News of Dee and Red

Dee and Red had been living together happily at Briwnant Riding Centre. We stopped riding Dee about a year ago as she became increasingly unpredictable. I felt I was getting too old to be on the back of such an unpredictable mare who might suddenly bolt for home, rear, spin on the spot, or any number of odd things. We decided to retire her, and Briwnant were happy to have her there on that basis. We gave them Red, and drew a line under our lives as horse riders.

Sadly this summer, Briwnant lost the use of the land they were leasing. It happened quite suddenly and it was a distressing time for them. They had to quickly find good homes for most of their horses and ponies. Red was sold to a mature rider with a companion pony sharing his field. Due to a mix up of communication, I was not informed before he departed Briwnant, and so I did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to him. I still feel sad about this. I know that he was no longer mine, and that he has gone to a good home – but I would have liked one last hug . . .

The couple who ran Briwnant moved their horses to fields near Caerphilly mountain, and most kindly took Dee with them – as she is ‘part of their family’. We see her occasionally, and this weekend was one of our visits. She came to call as soon as she saw us. At 26 years old, she is still lead mare, but now of a herd of about 12 horses, rather than of over 30. She seemed pleased to see us and looks well. I know that she is as well cared for there, as ever she was at Briwnant.

“Hurry up and get those treats out of the bag!”

High Jinx

Here as promised are a couple of short videos of Red jumping on the cross country part of the Briwnant fun ride, Bank Holiday Monday last.  He needed pushing on a little!

Fit, fat and fabulous

We do not see so often now that she is retired, but we enjoyed visiting her on Bank Holiday Monday after helping out at the fun ride at Briwnant.  Dee is looking fit, fat and fabulous.  She is always happy to see us and comes to call for a treat, but she doesn’t hang around very long.  At the moment she, and a few other non-working horses, are living in a little herd of their own at the top of the Wenallt.  There is plenty of grass and the weather is still good – horse paradise I think.

Red—who now belongs to Briwnant—took part in the fun ride and I hope that I have a video of him jumping during the cross-country part of the event.  I will post it if it is any good.  He still looks out for me when I am around and I may well ride him occasionally with a group ride.  I’ll see how I feel.  At the moment life is so full of other things that it is just a relief to be free of horse responsibilities.  To find out why life is so full please go and check out about the opening of Aro Ling on my other blog.

Times a’changing

Red enjoying the race to the hay pastures

I am pleased that my previous post was all about Red, because it has turned out to be my last post as his owner. 

I am about to start a new venture which will take up a lot of time and energy.  Things are still at the formative stage at the moment, but hopefully I will be able to announce it fairly soon on my other blog.  With this in mind I have had to rearrange some of my commitments and this has meant re-thinking my responsibilities with regard to Dee and Red.

The solution we came up with has been to give Red to the Briwnant Riding Centre and to put Dee on retirement livery.  Our primary concern has been the welfare of the horses.  They are both settled and happy at Briwnant and we did not want to move either of them unless it was absolutely unavoidable.  Dee has become increasingly relaxed over the last year and is loved for the way she has taken it upon herself to look after the weaker members of the herd.   Briwnant seems as stable (no pun intended) as any situation can be in these times of recession, and we trust them completely with regard to the horses’ care.  The new arrangement means that the horses will not have to be unsettled at all – in fact they will probably be totally unaware of any difference.

Detail of the above picture with Red in the centre

We did not buy Red as an investment and so preferred to give him to Briwnant rather than sell him and possibly lose all contact with him.  Red will  continue to be used for lessons and enjoy regular hacks.  I will still be able to see him when I want to and even ride him if I have time. 

With regard to Dee, she will now get more attention more regularly from Briwnant staff so that I do not have to worry when I am busy and finding it difficult to get up to see her. 

I do feel a little sadness that Red is no longer ours, but I think this solution is better than selling Red and not knowing about his future.  Hopefully everything will work out for the best for everyone.

Fun ride

While Dee was safely grazing in the hay pastures, Red had fun taking part in Briwnant’s fun ride.

Briwnant is home

Dee accepting a carrot after being turned out.

We had been thinking of moving house.  I fancied a place, not too far from Cardiff, with a bit of land.  It has been a wish for a long time to live somewhere that the horses could live with us.  For various reasons we think that this particular dream will not come to pass – and that is fine.  We are happily staying where we are.

When I thought about moving the horses I realised that this would not be their preference.  They like living at Briwnant Riding Centre.  They like being part of a large herd and have friends in the herd.  I think they would have not been so happy as a herd of two.  Dee has established her place in the herd and is now relaxed and no longer aggressive.  She is not challenged, so she does not need to do more than put her ears back and the other horses give her space.  All is peaceful in the herd.

I still occasionally meet people who tell me that they knew Dee at Pontcanna.  Usually they find it hard to believe that she is the same horse – living in a large herd, and getting along well with the other horses.  One such lady I met at the weekend, has just moved her fine cob/Irish draught cross to Briwnant.  She told me that this blog was a major factor in her decision to move her horse to Briwnant.  I am so happy that the blog has been useful to someone.

Briwnant is not perfect – but it is close to perfect for us.  Dee and Red are happy and healthy, and prefer living out at grass rather than spending hours a day couped up in a stable.  Red so hated that.

Briwnant fun ride

Yesterday was the August bank holiday fun ride at Briwnant Riding Centre.  We decided not to ride but to go along as helpers again.  Red was tacked up and ready to go when we arrived and we enjoyed making a fuss of him and meeting his rider.

The man riding Red has not been riding for long, but rode him competently and with confidence.  Red—as usual—was over-excited because it was a fun ride, which is why we don't usually join in.  We prefer our quiet rides out together, just the two of us.

We brought Dee in to groom while the ride completed the hacking part of the fun ride and then waited for the horses to return.  We then went out to the fields to act as marshals for the cross country part of the fun ride.  These tyres were the first jumps on the cross country course and most of the horses did not like them.  Red was acting very frisky and skirted them, barely jumping.

'ö-Dzin has a new fancy camera and succeeded in capturing some good action shots. If any readers of this blog were riding on this fun ride, ask Briwnant later in the week whether there is a picture of you among the set we are giving to Briwnant. 'ö-Dzin took a photograph of most of the cross country riders.

Hay everywhere and no rain

It has been quite rainy in Wales of late – not so surprising really for Wales and yet it somehow always seems to be a cause of upset.  “It is summer.  The sun should be shining!” we cry.  But the weather is not considerate of our preferences – and so it rains despite the name of the month.

I love the way the rain rolls off a horse's coat and they do not seem to mind it too much on a mild day.

About the only drawback of which I am aware of liverying at Briwnant Riding Centre is the scarcity of stables.  The number of horses seriously outnumbers the number of stables.  This does not bother Red at all as he hates being in the stable.  He was a naughty and difficult horse when we liveried at Wyndham because he spent so much time in the stable, especially in the winter.  Dee does not mind the stable and is quite partial to a cosy night in, but she never makes a fuss about going back out to the field, whatever the weather.  They are, when all is said and done, horses – animals that live on pasture.

As there was no available stable on our last rainy visit to Briwnant we tied Dee up in the hay barn to groom her.  She seemed quite happy with this arrangement and enjoyed a happy half hour munching.

Briwnant fun ride

The Gorgeous Red

As promised, here are a few photographs from the Briwnant fun ride on May 2nd.  I have been away on retreat (post about that on my Ngakma Nor'dzin blog tomorrow!) so I have not been able to post them earlier.  'ö-Dzin took the photos and found it a difficult task.  There are many pictures of 'horse's rear end after jumping' or 'horse approaching jump' but few that really caught the desired moment.  The delay of a digital camera can make timing almost impossible.

The experienced riders took it in turns to jump.

'ö-Dzin and I decided not to ride in the event this time.  Dee was not fit enough, we hadn't ridden much over the last few months, and Red can get a little over-excited.  We decided to help out as stewards (a slightly grand name for standing around in fields checking people are okay and putting fences back up when needed).

For the first hour we stayed with the experienced riders' group enjoying the cross country course in the Briwnant fields. We mostly helped put fences back up.  It was lovely to see Red enjoying himself in the capable hands of Jodi.  It looked as though he was calm and well-behaved - in fact the whole event was pretty calm and well organised. 

Showing the horses this scary pink and white jump
before asking them to jump it.

Then the experienced group headed off for the trail part of their ride (over Caerphilly way I think) and the novices arrived at Briwnant having completed the Wenallt trail.  Some of them rode into the fields to try a few of the smaller cross country jumps.

Although these events are called 'fun rides' there always seem to be a few youngsters for whom they become something of an ordeal.  At the beginning of the ride I tried to reassure one nervous little girl by leading her around the arena a few times to give her a chance to settle into the saddle and relax.  When the novice group were trying the jumps I stayed with a couple of riders who had stayed behind the main group to try jumping without the excitement of the larger group.  They did not really need any help but I felt it was better that they had someone with them just in case.  After this I returned to the rest of the novice group and found a young girl crying because her pony kept running away with her.  I started to lead her back to the yard and then another helper took her the rest of the way.  After a bit more jumping everyone began to head back to the yard for refreshments.

Adam showing he is becoming a confident
and able rider.

Fun Ride

Sunday 10th was the day of the fun ride at Briwnant Riding Centre.  We approached the arrival of this event with a mixture of trepidation and excitement.  At the last Briwnant fun ride we were able to attend I rode Red because Dee was lame.  Red got seriously over-excited with the result that I came off him over a jump that I didn't want to take but couldn't stop him.  This time I was to be riding Dee and 'ö-Dzin riding Red.  We had decided to join the quieter, shorter ride with the option of 'ö-Dzin missing out the cross country part of the ride at the end if he wished, as this was where Red was likely to get over-excited.

photo by Alfie

There was a good turn out for the ride.  Most of the centre's horse were used, plus a few of the livery horse owners were there, and a few people brought their horses in from other places.  The weather was perfect being sunny and clear.

This was Dee's first trail ride in four hoof boots rather than just two at the back.  I'd ridden her in the arena in all four boots, but had not had an opportunity to hack out in them.  I wondered how they would cope with the deep sticky mud on the first track.  As it turned out Dee's hoof boots stayed on with no problems throughout the ride and she was clearly comfortable and relaxed in them.  I cannot overstress my satisfaction with these Cavallo hoof boots – they are brilliant and available from many UK stockists now.

Our group set off along the muddy track that leads up to the Wenallt trail.  Approaching the Wenallt in this direction meant that the beginning of the ride was slow with a lot of steep downward hills.  I generally prefer to ride it in this anti-clockwise direction as it means that you can have canters on the flat at the bottom of the trail, rather than all the canters being up the hills.  Dee doesn't have the stamina for uphill canters any more and we tend to get left behind.

Arriving at the bottom part of the trail, the ride became quite lively with a lot of short, fast canters.  It was most enjoyable.  We then headed back to Briwnant for the cross country ride across their fields.  I expected 'ö-Dzin to finish here, but he bravely decided to take Red out into the fields.  He felt that Red—having insisted on being in second place in the ride on the trail—had not had the opportunity for a good, go-for-it canter with all the stopping and starting, and wanted to let him go.  Wow!  I was so proud of him.

There were about 14 jumps scattered around the six or seven fields of the cross country ride.  I jumped about half of them on Dee.  She loves to jump and showed no hesitation at any of them.  I just did the smaller jumps.  I made a point of taking the jump that had unseated me on Red on the previous fun ride to lay that ghost.  The photo show us taking off over the third log jump and we did about another three slightly larger jumps after this.

photo by Helen Westlake

The biggest jump of the day for me was one I did not intend to do – isn't always like that?!  The approach to one field is via a little stream.  The stream is only a couple of feet (60cm) wide and shallow, but there is a bank about two feet (60cm) above it set back from the stream on the approach.  There is room to go down the side of the bank, plod through the stream and up the other side.  Twice I asked Dee to do this, but to her the logical approach was to jump it.  I had to submit to her reasoning and let her go for it.  It was a huge leap from a standstill to clear it, but we got across without mishap.  I went back there yesterday when I went to check on Dee to have a look at how big a jump it was and I reckon it is a 6 - 8 foot (180 - 240cm) spread going from high ground to low – a real cross country water jump.  I feel quite proud to have done it.

photo by Helen Westlake

'ö-Dzin rode Red through the first two or three fields, avoiding the jumps, and enjoyed a flat out pace back to the yard.  We both had a fantastic day.  It was great to ride with so many other people and to do something a bit more exciting and challenging for a change. 

Confidence

At last we managed to ride today.  Hooray!  It has been about five weeks.

Dee came charging down the field to greet us and seemed very full of beans.  She shooed all the other horses away, including Red unfortunately, who then got confused about whether we wanted him as well.

Eventually we were ready and set off.  It was an interesting ride in many ways, not least because we are so out of practice.  Just as we set out I dropped a glove.  I dismounted, picked it up and used the grass bank to stand on to remount.  Dee swung her quarters out, wanting to eat the grass on the bank and I had to do a quick and nimble manoevre to get on - but did so successfully, which was pleasing.

As Dee seemed to be in an assertive mood–when is she not!—I suggested 'ö-Dzin go ahead on Red, but he was reluctant to go ahead of Dee and she had other ideas.  We could have insisted, but as she seemed to want to lead we let her.  She led off at a bold pace.  She continued in the lead the whole length of the track... and down the road... and into Wenallt woods... along the whole length of the Wenallt horse trail... back down the road... and along the track home to Briwnant.  This was amazing.  It is the first time she has ever done that since I have owned her.

So what was different about today?
Dee has been growing in confidence and is now one of the lead mares of the herd.
She is happy, secure and relaxed at Briwnant.
She is more comfortable on the trail now that we use hoof boots on her hind hooves.
I have lost 11lb in weight which I think enables me to sit more deeply in the saddle.
I have been practising a lot of sKu-mNyé (Tibetan yoga) recently and may be a bit fitter.
I seemed very able to feel how Dee was doing today—perhaps because I am thinner and fitter—and every time I sensed her becoming hesitant I pushed with my seat and talked to her or made noises until her ears flicked back to me and she remembered I was there.
I carried a whip, which I do not usually do when I ride Dee.

I do not know which factor, or combination of factors made a difference, but it is a wonderful difference.  Dee stayed as the lead horse at walk, trot and canter.  Occasionally she was clearly nervous, but mostly she was relaxed.  This is fantastic.  Perhaps I will finally have my happy hacker that I have always wanted and we shall just be able to head out together whenever we want without having to wait until there is someone else with whom we can ride.  Perhaps this is jumping the gun – but I feel optimistic.

I love this picture of Dee yawning!

Red is licking my hand in this photograph – can you see his big tongue under my hand?

My new book Relaxing into Meditation was launched yesterday.  It's available from Aro Books worldwide if anyone is interested...

Magical moments

I have had a few wonderful visits with Dee over the last week.  One day I was going out to the field to get Dee and Nicky asked me to bring Red in as well to see the farrier.  I knew Red would follow us in, so I only took Dee's headcollar.  I still do not feel too confident about leading both my horses at the same time – they are so much bigger than me and I am not always confident of my footing with my dodgy knees!

I arrived at the second field and called them both.  Red defers to Dee, so she came to me first.  Usually I would put on her headcollar and then struggle to hold her and deal with the gate while I ushered Red through.  Because I inherited the notion of Dee being a difficult horse to manage when I bought her, I have always tended to feel I must make sure I have her fully under control.  I think this can make me tense and her naughty.  So this time I opened the gate and just let Dee wander through while I waited for Red.  The worst that could happen was that she was in the wrong field and wouldn't be caught.  When Red arrived I guided him through the gate and shut it.  My intention had been to then go and put on Dee's headcollar and lead her up to the yard, but she had already set out.  And so I had a lovely, relaxed walk up the field with Dee slightly ahead of me, occasionally stopping to look back and check we were still there, and Red walking right by my side – both happily going up to the yard of their own accord.  Magic!

Each time since then I have been letting Dee walk up to the yard on her own.  Today she was in what I call 'the wet field'.  It can be quite awkward getting them in from this field as there is a stream running through it which has formed a couple of deep trenches in the meadow.  If your horse comes to you by the car park, the only way to bring them in from there is to go all the way to the bottom of the field, across the stream and then back up – a steep and muddy walk.  Dee was at the bottom of the field.  She came to call, but stopped about 20 metres away, on the wrong side of one of the stream trenches.  I knew she could get across it and didn't fancy going down there to struggle in the mud.  She kept looking as I called, but didn't move and eventually turned her butt to me.  'Two can play that game,' I thought, and turned away from her and started to slowly walk back to the yard, still calling her.  Suddenly she remembered how to cross the trench, did so, and trotted up the slope to me.  Sensible mare – not to miss out on a feed for being stubborn.

I know she will not come to call so easily when the spring grass begins to grow – but I am enjoying it at the moment.  It is still very cold, so no riding yet.  I'm having fun looking for a saddle.  There are a few I like on ebay, but cannot decide whether to go for those or pay the extra £100 - £150 to get a brand new one. 

The fields at Briwnant are starting to look rather well cropped, but both horses are looking a good weight – as good as they did last winter when they lived at Wyndham.  The livery care at Wyndham was excellent, and there the horses had hard feed twice a day.  I'm pleased that they are doing just as well at Briwnant on grass livery with hard feed less often.

Shaken up

I'm feeling a little shaken up this evening.  I rode Dee this morning – this is becoming a regular Monday morning ride.  This morning we had a lesson rather than going out for a hack.  The lesson was great.  I learned a lot and Sarian of Briwnant is a great teacher.  I understood things that I think they had tried to teach me at Pontcanna but never clearly enough – or perhaps I was just being dense.  Dee responded so well to the slightest aid it was a pleasure to experience what might be possible if I knew more about what I was doing.  I had given up on lessons because of the frustrations of trying to progress when different teachers would contradict one another, but I might have a few at Briwnant.

Unfortunately Dee clicked into riding school mode and became a mare I haven't seen for a few years.  When her ears went back, I got scared and let Dee get away with being aggressive.  I sat the bucks as she kicked out at another horse – but only just, and it left me feeling quite shaken.  The other riders kept well away from her after that and I don't blame them, but I feel sad and embarrassed that they had to.  I think I feel shaken from two perspectives – the first is that I felt unsafe, and the second is that Dee hasn't behaved like that for such a long time and I find it upsetting that it happened.  I thought we had moved past that.  Sure she is a dominant mare in the field with the herd, but I have had no trouble with her with other horses on rides for years.  It feels a bit like a failure.

It's made me think that I need to get a different saddle.  Now that Dee is getting fitter and I am riding several times a week regularly, I need a saddle that has a bit more substance to it.  I guess as Dee gets fitter her strong personality comes through more, and I need to know I am in control.  I need to know that if Dee spooks or plays up that I have the best chance possible to sit it and be in charge.  My treeless saddle is too close to riding in a bareback pad.

The rhythm beads have arrived and the new hoof boots.  It was too wet and wild today to try the hoof boots, but I wore the rhythm beads around my neck while I groomed Dee so that she could get used to the sound they make.

I've posted a picture of the Briwnant duck pond today.  Dee seems to be fascinated by the ducks, and always asks to stop and watch them for a while when I lead her past the duck pond.  She steps up onto the bank so she can get a good view.  She's such a sweet mare in so many ways.

Momentous day

Today has been quite a momentous day.  Firstly I completed and submitted my tax return this morning – always a daunting task.  It had taken pretty much all of yesterday and half of today to pull all the details together, but now it is done and off my mind.

My reward to myself was to go to Briwnant and ride Dee.  I am trying to ride her more often and get her fit.  Now that Red is ridden regularly as a Briwnant Trekking Centre working horse, I do not have to worry if we can only ride him occasionally because he stays fit through his work for the centre.  Consequently I am concentrating more on Dee.  I have had very little time to work with her since we brought her back from Cornwall and am determined to rectify this. 

As I walked down the first field to catch Dee I met Red walking up.  He wanted me to put the head collar I was carrying on him and seemed quite confused when I did not.  I think it is a real testament to how happy Red is with his life at Briwnant that he was walking up to the gate like this.  Paul had been down to catch a few horses ready for an afternoon lesson in the arena and also a few others for a trail ride.  Red was to be used for the trail ride.  Paul had just said to Red that he was wanted too and to come in, and Red had walked up to the yard completely on his own with no headcollar or anyone coercing him just from this.  What a good lad.

Dee was in the last field, as far away as possible from the yard!  I'm getting fit simply from walking out to get her!  It is uphill pretty much all the way back to the yard, so I sometimes find even this quite tiring even before grooming and riding.  Soon we were ready to go and today was the day I'd decided to take Dee out for a ride on her own.  Readers who have been following my blog for a while will know that Dee will not hack out on her own and naps badly.  However there is an idiosyncrasy to this behaviour of which I have become aware: that she will ride through fields but not along a track or road on her own.  When we were at Ridgeway, she would happily let me ride her around the fields on her own and even take the path across the field behind the stables, but she would not go down the lane.

One of the many advantages of Briwnant is that they have a lot of land, and there is a short ride I can take from the yard, up to the top fields and only finishing with a little bit of the track at the end.  I hoped that because most of it was across fields, and that she would know she was on her way home once we arrived at the track, that she would not nap.  It worked!  We did the whole ride with no napping – the first time we have sucessful hacked out alone on a complete ride since I have owned her.  I feel so proud of her and am absolutely thrilled.  It is only a short ride but includes a steep hill, so it does make her work.  I did not push my luck today and only asked her to walk the circuit, but I will add an extra field to it at the top as she gets used to it where we can have a trot or a canter.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a more satisfying riding experience for us both.  I do wonder whether the napping has something to do with the stoney tracks, and am considering shoeing her on her back feet as well to see if this makes her more relaxed and confident about the tracks.  On our Wenallt trail ride on Monday I was very aware of her hesitancy over the stoney parts of the track.  My only concern about shoeing her on the back feet is whether I would be equipping her with weapons!  Alternatively I could try hoof boots again – I don't think Dee would make the fuss Red made about having boots put on her feet.

Bank holiday ride

It has been a bank holiday weekend here in Britain and we took a little trip up to Yorkshire to go down into a cave. The descent into Gaping Gill in a bosun's chair was an extraordinary experience and I am glad to have had the opportunity.

We came home on Sunday so that we would be able to ride on the bank holiday Monday. Dee seemed almost keen to be caught and came straight up to me and put her head out for the head collar. We have been looking forward to this ride because it is the first time we have been out to the Wenallt horse trail together since Dee came home. C. from Briwnant joined us on Thomas as well, so the three horse friends were together. Surprisingly Dee decided she was going to lead the expedition. Those who have been reading Ceffylau for a while will know that Dee naps and will not usually take the lead. Yesterday however she led all the way down Briwnant's track, down the road, and halfway along the first part of the Wenallt trail before the first hill. Then she just stopped – and that was it; she would go no farther. Red took over as lead horse and Dee happily carried on behind him. I was very pleased with her for leading this far, and I think it is an indication of how happy and relaxed she is at Briwnant.

We had a pleasant ride through Coed y Wenallt and then C. showed us how to get into Briwnant land at the top of the hill to avoid the long walk down Wenallt Road. This road is steep and narrow and not all car drivers are sensible or considerate when they meet horses. In places there is insufficient room for a car and a horse, so it is good to be able to get off the road. I often ride all the way back through the wood in order to avoid the road. The only disadvantage of entering Briwnant land at the top of the hill is that there are two gates to deal with. They are not suitable to open while mounted so this meant that one of us had to dismount and remount twice. It seemed logical for me to do this – Dee is the smallest of the three horses and she stands still better than Red. I haven't mounted a horse without a mounting block for a long time so this was quite a challenge for me. I struggled a little to get a few rungs up on each gate and then get a foot in the stirrup – but I succeeded and feel proud of myself for it.

There is a magnificent view from the top field across the Severn Estuary to England. The grass up there is long and lush and Dee sneaked a few mouthfuls while I was sorting out the gates. Rabbits scurried into the bracken as we approached the steep path down onto the track to the stables. It had been a delightful ride. It is so good to be able to ride together again.

After washing the horses down where they were sweaty and giving them a 'thank you feed', I led Dee first to the field. She was most reluctant to go back in the field ... until Red arrived ... and then she went straight through the gate. They do like to be together. They are fully integrated into the herd and often in the midst of things, but they still stay near each other. I feel that at last I have found a place where Dee and Red are happy, they are able to live at pasture, and where we can settle and keep the horses long term. Hurray!!

Challenges

Dee is being quite challenging now that she is home. I think I have to re-establish my relationship with her to some degree – after all I did load her onto a lorry and abandon her for four months. I know she is happy to be back with me and Red, but it seems that we have to start over to some extent. It reminds me of when I first had her and the challenges we had to work through at that time.

I was interested in Victoria's post Dodging a Bullet. She says about Siete: "My lack of trust in her and in myself is like a high fence between us." I feel this too. Although I know that Dee and I have a close connection and deep affection for one another, I am nervous of her when she is loose in the field and can get anxious when catching her. At Briwnant it will be necessary to catch her every time I want to groom her or ride her, so I am going to have to build up my confidence again about doing this. She seems to be full of energy and she and Red are often racing around the field together when I go to check them. Sometimes when I'm in the field she'll decide to shoo off another horse and I worry that I will get in the way and get trampled. When catching her in the past she has sometimes not wanted to be haltered and pulled away from me; or she has let me halter her and then decided to take off, ripping the rope out of my hands. On Sunday she let me halter her and then, as we walking up the field, she suddenly became agitated, reared up and took off. She caught me on the shoulder with a front hoof – nothing serious fortunately, but it adds to my fearfulness. 'ö-Dzin brought her in after that and she was perfectly fine with him, so I do not know what it was all about. She continued to be fine while I groomed her and tacked her and behaved well on our short ride.

This was the first time she had been ridden in four months, and she is still barefoot, so we did not go far and avoided the track and the road. We rode where the ground was soft earth—even muddy and wet in some places—and not for too long. She was certainly up for it and rather lively. She seems to be fitter than she was when she left Wyndham which I think demonstrates well that horses keep their condition at grass rather better than when they are being stabled for a large part of the day. The trail we rode on Briwnant land included a steep hill and they were both keen to lope up it.

The bluebells are in bloom at the moment and the hillsides here about are a beautiful haze of blue blossom, which I hope you can see in the background of the photograph of Dee and Red chasing around after two ponies. It was wonderful riding through these blue haze hills, and the green of the new undergrowth is almost fluorescent it is so vivid.

Exploring Briwnant

This morning we took Red on an exploration of Briwnant Riding Centre's land. First we rode about half way along the track and then turned off it to head up the hill through the undergrowth to the top field that borders Wenallt Road. There is a gate to the road from the top field. This will be a really useful track to take when accessing the Wenallt trail, because it avoids a large section of the road. It is very beautiful up there with wild primroses in full bloom and many rabbits scurrying into the cover of the bracken. The bluebells are just beginning to blossom. The view is extraordinary: right across Cardiff, the Severn Estuary with both Severn Bridges, Penarth Head, Steep and Flat Holm in the estuary and beyond them the coast of England. It was a little hazy so it was not possible to make out the Devon and North Cornish coasts today, but still one could see for a distance of more than 30 miles.

Next we rode back down towards the stable yard and then turned left along a muddy track. We learned later that this used to be the access track to Briwnant and eventually comes out at Thornhill Road by a hotel. We rode to nearly as far as the hotel and turned back. Two of the Briwnant dogs accompanied us which I think helped Red feel more confident, but also made him a little lively – I think it reminded him of hunting. Apparently if we took the track to its end, there are other rides that can be accessed from there, so I look forward to exploring those one day.

Arriving back at the yard again we went through a gate into two of the fields that are being rested at the moment. Here I took Red down to the bottom of each field so that he could have a good fast canter back up the fields, which we enjoyed. I had not cantered him in the top field as he seemed quite nervous up there as it is so high and open.

This ride had taken us about an hour. It is great to be somewhere where we can ride for so long without touching a road. Red is relaxed and settled and obviously really likes it at Briwnant. And—I hardly dare put it in writing it seems so much too good to be true—we can bring Dee here. We can bring her back from Cornwall and put her here on grass livery. I'm not sure how we are going to organise this at the moment, but we are going to Cornwall to see Dee next week, so I can discuss it with the lady at Gorgeous Grazing then. I can't quite believe that things could work out quite this perfectly at the moment —I'm afraid of jinxing it—but how wonderful it would be to have both our horses to ride out on together again. Dee is still up for riding. We shall have to start gently as she hasn't been ridden for four months, but she always enjoyed hacking out.

Settled already!

I telephoned Briwnant just as it was beginning to get dark this evening. I wanted to check that Red had been okay at the time he would have been used to coming in for a feed and being stabled for the night. P. at Briwnant told me that Red had shown no sign of wanting to come in. He was happy to be approached, but was not interested in leaving the field – he just wanted to carry on enjoying grazing.

Wow! Wonderful! He seems settled in already!

Move to Briwnant Riding Centre

(Photo 1: 'This looks interesting ...')

This morning we moved Red to Briwnant Riding Centre. 'ö-Dzin rode him over and I drove there with a car-load of rugs, tack and horsey items. We put Red into a stable for half and hour and then turned him out into a field. He is out with a few young and quiet horses who will not challenge him to start with, in the pasture next to the main herd. He will be introduced to the main herd in about a week once he has had time to get to know them. They will not work him for his first week either.

Red wandered out into the field completely relaxed and content. He had not neighed at all and seemed perfectly happy – which is quite a contrast to when we moved him to Wyndham, where he was very vocal and unsettled even though he had Dee in the stable next to him. So this bodes well. After about five minutes one of the young horses in the field noticed the new arrival and trotted over to meet Red. They greeted each other in a friendly way (photo 2). This photograph also shows the magnificent views from Briwnant – right across the Severn Estuary to England. Soon the other horses came over to check Red out. One of the mares was a bit fiesty and kicked out at him, but she has no shoes on and Red just got out of her way. It is a large field with plenty of grass, so he just wanted to graze. By the time we left he seemed to have made friends with two horses and they were grazing near one another. I have a good feeling about this place.

Another happy occurrence is that we met a lady we knew from Ridgeway at Briwnant. She had been interested in buying Red at one time, or loaning him, but decided she was not ready. She rode Dee a couple of times. She now has her own horse, a lovely mare called Star. I was so happy to meet her again, and I think we may ride together. It seems there may be more opportunity to ride with people from Briwnant.

I am sad to leave Wyndham. We have been happy there and Sally has been very kind to us. However I feel confident that Briwnant will be a good move for us – certainly Red seems relaxed there already. I shall telephone later this evening—after the time he is used to coming in for a feed and to be stabled for the night—to see how he is. They will feed him in the evening until he is used to the Briwnant routine, and will bring him in and stable him if he is distressed – but I think this is unlikely. I think he will be quite content to stay out in such a large field with plenty of grass.

Giving notice

Well the dastardly deed is done – I have given my notice at Wyndham Livery. I found this quite a hard thing to do—even though I know it has to be done—because Sally has been so kind to me, it is such a friendly and happy yard and I like being there. It was made doubly hard because Sally had already heard that I was looking at other yards and was a little hurt that she hadn't heard this from me first. I am sorry that I misjudged this. I felt it was better to wait until I knew whether I was moving Red or selling him – and it hadn't occurred to me that she would hear about it while I was still at the cogitating stage. She was nice about it though and we shall part on good terms.

I went up to Briwnant Riding Centre this morning to talk to them about moving Red there on working livery. They were most friendly and welcoming and I was there much long than expected. I shall be riding Red over for them to see on Tuesday. Unless there is something about him they really don't like—which is unlikely—it seems most probable that I shall move him there soon after. I liked the place and their approach to running the yard. I liked the way they were with the horses I saw them with this morning. The horses were friendly and looked healthy and happy. A lot of my queries were answered without my having to ask – such as how they managed the work for the horses to prevent them getting stale or bored, and how they expected beginners to behave when mounted so that the horses don't become hard mouthed and dead to leg aids.

They have a lot of land—about 93 acres—and the horses live out at pasture except when they are working. It is possible to ride through some of the fields to avoid roads altogether, or to access the higher part of the Wenallt horse trail. They have a menage and are setting up a cross country course. The views across Cardiff must be spectacular, but unfortunately today it was too misty to see very far into the distance. I will post photographs when I am up there on a better day for photography. The owners had read my blog and volunteered that it would be possible to hire one of their horses for 'ö-Dzin and I to hack out together once they were sure that we rode well enough to be entrusted with one of their horses. I really appreciated them saying this without my asking.

I still feel a bit churned up about having given my notice at Wyndham. It will be a big change and I shall miss Sally and everyone else at the yard, but at least I should now be able to afford to keep Red indefinitely – possibly into his 20s, by which time I will be in my 60s and probably we shall both be ready to retire.

When I called into Wyndham after my visit to Briwnant, I discovered that all the horses were being kept in today because of the weather. Red was sweet and pleased to see me. He let me groom the mud off his legs without any fuss or my having to tie him. I hope I am doing the best thing by him and that he will settle quickly in his new home. It took him a long time to settle at Wyndham. However he settled very quickly at Ridgeway which was also pasture livery, so perhaps he will settle quickly at Briwnant as well. Perhaps it is the amount of time they spend stabled at Wyndham that was the reason he took so long to settle. We shall see. I think it will be nice for him to be in a mixed herd of mares and geldings again. He was always fond of Dee even though she pushed him around.