A Short Catch Up...

I must again apologise for my poor commitment to blogging regularly. It has been such a busy few weeks since I wrote about Wiola's visit. I have been working very hard on my position in the saddle, although probably not doing the 'off the horse' exercises enough. I think I'm much straighter now, and when I recently rode in my old saddle so that I could jump, it didn't slip at all, which would suggest that I'm not leaning to one side nearly as much as I was.

So - the last few weeks have been busy - lots of riding and lots of other things too - more about that to come! Echo and I have been doing lots of schooling, but also some jumping, which was brilliant and lots of hacking. The countryside is not quite as good as at my old yard; I can't complain, as it's all off-road, but it is round farmland and there is a lot of machinery! It's very good for her to learn about tractors and irrigation and spinny spraying things and huge white sheets covering wide expanses of space... but it can be a little hairy when we're out on our own! Luckily, most of the farmers are really nice and if they see you're in trouble they stop and turn off their engines. Some don't. Some even start their particularly loud spinny spraying things just as you ride past. I love those ones.

This week I am hoping to do a little more jumping, then am hopefully going with a friend back to the old yard to use their cross country course. I feel like having a bit of a play over some of the little logs and through the water - I think it'll be good for both of us.

This is a very short post, by my standards, and I have SO much to say, but it'll have to wait for a couple of days so that I have time to tell you ALL my news!

I shall leave you with a few photos of the hacking delights that we go past!




I'm particularly fond of these big sheets when it's really windy - they ripple and then bits of them come loose and flap like a sail!