Since we moved to our new house with nearly 6 acres in West Lothian on 14th May life has been a bit of a roller-coaster!
Bordador, my new horse, a Spanish stallion arrived a day earlier than expected, the day before the stables. Fortunately he was quite happy to stay out alone eating grass. He is incredibly laid back and the transporter said he'd never met a stallion so quiet and unbothered by other horses. Took him for a ride to the top of the crofts to retrieve our bin the first morning and apart from an inability to stand still he was excellent!
The stables were duely delivered and constructed very quickly the next day and that was the point at which life stopped going to plan. I hung around for the rest of the day waiting for a delivery of Liverpool wood pellets for horse bedding which should have come the previous day and didn't arrive, until very late, so my other Spanish horse, Neon, had to stay at his old livery yard .
That evening the shower literally came apart in my hand with water gushing everywhere,
so Friday morning necessitated awaiting the services of an emergency plumber before setting off to get Neon and hay. Being short of time I managed to get 5 bales in the (single) trailer with Neon.
All trundled along smoothly until early the next week when it rained and Mr B came in with both front shoes bent and hanging off one side, probably due to the nastly deep wet soil . I couldn't get them off and it was 10 pm by then so both boys spent the next 2 days in until the lovely new farrier could come out and rescue us. Once unshod B was very footsore on hard surfaces and I felt terrible about breaking him so quickly. Somewhere during this time I trod on the porch door ledge and it proved completely rotten and fell off taking the sliding door with it!
The following weekend the car broke down and was eventually diagnosed as having broken its timing chain. Even with a contribution from BMW the bill to get it repaired was huge!
But with the help of hire cars and vans we carried on meantime and finally got the last of the furniture moved from Edinburgh. Plus I had a good lesson on Neon in the borrowed arena on the crofts and the girls up there have proved lovely as have our new neighbours.
My wonderful Dad came up for a week and fixed 101 house problems including the porch which helped hugely.
To add to the other problems I have had a health problem for which the treatment has made me exhausted and I'm not allowed to ride until this episode is over.
The field has come out in a sea of buttercups and no exaggeration I think it is 70% buttercups 30% grass of which maybe a quarter is marsh grass.
Despite asking everybody including lovely neighbours and paddock care professionals, I have had no joy getting it topped and it needs topping, rolling and harrowing and probably spraying. Looks like we will be buying a tractor sometime soon. Oh and the midges are out with a vengeance!
But despite all that I'm really happy with my 2 beautiful boys, who get on fine. Neon (the gelding) is in charge and being a bully when I'm about.
They haven't been ridden enough but have been very good when they are. The cat has also settled in well and is busy annihilating the local small furry population. My parents are up again with their and my own collies so more jobs are getting done ans I have dogs to cuddle. :-)
I haven't started on plans for a veg garden, sheep or anything else that was planned. Next tasks are to sort field drainage, cost and put in planning for stables and arena, which West Lothian planning department are being very helpful about, sort field and get the horses and me fit. I still have a load of unpacking to do too!
Topic: Update since moving (Read 3415 times)
