Today has been a mixture of beautiful sunshine and heavy showers. Luckily, Galahad and I went for our ride in a gorgeous, sunshiny part of the day.
We had a lovely hack, enjoyed some cantering in my neighbour’s field but also spent some time walking round the field to make sure he doesn’t think we always canter.
It has been a wonderful day!
It seems that pheasant season is upon us. Almost every time we ride out we are met by a whole flock of juveniles which run along the lane or field ahead of us before giving in and flying over the hedge. The ponies have got fairly used to them now, although we can still get taken by surprise occasionally.
A few days ago Galahad and I met this little one who seemed younger than the others, as unlikely as that sounds. It was cheeping like a chick and when the rest flew off it got left behind and just ran into the fence.
Eventually it managed to squeeze itself through the fence but was then trapped in the lane with us until it climbed into the hedge, still cheeping madly.
Hopefully it found its way through the hedge to rejoin the rest of the flock!
I think it is safe to say that autumn is properly upon us. It is still pretty warm but there are now lovely, crunchy leaves lying about and this week I had to ride in a coat for what seemed like the first time in months. Of course, I overheated and it promptly stopped raining but it had been absolutely pouring!
I am very much enjoying seeing the fruits of the season as I ride. Obviously there are plenty of blackberries but I have also noticed a huge number of toadstools this year. We did have a proper fairy ring but this is all that is left of it now.
This morning I also noticed this beautiful, tiny little one on my walk up to the yard.
It really is a lovely season!
It is definitely feeling autumnal around here these days. Most mornings I am riding out in the mist.
This rabbit was not at all bothered by the pony bearing down on it!
The mist means there are lots of beautiful, dew covered cobwebs all over the place. Our morning rides are just magical.
Having said that, the last few mornings have been bright and sunny so perhaps autumn isn’t quite properly here yet!
On one of my rides with my sister this week we went for a canter in our neighbour’s fields – for the first time in ages. Galahad can get overexcited when we do that and has been known to take off across the field from a sheer love of going fast.
This time however, he was incredibly steady and his canter was in fact slower than Cookster’s trot. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time and I was never worried about him running away. We even separated the two ponies so my sister could take a couple of photographs and they were both as good as gold.
Later in the week I took Galahad in the field by himself to see if it was just the company which kept him steady. He did go considerably faster that time but I still felt pretty much in control and was very happy with him. It has been a lovely week!
We are certainly having some lovely weather at the moment. We have had rain but most days have been beautiful.
In the mornings when I bring the ponies in they loom up at me out of the mist.
If I ride in the mornings we go up the hill and pop out above the mist into glorious sunshine. The view is wonderful, especially looking down over the mist in the valley.
If I ride in the evenings after work the sun is generally shining everywhere. My sister and I have had some beautiful evening hacks this week. We don’t get to ride together too often these days so it is especially lovely when we do.
Galahad and I have been exploring new horizons.
We found some new off road riding.
It was too stony to canter but lovely and peaceful with no worry about cars.
We admired the view.
We were met by an ambush.
We even battled our way through a jungle.
We had a lovely time and Galahad was brilliant. I set off early to avoid hoardes of children on holiday but ended up going through the village just as people were leaving for work. It wasn’t ideal but the only problem we had was a dog barking through a gate at us. It was a fantastic way to spend a sunny summer morning.
The other day Galahad and I went for a hack with my sister and Cookster. On our way back we decided to have a pop over a couple of fences. Galahad is really starting to jump nicely and we had a lot of fun.
I mentioned recently that he has started taking off further from the fences which is lovely but was feeling rather odd as I wasn’t used to it. It is feeling almost normal now and we are much more together again over the jumps.
We even had a go practising jumping some angled fences which Galahad completely took in his stride. The angle isn’t obvious in the video but the fences were not lined up at all. Good news for future jump offs (if we get into them)!
Look who Cookster and I met on our hack!
He popped out of the grass just ahead of us and was not at all shy about being photgraphed.
I am now going camping for a week so will be missing a few blog posts. I hope to be back refreshed and rejuvenated next week.
Sometimes living the dream is hard.
After our show last Sunday it took me nearly a week to get back in the saddle. I finished the day utterly exhausted – which is fairly standard – but also coughing which is definitely not. It turned out that I was coming down with a shocking cold which has left me feeling drained all week. All I felt like doing was crawling out of bed to feed the ponies, heading off to work, coming home to sort the ponies again and falling back into bed. It didn’t help that I was working away on Wednesday and Thursday so wasn’t even home on Wednesday night. The poor ponies have had most of the week to themselves. Not that I suppose they mind in the least.
Yesterday I was still tired after work but I was fed up with not feeling up to riding and I forced myself out to the stables. Cookster and I had a lovely relaxing hack up the hill which reminded me just how much I love to ride. It was a beautiful evening and there was nobody about but us and the sheep. If I am feeling a bit low or ill it can seem such a huge effort just to go outside but it is so worth it when I do.
Horsey adventures - We are all told, “live your life to the fullest”; I am here to do just that. Horsey adventures serves as a vessel to project my passions, and clue in my loyal readers as to what inspires me in this crazy world. So, sit back, relax, and read on.
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