Bikerchickone
Well-Known Member
Decided to take Dom out for a nice evening hack today, thinking that since he needs to start doing some canter work we'll go through the woods and then do our 5 mile roadwork loop. Lovely sunny evening so I figure it should be fairly good going but we get into the woods and sink knee deep in the mud. Bless him though, Dom keeps on going through large puddles until both he and I and my lovely new saddle are covered in mud! Oh well I think, had to get christened sometime.
So we find a lovely soft but not soggy stretch through the trees and I ask him to step it up. He does a lovely leap into canter at which point my saddle slips horrendously to one side and I almost come out the side door! Didn't see that one coming! Dom hears my squawk of shock and slows down until I get my balance back. What a star! So we get to the end of the track and I check to find my girth loose... Whoops! Cue me then spending almost ten minutes in a futile attempt to do the damn thing up. Carpal tunnel kicks in so I only manage to do it up one hole on one strap.
Then I realise my stirrups are odd and remember adjusting one shorter on the advice of a friend but forgetting to do the other one at the end of our last hack. So there we are, stood in the middle of the lane whilst I have yet another fight with the stirrup leathers which are refusing to be pulled down for adjustment. Eventually I drop the reins and pull with both hands on the leather, still no good, but my wonderful pony stands there like an angel looking at me as if I've totally lost the plot but still stands like a rock, until a horse fly lands on his tummy and we do couple of interesting wiggles whilst I try to recapture my reins.
In the end I gave up and headed back to the yard with my odd stirrups and slippy saddle. It occurs to me as I dismount that perhaps I should've got off and adjusted everything after the canter in the woods!
My poor pony ate his tea and stomped off to his field mate without so much as a disgusted look for his useless owner!
I'm thinking perhaps I should give up horses in favour of something less challenging, say sunbathing maybe?
So we find a lovely soft but not soggy stretch through the trees and I ask him to step it up. He does a lovely leap into canter at which point my saddle slips horrendously to one side and I almost come out the side door! Didn't see that one coming! Dom hears my squawk of shock and slows down until I get my balance back. What a star! So we get to the end of the track and I check to find my girth loose... Whoops! Cue me then spending almost ten minutes in a futile attempt to do the damn thing up. Carpal tunnel kicks in so I only manage to do it up one hole on one strap.
Then I realise my stirrups are odd and remember adjusting one shorter on the advice of a friend but forgetting to do the other one at the end of our last hack. So there we are, stood in the middle of the lane whilst I have yet another fight with the stirrup leathers which are refusing to be pulled down for adjustment. Eventually I drop the reins and pull with both hands on the leather, still no good, but my wonderful pony stands there like an angel looking at me as if I've totally lost the plot but still stands like a rock, until a horse fly lands on his tummy and we do couple of interesting wiggles whilst I try to recapture my reins.
In the end I gave up and headed back to the yard with my odd stirrups and slippy saddle. It occurs to me as I dismount that perhaps I should've got off and adjusted everything after the canter in the woods!
My poor pony ate his tea and stomped off to his field mate without so much as a disgusted look for his useless owner!
I'm thinking perhaps I should give up horses in favour of something less challenging, say sunbathing maybe?
