Shantara
Well-Known Member
I went to bed last night feeling absolutely miserable. Cold symptoms, painful stomach and just generally icky. When I woke up this morning it was worse AND the time of the month decided it would come and visit me.
I was all geared up for staying at home when I saw the rain and wind outside, but shortly after breakfast, the wind appeared to have died down and it was lovely sunshine outside!
So, against my better judgement, I got my jods on and jumped in the car. Got Neddy in, tacked up and spent about 10mins trying to get on the bloomin' animal! He just wasn't staying still. Eventually managed it and off we went.
First, we saw a van, which he was sure was evil, so we had a little spook at that, then some men collecting rubbish off the verge appeared (doing a good job, I might add! Those verges are horrible) and he didn't like them either. By this time the wind had really picked up, but I knew if I turned back, his napping would be 10x worse next time I tried.
Then we came across a lady and her horse, who were trotting towards us. I hoped she'd slow to a walk, but she didn't and I held Ned to make sure he wouldn't spin. Thankfully he didn't and all was well
Lovely ride across some fields, we even had a little trot and 3 strides of canter!!
My first canter out hacking for a good few weeks! He stopped when I asked and I was so proud
He tried to nap when we got back on the road, but I wouldn't have it and made him go the other, longer route. There was a tractor with a hedge cutter and he passed that with no trouble.
The wind was really howling by this point, but he behaved himself perfectly
He even trotted nicely up a really steep hill, which would have been a great spot for a gallop on another day! At the end of the road, he tried to nap again, so I made him go the other way, which I knew went onto quite a busy road. I was unsure if this was a good idea or not, but he's come so far with his napping, I just couldn't let him win!
Honestly, I can not fault him on that busy A road. Even though not too many cars slowed down and we even had lorries and buses whizzing past, he didn't spook once and kept walking boldly onwards Luckily we had quite a big verge most of the way, so were only on the road for a short while.
By this point, I was a little lost and unsure of how to get back, but eventually I found the way and it even took us very close to the show ground, where we shall be going next month
He even crossed the big, loud and scary weir without a second look! I did get off him before the weir and decided that since he had been so good as we were so close to home, I wouldn't bother getting back on and we walked in-hand from there.
I'm so proud of both of us! Me for actually getting on and going and I'm soo proud of him for being such a brave boy, with such high winds and so much traffic!!
Here's where we went...
And some bonus pictures
I was all geared up for staying at home when I saw the rain and wind outside, but shortly after breakfast, the wind appeared to have died down and it was lovely sunshine outside!
So, against my better judgement, I got my jods on and jumped in the car. Got Neddy in, tacked up and spent about 10mins trying to get on the bloomin' animal! He just wasn't staying still. Eventually managed it and off we went.
First, we saw a van, which he was sure was evil, so we had a little spook at that, then some men collecting rubbish off the verge appeared (doing a good job, I might add! Those verges are horrible) and he didn't like them either. By this time the wind had really picked up, but I knew if I turned back, his napping would be 10x worse next time I tried.
Then we came across a lady and her horse, who were trotting towards us. I hoped she'd slow to a walk, but she didn't and I held Ned to make sure he wouldn't spin. Thankfully he didn't and all was well
Lovely ride across some fields, we even had a little trot and 3 strides of canter!!
My first canter out hacking for a good few weeks! He stopped when I asked and I was so proud He tried to nap when we got back on the road, but I wouldn't have it and made him go the other, longer route. There was a tractor with a hedge cutter and he passed that with no trouble.
The wind was really howling by this point, but he behaved himself perfectly
He even trotted nicely up a really steep hill, which would have been a great spot for a gallop on another day! At the end of the road, he tried to nap again, so I made him go the other way, which I knew went onto quite a busy road. I was unsure if this was a good idea or not, but he's come so far with his napping, I just couldn't let him win!
Honestly, I can not fault him on that busy A road. Even though not too many cars slowed down and we even had lorries and buses whizzing past, he didn't spook once and kept walking boldly onwards
Luckily we had quite a big verge most of the way, so were only on the road for a short while.By this point, I was a little lost and unsure of how to get back, but eventually I found the way and it even took us very close to the show ground, where we shall be going next month
He even crossed the big, loud and scary weir without a second look! I did get off him before the weir and decided that since he had been so good as we were so close to home, I wouldn't bother getting back on and we walked in-hand from there.
I'm so proud of both of us! Me for actually getting on and going and I'm soo proud of him for being such a brave boy, with such high winds and so much traffic!!
Here's where we went...
And some bonus pictures
