We've had such a busy week! I think Rio will be pleased to have a couple of days off now that I'm back to work in the morning. We went on another adventure on Thursday and explored the village in the opposite direction to our usual hack route. I dropped in on a friend so that she could meet Rio, and we went for a sneaky exploration of a dog walker's field. Aside from getting a bit antsy when he was boxed in (one in front, one outside him) Rio was pretty good with the new sights. We came back along the main road, and had a bit of a drama with a large lorry that was stopped on the side of the road - my friend's horse wasn't too happy about it, and some numpty woman kept on driving closer and closer to him until my friend asked her to stop moving! I just don't understand some people at all... We had a great trot the rest of the way back to the yard though.
Friday was a trip out with the big boys - 16hh & about 16.2/3hh lads, the newcomers on the yard. Rio couldn't have noticed though, as he was up at the front and happily keeping a pace that they all kept to. I was expecting my poor little dude to be left trailing behind! We finished off with schooling after that, and he was a bit sleepy by the end, but we managed a bit of canter in the school. I was so pleased. We didn't get a full circuit, but we got into it, and right down the long side on the left rein and on the right, did the long side and dropped out before we made it right round to the second long side. Small victory, but pleasing nonetheless.
Saturday was a relaxing ride out up the lane opposite the yard, which we have done before but never been right up to the end. The ground was much better than when we rode it a couple of weeks ago, and we had a wonderful canter across the top field. I forgot to track it on Endomondo, so had to log it manually today when I remembered. It's been great tracking the rides - this month so far we've done 24 miles. You can keep track of how much we've done on the right :)
This brings us to today, our first trip out in the trailer. It was a glorious warm day, blue skies and lovely warm sunshine. Rio was a little gem, he loaded at both ends without question, was calm as we tacked up, and didn't step a hoof wrong on the ride. The only small excitement we had was when a two dozen strong herd of deer were coming alongside us a few metres away. We saw them a few times, and thankfully by the third time, the boys were less than bothered by their presence. All he did was prance about a bit with his nose in the air though. I will have to get a video next time, there is a short but steep hill we went up, and to see it for the first time, I was convinced there was no way we were making it over the crest! Once we had tried it out and I realised it was possible, we just had to go again. What a rush. The second time around, Rio knew what was coming and launched himself at it, and I could really feel him using his behind instead of pulling from the front. I had to half halt a couple of times before we hit the steepest part as he was near enough galloping his way up. Amazing.
I think my grin says it all. I wasn't going to go as wasn't feeling too good this morning, but boy am I glad I did. It really rounded off my week, and I'm so pleased. We went over our first train bridge, and he wasn't fussed, and I rode him most of the route back to the trailers on the buckle (after the big hill!) what an absolute sweetheart.
Ride safe x
No comments:
Post a Comment