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glenatronIt was a pretty good weekend all in all, the charming ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
oifonly came over to visit with us on Saturday and became our first sleepover type guest since we moved in to the new house. She had been having a bit of an anxious time with her pony ( the very charming Staro, who we went to meet a couple of months back ) and it seemed to me that sitting on some nice sedate horses with us might be a bit reassuring that she can do fine with a normal horse.
Of course, in Saturday it alternately mizzled and poured but we found time to take Small out for some antics ( documented previously ) and brought Zorro in to give her a chance to see what she thought of his saddle as she's been thinking of a western style one for Staro. Of course someone had to show off his more bucky side for the benefit of our guest, but once we got going nicely and Zorro discovered he can work even in light rain he was pretty good.oifonly hopped on and did a bit of riding with him where he was very well behaved and I think she found the massive saddle as reassuring as I do.
On Sunday the sun came out and we brought in charming Rosie, a chestnut mare who one of the other people on the yard has brought on to sell and had kindly allowed us to ride. Rosie mostly likes snuggling and hugs and doesn't really care for going forward terribly much but with a bit of persuading she went really nicely andoifonly looked really good on her.
After lunch we said goodbye to our guest, who had a long drive home to look forward to and I rode out on Zorro. In the fortnight since we last rode out alone ( we went out on the trail last week but Donk was with us ) Zorro had apparently completely forgotten that he's a trail horse and we got increasingly stuck until we reached a point a couple of miles in where he just hit an invisible wall, jammed up and could only stop or go backwards. There's no point pushing against that so I just turned for home and we trotted back fifty metres, then turned and trotted out again. We hit the wall again, but the next time we did the same we broke right through and from that point onwards he was willing to listen and go forwards. We went off through the woods, alternately trotting so fast it felt like flying and cantering and then round the end of the firebreak that bisects the common ( where Zorro expected to have a run, so we walked gently for a while and then had a run because running is awesome ) and back up the long hill that is one of the nicest places for a more measured and balanced canter, with the wind across the hillside blowing through Zorro's mane and the heather spreading out in fields of purple around us.
We rode out again today, a shorter and more gentle meander up the hill which featured the big achievement of going through two gates. That may not sound like much but we've found both of these problematic enough that I have ended up hopping off and leading through them before and Zorro nearly scraped my leg off on one of them last year so getting through them both from the saddle was a good thing. The up-hill one is easier because although it is hard to reach the catch it opens away from us so Zorro can push it open with his nose ( which he does because he is a very clever cob ) and we can amble through. The downhill one is more tricky because we have to get the catch open and then come back and around to get the actual gate open. It took a few minutes, including a pause to let a crossbike go past and another with the gate half open while Zorro watched some walkers go by on another path, but we've got enough communication going on now that we more or less made it through. Not smoothly, but we got the job done.
oifonly came over to visit with us on Saturday and became our first sleepover type guest since we moved in to the new house. She had been having a bit of an anxious time with her pony ( the very charming Staro, who we went to meet a couple of months back ) and it seemed to me that sitting on some nice sedate horses with us might be a bit reassuring that she can do fine with a normal horse.Of course, in Saturday it alternately mizzled and poured but we found time to take Small out for some antics ( documented previously ) and brought Zorro in to give her a chance to see what she thought of his saddle as she's been thinking of a western style one for Staro. Of course someone had to show off his more bucky side for the benefit of our guest, but once we got going nicely and Zorro discovered he can work even in light rain he was pretty good.
oifonly hopped on and did a bit of riding with him where he was very well behaved and I think she found the massive saddle as reassuring as I do.On Sunday the sun came out and we brought in charming Rosie, a chestnut mare who one of the other people on the yard has brought on to sell and had kindly allowed us to ride. Rosie mostly likes snuggling and hugs and doesn't really care for going forward terribly much but with a bit of persuading she went really nicely and
oifonly looked really good on her. After lunch we said goodbye to our guest, who had a long drive home to look forward to and I rode out on Zorro. In the fortnight since we last rode out alone ( we went out on the trail last week but Donk was with us ) Zorro had apparently completely forgotten that he's a trail horse and we got increasingly stuck until we reached a point a couple of miles in where he just hit an invisible wall, jammed up and could only stop or go backwards. There's no point pushing against that so I just turned for home and we trotted back fifty metres, then turned and trotted out again. We hit the wall again, but the next time we did the same we broke right through and from that point onwards he was willing to listen and go forwards. We went off through the woods, alternately trotting so fast it felt like flying and cantering and then round the end of the firebreak that bisects the common ( where Zorro expected to have a run, so we walked gently for a while and then had a run because running is awesome ) and back up the long hill that is one of the nicest places for a more measured and balanced canter, with the wind across the hillside blowing through Zorro's mane and the heather spreading out in fields of purple around us.
We rode out again today, a shorter and more gentle meander up the hill which featured the big achievement of going through two gates. That may not sound like much but we've found both of these problematic enough that I have ended up hopping off and leading through them before and Zorro nearly scraped my leg off on one of them last year so getting through them both from the saddle was a good thing. The up-hill one is easier because although it is hard to reach the catch it opens away from us so Zorro can push it open with his nose ( which he does because he is a very clever cob ) and we can amble through. The downhill one is more tricky because we have to get the catch open and then come back and around to get the actual gate open. It took a few minutes, including a pause to let a crossbike go past and another with the gate half open while Zorro watched some walkers go by on another path, but we've got enough communication going on now that we more or less made it through. Not smoothly, but we got the job done.
