October peak
25 October 2010 16:44![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glenatronWhat is going on here? A weekend gone by without a self-indulgent picture spam post from me?
Well the truth of it is I have given up taking pictures and writing up long self-indulgent posts once and for all.
A lie, of course. Here are a few pictures from the weekend, probably October at it's peak.
On Saturday I rode Zorro out on the punchbowl. The Bracken is all drying out and turning russet and the birch leaves are bright yellow on many trees. We missed an opportunity on this ride- we met the lady who helps maintain the livestock on the nature reserve and she was off to look for some ponies who were supposed to be in a field. I realised half way home that I should have offered to go with her and use Zorro's pony finding skills to track the little guys down. It was a good ride nonetheless, but that would have been a pretty fun job to do.
Walking down to the Ponies on Saturday evening it was a gorgeous evening with low yellow sunlight touching on the far side of the valley. I stopped to pick chestnuts on the way past.
The fences at our yard are not in the best of repair, but then it's hard to maintain fences when the moon keeps smashing through them.
On Sunday morning I did some schooling with Xefira. I'm not asking her to over-flex here- I asked for a little flex and then Xefira thought she should check out my boot while she was looking that way.
"What? What is this even doing in a school? And why on earth do you want me to step in it? Do you know what this stuff is? Do you know what crocodiles live in? THIS IS THE SAME STUFF!"
"Look, do I have to point it out to you? This is water! Lusitanos do not go in water because it makes us melt! Also, did I mention the crocodiles?"
It was quite handy to have that there to work with actually, continuing our campaign of showing her that horses can get their toes wet and survive. She figured it out soon enough and it gave me a chance to talk her owner through the process I'm using to resolve it.
This horse is such a sweetheart. Also it's probably good for me to ride in english tack from time to time, just so I don't forget how. Fear my masterful limp-fingered pinch on the reins. I'll maybe not cut it as a dressage rider this week.
The boys back out after their ride - we took them out together for a loop on the common. The real problem Small has is that he's not really in a physical condition to go very far but he also gets bored on the routine trails he has gone around lots of times so its a constant job to balance out between what he wants and what he needs.
The leaves are really richly coloured now as well- not so noticeable here because ( as usual ) I'm shooting into the light - but there is a lot of russet and yellow on the trees. I think maybe next weekend will be the last one for the autumn colour here.
Ponies having dinner as I left the field to head home. The two big tyres there are what we use to feed hay in the winter.
On the walk home I was pursued by a rainbow. It was really spectacular and I had paused a few times to get photographs before I realised it was getting closer and things were going to get pretty damp if I didn't get home before it reached me. The end of the rainbow in this picture is over the common that we normally ride out on. If my camera had more of a lens I could have got an awesome picture of that, but I would need a big camera for that and I probably wouldn't want to take it around with me.
A flock of birds ( starlings ) under a golden sky. I couldn't resist pausing my dash home to try and get some pictures of these guys.
A quick camera question, for anyone savvy in that respect: If the front casing of your camera keeps trying to fall off and it tends to switch modes at random, but usually switches back if you squeeze the camera body a little, is that a good sign?
Well the truth of it is I have given up taking pictures and writing up long self-indulgent posts once and for all.
A lie, of course. Here are a few pictures from the weekend, probably October at it's peak.
On Saturday I rode Zorro out on the punchbowl. The Bracken is all drying out and turning russet and the birch leaves are bright yellow on many trees. We missed an opportunity on this ride- we met the lady who helps maintain the livestock on the nature reserve and she was off to look for some ponies who were supposed to be in a field. I realised half way home that I should have offered to go with her and use Zorro's pony finding skills to track the little guys down. It was a good ride nonetheless, but that would have been a pretty fun job to do.
Walking down to the Ponies on Saturday evening it was a gorgeous evening with low yellow sunlight touching on the far side of the valley. I stopped to pick chestnuts on the way past.
The fences at our yard are not in the best of repair, but then it's hard to maintain fences when the moon keeps smashing through them.
On Sunday morning I did some schooling with Xefira. I'm not asking her to over-flex here- I asked for a little flex and then Xefira thought she should check out my boot while she was looking that way.
"What? What is this even doing in a school? And why on earth do you want me to step in it? Do you know what this stuff is? Do you know what crocodiles live in? THIS IS THE SAME STUFF!"
"Look, do I have to point it out to you? This is water! Lusitanos do not go in water because it makes us melt! Also, did I mention the crocodiles?"
It was quite handy to have that there to work with actually, continuing our campaign of showing her that horses can get their toes wet and survive. She figured it out soon enough and it gave me a chance to talk her owner through the process I'm using to resolve it.
This horse is such a sweetheart. Also it's probably good for me to ride in english tack from time to time, just so I don't forget how. Fear my masterful limp-fingered pinch on the reins. I'll maybe not cut it as a dressage rider this week.
The boys back out after their ride - we took them out together for a loop on the common. The real problem Small has is that he's not really in a physical condition to go very far but he also gets bored on the routine trails he has gone around lots of times so its a constant job to balance out between what he wants and what he needs.
The leaves are really richly coloured now as well- not so noticeable here because ( as usual ) I'm shooting into the light - but there is a lot of russet and yellow on the trees. I think maybe next weekend will be the last one for the autumn colour here.
Ponies having dinner as I left the field to head home. The two big tyres there are what we use to feed hay in the winter.
On the walk home I was pursued by a rainbow. It was really spectacular and I had paused a few times to get photographs before I realised it was getting closer and things were going to get pretty damp if I didn't get home before it reached me. The end of the rainbow in this picture is over the common that we normally ride out on. If my camera had more of a lens I could have got an awesome picture of that, but I would need a big camera for that and I probably wouldn't want to take it around with me.
A flock of birds ( starlings ) under a golden sky. I couldn't resist pausing my dash home to try and get some pictures of these guys.
A quick camera question, for anyone savvy in that respect: If the front casing of your camera keeps trying to fall off and it tends to switch modes at random, but usually switches back if you squeeze the camera body a little, is that a good sign?