13. May 2011 by admin.

We had a brilliant day yesterday. Highgrove was glorious and Prince Charles is charming. If you have the opportunity to do a Garden Tour I would thoroughly recommend it if you haven’t already taken one. The 15 acres are divided into lots of separate gardens with a stumpery, mosses, ferns, a kitchen garden, meadows, formal gardens etc. It is beautifully laid out with the different areas effortlessly flowing on from one another through wooden gates, arches, via mowed grass paths, and under trees. It is divinely serene and we loved it all. We re-connected with David, Jess and Justine Brohn which was fab’ and after wandering around the gardens for about an hour enjoyed a very civilised reception before heading down to the Hare and Hounds round the corner, to take afternoon tea with the elegant and eloquent Pat Pilkington and her friends.

Tony and I did a radio interview together today which I always enjoy. We don’t often get the opportunity to work together and it is always such fun when we do. The rest of the week is busy so I will not see much of Tony and Daisy and I leave for Romania on Sunday where I will be working with horses, dogs and cats. Ah! That reminds me…..my airline ticket hasn’t arrived so I will have to track that down tomorrow otherwise I won’t be going anywhere! Why is nothing simple?

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13. May 2011 by admin.

It has been another busy weekend, as I gave a talk on TTouch on Saturday and then went up to London to give another talk at the London Pet Show. I also managed to buy some really cool toys for our rabbits which has made me rather happy. Rabbits love to play and an enriched environment is really important to keep them happy and content. A hutch is simply not enough! Our rabbits have new willow balls, stuffed logs and an assortment of great chew toys but I am not convinced that they are quite as thrilled as I am.

Tony has come back home for a few days and tomorrow we are off to Highgrove to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the Penny Brohn Cancer Centre. I am looking forward to walking around the gardens especially, as I am currently in planting mode and it will be great meeting up with old friends. Tony and I have been supporters of the Centre since we moved to Bath over seventeen years ago and met Penny and her lovely family. She was an extraordinary woman and we are looking forward to being a part of this special event.

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13. May 2011 by admin.

My sister has returned to the States and I miss her. She came back down to Bath at the weekend for her birthday which was great and after this lovely extended break it is back to work for me. We had our usual sight hound morning today and I have also been painting and planting at the farm taking advantage of the fabulous weather. I will have killed off all plants by mid summer no doubt but for now everything is looking rather lovely. More building work has been completed and I can almost see the end of the massive project that is the indoor school. My cob Miss Myrtle is enjoying her work and all the horses are fit and well. I am a little paranoid about the lack of the rain though, as it isn’t looking good in terms of hay and I am concerned if we do have rain fall there will be a sudden flush of grass which could be disastrous in terms of laminitis.

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13. May 2011 by admin.

How happy am I? Tony, Daisy and I are in Dublin. Daisy and I flew out on Wednesday and Tony flew out from Paris yesterday morning arriving in time to join us for breakfast along with our friends Sharon and Rory. We then headed out to the old land-fill site in Dunsink to see some of the people that I had met at the round-up back in February. I really wanted Tony and Daisy to see the horses and be a part of the extraordinary events that have taken place in Dunsink since Sharon (from the IHWT) and Ruauri O’Dulaing (from Fingal County Council) started work on the co-initiative to tackle the equine welfare problem in the area.

After the round-up, castration of the stallions took place and this year marks the end of the breeding of horses on the old landfill. Every horse grazing in the sun on the 180 acres is now registered and after being treated for parasites they are all looking really well. There were four new foals and one had been born just hours before we arrived. They will be the last foals to be born on the dump and once the new facilities have been built, there will be no more horses grazing on this site at all. It is an initiative that has really worked and the newly formed Dunsink Horse and Pony Club is now coming together. A children’s education day took place the day before we arrived and as this is so important for both the kids and their ponies, Tony and I have pledged some more funds so that further workshops can be organised in the future.

After meeting up with our new friends at the dump, we went to a nearby hotel to get ready for the evening event. Sharon and her education officer have been running a course in equine management for some of the people whose horses were grazing on the land. Everyone who participated in the course has passed all their exams and Fingal County Council and Sharon arranged a ceremony to celebrate this incredible achievement and hand out the awards. It was a great evening hosted by Robert Hall that was both moving at times and jolly good fun. I am honoured to have been part of such a brilliant and positive way of resolving the long term issues faced by so many members of the equine community in Dunsink and the book that Sharon and I are working on about it, is virtually writing itself. We are going to have a late lunch then Tony will return to the set of Merlin and Daisy and I will head home. It is hard to describe in words how amazing this trip has been. I think I will be smiling for months.

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13. May 2011 by admin.

Tony, Daisy and I arrived home this afternoon after a trip to London to see the Charity Gala Performance of The Wizard of Oz. I arrived home late on Wednesday after a great workshop at Guide Dogs For the Blind, then re-packed my overnight bag leaving on Thursday for a night at the Charlotte Street Hotel with my family. Before the show, we met up with our friends from Over the Rainbow and had a great time catching up with everyone, before walking over to the theatre. We dropped off a first night gift for ‘Dangerous Dave’ and had a really great evening.

My sister arrives tomorrow and Daisy and I have planned an Easter Egg hunt for my nephews so I hope this lovely weather holds. It is unbelievably hot here and the wisteria is just stunning. It usually doesn’t emerge until May and is then rather short lived as the winds and rain more typical of this time of year send the beautiful blooms skittering across the lawns the moment they appear. Irritatingly, I have done something to my right foot so am limited as to what I can do in terms of looking after the horses, donkeys and dogs at the moment! I have managed to tweak an old injury and the pain is driving me mad. Fortunately, Tony is home until Monday and Daisy is an excellent cook and is fab’ with the animals, so at least I have plenty of help at hand. It does make me think though how hideous it would be if I couldn’t do the work that I love.

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13. May 2011 by admin.

It has been another perfect day both in terms of weather and work. I was doing a photoshoot for Your Dog magazine with a young black Russian terrier and his owner today. The terrier is coming into adolescence and the mouthing that most pups do is now quite hard and needs to be addressed. Men and women interact differently with dogs and it transpired that the husband has been engaging in rough games with the dog. The dog isn’t being unruly - he has simply learned that mouthing games are jolly good fun. It is so important to teach dogs an alternative way of interacting with people and although he mouthed me initially, he quickly learned other ways of playing and greeting with the use of the clicker and some gentle TTouch work around his jaws.

Puppies become sensitive to contact around their hip joints at around five months of age and this can lead to other behavioural concerns as the dog matures if it isn’t addressed. Sensitivity around the hips can lead to noise sensitivity, hyperactivity and dislike of contact around the hind quarters and the gentle body work TTouches worked a treat. We all went off to the park to work on recall and walking calmly on the lead before returning home to play with some interactive dog toys which will give the owners new and more appropriate ways of engaging with their dog.

We finished early as the dog responded so well to all the training games and body work and I am now at my friend’s house in Surrey catching up with her news, admiring her stunning garden and doing this blog! I am tired as my body clock didn’t respond to my brain knowing that I didn’t have to get up early this morning so it will be supper and bed for me as I am back on the road heading up to Guide Dogs for the Blind tomorrow morning.

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13. May 2011 by admin.

I have had a perfect day working with the dedicated and motivated team at Dogs for the Disabled. The staff are so switched on and I love working with this charity. Everyone knows their dogs really well and it is a pleasure to work with such an amazing group of people. The dogs were brilliant and the ground work is such a useful exercise for helping the younger dogs improve their confidence and co-ordination.

We finished the workshop at 3.30 and I then drove off to see a horse client which was another satisfying session. I am stunned at the change that Leonora has already been able to bring about in her delightful cob Guinness. When I first saw Guinness he was ’stuck’ in most of his body with very little movement through his neck and back and all his weight was on his right fore. Today this pattern of bracing was virtually non existent. He could lift his back, had lovely free movement with his neck in both directions and no longer dumped on his right fore in walk. Leonora has certainly been doing her homework.

We did more bodywork, some leading exercises using a combination of TTEAM and Peggy Cummings Connected groundwork then had a cup of tea and, armed with some delightful home made lemon biscuits that Leonora made for me, I set off for Stamford in the glorious evening sun. The drive was perfect and I am now in the George Hotel in this beautiful town waiting for my good friend Bob Atkins to come over and have dinner with me. I haven’t seen Bob for months and it will be great to catch up. The hotel is delightful and, with the prospect of a lie-in, I am looking forward to a leisurely late supper with my gorgeous friend.

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