Bit of a week!

Last week was not the best of weeks! It started last Sunday night/early monday morning - Hubby never goes to bed very early and when putting the dogs out for a final wee he noticed a car parked along the bridlepath next to our paddock. He put the dogs inside and just waited and watched - most people just park at the entrance to the path but this car was way back up near our field gate. He then popped upstairs, woke me up and said he thought someone was after the horses - i shot out of bed and stayed by the window with a phone whilst he walked down the paddock. A few minutes later the car lights went on and whoever it was drove down the bridlepath and onto the road, going past our house. Hubby managed to get part of the number plate. We checked the horses and they were all okay. In the morning we wondered whether we were being a bit paranoid!

Later that day one of the girls at hubby's office said her mum had just heard on the local radio that a couple of days ago a stables had been broken into and they had tried to take one of the horses - the horses kicked up so much fuss, breaking down stable doors, etc., that the intruders ran off. They issued a warning that horse thieves seemed to be in our area. This particular stables is about 10 minutes away from us. Hubby then went on a couple of local horse watch websites and learned that two days previously two horses had been 'targeted' for theft - this was in the next village - apparently there are 'scouts' who look for the horses they want, then mark them by putting a small plait inthe mane or tail so that the thieves can find them later in the dark!

We immediately decided to bring our two coloured cobs, who are in a field just down the road, up home. We also last friday had the vet out to microchip all five horses - this won't necessarily stop them being stolen (we will be putting signs up saying the horses are all microchipped) but if they are taking them for meat, all horses are scanned first - so if microchipped they cannot be slaughtered. Well thats the theory. At the end of the day if someone wants to steal them badly enough, they will. We can only try and make life difficult for them and hope for the best.

The fact that Em was coming home at the end of the week lifted my mood considerably - but poor baby had only been home for a day when she succombed to the flu! On saturday night her temperature kept going up and we decided to ring the swine flu hotline , having first looked on the internet to see symptoms,etc. Having chatted to someone for about 10 minutes they then decided to issue her with Tamiflu - giving me a reference number to take to the chemist the next day. Needless to say i did not get much sleep that night, kept checking on em and was relieved when her temperature started to go down a bit. To cut a long story short, she was slightly better the next day so when i went to get the prescription i spoke to the pharmacist to see if it was necessary to give her the antibiotics - we both decided to hold on for a day as sometimes it can make you feel worse and if she only had a mild form of the flu it was better to let her fight it herself..

Today she is looking more like her self and managed to have a bath and eat a little bit, although she is still very wobbly and weak. So hopefully she's on the mend - i think a bit of treat may be in store when she's feeling better.

Needless to say not much getting done on the crafting front but will try and do some tomorrow - have just received the next block for the around the world swap so will do my best to do my block tomorrow and send it on its way by Wednesday!

xxxx