Archive for July, 2009

Jodie with her rosette for show jumping and dressage

July 31st 2009

Well hello there everybody, my posts are now on the main page for some reason so here we go.
Jodie and I have had a few days off doing not a lot of anything apart from looking after a friends veg patch and Jodie preparing for her Pony Club Mini Camp this week. She did amazing and passed her D+ test as well as taking first place in the show jumping and dressage test. We are all very proud of her as she doesn’t like tests of any form so this is a huge boost for her morale. She is back to work now and is with Alex in the indoor school training with Oliver who I am sure Alex has written about at some point in her posts over the last few days. WELL DONE JODES.
 The boys finished school on the 17th July and they had a really lovely last day playing monopoly and watching a DVD. Although it is nice to have a break we really do miss them in the holidays as the yard seems very quiet without them. However as you have probably seen from Alex’s posts we have had some children in on kids camp this week who have been brilliant to have around for a few days.
My days over the holidays aill be spent workin gin the office getting ready for the new term as well as helping Alex wherever I can and looking after Sarah’s son, oh yes and it is also haytime as well so that means running around for Rob as well. I love the summer it is a great way to spend my time doing lots of different jobs that I wouldn’t normally have the chance to do. I hope you are all enjoying your hols as much as I am. Well I shall go and watch Jodie working with Oliver for a little while and then go and enjoy the company of some friends in our local hostilery with a diet coke. Have a fabulous weekend.
Sarah Midd

Afternoon!
It’s lovely at Hill Top today. It’s really busy, but we can’t complain.
I started my morning with a loading session with Sid. Thats him in the picture ready for his conversation with the trailer. It’s really important to have them protected as much as possible, as any kind of injury in there is going to damage any trust I have built up. We went out for a drive in the trailer today, stopping every couple hundred yards to take him off, re-load him and go again. We had lots of little chats along the way about the pros and cons of bolting out of the trailer vs standing in it, but I think I convinced him by the end, with him running on and standing there happily while we tied him up and shut him in.
Milo had Bowen on Wednesday night and Vicky thought he was quite sore and this to be the reason he bucks. He had yesterday off and the plan now is to build up his strength with lots of longlining with the dummy on (which we are going to weigh down with sand). He also had the dentist today for the first time in his 5 years, and Marcus discovered a baby tooth that needed pulling out and lots of razor sharp edges to file down. So hopefully by Monday he will be fit as a fiddle to carry on.
Bertie also saw Marcus but he has two wolf teeth that desperately need taking out, but Sally Kingsley will need to do those as he will have to be sedated. And Oliver is waiting for Jodie to ride him out again, so all in all a good day.
The kids on camp are just about to do their demo too so I’m going to poultice Bonnie’s foot and then watch them.
TTFN, Alex

I there,
Got a new flip video camera thing today. We have all been trying to work out how to use it, then transfer the video on to the blog. We have got it on You Tube www.youtube.com but can’t get it on our own blog. I hate getting older and not keeping up with technology!!

As for the clip I filmed……. Oh my goodness how embarrassing. I look about 60. Nothing wrong with that if you are 60 but I’m only 36. My nose sticks up so I am going to have to hold the camera really high in the air. Good way of checking for bogies though. Hee Hee. And I just look terrible, I can’t believe I have been out in public looking like this. Where is the sun, I am sure that will help. I would love to give you a link to it but I have no idea how to……… thank God!

See Ya
Sarah

 I have put this picture in to make myself feel better. My best friends Ang & Judi.

Hello! My blog has moved on to here now…something to do with Google Spiders…I’m not sure but the experts tell us that’s right.
So, the madness continued today with the first day of our first Kids Camp. Emma and Jeanine have done a great job at entertaining the kids despite the torrential rain with games, races and quizzes.
The horses in training have had a good day too. I started with Bertie this morning (see pic) who had his first roller and boots on. He had a small reaction, followed by chilling out quite happily so I’m chuffed with him.
Milo was longlined with the dummy to see if I could cause the same reaction as yesterday but nothing, so all I have left is weight as the cause.
I did a loading session with Sid, who by the end was standing in the trailer all by himself without me holding him, and not bolting out at 100miles an hour like he did. Not bad for day 2 I thought.
Oliver and I went for a tootle up the drive in the rain. He was looking around a lot but good, however I am just too big for him so Jodie is gonna ride him for me.
Right, enough wittering, I’ll talk to you tomorrow
Alex

Hey there,
What a gorgeous morning I have just had spending it with two inspirational people. Pauline Garnett from ASD Metal Services www.asdmetalservices.co.uk/ & Martin, Paulines personal trainer. They are bringing 24 people from the company for corporate training in Sept. I love hearing peoples stories & Paulines is especially special. Her courage and strength was inspiring, I hope she writes a book to tell her story. Martin has been a truly motivational person for Pauline and she couldn’t have got where she is now with her weight if it wasn’t for him. He is more than just a personal trainer, he too has his own inspiring story. What an amazing team they are forming, I can’t wait to work with them!

You can reach Martin on his e-mail address if you are looking for a bit of something special in a trainer..
MS121Personaltrainer@hotmail.com or mobile 07799405131.

 Beccy at LtL 3 years ago!

Beccy Fox returns from the Abundant Life Church, www.alm.org.uk/ Bradford. Well I never thought we’d have the wonderful Beccy back working with us at LtL. Well to be exact, initiating the development, progress & expansion of LtL into Bradford. It is so exciting we are growing! We start to develop our next project this summer. When God calls, you move! Watch this space…..

Learning To Listen has been an approved BHS livery yard for 3 years now and we had our 4th inspection yesterday morning. We have a new inspector this year, Karen Moon, who was absolutely lovely and very thorough, making sure everything was in place - happy, healthy horses, good environments and of course the mandatory health & safety paperwork.
She left us this lovely quote: “A beautifully presented establishment with excellent working practices and procedures in place”.

Learning To Listen offers DIY, part & full livery with year round turn out in a stunning setting.
For availability call Alex on 01765 689368 or email info@learningtolisten.co.uk

We had Breednets www.breednet.com.au wonderful editor Tara Madgwick here yesterday. Tara has been a friend since my childhood days in Aus & my mum taught Tara how to ride many years ago! It was fun seeing Tara playing with one of our leadership games from the Warrior Programme. She easily managed to get Black Jack over and through all the obstacles! What a lovely leader Tara would make. We’ll miss her when she goes home.

Looking for an experience that is interactive & inspiring?

Need to make some decisions or changes in your life?

Want to grow and develop yourself?

Looking for something different with lasting results?

What you need is, to become a Warrior. Our next 5 day Warrior Programme starts on the 5th August til 9th August. You will learn new skills in areas such as:

Personal Development�
Leadership Skills & Leading Your Life
Teamwork & Creating Working Partnerships
New Concepts & Techniques
Body Language & Mirroring
Understanding Adversity
Non-verbal Communication
Trust Building
Building On Natural Strengths
And much much more…

Quotes for previous clients:
” Who new one week could make so much difference to your life!” Leslea

”Inspirational, never experienced anything like it” L. Jackson

”Unique, would highly reccommend” J. Brown

”A life changing experience” C. Ellis-Patterson

Call the office to book on the next course 01765 689368 

This festival is running just down the road from us and looks like a lot of fun. It starts on Friday 24th- Sunday 26th. It’s got loads of bands playing and a Healing section. Here is the website: limetreefestival.co.uk

See you there