Hacking

Living the Dream

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After our busy day on Saturday, Sunday was wonderfully restful.

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I had two lovely hacks, the ponies behaved well, the sun was shining and everything seemed right with the world.

My reward for riding and looking after Cookster – my sister’s pony after all – was to find him absolutely covered in mud.

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At first I thought t was highly ironic that I was wearing my ‘Living the dream’ gilet.  Who dreams of spending their Sunday afternoon scrubbing mud off of a pony?  Especially one who is moulting.

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However, as we pottered up the hill, I realised that actually it was an amazing day.  If anyone had told my twelve year old self that one day I would be able to spend a sunny afternoon playing with two ponies and riding them I would have been thrilled.  I really am living the dream.

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Snow Day Mark Two

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Just when we thought that spring was on its way, this happened.

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This winter storm has been dubbed the ‘mini beast from the East’ which, as my sister says, rather suggests a woodlouse with a snow machine.

We drove home last night through a proper snow storm but about two miles from home the snow suddenly just stopped and we thought we would get none at all.  It did eventually start snowing though and by this morning everything was white.

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I always find the snow fascinating for watching wildlife – the tracks are great – and this morning I spent quite some time watching the pair of thrushes that arrived  here recently.  I am very much hoping that they will nest and we will have a little brood of them.

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We also had a proper snowball fight for the first time in ages – the snow last time was not great for snowballs.  We even built a little snowman!

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We did managed to go for a very short ride.  Galahad was a little chilly to start with and it didn’t really feel safe to go too far but it was wonderful to get to use my riding skirt in earnest!

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By that time a lot of the snow had melted but as we came back in it was snowing again and pretty soon all the green was hidden once more.  It is still snowing now, although not as much as it was,  and I will soon be curled up by the fire with a book and a cup of tea.  It is a pretty good day.

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Exciting Times

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Our hacking at the weekend was pretty exciting – relatively speaking.  First Cookster and I met our neighbour and then immediately afterwards a Waitrose van.  At first I was hugely impressed with the amount it slowed down for us – especially as we weren’t actually on the road at the time.  Then I realised it was trying to turn into the same lane as us and so it had to slow down because we were just in the way.  Oops.

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Next we encountered a lady in her back garden chasing away the pheasants.  As she lives on the edge of a pheasant shoot I think she is fighting a losing battle!  Cookster was remarkably calm about that though and barely batted an eyelid.  We then of course met the Waitrose van coming back but this time I made sure we were well out of the way.

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Galahad and I had a very calm ride really and only met one car.  They were extremely good at slowing down to pass us – so much so that Galahad started to grow restless waiting on the verge.  I had pulled him up from what he thought was going to be a canter and he was not overly happy about it.  It was lovely to see that the driver was so aware of slowing down to pass us though.

As you can see, it was rather a wet day but we had a great time!

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By Sunday it was safe enough to ride again so Galahad and I set off up the hill.   I love the snow but it did feel good to be riding.

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Not that all the snow was gone – it wasn’t quite clear in the valley and we didn’t have to go far up the hill to find more.

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It is all gone now and what with the heavy frosts and a few sunny, dry days, the ground was beginning to dry out and show signs of recovering from our very wet winter.

For the last couple of days though it has poured with rain and the mud is just as bad as it ever was.  It does make life interesting – we usually use the stream to soak the ponies’ overnight haynets and with it flowing as strongly as it is at the moment that takes quite a bit of strength!

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Hail!

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This week we went out to tack up the ponies in beautiful sunshine.  It was a glorious day and I was looking forward to a lovely, relaxing ride.

By the time we started up the hill,  the sky behind us had gone ominously dark and we could see the weather closing in.  It was still beautiful though.

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Before long the hail started and Galahad’s mane was filled with pretty beads.

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For the first time  I felt that my riding skirt was serving a genuine purpose – protecting my poor little clipped pony from all those hailstones.

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We did have a lovely ride nonetheless and despite the hail it was nice and relaxing.  A wonderful way to spend a morning.

Feeling the Chill

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The day after Galahad had his back check he and I went out for a hack.  It was the first time in a while that we had hacked out from anywhere other than home and to start with he was a bit reluctant to leave.  Once we did get going though he was very keen to go indeed!  So much so that I decided to go a bit further than I had planned just to work off some of his excess energy.

He was very jolly though and I’m not really sure that it made much difference.  However, we had a good time even if we were going faster than I would have liked.  Unsurprisingly I have no pictures from the hack though – I did not think it would be safe!

That afternoon was haircut time for Galahad.  Cookster is definitely moulting now and since Galahad won’t for months yet he needed doing – he had enough hair to fill an entire wheelbarrow!

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He is now a two rug pony.  It seems odd for an Exmoor but he has been wearing a rug for the last month anyway to help his sore muscles and we needed to replace the warmth of his coat with something.

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Apparently he was still full of energy even then but behaved pretty well.  He certainly looks very smart now.

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Sunny Sunday

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This weekend my sister and I have been for some lovely hacks.  We didn’t go anywhere exciting but it was so nice just to ride out and enjoy the company of our ponies.

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We don’t get to ride together that often these days so it’s great when we can.

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As far as I can tell, the vaseline has done a good job of stopping pinworm eggs sticking to Galahad’s skin but it has caused a problem of its own.   Where he has swished his tail he has transferred a good amount of vaseline to his coat.  This isn’t pretty and it is a nightmare to get rid of it.

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Soap and water doesn’t really work, although I did make the mistake of using cold water which makes it worse.  Cornflour or baby powder is going to be my next attempt but if anyone has any better ideas I would be very grateful to hear them!

Glorious Mud

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It seems to have been raining solidly for the past few weeks and I have never known the ground to be so wet.  We will definitely not be schooling here anytime soon!

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However, on Monday Galahad and I got out for a hack which was miraculously dry.  We got a little further afield than usual and found distinct signs that spring is on its way.

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It’s hard to tell in the picture but there is a whole bank of snowdrops in front of Galahad. It was beautiful!

There have been primroses out since before Christmas and the snowdrops have been around for a while too but a bit further up the road we found daffodils and even some campion.

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Then on Thursday morning I stepped out of the door to find the sky was a gorgeous blue and the birds were singing like crazy.  Make sure you have the sound on when you play the video!

It was a beautiful morning until the rain came back.  Definitely promising signs of spring though – it’s amazing how much better it can make one feel!

Riding into the New Year

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The weather this morning was rather nice but we wasted it as my sister was making a trifle and I curled up with a book.  By the time we got out to ride it was pouring with rain so we dragged on all of our waterproofs.

Naturally, it stopped raining as soon as we were tacked up and ready to ride – I’m sure that if we had decided against waterproofs the rain would have got worse!  However, at least it meant that we had a lovely, dry ride out.

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We had a great time and I think the ponies enjoyed it too despite our making them splash through the puddles.

The only downside was that Galahad thought the perfect place to stop for a poo was right outside our neighbours’ house.  I got off to clear it into the hedge and they came out of the house just as I was doing so.  We had a nice chat and I don’t think they realised what I was doing… They didn’t mention it anyway!

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We had some chores to do outside and just as we got back indoors the heavens opened again.  We timed our outing perfectly!

Pony Posting

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On Friday we made our annual Pony Post excursion.

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When I was a child I once rode out with my instructor’s daughter to deliver their Christmas cards and it seemed so wonderful that I have always been determined to do the same with our ponies.

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The tack is still mostly decorated from the tinsel ride so we were very festive again.

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We didn’t actually meet anyone on our rounds but when we got home we went carol singing at our own front door and the ponies were rewarded with apples.  We had a lovely time.

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Merry Christmas!

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