Pony

Pony Reading

/ ponydreamer / 6 Comments

It seems that I have read rather a lot of pony books over the last couple of weeks.

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I  go through phases where I will read one pony book after another and completely immerse myself in them.  I have to force myself to read something different and break the run.

There is just something so cosy about them and I suppose a bit of nostalgia for my childhood spent reading them.  I  tend to read more vintage books than modern ones and there are so many that I think I could keep reading for the rest of my life without repeating myself!

I am particularly fond of the Pullein-Thompsons, Ruby Ferguson and Monica Edwards – although hers can be hard to find. Having said that, I love Patricia Leitch, Gillian Baxter, Joanna Cannan…  I  think my favourite might depend on who I happen to have read most recently!

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Once the ponies are done for the evening the best way to finish the day is curling up in front of the fire with a cup of tea and a pony book.  Bliss!

Relaxing Evenings with the Ponies

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One of my favourite things about autumn is the time I spend with the ponies in the evening.  There is something very relaxing about going out in the dark to talk to them.  I know I have complained about the lack of riding now it is darker in the evenings but it is really just as nice just being with them without the pressure of trying to actually achieve something.  I always come in feeling completely calm and happy.

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After a stressful day there is nothing better than a pony hug to make it all better.  Galahad is particularly good for hugging – he will stand patiently for ages while I tell him my troubles.   Except on those odd days when apparently I am the scariest thing he has ever seen.

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Cookster on the other hand has no time for hugging.   He comes up to see me but without any food he very quickly gets bored and goes back to munching grass.  He is a proper stereotypical pony!

Making the most of my time

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Since I had a day’s holiday to use up I tacked it onto my weekend off and so managed to ride three days in a row which is a luxury now.  Monday was a glorious day – so warm that I found myself riding in a t-shirt again.

Galahad was feeling the heat rather as well and needed a wash down when we had finished schooling.  We worked hard on our flatwork and then had a play with the jumps so Galahad was happy.  Recently he has started to get a bit overexcited when I turn him towards a fence and it is particularly noticeable if we haven’t jumped for a while so I am trying to do some little and often to keep it less exciting.

He did feel a bit strong on Monday but having watched the video I think a lot of it was in my head as it was what I was expecting.  I was very pleased with both the jumping and the flatwork although I have realised that our right flexion can be rather dodgy and needs quite a bit of work.  Does anyone have any tips for good exercises?

I also took my sister’s pony out on a hack he hadn’t done before.  Cookster can be a bit nappy when he’s out by himself but he only tried to go home once and that was when I had turned back to let a car pass so it wasn’t entirely his fault.

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We had a lovely ride and it was nice for him to be taken somewhere different – I think he can get bored pretty easily.  We also met my sister on her way home from work and walked down with her which was fun.  Cookster liked having someone to follow too!

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Darkness

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This is what the world looks like when I get home from work these days.

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It got dark in the evenings so suddenly!  One week riding wasn’t a problem, the next I couldn’t ride at all!   I am down to riding two days a week on my days off now. The ponies will be less fit over the winter and I’ll start building them up again when it gets lighter in the spring.

One bright side is that I am playing games with the ponies more.  I started trying to teach my sister’s pony to bow and he is already better than Galahad which is irritating.   He is very food oriented so it isn’t really a surprise.

Today was my day off though so Galahad and I went for a relaxed evening hack and had a lovely canter through the fields.   Even though it isn’t all that high it sometimes feels like the top of the world, especially when things are a bit hazy like they were today.   It was very calming and peaceful,  the perfect end to the day.

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Blackberrying by Pony

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One of my favourite things to do at this time of year is to take Galahad blackberrying.  The berries are starting to go over now but there are still enough around to make it worthwhile.  This is where playing around with gymkhana games come in handy – Galahad has got pretty used to me leaning over to the side for no apparent reason.  Most of the time.  He can still have his moments!

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This year I was brave enough to show him an actual proper basket for the blackberries.  I was a bit concerned that it would be too much of a worry for him but we have been keeping apples in it so he thought it was wonderful.

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Galahad is also rather keen on the actual blackberry picking.  He is a bit too good really – he watches me pick the first lot of berries until he decides he has got the hang of it.  We move on to the next patch and he carefully picks the berries off for me.  He finds them quite a delicacy!

Schooling Successes

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Galahad and I have had two very profitable schooling sessions this week.  The first one was perhaps nothing spectacular but Galahad was very much listening to me and seemed to be trying hard.  It is always very satisfying to finish a session feeling that we both did our best.

We also managed to achieve some fairly good neck reining which is something we have been finding tricky.  I am hoping to have a go at trec this winter and neck reining is pretty important for that.  Ours is not perfect yet but we are definitely making progress.

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Our other notable schooling session came after I had ridden my sister’s pony and put him out in the other field.  Not surprisingly Galahad was rather distracted and very tense the whole time.  He did feel at times as though he might explode but the important point was that he didn’t.  We didn’t necessarily look particularly good but he did everything I asked him to do.  It was a good learning experience for both of us – I gained a lot of confidence for riding him when he feels so tense.

When we finished I left him loose in the yard as I thought he would stay by the gate nearest to the other field.  Instead he did this.

Which presumably is what he was wanting to do the whole time I was riding.  I’m very glad he didn’t!

Encounters with Tractors

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Our hacks have been quite exciting recently.  The other day we heard something very rattly going up the hill.  We couldn’t work out what it was but when we rode out half an hour later we met it coming back down again.  It turned out to be a tractor and trailer collecting the hay bales from the field at the top of the hill.  I was very pleased that Galahad went past it without too much fuss,  although it was at quite a speed!  The farmer was lovely – he not only turned off his engine but when he moved off again he coasted down the hill without the engine running.  I think the tractor itself wasn’t actually too scary but the trailer with all those hay bales was rather intimidating.

On our next ride we could hear the trailer in the field and as we went down the hill we could hear it coming alongside us so we knew it would pop out into the lane before long.  We waited for it so it wouldn’t be chasing us down the lane.

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In the end the ponies weren’t too bothered by it, although it wasn’t so close to us this time.  We eventually decided to ride the top loop of our hack again as we were having to wait quite a while.  When we came back down Galahad knew exactly where the tractor had been – he kept a very keen eye on the spot!

Yesterday I took my sister’s pony out and found the farmer doing some work in the gateway between the hay fields – it had got rather rutted.  That wasn’t too scary and we still had a nice canter but as we were making our (very relaxed) way back down the track the car came up behind us.  We pulled into a gateway and they passed with no trouble but following it was this contraption.

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It has been sitting in the corner of the field ever since the hay was first cut so the ponies have actually got fairly used to it but of course now it was moving and rattling!  He did let it get very close but right at the last minute he decided it was all too much and we cantered a little way across the field.  Not very far though and we were soon quite happily chasing it down the hill.  It was exciting!

Playing Games

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Yesterday was the best day.  I mentioned before that I have been doing some liberty training with Galahad but that he still has some trust issues so some things are hard for him.  I will hopefully be trying more now I can’t ride him every day – I’ll have a go at some tricks on the days he doesn’t get ridden.

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Yesterday as I was bringing him in from the field we had a quick play and he actually did a proper bow.  He had one knee on the floor and he didn’t immediately jump up in a panic but stayed down for a few moments.  It was the best feeling and felt like a real breakthrough.

Of course, when I tried with someone watching, camera at the ready,  he couldn’t bring himself to do it again.

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He trusted me enough to go down when it was just us though and I am so incredibly proud of him for that.  It’s the little things (which are really big things)!

Back From Our Holidays

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Whilst I was at the Europeans Galahad had a holiday as well.  Of course, his consisted mostly of standing in his field eating grass but I am sure he enjoyed himself very much.

Being away reminds me just how far Galahad has come in the last year.  Not so very long ago a week’s break would have had him shying away from me in the field and we would have taken several steps backward.  This time however he walked up to me just as usual despite my torch – he isn’t a fan of torches!  When it came to riding him the next day he was quite full of energy but behaved very well.  He really has improved.

We had a lovely hack in the fading light and the sky was absolutely beautiful.  It doesn’t really come out in the photograph  – they never do.

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Sadly in that week the light has changed so much that I no longer have enough of it to ride both ponies after work.  I try to alternate them which means Galahad will only be ridden half as much for now.  Less once it gets too dark to ride at all.

Thursday, however, was my day off.  My sister was able to ride too so we hacked out together.  We had a good gallop in the fields up the hill and the good news is that the hay bales are not really scary anymore.  We canter around the original ones (looking a bit sorry for themselves now) quite happily and although we might roll our eyes a bit at the new ones which have appeared in the next two fields they didn’t stop us cantering there either.  All of which is very good news despite the fact that my sister’s pony makes a beeline for the bales now he has worked out they are made of hay.

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We had glorious sunshine for the whole of our ride even though we had a short drizzly shower too.  The ponies got hot enough to need a wash down and I was back to riding in a t-shirt.  We had a gorgeous time and I think the ponies enjoyed it too.  Galahad certainly enjoyed his galloping, I’m not so sure about his partial bath afterwards!

Beating the Flies?

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Galahad’s fly mask has pretty much had it now.  It has gradually been getting more holes but now one of them is big enough for his ear to stick through.

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Given that I only got it because he has trouble with flies in his ears it seems a bit redundant now. It has also worn a (very small) bald patch on his ear which is obviously not good at all.  I would mend it but hopefully  (touch wood) the flies seem almost gone for now.  I’ll mend it if his ears get bad again, otherwise I’ll just get him a new one next year.

Strangely the more damaged it got the less often he managed to escape it.  Perhaps the holes gave it extra ventilation so he didn’t want it off so much.  I am now more likely to find my sister’s pony hatless.  His mask has lasted twice as long so far and the only problem with it now is that the velcro itself is wearing out.  He doesn’t have the same desire to get rid of it though.  I have found him in the field with the velcro completely undone but the mask still on his head!

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I just gave both ponies what I hope was their last dose of deosect for the season.  Galahad is not at all keen on being sprayed and most years up to now I have been spraying him every day with normal fly spray.   For several years I had to use a sponge to get it on.  Deosect shouldn’t be used nearly so often so he must prefer it.  It has also so far prevented him getting the nasty persistent bite he usually gets every summer so I am happy too.  It is pretty good stuff!