I think Galahad  enjoyed his week off.

He managed to cover himself in mud and is looking a bit tubby!

It was lovely to get back in the saddle this weekend.  As neither pony had been ridden for a week I just took them out for a hack.  It was a glorious morning and we had a great time.  Galahad and I acted as a newspaper delivery – my neighbour has a delivery every day but it is dropped off at the bottom of the hill about a mile from her house.  If it is there when I ride past I tend to take it up for her.

It is times like this that I realise how far Galahad has come.  He stood like a rock while I messed about with the paper and behaved very well when I was carrying it up the hill.  There are two papers on a Saturday which makes it more tricky and it was only as I went past that I remembered I hadn’t ridden him that way since I fell off the other week.  I was a bit concerned he might get worried whilst I was riding one handed but he didn’t react at all.

I also took him for a canter in the fields.  They are always a bit wet even in summer and I think they are getting past the point where they are rideable now.  It’s not dangerous yet but we left quite a few hoof prints and as it isn’t our field I don’t like to make a mess of it.

Galahad was feeling rather fresh and he showed that he really does like going fast.  I got asked a couple of weeks ago if I can stop him when he takes off and I found that the answer is, ‘Sometimes.’  If I catch him early enough I don’t have much of a problem but it is harder once he gets going properly.  I discovered that I can be quite ineffective as a rider too – once I start to think something risky is inevitable I tend to just hang on until it is over and then start trying again afterwards.  Not that Galahad is actually dangerous – he just can gallop rather fast!

In other news we have had some work done our trees which has left us with a rather large pile of logs to burn but we also have these to jump:

I can’t wait to get them moved so we can jump them before the ground gets too wet.  As you can see we are rather excited!