Rain

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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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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!

New Year New Haircut

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For a few weeks now I have been thinking that it was time to give Galahad a haircut.  Specifically his tail – it might not be very thick but it does get rather long.

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It is not technically correct to trim native ponies but that has never stopped me clipping him.  We don’t tend to show much anyway so it really doesn’t matter.  Besides, when it rains as much as it has done this last week this is the sort of thing that happens.

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It can’t be particularly pleasant!

I didn’t want to wash the whole tail but I did clean off the ends before I trimmed them – the mud wasn’t just wet it was cold too.  Plus, clean hair is much better for the scissors!

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Galahad looks much smarter now and I should think is more comfortable.  I seem to have neglected to take a picture of the finished product though – I wanted the hair to dry first so we went for our ride and I forgot all about it.  It was a lovely hack though, even if it was blowing a gale!

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!

The Rains Came Down

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Whilst the rest of the country seems to be knee deep in snow we have had a veritable downpour.

When I got up on Sunday morning the rain was lashing down and it was blowing a gale.  It was not ideal riding weather but I had to go out so any riding had to be done then or never.  The field was in a terrible state!

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As it happened, the rain eased off slightly while we were riding so we were well rewarded for taking the plunge!

I was out for the afternoon and during that time the rain got worse.  There was water flowing out of the drystone walls around our yard and the stream rose alarmingly.

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As I was out my Mum left a marker stone to show me how far it had come.  The gates had to be opened because there was a lot of debris building up against them.

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The water levels went down again surprisingly quickly but the fields are still sodden.  There will be no riding on them for a while!

Mud, Glorious Mud

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We have had a lot of rain over the past few days.  Also hail and sleet.  Things are starting to look a little soggy!

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In fact, the gateway into the yard got to the point where we just had to do something about it.  We had some branches taken out in our woodland and the work has left us with a large pile of wood chippings.  These are excellent for putting down on the mud!

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My parents were very kind and put down a load of chippings on Friday.  They are wonderful!   I can now get into the yard without having a struggle and getting covered in mud.  The dog likes it too – she might be a country dog but she hates mud and will do her best to get round it!

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The rain hasn’t stopped us getting out and about though – although other people’s fields are looking even wetter than ours!

Freezing Rain

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It has been rather cold here for the past few days.  The wind is biting and the rain is freezing.  Literally  – there were bits of sleet in it today.  Luckily it stayed dry for our hack today but we got pretty wet yesterday.

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Our neighbour has moved out and the new people were moving in yesterday – we met one very fast small van and a slower, larger one.  That one got slightly wedged between two cottages and we had the fun of watching it try to extricate itself.  The ponies were fascinated!

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They were very well behaved though.  We have a field right on the side of a fairly busy road and lorries frequently drive past it very fast.  It has been invaluable in making sure the ponies are not traffic shy.

Fording the Torrent

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Yesterday Galahad and I went for a hack along our most overgrown route.  Given the trouble I had to get him to walk through the brambles last time I decided to just lead him from the start.  The trouble was that the stream was a bit swollen by the recent rain.

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Galahad was not impressed and categorically refused to be led through.  I had to get back on and ride him – apparently that was no problem at all!

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I did have to get back off again to navigate the brambles but after that we had a lovely ride.  I had got rather wet riding Cookster but it cleared up nicely for Galahad and I.  Definitely worth the hassle!

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Sedate Excursions

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Although we have had a fair bit of rain recently it is still possible to canter in my neighbour’s fields without risking slipping over.  On Sunday my sister and I went for a lovely lazy hack and took full advantage of the not too slippy fields.

Some of the electricity poles have recently been replaced so the gateways were hideously churned up but the fields themselves were fine so we had a great time.

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Both ponies behaved very well – Galahad was possibly the most sedate I have ever known him to be in the field.  Hopefully the lesson is getting through and we will have no more taking off!

It did start to rain while we were out but it was that very fine rain which is practically just mist.  Very atmospheric and nice and refreshing!

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Rain Stops Play!

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I pride myself on not being a fair weather rider but the weather on Wednesday was a bit much even for me.

Sorry about the video orientation! 

I had been planning to film my next online dressage test for BHS Somerset but I definitely was not going to film in that.  It’s not like we would do a good test in those conditions anyway.

I  gave up for the day, turned out the ponies and went indoors for a cup of tea.  Of course, within ten minutes the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared. I decided it was still too dark to film, plus the field was probably pretty slippery,  but there was no reason why we shouldn’t go out for a hack.

Galahad had other ideas though – I had turned him out and he had no intention of coming back in again!  It took me at least five minutes to catch him but I managed it and we went out for a lovely ride splashing through the puddles.

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It turned into a beautiful evening!

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