'Just have a little Patience'

     In the famous (perhaps) words of Take That, I begin my latest instalment of my blog. England has turned into a country where the cities are places of fear, Cher Lloyd has managed to secure number one in the charts, our animals are entering important chapters in their lives and Luke has still not uttered a word! It is a time for great patience. England will get back to normality, the best selling single will be almost decent again, our animals will reach their potential and Luke will talk.
     I know it has been a while since I last posted a blog and this has been down to a number of factors; horse shows, babysitting and work experience. I have also been waiting for a good subject to talk about. I like to have a basis to my posts so they do not just sound like someone rambling (although they often do descend into this), so its important to me that I decide on a theme that I can write about. Patience, I feel, is a good topic to base my threads of ideas on because it is so important to a happy life. I have found recently that just by having some patience I have finally been made Features Editor of my student newspaper, FLEX, and our Welshie, Megan, has finally come into season which means our hopes for a litter out of her are once more ignited. I have also played the long game in terms of gaining work experience and I have managed to land four days at an excellent PR Company in Leicester at the end of August. Life is truly full of surprises; they just take a while to hit you.

Helgen Easter Surprise (Ruby) has already begun her ringcraft and obedience training. We took her to the Haflinger Breed Show where she met lots of new people, made new doggy friends and helped Kusse to drink out of her bucket! She is a lovely puppy and we are all very excited to watch her grow up. She can already sit, lie down and leave things. We're now working with her co-owners to perfect her stand ready to make her show debut. Ben loves looking after her and spent most of his time at the show teaching her to walk next to him. This photo is of Ben and Ruby after a hard day looking after the adults and the horse!! In time he will show her in the ring and help look after her puppies. He will just need patience.

The Breed Show saw Kusse (Limerick Sligo) become RDA Champion for the first time. She was also placed second in her breed class. This years was extremely important as Hannah was under pressure to show fellow Haffy owners that Kusse was not out of control in the show ring. Kusse behaved impeccably and we were all very proud of Hannah's achievements with her. With a little patience, Hannah will one day, hopefully, gain champion status in other classes such as the ridden classes. Only time will tell.

I find it scary, sometimes, to acknowledge that without knowing it, I have been waiting for a certain point in my life. Whenever I reach these points, I look back and realise how far I've come and how fast the time has gone, when it once seemed such a long time to wait. Going to the Breed Show this year was one of those moments. Last year Luke was only about a month old and very tiny. This year he is walking, cooing and desperate to hold Kusse's lead rope as much as possible. We are currently all waiting for him to start talking properly as he mostly just makes sounds at the minute and points to whatever he wants. The scary thing is, we all know that the moment will come and when it does we will wish that we could rewind time again. I find time moves so fast, without patience we just get caught up and miss out on the joys of day to day living. Perhaps then, we should stick to the idea of living for the present more rather than constantly living for the future because the future will arrive whether we're ready or not.

Patience is hope; hope for a better future and a good life. Despite the sadness that is occurring in the world, it is important to hang onto the idea that with patience, things do change. As this photo shows, the joys of life are in the simple things we do and cherishing these gives us the chance to enjoy the present. Do what you can whilst you can because life is too short. And if you can make someone elses life better whilst making your life extraordinary then do it. After all, kindness is what makes us human. It is also what makes us happy.

On another note, Helgen would like to introduce you all to our newest additions:- Ginnie and Minnie, our Guinea Pigs.