Head rubs

We've been continuing our ground work and I am feeling very good about it. 

We had a very rewarding session early on in the week where we worked on the circling game, and he was much more relaxed. He is rushing less, and maintaining better, which is lovely to see. He's getting a bit clever and trying to guess what I'm going to ask of him before I get to asking it, so it's a little tricky! I have to make sure I try and change up the game a little and keep him guessing. One of his favourite tricks is stopping with his front feet over any and every pole. I've had to work on this to make sure that he isn't doing things I'm not asking. To try and rectify it, I decided it was time to up the ante. It took a few minutes to get the result, but as you can see above, we managed to work out how to stop with left feet on one side and right feet on the other! 

Mid week he was far more tense. He came up and was finding it hard to focus. Everything was a bit scary, and when he managed to zap his nose on the electric, that was the end of any fruitful work for the night. He managed some good circling in trot, but was by no means relaxed. 

Yesterday I had a water issue to deal with! Not my favourite sight...

On Thursday it was lovely and quiet, and Rio was much calmer. I decided that I would change things up a little and ride. He was much more relaxed outside his stable, where he usually fidgets and stresses - this may have been because Franks was in his stable 3 doors down, but even when Sarah took him away to go back to his field, Rio wasn't spinning, calling or fidgeting like normal. I opted to take him out to the ramp to mount as that's where I used to get on before he moved stables, and I know he is more comfortable there. I wanted to keep it as stress free as possible. He stood beautifully, waited to be asked to move off, and listened when I told him it was OK to walk past the scary rubbish skip. 

We stuck to walking, but focussed on getting an attentive, good quality walk, with a bit of roundness. It wasn't 100% but I was happy with his efforts. Especially considering he's not been asked to come down and round for some time, and that it had been a week since I'd been in the saddle again. He was fairly relaxed, and it didn't take too long for him to blow out, confirming he was more settled. 

This evening we just had a small groundwork session in the field. We played some friendly game, including swinging the carrot stick around our heads, and although he took a few steps, I was able to disengage him very easily and continue. We moved on to the circling game, and it was the best he's done yet. He kept up a perfect rhythmical trot, and despite a few excitable frolicking strides of canter he was very well behaved. He even picked up a fantastic collected canter on the right rein, which he impressively maintained around me for a circle without losing his footing! This is progress. His balance appears to be much improved, which I'm hoping will also go towards building his confidence. 

All in all, I couldn't be happier with my boy. He's my absolute superstar. To round it off, he's getting more comfortable with me rubbing his head between his eyes, which he has never ever been very comfortable with. Hopefully soon he will accept it as a form of affection instead of seeing it as a bad thing! 

Then and now!

I've finally gotten around to having a look at comparing my photos of Rio from last April to this year's shoot! He's grown up so much in 12 months, and I couldn't be prouder of where we have come from and where we are going.

I've been feeling very tired recently, so there have been some questions raised over the lack of riding I've been doing - I've taken preference to developing our groundwork and riding for a shorter length of time. I'm sure that some people think this is crazy, but I'm happy. Let's face it - Rio is an opinionated young man when he wants to be, and he's a half ton of horse to take on when he's got his mind set on something. If taking a step back is what I need to do at the moment, then so be it, and we will work on getting to know each other better! 

The pole clinic went well. Speaking of attitude, Rio took some of that with him that day. After going to move him into a field away from the arena and him going to trot off around me, we took to playing on the ground. 40 minutes later, with lots of backing up, driving, playing with obstacles, and getting control of his feet over a pole on the ground, and we mounted up with a renewed understanding. 

The morning session resulted in a light, forward going and responsive ride. The fear of the end of the arena was almost gone, until his brain was a little overloaded by the end of it, but I was absolutely chuffed with his efforts. 

The afternoon wasn't quite the same story. Unfortunately I think he blew his mind and left his brain by the trailer for the most part. I ended up getting my instructor to ride him, and it was a pleasure to watch him in the end. He tried his little heart out, and although he totally lost it on a few occasions at the scary end of the school, he really made up for it in the end. 

Onwards and upwards!

Rio the Parelli Pony

It's that time of year again, I've got over 1,000 photos to choose from to edit. This year I had the pleasure of photographing Franks and two other horses as well as Rio! There are some beautiful shots, even though I do say so myself, so lots of playing to be done. 

Over the last few weeks, probably even getting on for months I have kept saying that I need to get back to doing some groundwork with Rio. As it goes, whenever the weather has played ball, of course I have ended up riding. This is leading to small problems that are developing, and him pushing a little more every time. I've not been picking him up on it, and allowing him to get away with it, so I will now be taking it very seriously. Yesterday we went to visit our friend with Sarah and Franks, with a view to schooling in the arena. I wanted to speak to Wendy about some confidence exercises to do with Rio on the ground, and we had a fab Parelli session.

It turns out that Rio is actually very claustrophobic behind. Once he listens, and focusses on me, he is very good at backing up. As soon as we put a pole behind him, however, his whole facial expression changed and he was genuinely worried. This was a ground breaking discovery for me, and has given me a whole new perspective. We played the squeeze game, going between the fence and two upright barrels, going through a standing hoop, working up to going over two half barrels in the hoop, and finally stepping over the two barrels laid on their sides. 

After all that thinking, he was positively sweaty, but after a bit of a break and a brush down, we saddled up and took to the arena. It took me at least 5 minutes to mount from the block in the corner of the school, but I remained persistent. I was so very close to giving in. A deep breath, and walk of a circle, and he finally stood still in the right place and we were off. Within minutes, he was blowing out, and was the most relaxed he has ever been in the arena there. 

I didn't push him too far as he was clearly hot already, and we've not been doing so much these last couple of weeks. After some lovely trot work, I squeezed him into a canter - and we cantered a full lap of the arena. It was just like cantering any other horse, and felt much more natural than we've had previously. He still motorbiked the second end, but the first bend was much smoother. Not only that, but we did a full lap of the arena on the other rein too! Yee Ha!

This evening, as it was pretty warm, I took to the field with parelli halter, carrot stick and 12 foot rope. I will give Rio confidence, and he will learn to respect me and trust me. We practised some backing up, before I took him toward the gate. Where he stopped, is where I started the driving game. He started trotting in a panic when I drove him towards the gate. As soon as he gave me a more relaxed response to my question, it was important to let him rest, and reward him. It took some time, but mixing this in with backing up, by the end of our session, Rio was standing outside the gate in the spot that he usually freaks at. I was over the moon. We will do this!

Schooling success

We made a trip to Water Farm on Monday evening after work to do some schooling, with Sarah and Franks. It was a thank you for us helping out at the second dressage clinic last weekend. Can't ask for better payment than free use of a lovely indoor arena! It was made all the more interesting when Nancy joined us. This is Nancy:

She is very opinionated, and was not interested in the slightest in leaving us to it. Luckily Rio wasn't too worried about her, although he did avoid her for a couple of rounds. We did some lovely demi-volts along the opposite side of the school, and then set back to it, and he was fine. 

We had some fab movement and work in the trot, and he's really starting to work better from behind now - which followed through into tonight's session at the yard! I was a little disappointed with the canter work (or lack thereof!) at Water Farm, after we hacked out twice at the weekend and did none at all. I thought he'd be itching to get going. 

Tonight I was very pleased with everything he did, on the ground and in the saddle. He stretched down and forward beautifully by the end of the session, and we managed our longest canter in our grass arena yet - and he didn't drop out of it on his own, I asked him forward to trot! As a little bonus my friend was having her horse schooled by a mutual friend who teaches, and as we were trotting around at the end, he gave me some pointers on getting Rio working more effectively from behind and pushing down and forward. I was absolutely beaming by the end, but shattered! 

Absolutely brilliant discovery - take feet out of stirrups, and let them drop down, and Rio stops dead in a perfect square halt. 

Not so good when I eventually come to wanting to work without stirrups, but interesting nonetheless. I ride quite short, so it must feel very odd to him when my legs stretch down! 

After Franks had a bit of a meltdown on our casual walk out on Saturday, courtesy of the two practising trial bikes I inadvertently took us past, I decided to take Rio out for a casual walk up the road on Sunday morning. I was determined to clock up another solo ride, and this one was a bit of a challenge that I ended up being proud of. 

We crossed the road, where he took offence to something (still no idea what!) and promptly spun to the right, and took off up the 3 foot grass bank. Onto the farmer's field. Not good! I used my recently learned trick of lifting my right rein to bend him and disengage his hind, and brought him back quickly, before too much damage could be done to the crop... I whisked him straight back off at the corner of the field, where he still put up an argument about proceeding up the road. After a moment of discussion, with a couple looking on from their car across the road, he eventually got on with it, and we marched on our way. 

The ride was made up of little victories; sitting the spook, not turning back and making him listen to me, not turning around at the top of the road because my nerves were shot, and having a great trot across the two fields. The trip back down the hill was relatively uneventful, which was lovely. 

Our first go at dressage!

As promised, here is the video footage of our first ever dressage test.

Even though it was amongst friends, and intended as a bit of fun, I was still SO nervous beforehand! Those four little letters are just terrifying - t.e.s.t ...

You will notice that my reins are a bit loopy - this was intentional, and intended to assist me keep them a consistent length. I have a habit of playing with my reins, letting them slip through my fingers, collecting them, and the circle continues. We weren't after collection here, just relaxation and a nice rhythm. I hope you'll agree that the rhythm side turned out pretty well. 

Comments on our sheet were as follows:

1. Nicely on centre line

2. Lovely fluid and free flowing trot

4. Good trot

7. Needs to show more stretch (he was supposed to walk out on free rein on the half 20m circle left rein, and I was quite surprised when he didn't stretch down as he's usually very good at it!)

9. Energetic transition (yep... we nearly took the judges out with us going into canter on that bottom corner haha)

10. A little forward (I was pleased he went up into the canter and maintained it, so I didn't try and tweak anything this time - that's something we will work on)

14. Broke early (didn't quite make the whole of the second shape, but again I was super pleased with his effort and he did drop into a lovely trot, so I decided to stick with it)

15. Good centre line

16. Lovely square halt

General comments:

Delightful youngster! Good paces, very forward. This could be controlled better going forward by better rein contact. Quietly ridden. When you both have more experience this looks promising!

63.2%

Happy mummy. Happy Rio - look at his little face, he's adorable!

Positively Spring

The pole clinic went well! This is our first time over the new poles at Wendy's. Having done coloured poles before, it never struck me to take him over them before we started working with them. His beautiful bascule was from a trot, as he tried to keep us both safe from the blue and black pole monster! (Hubby says the poles are white and gold...!) When I took him back around to walk over it, he didn't want to go anywhere near it, but after 5 or 6 small figures of eight over the poles, we were all good. 

I definitely need to take Rio out off the yard for a hack this weekend, as we schooled on Monday night and this morning before the farrier visited. He worked very well both times, and has started to settle more in our outdoor arena. Or maybe that's me. We are working more consistently together, and I have been trying to work more on my breathing to enhance my communication with him. Bringing him down from trot to walk with a sigh along with my aids has proved to work well, but walk to halt still takes a little more. 

Today we did some canter work, and although the left rein was a little touch and go, his balance on the right rein was much better. We had a lovely rhythmic 3 beat canter from A, doing a 20m circle, and back up the long side, where I asked him back to trot before the corner. It was the first time I've felt able to ask him to collect a little, as opposed to getting him into the canter and letting him settle into the pace he wants to keep him in the canter! He is also responding much better to my carrying a schooling whip. It is only there for when he pushes through his shoulder, as he's lovely and forward anyway. He's really getting the hang of it now, and as soon as I touch it to his shoulder, he instantly straightens up and moves over. We even managed a bit of leg yield on both reins today (and once in trot too!)

Last night (much to Rio's dismay) was bath time as the temperatures had shot up. He was a bit of a fidget bum, but once he realised that the hose stayed on him no matter where he moved to, he eventually gave in. Well, for a couple of minutes anyway. Then he had to test it again. I did feel a bit bad, as by the end he was shivering as the temperature did seem to dip off all of a sudden. 10 minutes with his waffle rug did the trick to warm him back up again though, and he's lovely and soft today! 

I now have a copy of our dressage test, which I will be editing and uploading soon - super excited, you can see our super speedy dressage cantering antics!

Stop, drop and roll

It's been a perfect weekend. I had a play with this lovely boy yesterday, and a tumble after a trip followed by a flying stirrup leather meant saving my seat was an absolute no-no. You'd be forgiven for thinking this would be a crippling setback in my recent progress. In actual fact, it didn't phase me at all, and I got back on and schooled him a little more afterwards. He was very sweet and spun away from me when I was down, and it was actually one of the most gentle and graceful falls I've had yet. Just stop, drop and roll! Despite the ground seeming hard, I'm pleased to report that the only damage I seem to have sustained is a slight pull in my shoulder where I tried to hang on to his reins. I'm getting good at this falling malarky... It's more a shame that he had just started to relax when he stumbled! 

On Saturday, Rio and I braved the wind all on our own and went for a hack up the lane. We encountered tractors, got blown around a bit, and I still managed to get lots of sense from him. The ground was quite hard in places, and very pitted, so we mainly walked. We managed a trot and canter up the track, and he was beautifully relaxed and listening to me all the way. He got a bit antsy coming back down to cross the road outside the yard, but I turned him in a circle, and he waited better the second time. Such a fidget bum.

We are on countdown to the dressage clinic next Sunday, so I could really do with getting a session or two in between now and then. I'm hoping to get a quick one in tomorrow evening. I've been advised that the test we are riding is prelim 12, which is a little daunting, given that we've never done one before. However, we will take it all as good experience, and not worry if we can't maintain the canter throughout! If he takes the attitude he had on Wednesday with him, then I'll be happy whatever the outcome. If not, we could be in for a challenge! Haha.

Redressing the balance

Sorry for the silence from the Eastern front here, it's been a busy couple of weeks, and a bit of a tough time last week also. No fear, things are most certainly looking up, and don't worry - Rio is fine! I've just had to make some changes to my own routine, as it appears that the yard was slightly taking over my life. 

There has finally been a little bit of riding going on, in amongst all of this though! We had the farrier out last week, and he's said that if we are going to be doing more road work than we already are, that Rio will need to have back shoes on. I'm not so keen on that, so fingers crossed now that the nights are drawing out and the weather has been drier, we will be able to do some schooling and cut down on the roads! Although the school is also quite hard at the moment, with the sudden stop in rain. We just can't win haha.

We had a fab ride out the weekend before last, we found a new trail which involved everlasting rolling hills. The boys loved it. No sooner had we hit the bottom of the first hill, Rio threw in an all-four-feet-off-the-ground jump because he was so excited! Luckily it seems my seat has developed since the last time he did this, and with a few strides of walk, we were off again. I'm not a fan of going down hills, but a few more goes on this route, and I'm sure that fear will soon be gone. What was even better, was that he wasn't too hot and sweaty when we got back, and despite his sweaty face and eyebrows, his chest and shoulders barely broke a sheen. (With all those hills, it's no wonder! It was all push, push, push!)

He had 9-10 days off after that weekend, as it was hubster's birthday last Sunday, so he was left to chill out in his field. Sarah brought him up for me on Wednesday evening, as I need to do some schooling with him before the dressage clinic next weekend. If he can take the attitude he had on Wednesday to the clinic, I will be ecstatic. He was going off the leg beautifully, was responsive to my weight aids (however clumsy they are currently...) and we had a couple of nice canters. He still drops out of the canter, but they're gradually getting longer. This may be a bit of an issue on Sunday however, as the test we are riding is prelim 12, which involves cantering the long side, circling in the middle, and cantering around to change the rein across the diagonal. Hm. He even was coming into a lovely natural outline for a few strides at a time in walk. Needless to say, I felt much better after that session. Especially when he spooked 90 degrees off the track, and my bum stayed right where it was! Haha. 

Spring has sprung

Rio learned a new trick after our ride this afternoon. We were chatting away, feet out of stirrups whilst the boys had some boy love and the next thing I saw was Monty's bridle over one ear! Such a naughty boy. Perhaps there is hope yet for Rio to be friends with him. 

I've finally reached a point where I've decreased Rio's daily hay allowance. He's stuck to a good weight all winter, but coming into Spring now, I don't want him to start expanding. Sarah got him in for me on Friday evening so that I could have my first post-work ride of 2015, and had a bit of a fight with his girth. I was expecting to ride out with Millie but she was just getting back when I pulled up, which left me only one option: ride out alone!

Given that he was tacked up when I got there, I could hardly say no, so I changed into my jods, got my boots on, grabbed my schooling whip (just in case!) and hopped on. I had no time to doubt myself or him and we marched out in a race against the light together. It's been a bit wet here, so I expected that it would be a simple walk up and walk down job, so I was very pleased when the ground was good enough for a trot, and even a beautiful steady canter before we headed back. 

We'll see how the ground is tomorrow - maybe if it's firm we will give this schooling lark another try.

That feeling of inadequacy

We managed some schooling last weekend, after a fab ride out on Saturday (see video below!) I felt pretty good about it. Making it into the school, me not worrying. Rio being a bit of a prat and me still not worrying, trying to get a feel with him again... All until I put together my video. He fought and fought with me, and despite him coming in a bit, despite me desperately trying to get him moving forward into a contact; all that happened was me holding him together, and it didn't flow at all. 

I've booked us in on a dressage clinic next month, and I'm just dying to get in there to try and work this out. It's come to that point where I feel like we need to step it up or I just feel like I'm not enough for him. This weekend's frustration was my lack of ability to just sit to the trot. I'm not kidding now, this is really starting to eat at me. By now, I should be past the point of getting excited about sitting to three strides before I lose it again. Right? 

Wrong. I need to remember not to run before I can walk. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't so long ago that I was terrified of that school and of Rio being stupid in there. 

It wasn't so long ago that on a hack I would have been a sprung ball of tension at the slightest trip or spook. 

It wasn't so long ago, that if another horse had come sprinting past causing Rio to rush off in pursuit, that I probably might have lost my seat (maybe a stirrup or two) and bailed out in a big sprawling mess. 

Not any more.

These are the things I need to remember, and when the inevitable downs of horse ownership and riding come into play, these are the things I need to draw on. How many times have you been through these patches? How did you get yourself through them? I don't want to feel like I'm letting his potential be lost because I'm not a capable enough rider. I want to learn, and I want to be able to teach Rio, and for him to learn with me. It's time to start saving to try and get a trainer in every few weeks. 6 weeks and counting until the clocks go forward. I cannot wait.

On a more cheerful note - here's our hacking video! 

If anyone has any tips they would care to share, I would be more than grateful.

Going off piste

We're not going down there are we mum? Yes. Yes we are. 

Um, I'm not so sure. Bailey doesn't want to go in there, and Monty is hanging back, so I don't think it's safe. Really? How about you give it a look, and then if you really don't want to, we can discuss it sensibly? GET ON! 

Mum. No. I'm not going in there. Look, my head is under the roof, and I'm telling you - it's SCARY. I'm turning around. No you're not. Look, have a second, that's fine, but you're not turning and running away from it. You're better than that. Come ON. 

AAAHHH ok mum we're in, it's... it's not so bad actually... I just need to check the others are following! Good boy, I told you it would be fine! Of course they're following, you've just shown them it's not scary, you ninny. You funny boys.

We've had a mixed bag this week. Rio came up for a little play on Thursday evening, and there were three horses in for the night. Do you think he would go into his stable and stay whilst I closed the door? Not a chance. He ended up being driven backwards the length of the barn because he was being so rude. We went into the indoor school to work on manners, where we experienced difficulty in getting him to stay on the right rein in walk or trot. We made it in the end, and ended up with some nice movement once he was actually listening. He joined up, and was happy to follow me at liberty in the school in various shapes and over a small raised pole. He went into his stable (still with a little fuss) and had dinner afterwards, so I still managed to have my own way on that front! 

Yesterday we went on a little mission around the local village, and ended up doing alot of road work. It was probably around 1hr 45mins with minimal time of that being off road, so although we had taken it steady and it was a walking hack for 98% of the ride, I was still a little worried about his splint and hind (unshod) feet. All was well though, and there was no sign of heat or swelling today, and his splint is no different. In the picture above, we are all lined up on Amy's drive (not pictured, but Monty is the one I'm holding!) 

We certainly drew a lot of attention, as there aren't usually horses on the roads we trekked. There are probably a few people with photos and videos of us now... Amazingly none of the boys pooed on the drive, but we did stop at Tesco on the way back to get a coke, where Bailey decided the pavement was a great place to let one go. That didn't go down so well, despite Mils trying to kick it off on to the road - the cashier wasn't impressed. Hey ho. Won't be going in there for a while! (The reason we were on the pavement was because it's on quite a busy road, and we were less in the way on the pavement than milling around in the road... I know we're not technically meant to be up there - just sods law!)

So we come back to today's ride, where we conquered the scary underpass! Rio was lovely and relaxed, other than the little fight to get him to trust me that he wouldn't get eaten down there. When we got back I decided we would spend a little while in the outdoor school again, whilst I was feeling comfortable and confident in the saddle. He would not move past the other boys as they were stopping to be untacked. Amy kindly grabbed her riding crop, and we were off. We had some lovely movement, and he even took up a bit of a contact with a bit of work from me. Perfect. Here's a video Amy took on our second run (can't beat a good bit of desensitising!) - I couldn't leave without going back again to get photos haha.

Walking on wind!

We braved the winds today. After our little play yesterday, and not having done anything else since last weekend, it could have been interesting. Except the Alfa rage seems to have dissipated!

We went out with Millie and Bailey for a wander around the village, and Rio tried out his new boots again! He does look dashing all dressed up with his smart booties and exercise fleece. All was going well, and then we came back in onto the field, where a lady was walking through the footpath that runs alongside the track. Rio was a bit on his toes, and had a little spook, which I'd contained. However Bailey is still learning how to follow, and had other ideas - all I heard was "my pony's going to explode!" The perfect cue before we took off full speed ahead down the field. I found a few seconds to realise that if I sat in, gave him his head and then checked him, he might come back to me. Hey presto - we had a lovely canter whilst we watched Millie disappear off into the distance and pull him up at the corner. 

We decided it would be a good option to get them to walk around the field so that the next time we went out on the field, neither of our boys would expect a good canter! We had a canter up the first side, then walked back to the yard, and I even had Rio on a long rein. Millie decided that she wanted to take Bailey in the school and hop a few small poles/cross poles. It seemed the perfect opportunity for me to address my fear of the outdoor school. I decided I would go in and walk Rio round a couple of times just to say that I'd done it. A building block as such.

 We walked around a few times, and he didn't put a hoof wrong, so I decided to try a trot. I was so pleased when he dropped his head down into a lovely contact, even though my reins were longer than usual when I would be asking for it. 

And then this happened! We were having so much fun, we "jumped" several times and didn't even think about being in the outdoor arena!

Needless to say, Rio got lots of cuddles, and was treated to an apple and pear in his dinner this evening.

Ride / play safe x

Freedom

Freedom to be you. Freedom to be what you want. Freedom to be who you want to be. Freedom to travel through life and learn it's lessons. 

Thanks to the wind and horrible weather today, I decided a ride was off the cards. Not because I was worried about Rio being a numpty, but because he's been so good recently and I keep on saying that I'm going to do some groundwork with him and haven't. This seemed the perfect opportunity. It was also a great chance to trial his new sports boots! He's getting to be a right posh-boy. We did some in-hand work and getting him to stay out of my space. He did some trotting work but was only on his regular lead rope so it was quite small circles around me. That said, he settled very quickly, and was soon trotting with his neck stretched beautifully and nose to the ground. Lush. 

I thought he might enjoy a chance for a prance on his own whilst I had a chat at the gate with Sarah, so I let him off the lead rope, but he just wasn't interested. When I ran around the school, however, he loved it and happily followed! So we went back to working, and had a couple of cones set up as a stop start box. The idea being that we would walk or trot to the cones, and stop or go down to walk as we went through them. It only worked! We even managed a couple of steps backwards after halting in the cones. So proud. 

Check him out! 5 minutes in his stable having his dinner this evening. With the door shut! I left him to it, and listened out for the tell tale sound of him sizing up the door to jump it, before I intervened. He didn't barge out of the stable when I opened the door, and had even had a bit of a munch on his haynet. Now tell me that the Alfa A hadn't been addling his brain at all? Is this really my boy?

We've been having such windy days recently, so Rio's hay has been at risk of being blown away. I've resorted to weighting it down with a tyre for now,but I'm hoping my lovely hubby might build me a pallet hay manger of some sort - will keep you updated! 

Ride / play safe x

Red mist on the clear?

It's been a good couple of days. Yesterday, Rio lead out his own little hack around the village. He was responsive, patient, and even when he had a little worry in the scary corner as we left the field, he worked through it with me. What a brave boy. We stopped and started, did collected walking, had a beautifully controlled steady trot, and even managed to stand and wait for others without fidgeting. Is this really my boy? 

It seems that the mists of alfa anger may be lifting. Or it may just be that he's enjoying regular work. Either way, it made for an absolutely delightful ride today when we hit Belstead in the trailer with a couple of friends. It's been a while since we've done this ride with anyone other than us and Sarah with Franks. I wasn't sure what he'd be like! 

I was given the scary responsibility of riding with the Go Pro today (Sarah's chrimbo prezzy!) and it was pretty cool. It amazed me just how light it was - you just about forget it's there, which is great. Not so great when you gasp, or talk - we all know how bad we sound on video, right? Seeing some of the footage at the end made it worthwhile, there's something super funky about re-living a brilliant hack, and seeing your boy's ears bobbing along! Fingers crossed I can get my mitts on the footage so I can post some here for you in the near future. For now, these lovely shots of Rio's bottom will have to suffice. 

We had a couple of moments, he lost his back end a couple of times going over a slightly icy bridge, that wasn't so fun. Then on the way back someone had gone to hold their dog but stepped back out of obvious view, so that was clearly terrifying, and we did an almighty side step/leap off the track onto the field - sorry Mr Farmer Man. I was mostly relieved not to have toppled off in full public recorded view of the camera! That would have been embarrassing... 

We also did a couple of jumps (inadvertently!) one on the first canter track, where we hopped a puddle, and another jump going up the canter hill. I'm not sure if he thought he'd reached the top and was trying to jump the crest again, or whether he was just getting excitable. He did really go for it on the second run! He also had a super hissy fit at the top whilst we waited for the others, foot stomping and all! Despite all that, he was far less sweaty today, even with his exercise rug on. His girth line was sweaty, but thanks to his new Le Mieux numnah, and hopefully him being a little fitter, he had only traces of sweat under the saddle. Even his armpits weren't sweaty like usual!

All in all, a very enjoyable end to my time off between jobs. Tomorrow I start my new role, and I must admit to being a tad nervous! Our ride today was a perfect distraction. Now to see next weekend if it's alfa rage that was causing his grumpiness, or if it is just lack of work... Bring on the Spring!

Ride / play safe x