The view beyond the arena

Sunday. The weather. Oh my days. I think I speak for all of us oop North in saying it was glorious.

I stayed at my friend's house on Saturday night (countryside, stables, bedroom window overlooks the field) and it was great.

Not least because she said if she wins the lottery she's donating her freehold slice of paradise to my grateful self)

But the only minor downside was that I only had my thick winter clothes with me and the plan was to zoom over to my yard after breakfast.

I did my best but by the time I'd turned them out (no rugs - yipee) I had a sweat on and decided to do the sensible thing and nip home for a change.

Once I had my t-shirt on there was no stopping me and I mucked out, cleaned my tack, oiled Harvey's new bridle and had a good tidy round.

I then decided to try Cady once more in the Pessoa just to double check. I used it for five minutes and she looked much more comfortable. From now on I think I'll just use it here and there for no more than a few minutes and see how we go. 

Then I tacked up and took her in the arena and we had a great time. Lots of transitions, leg yielding and shoulder-in all in a very relaxed manner..I think, yes I'm pretty sure, I even admired the view from the arena at one point! This was a brand new experience for me as I usually keep my eye-sight firmly on where we are going in the optimistic plan that if I don't look beyond the fence, she won't hoy me over it. 

Anyway, the ride was in stark contrast to Saturday morning when we were accosted by all kinds of madness going on including cement mixers with scary air brakes, tractors, jcbs, two fat pigeons and a spirited Shetland galloping up and down. Cady was fine with all this but my nerves are still on the delicate side and I felt very relieved when it was over!

Harvey's doing really well too. It's still just a question of building his muscle so he's physically comfortable enough to carry a rider so we spent some time in the round pen working through walk, trot and canter on both reins followed up by a good groom.

I have noticed he makes a funny noise as he moves at the trot, like a duck being stepped on repeatedly. By pure coincidence my friend leant me Caroline Akrill's Not Quite a Horsewoman (excellent book) to read and she described the same thing with her piebald. It seems the noise comes from his sheath, and the solution is to don my rubber gloves and give it a good clean. Oh joy, I can't wait.