KittySawrus
10-29-2008, 03:04 PM
You guys may have seen me saying I was up at a mates' today riding her pony(s) (I didn't expect to ride both!)
Well, I thought it'd be up, the usual, a little arena work, perhaps some jumping, you might get some vids/pics.
As it was, I got up, met her dogs, then was trucked over to the stable yard where we caught the ponies, groomed, tacked up, and went out!
Bearing in mind all she had to go off were my tales of riding from the riding school - she's never seen me ride before. She & I are pretty good mates but I still thought it was awful generous of her to offer to ride her ponies.
So I got Reno, an 18-y-o, arthrictic, semi-retired, 14.1hh Friesian x Connemara pony. She warned me, as we rode out, that he may rear, buck, or spin. For the first half of our 2 1/2 hour hack, he was quite lovely.
We rode from the yard along various country lanes, up and down some hills, through some farms, onto a walk called Westerley Way in the Weardale National Park:
(General Idea of Weardale :P)
http://www.durhamdales.co.uk/uploadedImages/Durham_Dales/Weardale/Weardale-200.jpg
Basically this was my first ever long hack, and the best hack I've been on - you can't have quite as much fun when yo're with an instructor who's trying to keep four other kids in line. We did all four gaits, and at one point I had to swap ponies, because Reno had an "episode", where he took fright at a fence and reared, span, and napped til he was 500 yards away from the starting point. Geo & I swapped ponies so I then got Jack, a 15hh, 4-y-o, skewbald trotter-cross. Geo shot off, pointing Reno in the right direction, and we were back on track, with only a few more "Renosodes" :innocent:
We had a gallop through some woods - the best fun, ducking bracnhes and sticking to the windy trail - and also up a hill, and down a grass verge where I forgot to shorten my reins and somehow ended up with my hands behind my knees :S
All in all it was a full on blaster hack! And definitely what I needed to blow away the schooling cobwebs.
Getting back to Geo's we had to sponge the ponies down in icey water D: so I kinda lost the feeling in my fingers briefly, and after rugging them for a bit, turned them out. Then went back to her house where I met her dogs some more, a Caledonian Carriage Hound cross called Saffie, and a Greyhound called Charlie.
So, all in all, a pretty darn good day. I'd go into more details, but I'm shattered and must be off!
Pics of ponies tomorrow :3
Well, I thought it'd be up, the usual, a little arena work, perhaps some jumping, you might get some vids/pics.
As it was, I got up, met her dogs, then was trucked over to the stable yard where we caught the ponies, groomed, tacked up, and went out!
Bearing in mind all she had to go off were my tales of riding from the riding school - she's never seen me ride before. She & I are pretty good mates but I still thought it was awful generous of her to offer to ride her ponies.
So I got Reno, an 18-y-o, arthrictic, semi-retired, 14.1hh Friesian x Connemara pony. She warned me, as we rode out, that he may rear, buck, or spin. For the first half of our 2 1/2 hour hack, he was quite lovely.
We rode from the yard along various country lanes, up and down some hills, through some farms, onto a walk called Westerley Way in the Weardale National Park:
(General Idea of Weardale :P)
http://www.durhamdales.co.uk/uploadedImages/Durham_Dales/Weardale/Weardale-200.jpg
Basically this was my first ever long hack, and the best hack I've been on - you can't have quite as much fun when yo're with an instructor who's trying to keep four other kids in line. We did all four gaits, and at one point I had to swap ponies, because Reno had an "episode", where he took fright at a fence and reared, span, and napped til he was 500 yards away from the starting point. Geo & I swapped ponies so I then got Jack, a 15hh, 4-y-o, skewbald trotter-cross. Geo shot off, pointing Reno in the right direction, and we were back on track, with only a few more "Renosodes" :innocent:
We had a gallop through some woods - the best fun, ducking bracnhes and sticking to the windy trail - and also up a hill, and down a grass verge where I forgot to shorten my reins and somehow ended up with my hands behind my knees :S
All in all it was a full on blaster hack! And definitely what I needed to blow away the schooling cobwebs.
Getting back to Geo's we had to sponge the ponies down in icey water D: so I kinda lost the feeling in my fingers briefly, and after rugging them for a bit, turned them out. Then went back to her house where I met her dogs some more, a Caledonian Carriage Hound cross called Saffie, and a Greyhound called Charlie.
So, all in all, a pretty darn good day. I'd go into more details, but I'm shattered and must be off!
Pics of ponies tomorrow :3