Spring

Do you want to know what spring in England in the countryside smells like?  It smells an awful lot like shit.  :)  The farmers are preparing fields in preparation for the spring and summer, and for miles you can smell the muck being spread on the fields.  I remember riding out with a group of friends once, and one woman took a big breath of the manure-scented air and said “Now that’s a good spring smell!”  lol…

The daffodils are coming out on the sides of the roads, and lambkins are starting to be seen in the fields.  That’s what English spring is to me: masses of daffodils everywhere you drive, pink and white blossoms on the trees, and fields full of fluffy lambs.  Someday I’ll have the nerve to sneak into one of the fields, catch and hold one for a few minutes.  You’ll see me on the evening news, arrested for lamb molestation.

I’m putting Lizzie back into work, and it’s not been fun.  One of the girls at the stable finally told me that it sometimes takes two of them and a chifney bit to lead her anywhere, and sometimes (such as on a show weekend) they don’t try to take her out of her stall at all, because it’s not safe.  So, baby steps for now, to try to get her back to a state where she can be handled safely, and ridden without throwing tizzy fits and generally acting like a brainless squirrel.

Speaking of squirrels, did you catch Twirl-A-Squirrel?  Classic.