Posy has a horrible experience

Today Posy went off in the motorised cabin to St Leonards for her dressage debut.  Posy did not think much of travelling in a lorry and complained loudly all the way there.  On arrival, she was horrified to find it was windy, there were all sorts of alarming distractions and, horror of horrors, she was expected to get her dainty toes wet in the underwater warm up arena.  Well, no self-respecting Royal Dutch Warmblood of impeccable pedigree would put up with such a thing. 
When Posy went into a bigger arena there was a peacock in a hutch and all manner of horrors strewn around and it was all too much for a horse of her sensibility and she became quite upset.  A flavour of the performance can be seen in this video - She says it was horrendous.  She also says that Her awful riding was due to Posy being so agitated and that it was difficult to look graceful on a tense horse that was neighing all the time.



In spite of her ordeal, Posy then proved strangely reluctant to leave and it took Her an hour to coax her back into the lorry.
She is fervently hoping that Posy will become more relaxed when she has more outings.  Assuming that she will get back into the lorry, that is.

Wet and cold

Posy was scheduled to compete in her first babies' show jumping competition, but had to hack there in freezing rain.  By the time they got there, She was so wet and cold that She had lost all interest in competitions and negotiated with the organisers that Posy could just have a jump round before the class started.  Posy was keen to do jumping and impressed with her spirited round, and then got peppermints and carrot and was fussed over by several people.

Posy enjoyed herself so much so that when She tried to go home, Posy dug her toes in and refused to leave the warm, dry indoor school.  At the same time a neighbour turned up with the 4 year old 'Sunny' who refused to go into the indoor school.  For a while there was gridlock at the entrance as Posy refused to leave and Sunny refused to go in.  Eventually, Posy was lured out into the freezing rain with promises of hedgerow snacks on the way home.
Overall, She thought it was Good Experience for Posy, pity about the weather.  Again.

Gym Exercises

She has been reading dressage books again, which is always a bad sign.  This time She has decided that I am to march round the arena while She does various exercises.

At least it isn't too taxing and does boost my carrot intake.

Fitness seems to be a theme as She has decided that Hanuman should compete in a more advanced Horse Agility class which involves trotting alongside Her.  Hanuman thinks this is very exciting and She is soon red-faced and puffing as She tries to keep up.  She has decided not to enter this month's class since the fourth obstacle shows a diagram of a tarpaulin with the instruction "Horse to trot over handler not on tarpaulin".

Posy is five today

Posy made sure we all knew that it was her birthday today.  She is five years old and this makes her very grown up and important.  Today she was given a fleece travel rug as a present and was fitted with new shoes before going out on a social engagement with Ruby Too.
 

She purchased the travel rug for Posy because it was described as:

• Elegant
• Noble
• Lovely
• Stylish
• Modern

She was amazed that a piece of fleece fabric could possess such qualities.  All those features for only £15!