JenHunt
Well-Known Member
...and it's only a short one. I promise 
Saturday was champagne breakfast, gallop and closing meet time - and a good crowd gathered for full cooked breakfast and a few bucks fizz early on Saturday morning. The weather had, fortunately, cleared up a bit from the previous evening, and in fact, the bit of rain over night meant the ground for the gallop was perfect.
I had been asked to lead a group of Steady Eddies around the 2 mile course. I'm pleased to report that dearest donkey has grown in confidence a lot over the last 2 years, and was more than happy to cart me into the fences, giving not a fig who was or wasn't following him! He was also happy to turn and pop the fences in reverse to give leads, and to pull up and wait for everyone. Very pleased with him - not bad for a horse who wouldn't jump a stick when I got him!
I ended up with quite a mixed group - a kid who didn't really want to be taking part, a Whip from the Hurworth and his OH on her nice young horse, and a father-son combination who'd missed the faster groups. But actually it all worked out well, as all but the kid jumped with only a couple of leads required, and everyone was happy just to have a nice round and not feel the need to go flat out.
Annoyingly, about two thirds of the way around the course my right stirrup leather snapped! Especially annoying as they are less than a year old! Anyway, OH had been running around getting photos of us and caught up with us as I was waiting for the kid to catch up (having opened the gate and shut it again and then the pony napped for no apparent reason). He offered to get on and take the group round the rest of the course with no stirrups. I hopped off and he hopped on, then the lady on the young horse remembered her neck strap and offered that as an alternative to no stirrups. I then attached that for OH, whilst he protested that he was happy to get off again. I let him have a few jumps on dearest donkey, as there was only about 5 jumps left and trudged back across the fields with the camera.
At the end of the course I hopped back on, and we hacked down to the meet, by which time I'd decided to call it a day and hand the stirrup leather/neck strap back. So after a long and generous meet my season was over - as the hounds and field moved off, dearest donkey, OH and I went the opposite direction.
So I've managed to have 17 mounted and 4 foot days this season, and not had any falls or lost shoes. Quite a feat of achievement for me!
The hunt has launched a new website, and the photos from Saturday are up already! Though they are in a slightly random order - look out for Donkey's slightly ungainly and distinctly inelegant jump over the first! I shall attempt to load OH's pictures up onto photobucket shortly. Photos from the Day
Summer well everyone, thank you for reading this season.
Saturday was champagne breakfast, gallop and closing meet time - and a good crowd gathered for full cooked breakfast and a few bucks fizz early on Saturday morning. The weather had, fortunately, cleared up a bit from the previous evening, and in fact, the bit of rain over night meant the ground for the gallop was perfect.
I had been asked to lead a group of Steady Eddies around the 2 mile course. I'm pleased to report that dearest donkey has grown in confidence a lot over the last 2 years, and was more than happy to cart me into the fences, giving not a fig who was or wasn't following him! He was also happy to turn and pop the fences in reverse to give leads, and to pull up and wait for everyone. Very pleased with him - not bad for a horse who wouldn't jump a stick when I got him!
I ended up with quite a mixed group - a kid who didn't really want to be taking part, a Whip from the Hurworth and his OH on her nice young horse, and a father-son combination who'd missed the faster groups. But actually it all worked out well, as all but the kid jumped with only a couple of leads required, and everyone was happy just to have a nice round and not feel the need to go flat out.
Annoyingly, about two thirds of the way around the course my right stirrup leather snapped!
Especially annoying as they are less than a year old! Anyway, OH had been running around getting photos of us and caught up with us as I was waiting for the kid to catch up (having opened the gate and shut it again and then the pony napped for no apparent reason). He offered to get on and take the group round the rest of the course with no stirrups. I hopped off and he hopped on, then the lady on the young horse remembered her neck strap and offered that as an alternative to no stirrups. I then attached that for OH, whilst he protested that he was happy to get off again. I let him have a few jumps on dearest donkey, as there was only about 5 jumps left and trudged back across the fields with the camera. At the end of the course I hopped back on, and we hacked down to the meet, by which time I'd decided to call it a day and hand the stirrup leather/neck strap back. So after a long and generous meet my season was over - as the hounds and field moved off, dearest donkey, OH and I went the opposite direction.
So I've managed to have 17 mounted and 4 foot days this season, and not had any falls or lost shoes. Quite a feat of achievement for me!
The hunt has launched a new website, and the photos from Saturday are up already! Though they are in a slightly random order - look out for Donkey's slightly ungainly and distinctly inelegant jump over the first! I shall attempt to load OH's pictures up onto photobucket shortly. Photos from the Day
Summer well everyone, thank you for reading this season.
