Yesterday the blugaria (yes I realise I’m calling it bLugaria rather than buLgaria) crew were out in full numbers for a shopping extravaganza (well almost…never mind the fact that none of us really had much money and in the morning Kirstin and Gemma were seriously in need of caffeine and then by the afternoon me and Emily were flagging)
It was wonderful fun and we even remembered to get off the bus in the morning when we got to the station (well only after sitting there for a few minutes before Emily exclaimed “You guys! Don’t we need to get off here?”)
We found rainbow high heels (which the stroppy bitches in the shop wouldn’t let us photograph - because we’re blatantly gonna steal the design) and I was amazed at the amount of babies there seemed to be - once you’d noticed one there seemed to be hundreds!

I spent this evening with my two riding buddies and we watched the Hickstead show jumping competition with the infamous derby bank (a 10′6″ high bank with a 60 degree decent which rider and horse have to plunge down and then make a huge jump two strides later) which was absolutely brilliant - a real nail biter right to the end when they had to do a ‘jump off’ (ie, the two who were joint first jump another course, and whoever does it fastest or with the least amount of fences knocked over - depending on which comes first, wins) and it was even more exciting because it was the winner of last years even and the winner of 2006 jumping against each other.

Today was also my three year anniversary. Woop! :D
Lotsa Love
Kat
xxx
P.s - Simon, this is your prize for the e-hug. :p Things will go better now I’m sure:
Everyone - Simon rocks and this is his mention.

Its official! My friend’s horse has just given birth to her girl foal! HOW ADORABLE (and so nearly on my birthday…)
So if I get a chance to go see this new little miracle I can use my new camera and take photos :D

Welcome to the world foaly!

Lotsa Love
Kat
xxx

Last Sunday me and riding buddy Sophie braved the cross country (XC) course for the first time this season. I was, to not put too finer point on it, shitting myself. I was so scared I was actually shaking - but I needn’t have been! Saxon loves it so much and is so good that after the first 3 jumps I was totally relaxed and loving every minute, such an awesome pony.
The third jump that we did was called the “Step and Palisade” and it actually featured in the pre novice class this year (it goes intro -> pre novice -> novice -> intermediate) so its not a beginners fence and it looks terrifying!

The uphill-ness of it means that you pretty much have to let the horse gallop after the step up. Me and Sophie both took one look at it and said “no”. Our instructor said yes…and made me do it after Sophie fell off (great confidence boost - first time XC since I broke my bone and he’s making me throw myself up a step, hill, jump.) But, bless little Saxon, after I went up to it and turned him away from it we went again a second time and aced it no problems. That feeling going up that hill was amazing - I actually did a happy scream and shook my fist like I would in a film.
So anyway, Sophie’s photographically talented sister came out and took some photo’s so hopefully I’ll get them posted up on another page if anyone is interested (but I expect not somehow :P)

Lotsa Love
Kat
xxx

Okay - not really even spring yet, but I’m feeling so summery and happy, I’m ready for summer now. Probably mostly because I bought myself a new tankini (and shock horror, its a size smaller than last years, so I’m more than slightly chuffed with that :D)
But I just undid a lot of that because I then chose to have McDonald’s for lunch. STUPID IDEA. I have just added up my calorific values (sodding mission to find them - they done make it easy. A google search was fruitless and I had to trawl through a FAQ page to find a link) and now I feel obese. Bloody McDonald’s - how can they sell such shit and how can I pay them for it. I swear I shall never go again.

*big sigh* I just shouldn’t have looked - ignorance is bliss after all!

So this weekend I have a lot of coursework to do of both the historical and literary kind. I also have a horse show to help out on which will probably manic - around 300 children with as many horses competing. Add relatives, teachers and helpers and you have a very tense bunch of people with some very skitty animals.

Roll on summery summer and the summery summer heat. PLEASE
Lotsa love Kat
xxx

Well its been a bit of a while, but I haven’t really had much to say, and I figured its better to say nothing than something really dull. So I passed my driving test (finally!) with 5 minor faults, which sits about middle with my 3 attempts, so I’ve been enjoying zooming around in my little Clio (called Alfie) but my parents have now decided that it shouldn’t change my lifestyle, being able to drive, so my car time looks to be limited. Damn - I guess I wont be driving to school every other day then.

Yesterday I went to the Poplar Park Horse Trials, which was great fun and we got to ’spot the celebrity rider’ with Oliver Townsend making his appearance in a horse box the size of a small bungalow. We also walked around the cross country course (which you can do whilst riders are riding it) which was truly inspirational. The horses are usually at top speed and they’re jumping fences 3 - 4 foot either tall or with that as a drop on the other side. The actual horses themselves were all stunning and its amazing how fit they have to be. I never really thought about it but they really do have to be top class beasts, even for the novice and pre- novice tests. I can’t even begin to imagine the actual value of horse there was there as a total…its in the hundreds of thousands at least.

So this is Kat signing off totally inspired.
xxx

Well I failed my driving test. Again.
With 3 minors and a stupid pull out in front of a landrover (now I have even more reason to hate them)
But I don’t want to talk about that - it makes me depressed.

So I’ll talk about my fabulous riding lesson last Sunday where I jumped a whole course of jumps which were about 2 foot. Small yes, but that’s exactly what I needed and I think its been the first riding lesson since I started back where I feel like I’ve made progress and I didn’t spend the whole time sick to my stomach. I approached (most of) the jumps confidently and actually enjoyed doing it. Onwards and upwards! It helps that Saxon is my little star pony - he’s so sweet and honest, he even jumped a jump directly after tripping up - a lot of horses would have put the breaks on. He just carried on doing his thing. Love Love Love that pony!
Also helped out at a jumping competition which was (as always) absolute mayhem with about 15 horses competing and all trying to stay in the same tiny enclosed arena - we had a few squabbles from both horses and riders! Was very very fun. Also got to see some of the instructors who are on part time work now.

And to end on a cheerful note, how about reading about some Stallion fighting here (Pictures which are not for the faint hearted)

Lotsa Love
Kat
xxx

Was out riding today and…yes…my first fall since I smooshed a bone.
Clever clever little me!
Well I’m not broken this time, and this time it got caught on camera, so I’ve been banned from bringing any recording device as they seem to curse me!
Its weird though - this time all I got was a bump on my shin, but I was jumping a 2 foot 6 upright at canter, rather than trotting over a tiny weeny little 2 foot cross pole! Stupid Sods law.

However, the lesson today wasn’t going so great - I have no confidence in jumping any more (it terrifies the bejeebers out of me) and am not ashamed to say I was a little bit tearful. I even had the thought ““I don’t know if I want to do this any more” So I need to seriously work on getting back my nerve…

Its right at the end - as you can see I got a little confused as to where I was going!
Sorry about the wind noises!

Lotsa Love
Kat
xxx

Well aren’t I just a genius!
Yesterday I managed to break my collar bone whilst riding - I was just doing a diddy little warm up jump, and I guess I was just a bit enthusiastic about going over because once the horse had landed I just kept going over his head, landed on my left shoulder, rolled onto my bum, sat up and began to exhaust my vocabulary of swear words (and bearing in mind they make up roughly 10% of my normal vocabulary, there were quite a lot)
This screws my going on the mock hunt because I’m not allowed to ride for the next 3 months but the doctor said the pain should ease off in a week or two, which is good seeing as the only way I’ve managed so far is to max out on doses of codeine and ibuprofen, and move slowly.

Its my first ever broken bone but doing a sport like riding, it was only a matter of time. So this is me signing off one handed
kat xxx

Its amazing how annoyed you can get just by reading something, I mean picture this; here I am just minding my own business, reading other peoples blogs (ok so not minding my own business) when BAZAM! I feel like I want to spit teeth and strangle someone. Maybe its just me, or maybe its the effect that the blog’s author has on people, who knows. But Seriously?! what the hell…

Yesterday I had another cross country lesson, which was awesome despite riding a pony (Saxon) who doesn’t seem to do anything other than a flat out canter when jumping XC. We did a few courses this time rather than individual jumps, the only trouble I had was slowing the little bugger down sow e could actually get a decent line up to and away from the jumps, so if anyone has some advice on how to slow down but not dishearten an excitable, hard pulling cob I’d really appreciate it (I tried half halts and I tried letting him run his own course). I mean, don’t get me wrong its really nice to find a horse so enthusiastic about jumping and clearly loving every moment, but I’d like a bit of control!

This evening is PARTY! W00ty! Due to many people working and so being about 10 people down from the numbers I usually have at my parties, I’m planning many drinking games and we have all been threatened with Aftershock by Jelly.
I’m looking forward to seeing all my bitches after our extended absence from each other where I feel I have become too normal and need to top up my insanity levels a wee bit.

I expect this is a fairly boring post
C’est la vie
Lotsa Love
Kat
xxx

(That means hello my friends, I’m like, almost Italian!)

Yes, as I type I am sitting high up in the mountains of….somewhere in Italy near a town called Asiago (azii-a-goh) and if I look out the window….the weather looks suspiciously mountainous - grey.

Well the first week of my holiday was suitably sunny and boring. Minus the one day when I got to meet up with one of my best friends who was also in Sienna. We ate ice-cream and marveled at the mini 3 wheeled lorries which careened around the city at a less than sane speed. We stayed in a little Villa owned by an Itlaian family with an obsession for dogs - they had 2 husky/german crosses (amazing blue eyes) and a miniature schnauzer and an undeterminable breed of hound. One of the German shepard crosses (called Zeus) adopted us and followed us around whenever we were in the villa.

This week has been more fun - for one I’m not alone with my family but there are other english families with us, but also we are not just wondering around cities aimlessly untill me or mum finally gets stroppy and we go back to the Villa. On Monday I did a 30 km cycle ride around the mountains (up and down, some of the downs angled at about 45 degrees which was very unnerving.) Yesterday We went white water rafting in several 2 man inflatable canoe. My experience was one of trying to cooperate with a trained monkey that didn’t know its left from its right and couldnt get the hang of steering. That mnkey was my father. We ended up on the rocks more than twice but never capsized. Today I am being indulged with a 2 hour ride with someone who possibly cant speak english, so I’m just checking out all the horsey words I might need to know. Like stop!

The hotel we’re staying at is 4* (It came with the package holiday. My parents are far too stingy to choose that!) and I’ve decided 4 star is the only way to go. hehehe! the breakfast music taste is bizarre - we started off with an unusually tasteful kooks song, which was then replaced with “If you leave me now…you’ll take away the biggest part of me…OOOOHOOOOHHHOOOOHOH…” being blared out at a less than civil volume. To follow that we had the worst rendition ever of “Somewhere over the rainbow”.

One thing the Italians are famed for is there driving - and believe me our coach driver is a typical example of the mad, bullish style that is typically associated. He guns his way around hair pin turns on the edge of the mountain, so close to the barriar we actually hit it yesterday. It was a trip not for the faint hearted and many members of our group did it with their eyes shut, crossing themselves repeatedly.

Anyway enough for now
arrivederci!