Meowy Catkin
Meow!
I keep my horses on my parents' land and this morning my Dad asked me if I wanted to walk with him to the village (just over 2 miles away) to get his newspaper from the village shop. I thought that this would be a good idea but stupidly I thought that I would take my filly. 
Last summer I walked her in-hand regularly but due to one of my other horses having injuries (and the abscess from Hell, plus alot of bad weather over the winter), recently I've worked with the filly in the fields and the school.
So off we go, all Hi-vizzed up, filly in her bridle and full of the joys of spring.
Anyhoo, the little filly is walking out much more than I remember her doing before, she looks alot bigger too than she does in the field, so I make a mental note to measure her when we get back.
Now, I should point out that it is mostly downhill on the way to the village. So we pass the Alpacas without any problems and some fields with some horses in. One of the horses is a stallion and he neighs at her, canters over and shows off. She did neigh at him but wanted to keep marching on down the lane in her determined manner (endurance bred arab ). In the village a couple of cars pass us and she's a little bit prancy at the first one but fine after that.
So it's all good. She stands nicely in the horse park... sorry car park
, while my Dad gets his paper and we set off again. Back past the horses with no trouble and a car passes on a narrow bit of road but luckily there's a gateway for us to stand in. Then I see the hill... it really didn't seem that steep when were going down it! 
Now the filly, if anything actually speeds up on the uphill bit!
I tried hanging onto her mane (she doesn't mind) to get a bit of a tow but my feet just couldn't move quick enough. 
I should point out that I did try to ask her to steady but she seemed incapable of doing this. You either got a hill-eating march or halt, absolutely sod-all inbetween, although she did suggest to me that she'd quite like to trot up the steepest bit!
So I gave up when we were about a mile from home. I handed her to my Dad (longer legs than me ) and I took the newspaper. Just walking at a slightly slower speed and I could manage the hill fine.
So we're only going to do shorter routes (can't avoid the hills though) until I can build up my fitness to walk at super-turbo-charged speed up steep hills.
Last summer I walked her in-hand regularly but due to one of my other horses having injuries (and the abscess from Hell, plus alot of bad weather over the winter), recently I've worked with the filly in the fields and the school.
So off we go, all Hi-vizzed up, filly in her bridle and full of the joys of spring.
Anyhoo, the little filly is walking out much more than I remember her doing before, she looks alot bigger too than she does in the field, so I make a mental note to measure her when we get back.Now, I should point out that it is mostly downhill on the way to the village. So we pass the Alpacas without any problems and some fields with some horses in. One of the horses is a stallion and he neighs at her, canters over and shows off. She did neigh at him but wanted to keep marching on down the lane in her determined manner (endurance bred arab
). In the village a couple of cars pass us and she's a little bit prancy at the first one but fine after that. So it's all good. She stands nicely in the horse park... sorry car park
, while my Dad gets his paper and we set off again. Back past the horses with no trouble and a car passes on a narrow bit of road but luckily there's a gateway for us to stand in. Then I see the hill... it really didn't seem that steep when were going down it! Now the filly, if anything actually speeds up on the uphill bit!
I tried hanging onto her mane (she doesn't mind) to get a bit of a tow but my feet just couldn't move quick enough. I should point out that I did try to ask her to steady but she seemed incapable of doing this. You either got a hill-eating march or halt, absolutely sod-all inbetween, although she did suggest to me that she'd quite like to trot up the steepest bit! So I gave up when we were about a mile from home. I handed her to my Dad (longer legs than me
) and I took the newspaper. Just walking at a slightly slower speed and I could manage the hill fine.So we're only going to do shorter routes (can't avoid the hills though) until I can build up my fitness to walk at super-turbo-charged speed up steep hills.
