Rain, 18ml over night, hopefully enough to entice the dry brittle grass into life. Unfortunately the 2 newly installed 100,000 litre tanks have yet to fill and as they aren’t plumbed into the system and we don’t have a fire pump or hoses to transfer the water, we have had to organise a delivery of water to accommodate the washing requirements of 3 large horses during the show season. So this rain is most welcome and I don’t care who’s weekend leisure events are dashed because of it… bring it on!

Esk show is next Saturday and we are planning to take all our Shires. Duchess’s hock is still not 100% but we need her to become accustomed to the show noises, people and excitement so she is coming along for the ride. Rebel and Pearl will hopefully not perform as they did at Gatton, we have had them separated in an effort to break that mare/foal bond but 2 weeks is just not enough time and they will be back together for the duration of the show, so we’ll see how they go. I was glad I hadn’t washed the trio last weekend as they are wonderfully muddy and grotty with the wet night, so we’ll have to squeeze that 5 hour task into this week somewhere.

I start work next Monday having completed all the medicals and testing required for the position so I am excited to beginning a new phase in my career. It’s going to be a huge learning curve as I haven’t worked in a call centre before. So this leaves me this week to attempt to complete a list of chores far longer than the time allows… sigh, the luxury of time is over, it’s back to routine and habit for all of us.

The colder nights are blissful at the moment and with the last of the shows that we are attending just about over we can look back and see what we have learnt, assess what else we need to learn and how we can improve our standing both inside and outside the ring as Shire breeders. Foremost of course is ensuring we make time to watch our three just being horses. Pearl is glowing with pregnancy, Duchess is filling out now and Rebel is just a bean sprout at the moment growing alarmingly fast. Our joy is simple, our horses. They don’t have to do much to please us and we hope their progeny go on to please others in the same way.

Our Shires enjoying a run