Summer Solstice: December 2010

Friday 24th December

Well today has been fun but exhausting. Mark and I took Holly and Tara for a hack to deliver our friends on the estate their xmas pressie's. We went through fields, along tracks and past cattle grids. The roads were a bit icy but the fields were okay. All but one of our friends were out so they all missed our xmassie horses in red with jingle bells and tinsel SO just for them here are some piccie's of our days adventure:

Tara, Me and Holly all in red ready to ride ;-)

Mark with Tara and Holly ready for our adventure

Mark and Holly

Mark and Holly navigating the steep hill

Mark and Holly finding a way down the field hill ;-)

Mark and Holly after cantering up the hill on the way home ;-)

Me and Tara...enjoying the fresh air and beautiful sunshine ;-)

Had a lovely ride out, took about an hour and a half, fields were okay but the roads were a bit slippery so probably won't go out on those for a while BUT snow in general okay and Tara was a star...Holly was very fresh, this being her first outing for a month but Mark handled it all very well ;-)

Just want to wish everyone a very very Merry Xmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. May the year ahead be filled with sunshine and smiles, progress and fun ;-)

Thursday 23rd December

WOW, I managed to go for a ride, took Tara down to the post box at the entrance to the estate via the road and came back along a beautiful peaceful couple of fields...fab. Missed riding SO much it was good to be back in the saddle. Tara also amazed me with her willingness along a route she's never been on and with trotting and CANTERING in the soft snow! yeehaa ;-))

Tara decked out in all her red with jingle bells on her reins ;-)

Riding over the pretty stone bridge, the icy river below

The beautiful track to the last field home

Tara having completed her round trip to the post box

One last canter up the bank to home ;-))

Sunday 12th December

Not a lot happening horsey wise up here, snow still on the ground and the track has ice on it so being very careful not to have any accidents. Horses all doing well and they have their rugs on overnight as it's very cold here but during the day they're off and they enjoy the sunshine on their backs ;-)

We spend a few hours poo picking the paddocks (which is hard work on the undulating/hilly ground, but rewarding knowing the horses have better paddocks) but there is a lot of unpicked poo from when the snow fell so we're playing catch up with that one. Good way to get fit though ;-)

Inbetween poo picking with lovely Holly

Today Mark and I did 3 hours, me in the first paddock and Mark in the middle one. After this time I gave up and decided that a ride would be beneficial to my back and sanity! lol. SO, I put the bareback pad on Tara, haltered up her and Solly and went out for a short ride up the hill behind our house where the track is actually an earth track again...no snow! yeehaa.

I pony'd Solly and they did very well in the snow, both of them avoiding the ice which was good. Up the hill and I could 'feel' their eyes widen as the track of snow dissapeared into a nice hard grassy track....YEEHAA....Solly tried to grab at grass and I allowed him a bit as long as he kept pace with Tara. At the top I slowed and stopped and let them both graze for about 10 mins (way enough for big ole' Tara). They both really enjoyed it and I hope that Solly will do this on his own shortly, it's the first time he's been up this track, a couple of deer here and there but nothing bad, just getting him away from the herd BUT the view that there's grazing up here to be grazed might just give him the incentive to take me on short rides ;-)

Me, Tara and Solly coming back from our short but nice ride out ;-)

Wednesday 1st December

Well we've had snow, snow and more snow since bringing the horses to the house (thank goodness they're here for hay and feed) so nothing much going on training wise. This time of year is where we and our horses do mostly undemanding time, feeding and generally taking it easy. The snow now is between 2-3' depending on which part of a drift you're sunk into! lol. The horses have done a good job of trampling the top part of their paddock so feeding them and poo picking isn't too bad but riding them out would be hard work. Hopefully if the snow goes a bit we can do some sledging but we'll see. For now here are some piccie's of what it's like up here at the moment...enjoy ;-)