Hoping to go to Wellington over the weekend, first event since Gatcombe 2019?Cannot wait for pimms, ponies, and some sunshine!
Nice little event, could be a fantastic venue!
Maybe should have put him up for more money ? 
Cracking open a tin of M&S mojito as we speak ?
I'm quite partial to the Lidl raspberry mojito in a tin myself
cheers! She charmed everyone over the lovely picnic lunch as she was very quiet and polite though kept trying to nick my glass of Rose!! A very kind gent on an impressive TB very sweetly told me that she reminded him of his very much loved pony and gave her several polos; she would probably have gone home with him if she could have done I think! Well although it hasn't felt like much forward motion I think Alw and I have reached a couple of milestones. On Saturday morning we headed off for some hound exercise. Alw has seen hounds once before -as a 3 year old and was interested but perfectly calm and patient but Saturday was due to be a more structured encounter with more questions asked. We headed off in the box with one of her fieldmates, arrived at destination, unloaded and tacked up beautifully then headed off in the wrong direction...!! An hour and several stiff hills later we finally tracked down hounds who were a good distance away on the other side of an open hill. I didn't really see the need for a very steep descent and climb up the other side of the valley so we stayed where we were though her fieldmate was taken off sharpish to join hounds and other horses. Alw coped brilliantly with that in fact - good girl!! The sound of hounds perked her up but she was required only to walk and wait with one other friend whilst hounds pottered along. Occasionally she could see her fieldmate coming back towards her , and him calling out to her, but she was perfectly polite about that. It was quite tedious for her to learn to stand still and not either fidget or want to go somewhere; quite a hard lesson in fact. She was, of course allowed to graze but moor grass just isn't that delish! There were very, very few other horses in attendance so it was an easy morning for her in that sense but it was so low-key it was virtually non-existent and I was a little disappointed in all honesty but we did manage a first; Alw realised, after 2 long years that she can actually do a wee under saddle!! This has been a bit of an issue in fact and I have taken every opportunity to try to encourage her to relax enough previously; her friends all do it and I KNOW that at times she has needed a wee but hung on for home poor thing. But Saturday, at long last she got there. I hate the idea of horse being uncomfortable so hopefully now she has got the hang of that
Today we went off for a group ride with 10 other horses; none of whom she has met before so she had to hoick her brave pants up and not make a fuss about strangers behind her. I was so proud of her as she was a complete pro. She allowed the others to come up behind her and to trot and canter away from her. This is the biggest group of horses she has actually encountered at close quarters so it was quite a big ask and whilst she is pretty sociable and well adjusted, in fact she will stand her ground if hassled so it is lovely to think she has got some natural good manners hahahahahaha!! This bodes well for further group stuff and more than makes up for Saturday's slight non-event. Alw was also able to show off to everyone what a very sassy mare she is as she was quite happy to ride off the feral ponies on the common; I have taught her to do this (for safety reasons) but she has previously had a wing-man in case things get too spicy for her. Today she was able to deal with the group of 12 norty ferals all on her own thus impressing the rather less 'wild and woolly' riders we were with. Her pretty face was also much admired - she stood out in a group of mostly ex racing TBs though there was a lovely bay connie along too today.
She left the group on her own and tootled home so politely that I actually felt rather emotional. I am so proud of her courage and good sense, so proud of her happy, willing and trusting outlook. Those small achievements this weekend are very little in the scheme of things and I guess all things we feel we should be able to take for granted but some of them are still 'firsts' and I have had horses that find those simple things more difficult so I know that they are 'real' questions. She has done good this weekend
Well although it hasn't felt like much forward motion I think Alw and I have reached a couple of milestones. On Saturday morning we headed off for some hound exercise. Alw has seen hounds once before -as a 3 year old and was interested but perfectly calm and patient but Saturday was due to be a more structured encounter with more questions asked. We headed off in the box with one of her fieldmates, arrived at destination, unloaded and tacked up beautifully then headed off in the wrong direction...!! An hour and several stiff hills later we finally tracked down hounds who were a good distance away on the other side of an open hill. I didn't really see the need for a very steep descent and climb up the other side of the valley so we stayed where we were though her fieldmate was taken off sharpish to join hounds and other horses. Alw coped brilliantly with that in fact - good girl!! The sound of hounds perked her up but she was required only to walk and wait with one other friend whilst hounds pottered along. Occasionally she could see her fieldmate coming back towards her , and him calling out to her, but she was perfectly polite about that. It was quite tedious for her to learn to stand still and not either fidget or want to go somewhere; quite a hard lesson in fact. She was, of course allowed to graze but moor grass just isn't that delish! There were very, very few other horses in attendance so it was an easy morning for her in that sense but it was so low-key it was virtually non-existent and I was a little disappointed in all honesty but we did manage a first; Alw realised, after 2 long years that she can actually do a wee under saddle!! This has been a bit of an issue in fact and I have taken every opportunity to try to encourage her to relax enough previously; her friends all do it and I KNOW that at times she has needed a wee but hung on for home poor thing. But Saturday, at long last she got there. I hate the idea of horse being uncomfortable so hopefully now she has got the hang of that
Today we went off for a group ride with 10 other horses; none of whom she has met before so she had to hoick her brave pants up and not make a fuss about strangers behind her. I was so proud of her as she was a complete pro. She allowed the others to come up behind her and to trot and canter away from her. This is the biggest group of horses she has actually encountered at close quarters so it was quite a big ask and whilst she is pretty sociable and well adjusted, in fact she will stand her ground if hassled so it is lovely to think she has got some natural good manners hahahahahaha!! This bodes well for further group stuff and more than makes up for Saturday's slight non-event. Alw was also able to show off to everyone what a very sassy mare she is as she was quite happy to ride off the feral ponies on the common; I have taught her to do this (for safety reasons) but she has previously had a wing-man in case things get too spicy for her. Today she was able to deal with the group of 12 norty ferals all on her own thus impressing the rather less 'wild and woolly' riders we were with. Her pretty face was also much admired - she stood out in a group of mostly ex racing TBs though there was a lovely bay connie along too today.
She left the group on her own and tootled home so politely that I actually felt rather emotional. I am so proud of her courage and good sense, so proud of her happy, willing and trusting outlook. Those small achievements this weekend are very little in the scheme of things and I guess all things we feel we should be able to take for granted but some of them are still 'firsts' and I have had horses that find those simple things more difficult so I know that they are 'real' questions. She has done good this weekend
nice horse MilliepopsMainly a baby-horse weekend here. Kira went on hacking club yesterday and has a lesson on Wednesday so didn't school today as she would have done 3 days in a row.
Instead, Frankel has progressed to clanking stirrups and wearing a breastplate, understands the bit a lot more and has let me clamber up stepping in a pedal without showing any sort of concern at all! If OH had been around I'd have sat up on him because he feels ready, but no sense in doing that with no help. Bundled Hera onto the lorry again too, she was quite content for me to close the loading gates but thought it was concerning when they were opened again
All slowly trundling along in the right direction. I'm enjoying pottering about with these 2, only having 1 in work is more manageable but there's nothing like feeling like you are making big leaps forward with a horse and the young ones are great for that
We both learned a lot and have a nice point to build on now.
trainer following us around clapping at her - this is Classical Dressage we're doing here folks but it makes her try that little bit harder without making her feel overfaced by pressure. 
I love her to bits and we have a very good understanding but she *always* has the last word!!Just sliding into the back of the thread as we had a lesson this morning, really fantastic ride that just had me grinning from ear to ear throughout. Kira is so up for her work at the moment, we had a scoot through a fair bit of stuff, developing the passage again - she's definitely understood this now and even feels like she might be enjoying herself just a teeeeeeeeny bit
Then a look at other stuff I've just been chipping away at, GP half passes all groovy - the angle is really comfortable for her now in a quality trot as the pi/pa work has cemented the activity. and some 1 tempis which I've had to deconstruct to teach myself to sit IN the saddle not get pinged up her neck. What a cool pony