On Monday my sister and I took the ponies on our instructor’s annual tinsel ride. It has been so long since I have actually been able to go with the group instead of having my own private ride and I had a wonderful time.

Waiting for our lift!

We could not have asked for better weather.  The sun was shining and we all got rather warm.  One of the valleys was full of mist and the views were absolutely beautiful.

I was a little concerned about the ponies’ fitness levels for a long ride (four hours!) but they actually kept up pretty well.  They even had rather too much energy in a couple of places where they shied spectacularly and barged into other ponies.   We were fine but I am always terrified of making a small child fall off.

In fact, the only issue we had was that Galahad felt a little footsore on some of the stonier tracks – he pretty much dragged me through a hedge at one point so my knee is a mess of bramble scratches.  I expect Cookster to be footsore sometimes but it is most unusual for Galahad.

My sister also came away wounded – she banged her knee on a fence post at a gallop. She has an impressive bruise!

At one point we took a shortcut to avoid some particularly stony tracks and began walking down the grassy gallop to meet the others  half way.  Of course, they could not pull up so rushed past us but I was so proud of our ponies as they didn’t whip round and take off – we were very much in control.

I had a wonderful day and even came away with a lucky dip Christmas present. I am not a proper grown up yet!