Hack

Bev called me and asked if I'd like to go on a hack on my horse. Would I ??? Of course!

So I got to the stables and sat on Lara for the first time ever (she's my son's horse really - we just pay for her !!). She's 15.2 hh and and an absolute darling. We went out in a group of 5 and walked along the track and along a road and then had a short trot. I had been told she is bouncy in trot so I was ready for it. It was lovely, I just had to rise a bit higher than I had been used to. A bit more walking and we got to a scary hose with an even scarier leak which was lying across the lane. Eventually with a bit of dancing, we managed to show it who was boss and stepped over it and carried on. Then we turned onto a track and Lara took this as her cue to take off. I wasn't expecting it and I shot forwards and my legs went back. It's quite difficult to recover from that whilst still in an active canter, but Bev managed to position herself so she could grab Lara. I knew what I had done wrong in not controlling her, and so I was even more alert from then on. We stayed in walk for most of the rest of the way, until we made the turn for home and the horses got excited. Short trots followed by an unexpected canter, which was surprisingly comfy and I stayed in position for - yay me !

More lessons next week. Hopefully my legs will have recovered by then...

I have been on the Aspire photography courses website and there is a new course covering Equine photography. It's a weekend course and it's in the New Forest in June. I'm hoping that I might persuade my husband a) that it's a good idea and b) that he will come too as he can fly at one of the clubs down there.

Oh, and did I mention that Eddie laid her first egg for us yesterday? Delicious!

And the other minor miracle? Teen son has tidied his room. I think I need to lie down...

Monday, Monday

Busy weekend...

We had a whizz around the Norfolk and Suffolk countryside on Saturday to meet with someone and also to drop some bits off at my cousin's home. We stopped on the way back for coffee and a sandwich at a lovely little cafe we have been meaning to visit for aaaaages. And I bought some jodhpurs as I am planning to start riding again (eeeek).

Sunday was spent quietly drinking coffee, reading the paper and then mucking out the chickens and going to see the horse.

Forgot to mention that we have a new lodger - Eddie the hen! She was wandering in the road near our friend's home, and they got her in off the road and started making enquiries to find out where she was from. No joy. So my younger son said we would have her. He said she was slightly bigger than our Pekins, and white. She is huge and brown. Close. Still we introduced her to our girls, on the understanding that if she upset them we would take her round to another friend of mine who has only brown hens. But after a couple of minutes of one of the Pekins trying to show her who was boss, it has all settled own and they all seem like friends. So much so that another of our girls was snuggled up to her last night when we went to close the coop.

So this week, hopefully having a riding lesson or two, brushing up on my Excel as I am job hunting, and general tidying, cleaning, cooking, ironing and other assorted domestic goddessery.

Rock and roll !