Sunshine - lovely!

Now that we have mastered the indoor school, I thought that it was time we ventured outside again. The surface is not fantastic outside, although there is a woodchip school as well which I can use. She went beautifully yesterday and was as chilled as anything, so today I put her saddle and bridle on to move things along a bit. She was really good and didn't mind the wind or the lorries arriving for the riding club meeting or the horses coming and going. I flapped the saddle around noisily afterwards and put a bit of weight on it which was fine.

Tomorrow I have organised for some help to be on hand, so that I can lie across her and walk around. I have done this before several times, but not since before Christmas. This is a great way of getting her used to the weight on her back but still making sure that I can slide off if she panics. Provided this goes well, I should be able to sit on her again this week.
At least one of us is looking at the camera! Echo loking very photogenic and very big!

The field that she has moved to is lovely, but quite a long way from the yard. I am therefore taking this opportunity to go different routes to it, exploring some of the cross country course and the places where we will be hacking out one day. She is generally fine the second time she goes somewhere, but the first time is often noisy and fast! Yesterday she paced to the field with her eyes on stalks and shrieking in my ear. Today was much more relaxed, as you can see in the photo above, although she was calling to her friends from at least 200 yards away!