else that wants to go wrong.

It is at present about 30°C outside and getting warmer, bit windy and dust is blowing around in the paddocks.

Trying to make the most of my day as I have another computer to sort out later and my digital camera to charge for the weekend, I work as a professional photographer most weekends and shoot horse events in the Gippsland/Peninsula areas.

Our day starts at about 5.30am when we have to get up and feed the horses, sort out the dogs and get ourselves ready for work by about 7.30, this usually involves a lot of everything not going to plan, lack of cooperation from the kids but by the time we leave we are generally back on speaking terms again.

We have had a bit of a drama this week with Candy the foal breaking her leg when she tried to jump a fence, she is at home at the moment looking decidedly sorry for herself and is somewhat immobilised with a splint, she is going away to be stabled for a month or two until the break heals.

Never far away while I have the camera in my hand is Sally the Cardigan Corgi, she is about 12 now and always under my feet.

She has her own feed and water bowl but much prefers to drink with the horses, they don't seem to mind and generally ignore her anyway.

And as they say, never a show without Punch and girlchilds Papillon turns up, his name is Alex but for me he answers to Weasel, comes inside in the morning and bites my toes under the table while I have breakfast, and he's a bit too quick to receive a kick for his troubles.

There are two more dogs, a three legged Miniature Fox Terrier called Ferret and a big black thing called Bongo, Ferret was nowhere to be seen so I can only guess that she is indulging in one of her two favourite pastimes, chasing mice in the feed shed or sleeping somewhere.

Bongo is tied up after harassing the plumber who couldn't get near our home sewerage unit to fix the pump.

This is great, my first blog and my website is still not working properly.

More later