Hacking

Green and Pleasant Land

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We have been having some lovely hacks recently.  Just Galahad and I meandering through the countryside in the evening sunshine.

We get to see some wonderful things.  The hawthorn is particularly beautiful this year.

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There are also some interesting things.  This patch of road for instance.

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It is always wet, even in the middle of a heat wave.  It is not under any trees and the water does not appear to be coming from the hedge.  I can only assume that it has managed to make its way up through the tarmac.  It is pretty powerful stuff!

Then, of course, there is the wildlife.  Isn’t this eggshell beautiful?

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Mainly though, it is just good to enjoy the view.

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Summertime

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The past few days have been rather warm to say the least!

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Our hacks have been very gentle and meandering and we have been seeking out whatever shade we can find.

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I do love to sit in the shade – I enjoy the dry weather but I can’t stay in the full sun for too long.

Unfortunately the horse flies have suddenly materialised too and, as this rather blurry photograph shows, some headshaking has been going on.

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We added some citronella to the water when we washed the ponies off after today’s hack – hopefully that will discourage some of the flies.

Quality Time

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It is always good to have productive days of schooling, fun jumping sessions or exciting competitions.  Sometimes though, the best times with the ponies are much more relaxed.

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Today I had two lovely hacks with the ponies.  They were feeling lazy, I was feeling lazy and we just pootled along the lanes having a great time.

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Besides that though, time spent around the yard doing the chores and just spending time with the ponies is wonderful.

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One of the best parts of my day is turning out the ponies in the evening and watching them as they wander out.

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We are having such lovely evenings at the moment that I could stay and watch them for ages.

Comeuppance

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Monday was a glorious day so Galahad and I went out for a hack.  The road was quiet, the birds were singing and everything was right with the world.

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Until we came home.

We had to come down a narrow lane which is closed off by a hurdle at the top.  The hurdle needs lifting and really needs to be opened dismounted.  As it is a little awkward to manage I always seem to end up on the off side of the pony when I have closed the hurdle again.  Without much room to manoeuvre it is far easier to hop on from the wrong side and on Cookster I do that without thinking.

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Never with Galahad though.  I tried it once at home and he panicked.  Partly because he isn’t used to it and partly because my muscles aren’t tuned enough to mounting from the wrong side so it isn’t as smooth as my mounting usually is.

On Monday I was feeling lazy and hopping up from where I was seemed a good plan.  After all, sometimes trec competitions ask for the rider to mount from the off side so practising is a good idea.  At least, that’s what I told myself.

It did not end well.  He shot off forwards when I was only half on.  I ended up in a patch of nettles minus my hat cover and with only one boot.  I had to paddle through the mud to find that – there is a spring at the top of the lane so it is wet all year round.

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We were only about a hundred yards from the house so as I plodded home I was imagining the concern Galahad would cause when he careered into the yard witout me.  In the event, nobody saw him and I found him unconcernedly munching grass.  He was nicely decorated though!

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Obviously mounting from the wrong side is something we can work on – especially if I want to be able to use it in a trec competition.  I will improve my own ability by practising on Cookster before I try it on Galahad again though!

The Joys of Spring

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For the past few days Galahad has been feeling nice and forward.  Not in a spooky or dangerous way – just in a not having to push him on way.  We have had some lovely hacks!  Perhaps it is the springtime.

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Cookster has also been feeling the spring in a different way – he is moulting with a vengeance.  I’m sure I spend more time grooming him than I do riding!

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I happened to pick up a magic brush at my instructor’s yard one day and I loved it so much I bought one for myself.  It is great for cleaning hairy ponies!

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Yesterday was the ponies’ official birthday – they were born on the moor so we don’t know their actual birthday.  Of course, we couldn’t let it pass without a carrot at dinner time!

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Perhaps Not

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On Sunday I wrote a nice, positive post about the arrival of spring.  Then I went out for a ride with my sister.

As I mentioned in that post, I have been riding in short boots with no coat and I didn’t see any reason to change that on Sunday.  Naturally, within about five minutes it was pouring with rain.  We got so wet!

The sound in the video is mostly from the hundreds of tiny pebbles being washed down the hill.

On the bright side, Galahad wanted very much to turn away from the rain and we got some lovely lateral work out of it.  It was much better before we started filming of course.

Naturally I am sat writing this on Wednesday evening – after the springiest of spring days.  Perhaps this is the end of the rain!

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Spring, Spring, Spring

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I think that spring can definitely be said to be here.  We have had some beautiful days this week – the sun has been shining and things are beginning to blossom.

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I’ve talked about the primroses before but it is a really good year for them!

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I have been routinely riding without a coat and have even brought my short boots out from their winter retirement.  It has been a lovely week.

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There is a downside though – the flies are suddenly about in droves.  It was only a few weeks ago that we were covered in snow.  How can we possibly need the fly masks already?!

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Evening Rambling

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It is very easy, as I have discovered, to come home from work and sit down for a cup of tea and a chat.  Then to look out of the window and think, ‘It’s getting a bit dark to ride really – I’ll have to ride tomorrow.’  Especially when the ground looks like this.

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However, this evening I deliberately did not sit down at all when I got home.  Instead I gulped down my tea, got changed and went straight out to the ponies.  Cookster was sporting some additional decorations!

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It’s just mud splashes – not some dire disease!

It was a lovely evening and Galahad and I very much enjoyed our hack.  He seemed to relish the chance to have a canter on the verge too – they probably aren’t running too much in these wet fields!

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April Showers

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Really it should be April downpours!

We have a couple of days of sunshine without rain and the ground starts to look like it might be thinking about drying up.

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Then the heavens open and we are swimming in mud again.  It seems to be never ending!  The other day we rode out in reasonably nice weather but it wasn’t long before we were being drenched in some very cold rain which turned to hail after a few minutes.  All of the lambs in the surrounding fields suddenly started complaining  and before we knew it they had disappeared into the hedges.  It didn’t make them quiet though – we were surrounded by a wall of sound.

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On the bright side, the rain means that I have good reason to wear my riding skirt.  It keeps both of us lovely and dry – although when I am wearing it I’m sure the rain is more likely to hold off!

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Another positive is that since the clocks went forward we have been having some lovely light evenings and there is finally time to ride after work.  It is wonderful to get more riding!

Escape!

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Yesterday was simply beautiful and the ponies took full advantage of the sunshine by simply walking through a gate that was accidentally left open and gorging on the lush grass.  It wouldn’t really have been a problem except that it is quite a steep slope and the ground is still very slippery.  Luckily they were far too interested in the grass to run about!

We thought we would have terrible trouble catching them and dragging them away for a ride but actually Cookster  just stood stock still.

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Galahad was another story and would not let me near him.

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He was quite happy to follow Cookster up to the stables though!  We found some very interested visitors when we got there – waiting for their breakfasts.

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Sadly we didn’t have any for them.

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When we did get out for our ride we had a lovely time.   The primroses are suddenly flourishing  – I thought there were plenty of them before but overnight they seem to have multiplied and now there are whole banks covered in them.  They were beautiful!

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