Bravo

I've used this word a lot over the past two weeks. Not in the "standing to applaud the operatic diva" way, but mentally, while I've been watching TV as the various members of Team GB (as we must call them) did their utmost to win Olympic medals.

Yesterday I watched Valegro and Charlotte Dujardin's beautiful, soft, rhythmic, forward Kur. Today when I came to drive my Fell mare Ruby, the haymaking tractors were whizzing to and fro, and I had a sudden urge to avoid the roads. A really good excuse to work in the field instead. Most of the summer (hollow laugh) it's been too wet to use it for schooling, but it was sound enough today, and Ruby does enjoy being out there on the grass. Her purpose is to reclaim it, she tells me, from Those Damned Sheep.

So we worked quietly away, with me asking her to remember to use her stiff hind leg and slow down, instead of hurtling round every right handed corner like a motorbike, with her head pointing left. Lots of little exercises, bends, circles and walk pirouettes - all interspersed with what she enjoys best, just storming along the side of the wood in extended trot!

When she got things right I told her, "Good girl," because, not being Italian, she doesn't understand, "Bravo."

In the middle of it I felt a little tickle in the brain that said, "Hang on, 'bravo' has another meaning as well, doesn't it?"

So, after the schooling, I came indoors and looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary, which I often have open in my browser. As you do.

What do you mean, you don't? Doesn't every writer in England know that access to the full OED is free if you've got a library card? And doesn't every historical novelist use its Historical Thesaurus to check what phrases and words were available to characters in their chosen period?

While the Dictionary describes the interjection as a shout of praise, "Well done!" the Historical Thesaurus also defines a noun "bravo" thus: "A daring villain, a hired soldier or assassin; ‘a man who murders for hire’ (Johnson); a reckless desperado." The dates of recorded usage stretch from 1597 to 1876.

OED quotes Ben Jonson using "bravo" in "The Silent Woman," so I hunted down the full text of "The Silent Woman." And browsing through that I found another interesting snippet:

Epicene: And have you those excellent Receits, Madam, to keep
your selves from bearing of Children?

Haughty: O yes, Morose: How should we maintain our
Youth and Beauty else? Many Births of a Woman
make her Old...

Contraception being described on stage as "excellent" back in 1616? Wow!

I think I may have a new novel brewing. It has a title. And a hero and heroine.

Well, it's a start.

Sonny's visit to Greenholme (16)

I woke very early and was up and about by 6.30 so the ponies had not only had breakfast but digested their hay too when we got them out at 9.30 and brushed off.

Jen took Sonny into the field and mounted him by the gatepost there, just to let him be mounted in a different place. I followed when I'd harnessed and yoked Ruby. Jen and Sonny were already walking the sheep off the hayfield so we joined her.

A stag and two hinds cantered out of the Nursery wood and across the river, over Tom's fences, across the road, and away over two walls, running from Mr Allen's motorbike as he "looked" the sheep. Jen was astonished at how large red deer are - it's a long while since she's seen them close up. The horses didn't bother, for once; Ruby has got quite sparked up at times when we've put-up roe deer close at hand.

It was all very laid-back today; the weather was fresh and cool, Ruby was chilled and Sonny relaxed, despite several hours of grazing in the paddock yesterday afternoon and despite the clegs fastening on blood at every opportunity. I didn't get bitten - I must be doing something right! Jen rode Sonny up and down the slopes, circled at trot, and cantered him frequently, which he evidently enjoyed. She also went on working on ground tying - throw down the lead rope and he will halt. He was confused though when I asked if he was reacting to the throw or the rope ... she moved her arm without the rope and he thought about stopping, then didn't. Bright boy! The memory of his crack over the backside evidently held good; he didn't "plant" himself at all today.

I moved the sheep away from the yard gate a couple of times with Ruby, who quite enjoyed being a sheep-herd. Sonny saw Jackie Taylor and her son James walking up the road, and pricked his little ears and asked to investigate, so Jen told him to canter after them, which he was delighted to do. He saw that they had a dog, and was curious but not too bothered. I took Ruby for a nice trot along the wood side and back, and we both really enjoyed that. She wanted to tank through the gateway (also remembering Sonny's crack over the backside yesterday!) but I made her walk back in quietly.

It all made a nice change from sorting out web forums and damn-awkward trolls :)

Photos of tomorrow's schooling session, I hope. Today was too laid back to bother :)

Sonny's visit to Greenholme (12)

Jen came while I was at work and took Sonny out. She put the Easyboots on his hind feet, and reasoning that if her bum was sore from the saddle his back would probably be a bit uncomfortable too, she decided not to ride. Instead she brought out the black harness and set him up for driving. He accepted all this until she put the crupper under his tail, which made him tuck his bottom in. Graham came and put a hand on his rein and talked to him, and he settled down again all right even with Jen clanking the chains about and fiddling with the harness. She brought out David's ex cart and put it on him - he fretted and fidgeted a bit, but when she stayed relaxed and told him not to be such a fairy, he settled down. He pretended to fuss about going down the yard, when the breeching came into play, but again soon settled into his work. He was a bit lazy going out - hardly surprising after his quite long ride yesterday - but stood well for her to pretend to adjust harness and re-fasten one of his boots at the Selsmire substation layby. Jen reported that he needed "a lot more rein" in the carriage, as he definitely missed the leg contact and "wobbled about" a lot more.

On the way home he trotted steadily past the young ponies and walked down the hill into the village despite there being a large sheep-wagon coming down the hill after him. Jen let him have 30 minutes in the paddock with lots of fly spray but put him back indoors after that because despite the spray, the flies were biting.


I took Ruby out in the afternoon - which was one of those annoying drives that start out badly, not because of anything Ruby did, but because we had only just left the yard when we encountered a large Manitou loader towing a large flat farm trailer. There was really nowhere to go but home, and although our road is very narrow, poor Ruby did her best to screw the carriage round in its own length, and very ugly it all was too, with the wheels scraping the wall behind me and Ruby trying not to get the shafts hooked up in the sheep netting on the wall in front of her. We got turned round and went back into the yard to let the loader go by, and then I had to take Ruby out of the carriage and spend the next fifteen minutes with a mallet and cold chisel whacking twelve inches of solid rubber tyre back into its channel on the inside wheel. F***ing road chippings, f***ing farm equipment, grrr grrr grrr.

I finally got the carriage hooked up again and took Ruby along the road for a couple of miles, hoping the tyre would continue to settle into the channel as we went. Eventually I found a nice, shady, grassy roadside with no biting flies, where she could graze for ten minutes and I could recover my lost temper. She trotted home from there in good style, and I was pleased that when we met the Manitou loader again the young driver pulled in where there was plenty of room, and let US go by in return for our gesture an hour earlier.

Ruby didn't appreciate me giving her a wash when we got home, but a scoop of mix, a clean shavings bed (thanks to Jen in the morning who had tidied up my hasty picking-over) and a slab of soaked hay, soon made her forget her grumpyness. Sonny said he'd rather like some of Ruby's mix, too, but as he still had half a haynet left, I told him he'd have to make do with a clean bed. And so did Ruby.

The tyre isn't right but I think it will hold okay.
.

Sonny's visit to Greenholme (3)

I turned Ruby out early into the field so the two adjoining stables would both be empty for Sonny's arrival. David appeared on the yard just as I poured my breakfast coffee, but I went out to see how things were going. Roger had driven up in the car following David and Sonny with the exercise cart, so he was already standing at Sonny's head while David unyoked and unharnessed. "He came over Pikey just grand," said David. "Got into trot to keep up his momentum and just kept going. Never bothered about the motorbikes either, and we met quite a few."

Sonny was quite sweaty after doing four miles over hilly country, and ordinarily I'd have washed him off, but I thought perhaps that would be a question too far on his arrival in a completely strange place. He was a bit worried by Sammy the sheepdog who made a couple of dashes at his heels as we walked round to the stable, but he only went a stride or two and obeyed the halter.

The stable was another matter. Outside the sun was bright and the stable looked very dark! He jibbed, but David told him firmly to "walk on" and after a moment's consideration Sonny walked in.

I left Sonny to look round while I fetched a haynet, and David and Roger went off back to Tebay, since Roger had to go to work. Once the haynet was up, I walked out to collect Ruby. Typical of his family, as soon as he realised the door was shut, he started trying the latch.

Out in the field, Ruby had her head down and was hoping nobody was going to take her away from the grass, but she came in obediently. At the gate she must have smelt Sonny, because she stood very still and he let out a series of loud whinnies. So in we went. Mother and son met nose to nose over the connecting door and stood like statues, breathing deeply, almost kissing, for several minutes, before Sonny's sniffing became too much for Ruby and she let out the classic indignant-mare squeal.

Graham wandered out to have a look and I went back for my breakfast. The coffee was still hot.

An hour later when both were settled, I took the grooming brushes and gave Sonny a firm going-over to loosen the sweat from his coat. He stood quietly, so that's no problem. He wasn't sure about me handling his right ear, which has a matted bit on the ear-tuft, but i persuaded him it was all right. I'll trim off the tuft, which is probably catching on things apart from my brush. Must find the round ended scissors (you don't use them much with Fells!). Then I picked up all his feet. After I'd handled the left side he said, "No, I know what you want but I'm not going to pick up my right fore." So I moved him about until that foot had left the ground, and asked again. He made me use two hands, but he picked it up, and the right hind, peacefully. That's going to be something to do at least once a day then.

Ruby meanwhile stood yearning over the partition, "Groom ME, groom ME!" and scratching her neck on a handy knot in the woodwork (which she hadn't had access to when in the other box.) I fetched a saw and got rid of the knot, and gave her a fuss and a bit of hay. Silly old dear.

Sonny's visit to Greenholme (2)

9 June
David's done the groundwork and it's just a case of spending a week or two filling in a bit more experience. Sonny is coming here early Sunday morning and David is going to give me a hand to introduce him to my cart with its bigger and more visible wheels. Then I will give David a lift home. I might drive Sonny out later in the day when he's had time to cool off after coming over Pikey [big hill to the south], but before he's thought about getting fresh again. Stabling him with straight hay-and-water and no hard feed has done wonders for his figure and also his attitude :) Like his Mum, he slonks a bit at walk unless you nag him. He still peeps at things, but that's just greenness, nothing nasty. Time and miles are the cure for that. Danny is booked to come and shoe Ruby and I've left a message that I want him to handle Sonny if he comes while Sonny is here. And yes, I know they have had their differences, but I have a strategy ready :)

Sonny's visit to Greenholme

My bay Fell mare Ruby had 2 foals with her previous owner and the younger one is "Sonny" an 8 year old brown gelding. Both have Sunday names, as Shacklabank Sonny Boy and Coppyhill Suzanne, but you can forget that for now as "Sonny" and "Ruby" are much shorter to type! Here's Ruby with me driving and Dylan Winter (Radio & TV presenter) as passenger, complete with fluffy mike.



Sonny is a big grown up boy who hasn't done very much work because his owner is a very busy lady with a walking-holiday business (near Sedbergh). We email periodically about the management of her web site (www.shacklabank.co.uk)....

23 April
I was talking to David Trotter at the weekend and mentioned Sonny and his naughtiness, and David is intrigued. You know how he loves a challenge :)
Sue

24 April
Sonny is still out on the tops with Belle both have lost weight thank goodness so ill call David and have a chat then hope to bring him off and walk him to Davids in the next few weeks (if he will have a go!) he would have someone to ride him im sure, the time has come and David understands fells, Sonny knows im a push over and to be honest he is so lovely its a dam shame not to be out on him ...
A

24 April
That'll be good for Sonny, and I know David likes a challenge. I shall definitely be dropping in on the yard at Tebay to see how the naughty boy is doing. I haven't seen him except at a long distance out in your fields so I'll be keen to make his acquaintance.
Sue

23 May
Well its time David said he could fit him in this week so ill contact and then get him up to David and hope all goes well
my main need is to have him straight and be able to ride him..there is a pressure to have him useable  i know this takes time David seems to think it will be no problem and will drive him! im uneasy about this as i know Sonny and his explosive behaviour and his is a creature of flight! however David has a helper and his many years of fells will come through.
A

1 June
I gather Sunny had a few steckies in the first couple of days but David says he drove him at Lynn's yard today and people were saying how well he was going. I'm hoping to see him in action myself tomorrow afternoon.
Sue

7 June


I have your saddle here and DJ says he will drive Sonny over to our place next Sunday (I'm quite busy this week with some teaching and writing stuff, plus web work on Weds; and it is Greenholme Show on Sat) so I can drive him and maybe Jen will ride him. Video here of Sonny working well on the way home.

I wonder what Mum Ruby will think when he arrives!
Sue

8 June
you have made my night thanks.... so  whats the plan now are you to have Sonny for a week or so?? and from when
im so thrilled with the pictures and video..