Yeeee Haaaa!

One of Her riding club friends is keen on Western Riding and ran a clinic on Saturday which I was invited to.  I went with some trepidation, fearing that it may involve high speed cattle chasing or similar.  My fears were only compounded when my chum Ariel arrived resplendent in a Western saddle and festooned with ropes.  Happily, it turned out to be a version of Handy Pony, only with Country music playing in the background.

I watch Ariel perform in full Western regalia with added ropes

You had to to various exercises such as screeching to a halt inside a small box, then doing a 270 degree turn without touching the sides, then lolloping loping a circle, doing a simple change and then lolloping loping in the other direction.  This was following by opening a rope gate, weaving in and out of cones backwards and then crossing a 'bridge'.  I gave a dazzling display of bravura, even though I didn't have the right costume on.  She said that I put Ariel to shame and was very pleased.  I fully deserved the extra carrots when I got home.

On Sunday, Posy went to a dressage contest and I gather wasn't too bad, which is a great improvement on previous efforts.  It was also Hanuman's birthday but he got a carrot just for being three years old, whereas Posy and I had to excel for ours.

Today the farrier came and put shoes on me.  She has given up with the barefoot experiment and says that it hasn't improved my hooves at all, and now I can go out on the roads with my mate Freddie more often.  Hurrah!

Posy

Posy has fallen in love with me.  Last week she kept following me around and making goo-goo eyes, it was embarrassing.  To Her credit, She has tried to distract Posy by showing her photos of a handsome stallion rejoicing in the name of Cyden Cadans M.

Posy thought he was, indeed, very handsome, but that the pictures did not taste as delicious as she'd hoped.  Next thing we know, the vet has arrived and given Posy injections which make her very sleepy.

She says that She is planning to have a new addition to our herd.  We have all kept our eyes open but so far we haven't seen anyone new arrive.

Not-so-Good Friday

Today being a Bank Holiday, She thought it would be the ideal time to introduce Hanuman to walking quietly round the arena with a rider on his back.  The arena is next to a road, so She figured that a Bank Holiday would be ideal as there would be only light traffic and nothing to scare him.  As is usual with these things, the plan didn't match reality.  Hanuman was being very good until a clanking vehicle gave him a fright and he bolted.  
Her valiant efforts to steer him to the safety of the yard failed and She impaled Herself on the gatepost.  At first She seemed to be just crumpled on the floor, groaning, but then lay motionless for several minutes.  We became quite worried about who was going to let us out of the stables and give us food in future.


Finally, She came to, just as an anxious passer-by enquired about Her welfare.  We think She is concussed because She got back on Hanuman and rode him into the arena again (although we did note that She didn't stray too far down this time).  Hanuman had forgotten about the whole incident, although, judging by the limping, we don't think She will forget it quite so soon.

Easter Ride

On Sunday I was chosen to go on the riding club Easter Ride and I had great fun.  I quickly slotted in behind my new best friend, Max, and set a good example to the rest behind me.  In the woods I showed them all how to make majestic leaps over tree trunks.

I size up the jump ahead

At one point we set off for a canter but Max was very fast and the only way I could keep up was to charge along at a gallop.  Max's rider seemed to have a poor grip of the laws of physics, which state:
           Mass   x   Velocity   =   Unstoppable Momentum
Max's rider slowed without considering the stopping distance required by a horse of my mass, so, as there were no warning brake lights or hand signals given, suddenly I found myself crashing into the back of Max.
Anyway, order was quickly restored and soon afterwards my finely honed detection skills alerted me to the presence of a pile of treats and I managed to stuff quite a few carrots into my mouth before the others arrived to demand a share.  The riders were happy filling their faces with chocolate, except for one small girl who was chewing a carrot.  That should not be allowed.
Anyway, we carried them and the extra calories back safely, only to find that the riders could claim yet more chocolate.

I had a well deserved day off yesterday, but today, I was woken from my nap in the stable and had to have a dressage lesson because Posy had a sore foot.  I puffed my way through all the exercises and won much praise for my simple changes and counter canter produced at such short notice.  I need to have a lie down now.

Hanuman's first riding lesson

Following an enjoyable evening watching the film 'Buck' with her chums, She has been inspired to do Her own colt starting.  She has decided that there is no need to chase Hanuman round a pen nor flap ropes or flags or any such thing.  Instead, She thought She'd manage with lead ropes attached to a headcollar and a couple of peppermints, since this worked for Posy and I.   Hanuman was a bit perplexed at first because She stayed in the same place whether he went forward, back or sideways, but a peppermint or two allayed his fears.
She put the video camera on the gate to record events in case of an accident, since the ambulance crew might find it helpful to see what happened.  So we do have a video of Hanuman's first riding lesson, albeit with apologies for the poor quality.

Things are looking up

We have emerged blinking out of the mizzle and into - sunlight!  Yes the rain has stopped falling for several days and the sun has come out.  I am feeling particularly happy after recovering from my third foot abscess in six weeks.  I have come to enjoy the attentions of the vet and everyone saying how brave I am.

She has just finished a marathon stint hosting the riding club's horse agility event. Of course, I had to test it first, and feeling full of the joys of spring I leapt over the little jump, pranced up and down on the tarpaulin and then did a full celebration with bucking, prancing and standing on my hind legs waving my forelegs up and down.  She was very impressed, or at least I think that's what She was saying.  Later on, I had to go back into the ring to Set a Good Example for a timid Arab, but wasn't allowed to prance, which was boring.

One of the horse agility contestants.  
Note the unfamiliar ball of yellow light on the right.

The others have been deemed to be making progress as well.  Hanuman has got used to Her sitting on his back in the stable and Posy made a decent stab at a dressage test, coming third out of eleven.  It wasn't brilliant but it was Posy's best effort so far and she managed to resist the temptation to gawp at her surroundings.  Meanwhile I have a play date with my chum Freddie to look forward to, so things are looking up.

Music Extravaganza

Yesterday morning I had my legs shampooed and I knew straight away that I would be going to some kind of party.  Hanuman, by contrast, felt that he had been subjected to unjust water torture and wasn't going to take that lying down.  To add insult to injury, once enough mud had been hosed off, his legs were wrapped in stiff boots so that he couldn't walk.
Then, the motorised cabin arrived and I set a good example by going straight in, followed by Hanuman.  Then we had a contest to see who could make the most noise banging on the partition.  I won.

It was a short journey and once we'd arrived, I provided reassurance and showed Hanuman how to behave at parties.  Naturally, I was the star of the show and enthusiastically performed my musical riches-to-rags story to great applause.  Tragically, She gave the video camera to another and failed to tell the novice operator how to work it.  All there is to show for my sparkling performance is a grainy still and a glitzy burgundy and silver rosette.  

She subsequently explained to the video operator which button operated the video, so Hanuman's effort is captured in full.  She bravely attempted to do his first public performance at liberty.  This was brave because the weather has been awful for months, so he has had little training.  The first half of the performance involved Hanuman wandering off to greet the onlookers and then getting quite excited at the thought of trotting round.  Then he did settle down and the second half was much better.


Everyone agreed that he had done very well considering his youth. 

There were some other people there too, and here is a video of some highlights of this informal music party.  It's not much of a video, of course, since my performance is missing.  Our chum Ariel's performance is also missing because he disgraced himself.  We'll say no more on the subject.
I have been asked to point out that the last horse has a bitless bridle, is blind in one eye and the rider has Special Needs, so they did really well.