Unscripted

Today saw a spontaneous pony party when I got a call this morning. A friend was having a tough time. So I suggested she came over with her horse for a ride & talk. It was such a lovely day, so good for the soul.

We were out for nearly 2 hours wandering round, putting the world to rights. Even saw a beautiful rainbow as we dodged the showers.

We had a slight issue when we got to a bridleway that runs across a field. The field had been freshly ploughed so it was really hard to see where the path actually ran.

I thought I’d worked it out as I’ve used the bridleway many times. All was going well till we hit a rather deep bit and poor Buddy started to sink!

I honestly thought he was going to fall over. Thankfully he saved himself and we made it across. Guess I didn’t quite get the path right. Who knows?! Even when we looked at the bridleway path marker, it was hard to see where it was.

By the end of the ride, we were all smiling. Sometimes, you just need to talk it out. Maybe I should add ‘ride & talk’ to my rider confidence coaching offerings.

Panda Power

Back home after a fab horsey adventure. Emma and I talked non-stop. I’m so glad I decided to be spontaneous and go with her to the Champs this weekend.

We thought we were lucky when we arrived yesterday to be parked right next to the stables. Not so lucky when we had a horse calling and crashing during the night. Neither of us got the best night. At one point, I was debating getting up to check it wasn’t cast or collicking.

Bit of an early start to do the Arena Walk. As Emma and Panda were the first in their class, there wasn’t much point going back to the lorry.

It was so windy today. But really warm. It would have been a glorious day if the wind had dropped.

Everyone had the same issue though. And everyone did really well in rather challenging circumstances.

It was lovely watching people. One of my observations was how diverse the horses and riders were. From leggy warmbloods to hench highlands, and everything in between. The riders were all shapes, sizes and ages too.

Wonderful to see people enjoying being away with their horses. I enjoyed it too. I was very well fed and watered. Came home feeling inspired to get Buddy to another Championships.