Conversations through the middle

Childhood memories

February 7, 2010

I was thinking today about the programmes that Anya loves to watch on TV and the ones I used to watch when I was little. It doesn’t feel so very long ago since I was a child but the difference between television programmes then and now is phenomenal.

TV now is light years away from TV then. Pinky & Perky, The Herb Garden, Playschool, they all seem so old and antiquated, so quiet and gentle. Kid’s TV now is full of shouting and manic teenagers.

I have tried to interest Anya in the programmes of my youth but she always looks at me as if I’m mad, they’re just not interesting enough for her. You had to be there I suppose – my favourite was The Woodentops on Watch With Mother, would I watch it now? I thought yes, but then I found it on You Tube…

Trotting on

February 7, 2010

John and I rode out this morning with another couple of girls from the livery yard and their horses, we were out for around an hour-and-a-half, the longest hack we have done so far. He was tired when we got back to the yard because we did a lot of trotting, more than we have done for ages.

Again, he was brill in all ways. We went a new route and he handled it really well, even though for some reason there were lots of cars around (on a Sunday morning can you believe, why weren’t people still in bed?) We met several dogs, joggers and cyclists – the only one he seemed to be wary of was a very large poodle with a quiff.

I lost a stirrup manoeuvring our way through apple boxes stacked up either side of the path at one point – he did take a dislike to them – but he went through at a jog so didn’t disgrace himself by taking off with me, and I managed to hook my foot back into the stirrup pretty quickly.

Another great step forward for us I think.

A bit of childhood history and a bit about horses

February 7, 2010

Considering I didn’t ride when I was a child and nobody in my family has much to do with horses, I was wondering how and why I ended up hooked.

This could be the answer – found on YouTube. I loved this programme when I was little and it’s still one of my favourite ever songs. There’s a better clip on YouTube, the actual starting sequence from the show, but I can’t work out how to get it from there to here.

Another great TV series for horse-mad girls was Follyfoot. I wasn’t into this programme so much but loved the song, I still do.

Why the long face?

February 6, 2010

Ho ho, the old ones are the best. He’s actually happy as far as I know, though it was very foggy. He prefers to be out rather than in I’m sure, even if the weather is pants. We didn’t ride until the afternoon when the fog had gone and there was brilliant sunshine – but by the time I had de-mudded him the sun had gone in and the light was going. We still rode out – and we did the short block by ourselves! He called most of the way round, joggged some and walked sideways looking towards home, but he still did it. I am so proud of him!