Poo Picking and Sheila Chapman

Back to poo picking in the dark already.....or i am the only person out there stupid enough to do this? Last week it was sort of light, yesterday morning...BANG....it was pitch black and only just coming light when I had to get off to work. Peeing it down too this morning...oh the joys of having horses!

On the other hand the funny little things they do never fail to raise a smile...how Harry gets on his knees (but never when I brandish the camera) to eat grass under the electric fence and how as soon as it's off he tries to lift out the fence posts with his teeth (grr...just love them don't ya) or simply leans over it. How today Murphy meandered down to have a drink in a 'dozen looped serpentine' sort of fashion, then promptly galloped back up he top like his bottom was on fire.

Sheila Chapman, by the way I was not likening her books to poo picking, is a very little known author but very collectable too! Her books, in all honesty, I do not think are the best but they are rare and command good prices and I guess when you consider her first was written and ready to be published by the time she was 15 you can forgive the 'immaturity' of the writer and her plots. As far as I am aware there are 4 books of which I own 3. A Pony and his Partner is probably the best of the three. It Introduces us to Carmen (an orphan - dead parents seem to feature highly in her books, as do badly injured lame ponies) who goes to live with her cousins. Carmen is a very talented horsewoman (naturally) and by and by acquires a nervous and difficult pony Oberon who she works miracles with and wins at HOYS! Along the way it's actually an okay (if not predictable - but very young girls dream) kind of story. It isn't all plain sailing for Carmen and at several points we are told how she 'masters' Oberon, which rather spoil it for me but I guess that was how it was (and by most folk still is perceived the way to treat a horse unfortunately). It also has the, what seems to be obligatory in my reading at the min, N**** reference. this time in the way of an unpolitically correct joke. Having been reading Kathleen Mackenzie recently too, it would seem quite vogue of this period to include some kind of reference. The book ends happily with the win at HOYS and Carmen being adopted by famous show jumper Joe Trent. I was rather confused as to whether he was her uncle or not, I am not sure if the Author knew, or maybe it was dead clear but I missed it? The sequel The Mystery pony, was disappointing to be frank. Oberon is lamed by her cousin, Carmen doesn't want another pony until she spots the mystery horse. She catches him without much fuss but he is difficult and rather a mystery as well bred and highly schooled. The book drags a bit in the middle then there is a flood and he escapes with the mares while Carmen is saving the day by fetching the vet. A rather boring search is performed and of course the horses owner turns up. During the search the horse meets his doom too, nobody seems bothered that much, happily ever after........ Pretty pointless story really but never mind. It is easy enough to read and looks good in the collection! I have just started Pony From Fire and this is a little predictable too. Yoland, again super young rider, loses her memory in crashing fall, which lames pony permanently. When she comes round she is too scared to ride. Oh and her mum dies too if she had not been through enough already. By and by she does ride and I have just got to the bit where she comes face to face with the pony she fell from Tremor.

I am guessing at memory now returns, re trains a difficult pony and wins a big competition? I will have to wait and see........