Proud in the spring sunshine

It has been delightfully sunny, warm and spring-like in Cardiff.  The daffodils are in full bloom and the cherry and magnolia blossom is particularly beautiful this year.  Both of the camellia bushes in my garden have the most perfect flowers - one a bright pink and the other a deeper reddish pink.  The forecast however, was that the weather was due to change, with it becoming wet and colder, so I was determined to ride yesterday in the sunshine.

I have not ridden since the end of January, so there was a little nervousness in my stomach.  A ride goes out from Briwnant at 11 am on a Monday, so I set out to join this group.  Red was still out so I caught him, groomed him and tacked him up and managed to be just about ready for 11.  Four of us were going out and I knew them all except for the ride leader who has not been at Briwnant that long.

We headed out for the Wenallt horse trail.  I was surprised when the ride leader suggested a canter near the beginning of the trail because to my eye that part of the trail is downhill and we do not usually canter on group rides if there is even a slight downhill incline.  I was behind the leader so I didn't see what happened but one lady came off.  She hurt her leg and couldn't continue but felt sure she would be okay to walk back.  One of the other riders let go of her horse and the mare decided to go home.  Clearly the ride had to be abandoned.

As I was on my own horse of course, it was up to me what I did then.  I could not help the lady who had come off and she was well attended with two other people to help her back to the yard, so I decided to carry on alone.  This must be the first time I have ridden completely alone in nearly two years.  I sang to Red to relax us both and he was a good lad.  He tried to turn round a few times when he thought I might not be paying attention, but I was quite tuned in to Red's intention and was able to respond so immediately that it was never a serious issue.  We had a few canters and trots and enjoyed ourselves.

When we reached the end of the Wenallt trail I decided to turn left instead of right to come back through the woodland and along the track that leads straight into Briwnant's yard.  This route avoids the extremely narrow and steep stretch of Wenallt Road which I never like riding.  If you meet a car someone has to turn round.  As it is so close to home horses can object to turning round at this point and car drivers are not always considerate.  Red was a little unsure about being asked to turn left out of the Wenallt trail, but soon settled down again.

Half way down the track we discovered a closed gate so I had to jump off, untie it and open it.  I had resolved myself to walking the rest of the way leading Red, but then spotted a handy log and successfully lined Red up and jumped back on.  He was most cooperative.  He is a better schooled horse than he was 2 years ago and much easier to work with.  That is down to Briwnant and their expert care.

I feel so happy and proud of myself and Red to have had such a successful solo ride.  It bodes well for my riding this year.

After seeing to Red I drove up to the top fields and found Dee.  I groomed her and gave her a feed.  She is looking a bit moth eaten but otherwise pretty good.  I think I'll start making sure I have her saddle with me when I go up to Briwnant from now on, and if she is down the bottom I can bring her in and ride her a little.  There is a fun ride at the beginning of May.  I will have to ride Dee a few times before then if there is any chance of her being up for it.

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...

Long and short rides

I don't seem to find much time to blog at the moment.  Fortunately I am finding time to continue riding Dee three times a week mostly and she is getting a lot fitter.  Last Monday I hacked out with a couple of Briwnant friends riding Bella and Duke.  I didn't think to ask how long a ride it would be.  When we took the trail down across the stream from the Wenallt I knew we were going as far as the Ganol.  When we carried on down through the Ganol, I guessed we were going to Fforest Fawr.  This meant a two hour ride – longer than Dee and I had been for a while, but fine.

However when we got to the end of Fforest Fawr—where I expected us to head back to the Ganol—Gail took us along a trail that I did not know.  Fforest Fawr is clearly well named (Fawr means big in Welsh) because we rode for another hour.  It was a lovely ride and I did enjoy it, but I kept thinking that I was sure we were still in Fforest Fawr and it was an hour's ride back from there.  All in all it was a three hour ride and getting gloomy by the time we arrived back at the Wenallt trail.  To my amazement Gail wanted to turn left as we came up the hill from the stream and complete the rest of the Wenallt trail.  This would mean a couple of very steep hills on the trail and finish with a long steep bit of road.  Dee was tired and so was I, so I asked if we could go home along the first part of the Wenallt trail which is flatter and has less road work.  They agreed and this was what we did.

I was pleased with Dee's level of fitness.  It had not been a fast or hard ride—mostly walking with a good few trots and a couple of short canters—but still it was more than she had done for about 18 months.  She was hot and sweaty, but not excessively tired.  It was really dark by the time I decided she had cooled down enough to feed her. 

It was after this ride that I decided I had to have her clipped because I was concerned about her catching a chill, and this was done this morning.  I bathed her after my ride yesterday and kept her in Red's stable overnight, so that she would be clean, dry and ready for us this morning.  She was an absolute angel and looks lovely.  I feel a bit sorry that she now needs to be rugged to live out, but am happy that she will be more comfortable when we ride.

Yesterday we tried hacking out alone again.  This time I decided to try the ride in the more challenging direction – beginning with the track.  She was very slow going along the track, taking short, tense steps.  A couple of times she stopped and I wondered if that was it, but then she carried on.  Eventually we arrived at the little gate and went up into the fields through the bracken, where Dee adopting a more relaxed gait.  She would not go up through the top field so I compromised and let her cut across it.  We then went down and along a new track that Paul has recently cut through the bracken.  She took this completely new path without hesitation.  It is not finished yet, so we had to turn at the end.  We then returned to the gate and back down the track – a complete hack alone again.  Woohoo!!!  I think I'm going to do this little hack once a week as I believe it will slowly build up her confidence about going out on her own.  I think there are a couple of other little hacks on Briwnant land that we can try as well.

The first set of hoof boots I ordered for Dee were not satisfactory and I have sent for a different type.  I'll report on those when they arrive.  I've also ordered some 'rhythm beads'.  These may be a weird new age fad or they may be an amazing native american idea – we shall see.  It looks like a horse necklace and jingles.  The theory is that a. the constant gentle sound stops a spooky horse being so sensitive to the noises they hear when they are out hacking, and b. that the sound of the beads being in rhythm with the natural movement of the horse has a soothing and claming effect.  Interesting.  I'll let you know how that turns out as well – something to try in the arena first I think!

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.

Richard bareback riding

Richard and I went up to Briwnant to ride this afternoon.  I always tend to forget that the riding centre is closed on a Tuesday.  Of course this does not prevent me from riding my horses, but it can mean the tack room is locked.  The only piece of my tack that lives at Briwnant that I would need to use is Red's saddle, so we had settled ourselves to simply ride in the arena, with Richard riding Red bareback.

Dee was near the gate and happy to come straight in.  Red was quite a long way down the field so I gave Richard a leg-up and he rode Red to the yard.  I was proud of Richard because he had to really ride as Red was not being wholly cooperative.

Fortunately someone from Briwnant turned up with a tackroom key, so we were able to ride out fully equipped.  We went the short ride up to the top field and back that I took Red last week.  I felt it was far enough and challenging enough for Dee.  She was certainly up for it however and when we started to trot up the last incline at the top field, she immediately went into a canter.  It is great to see her sound and enjoying being out on a ride.

I'm hoping eventually to be able to do this ride on Dee on her own.  She has always been happy to ride on her own across fields.  It is the track from the yard that starts the napping.  Perhaps I'll try the ride in the opposite direction so that we start in a field.  I could mount Dee from the gate.  It is exciting to think that there might be a little ride we can enjoy together.  I'm hoping to take Dee out for another short ride this week before the fun ride on Saturday afternoon.  I'm starting to feel confident that she will be fine for a two hour ride and even a few small jumps.

A short ride

I spent an enjoyable afternoon with the horses today and achieved what I had hoped to achieve.  Dee came in from the field with me nicely, enjoyed being groomed, and then we worked a little in the arena.  I wanted to move her around a little but not ride her, to check how sound she is.  She is no longer lame, but is a little stiff.  I think I need to bring her in more often and work with her more to keep her supple. 

It is hard for any of us to stay supple in the damp weather we are having.  The weather is quite fickle at the moment – one day blazing sunshine and the next heavy rain.  No one could say that the weather in Wales is boring!

They had got Red in for me, but I did not realise so at first, until someone told me that it was him noisily kicking the stable door.  I don't know whether he had heard my voice and/or was aware that I had brought Dee up, because he does not usually make a fuss in the stable these days.  He spends so little time in a stable now that he does not usually mind.  I decided to turn Dee back out before I brought him down from the stable.  She was an angel today.

I quickly tacked Red up and took him out for a short ride.  I think it is good to take him out on his own occasionally.  I did not have a lot of time, so I just rode along the lane, up through the bracken to the top field and then back along through the high fields.  Although this is quite a short ride—only about 20 minutes—it is quite a good ride to help with fitness.  It is a steep climb up to the top field and a gentle slope to trot up to the top; then there is a steep downward incline, followed by a gently downhill track back to the yard.  I think he enjoyed doing something a little different to the usual ride to the Wenallt trail.

Life is good

My heart has been feeling very full with regard to the horses this week. They are both now out with the main herd. It is magnificent to see a herd of 20 or more horses out together, none of them rugged, in varying colours and markings, just being horses. I am so grateful to have found this lovely place for them to live and to see Dee and Red looking so well and happy.

On Wednesday I rode with a couple of friends from Briwnant. I am having to get used to catching the horses again as this is something I rarely had to do while they were at Wyndham. I went into the field and called to Red. He came at a fast canter into the field I was in with the rest of the herd following him! It was quite an amazing sight. Once the herd had settled down, as always he let me halter him without fuss and plodded up the field with me. Unfortunately I could not ride for as long as my friends yesterday, so at the far end of the Wenallt I turned him and we came back on our own. He was unhappy about leaving the others, but he did not misbehave – he is such a good lad.

It felt so peaceful walking back through the woodland together. It was raining a little – a fine misty rain that barely penetrated the leaf cover, and I could feel the woodland's enjoyment of it. The bluebells are still out and the woodland smelt of wild garlic. I felt so privileged to be able to ride such a large and powerful animal and relax in the peaceful atmosphere of Coed y Wenallt. Every now and then Red would remember that he was on his own and neigh and become a little agitated, but after having his mane rubbed and a few quiet words he would settle down again. At one point we spotted two walkers with dogs ahead of us. Red slowed his pace and relaxed, happy to walk behind them. They did not hear us until we were quite close because they had their coat hoods up against the rain. I think Red would have preferred just to follow them to the end of the trail, but they stopped and stood aside to let us pass.

He always gets the most agitated when on his own for the short stretch of road between the end of Wenallt wood and the beginning of Briwnant track. He neighs and keeps breaking into a trot, but once we are on Briwnant's track he settles down again.

This morning I had Dee shod so that we shall be able to take her out on the trails which tend to be rather stony. At first she did not want to be caught. She was happy to have me near her but was not ready to have a halter put on. I just kept gently moving her on and talking to her, and in the end she stood and put her head out for the halter. She then walked through the field with me contentedly. She is looking particularly beautiful at the moment with dapples to her coat as she changes from her winter to her summer coat. She has a couple of marks on her from confrontations with other horses, and a patch of weatherbeat on her rump, but otherwise looks great.

After shoeing I gave her a little feed and returned her to the field. Red had clearly being looking out for her. He neighed to her and trotted over. They greeted each other, rubbing noses, and then wandered off to graze staying close together. They are always close by each other in the field – and Thomas, Red's friend, is usually nearby as well. Thomas stays near Dee when I take Red out even though she is not particularly friendly towards him. It is so lovely that Dee and Red can be together now and that they obviously like to be together – that they share a connection beyond the mere fact that they are owned by the same people.

Riding alone

Dee and Red have been in for a couple of days while being wormed. Each yard seems to approach worming in a different way. Dee and Red are in stables opposite to each other, so they are quite happy. Dee whinnied when she saw me arriving yesterday. They were using Red in a lesson. He seemed a little perplexed as to why I was there, helping with his tack, but someone else was on his back. He seems to be fine about being ridden in lessons though.

Today I rode Red around the Wenallt horse trail. He was not keen on being out on his own and being parted from Dee. He neighed a lot and was quite agitated. On meeting another horse and rider near the beginning of the trail he put in a buck when I would not let him turn round to follow this horse. This is the first time he has ever done anything like this on a ride, which demonstrates that he was quite wound up today. When we eventually made our way down to the more level part of the trail he enthusiastically went into canter when asked – rather too fast a canter for the terrain and I had to steady him. I was glad to be wearing a helmet as there were a lot of low branches. We managed a second canter further along the trail, and again he put on quite a burst of speed. I’d love to take him somewhere one day where I could really just let him go as fast as he’d like to.

Towards the end of the trail we met a friend from Wyndham leading her daughter on their mare. It was nice to see them. I walked Red thereafter, whereas I might have suggested another canter, but didn’t want to risk exciting my friend’s mare while she was leading her by racing off ahead of them on the trail. Turning for home back up Wenallt Road, Red became extremely vocal and agitated again. I kept rubbing him along the top of his mane and telling him everything was okay, and remembering to keep my breathing deep and slow. He would settle for a bit and then start to get worked up again. He is a sensible chap though and—in my experience—can be relied upon to do what is asked of him, so this gives me the confidence to usually remain quite calm and relaxed even when he is wound up. If I need him to slow down, he will do so; he may make a fuss and neigh continually, but will not do anything silly.

Back at the yard I groomed Dee. She is looking beautifully dappled as her summer coat comes through. Her nice round shape and level of fitness is a credit to the care she received over the coldest months of the year at Gorgeous Grazing. Tomorrow Dee and Red’s period of stabling will be over and they are going to be introduced to the main herd. They laughed at me when I pulled a worried face about this, but I am always a little nervous of Dee meeting new horses because of her history. She has only had one altercation of note however in the two years or more since she was reintroduced to being part of a herd – so I really should stop worrying. I’ll let you know how it goes...

We shall ride them together again at the weekend. Dee still does not have front shoes so we are limited in how much we can do at the moment. I think it was my fault that she got a little freaked out last Sunday when I was catching her. I am going to endeavour to do better this weekend.

A funny horse

This photograph was taken on Sunday. We just about managed to grab a half hour in the arena between the bursts of torrential rain. 'ö-Dzin rode Red first and he was really good and willing. Then our friend—who you can see in the picture—rode him, and Red was a little naughty. You could almost see him thinking, “Who is this? Why do I have to have this person on my back that I don’t know?’ He kept doing little bucks if she asked for anything more than a walk – and even the walk was reluctant. He’s a funny lad.

Last week I took him on another slightly adventurous ride. We went the road way to Rhiwbina Hill and then back through Coed y Wenallt. This is the first time that we have ridden this route on our own and he did get a little nervous, but behaved well despite this.

This morning he was in a mood. I had to put a headcollar on him and tie him in the end, because he would not stand still to be groomed and tacked, and I was not keen on being bitten or trampled. I know he is a bit ticklish under his belly, but this morning he was being excessively silly about the mud being removed. We then rode the Coe y Wenallt circuit – through the wood and back down the road. He was less nervous about the far end of the ride this time. However we have had a lot of really strong winds here over the last week, and there was quite a lot of debris on the trail. This made him rather spooky.

He is a funny horse. I prefer to ride on quite a loose rein, but this is not always possible with Red because he is likely to suddenly head off the track into the undergrowth if I let my concentration lapse. The track is clearly visible, but he just seems to like to wander off it if he is given the chance. On one of 'ö-Dzin’s first rides on Red—before we were aware of this idiosyncracy—Red quietly walked into a hedge. It was quite tricky for them to extricate themselves from its prickliness, and the only way out was to back him. This seems like a strange thing for a horse to do. Does anyone else have a horse with this habit?

Unfamiliar ground

Tuesday afternoon was strangely quiet and subdued. It was as if the world were holding its breath. Later it rained—gentle, fine rain—but remained windless and calm. I decided to ride Red the full circuit of the Coed y Wenallt horsetrail. Three quarters of this ride is through the woodland, with the last quarter being along a steep and narrow road. Red has traversed this full route only once before, with 'ö-Dzin riding him and with me on Dee, but in the direction of the road part first. On Tuesday we rode it finishing with the road part of the circuit.

We set out a little before 4 pm. The dullness of the day meant that it was already fairly gloomy in the wood, but we had a good hour of light left. Red was a little reluctant to begin with, and I had to gently encourage him, but he gradually became more interested in being out for a ride.

Red happily jumped over the log when we reached it. I did not ask him to canter up the hills this time as he still needs to get fitter and I wanted to canter the last part of the trail where it was not so steep. This all went well as this was familiar ground for Red. However he now expected to turn round and head for home through the woodland, as we had done many times. Red became unsettled when I asked him to carry on. He did as he was asked, but started neighing—which he hasn't done on a ride for a long time—and seemed a little tense.

I tried to reassure him by talking to him and stroking him. I also sang mantra to him which I often finds helps when things get tense, as it relaxes us both. We reached the road and started on the final part of the ride. One of the reasons for doing the ride in this direction was that the light was better on the road now that it was getting late in the afternoon.

It occurred to me that Red may have wondered whether I was taking him away from Wyndham, which I think he now thinks of very much as 'home'. It was late afternoon and a similar sort of day when we rode from Ridgeway livery to Wyndham. Might he have remembered this journey – and being on what seemed to him to be unfamiliar territory wondered whether this was what was happening.? We were also quite near Ridgeway at the end of the Wenallt – could he have sensed his previous yard or smelled the horses? I will never know, but feel that it is a sign of the trust that is growing between us that he continued without any arguement.

Going down the road, we had to turn around once and go back up the hill a little way to allow a car through, and duck into a track for a few moments later on for the same reason. Red behaved perfectly – I am so proud of him. At last we reached the part of the road that he recognised and soon we were home.

Well done Red.

Connection

It is so wonderful to see our relationship with Red growing and deepening. On Saturday we went into Coed y Wenallt – me walking and 'ö-Dzin riding. Red definitely enjoys this arrangement.

On the way home Red walks rather fast. When we first had him he used to continually break into a trot, unbidden, on the way home. He no longer does this, and it was not difficult to break him of the habit, but instead he walks fast. Consequently when I am on foot, I find it difficult to keep up with him. There are a couple of places I can take a pedestrian shortcut on a footpath and catch up, but inevitably I still lose him towards the end of the trail. On Saturday however, without 'ö-Dzin having to ask, Red stopped two or three times and waited for me to catch up. I was so touched by this. As soon as I was ahead of him again he started off. He would walk beside me for a while again, and then it would be as if he just couldn't help himself – he had to walk faster, and would get ahead of me. I feel it shows great self restraint for him to wait for me – and hopefully the beginnings of a strong connection.

I rode Red out on my own this evening. He came to call in the field and was happy to come in with me. It was about an hour before sunset when we set off and the woodland was quite spooky in the gathering dusk. Red was a little edgy, but behaved well. He was responsive and we had a couple of short, but enjoyable canters. This time he walked home even faster than usual – so much so that it was quite a challenge to remain relaxed and deep in the saddle his body was moving so much, especially downhill. He was certainly keen to get home for his feed and a warm stable.

Sense and sensibility

It's poured with rain all day today—absolutely torrentially—so I am happy that I was able to go for a long ride yesterday. It was the longest ride I'd been on for a couple of months and it was delightful.

Red and I set out after a rain shower, but we did not experience any more rain – in fact the sun even shone occasionally. We rode through the bottom part of the Coed y Wenallt trail, and then across the stream onto the bridlepath that links the wood with a road called Rhiwbina Hill. At the top of this bridlepath Red noticed a few horses in a field and neighed to them. I realised in that moment that he doesn't neigh all the time when I am out riding him on my own any more. I think he is feeling so content at Wyndham and happy that we have now forged a relationship, that he feels secure when we hack out alone.

We then rode on up Rhiwbina (pronounced Rh-oo-by-na with the Rh aspirated) Hill to the end of the lane that leads to Ridgeway, where we used to keep the horses. To my surprise, Red was quite keen to go down the lane. I had to encourage him to ride past it. Yesterday was not the day to go down there, but I will take him down there one day. I was interested that he remembered it so well and wanted to go there. Just past the lane is the entrance into The Ganol – my favourite woodland. This is just a little too far away from Wyndham for an everyday ride, so it was nice to have time to go there.

After a steep descent from the road, we were on the top track of The Ganol. This is a long, wide, straight track know by some riders as 'The Gallop'. The first part slopes gently down so we walked that. As we walked I said to Red that it would be good to have a canter for the rest of the track. As soon as we reached the dip I squeezed with my legs a little and he went straight into a canter. We kept going all along the rest of the straight part of the track, and even maintained the canter around the bend at the top and along the short stretch to the road. It was great. Red was like that throughout the ride – he seemed to understand what I wanted and responded. He was very relaxed, often walking with his head low, and I was able to ride him on a loose rein nearly the whole time.

We then made our way back at a fast walk (well we were going home...). On our return to Wyndham he was most reluctant to go out in the field. He is not like Dee, who would pull her head out of the halter in order to walk away from you immediately. He likes to hang around with me for a few minutes at the gate. Yesterday, however, he really didn't want to leave me. I think on reflection, that he was probably tired and would have preferred to have stayed in his stable munching haylage rather than having to slog up a muddy hill to get to a field with very little grass left to graze. It was only an hour or so until the horses would be brought in anyway. I wish I hadn't insisted he went out and had been more sensitive to his needs and wishes, as he had been so kindly sensitive to mine on the ride.

Sorry Red – I'll do better next time.

Dee grazing

These two videos show Dee at Wyndham the day before we moved her, and then the day after she arrived at Gorgeous Grazing. As you can see she is grazing quite happily in both videos. The only real difference is the noise of the motorway behind her in the Wyndham video, and the peace and quiet of the GG video.

I phoned Kim at GG today to hear how Dee was doing. She is now out with the herd. The first day Dee was turned out Kim was a little concerned because Dee was quite aggressive towards the inquisitive younger mares, kicking out at them. Fortunately no-one was injured and they have now learned that Dee doesn't like them to get too close. Kim says she is with the other horses in the field—not separate and isolated—so they have accepted her and she is feeling part of the group. Kim also says that she seems to have made friends with a mare called Blue. They are going to start a GG blog, so hopefully I shall be able to link to photographs of her soon.




Thank you for the supportive comments dear readers. And yes, Red does appear to be enjoying being the centre of our attention. I had a lovely ride in Coed y Wenallt on Friday. He was very well behaved. At first he seemed a little less confident than usual – but it has been a couple of months since he was hacked out on his own. He will soon get used to this I am sure, and his confidence in me will grow as well.

It is good for me that he has moved stable—as well as suiting Red—because I am not always noticing the absence of Dee in the stable next to him. The relief has kicked in a little more now, to displace the sadness somewhat: knowing I can now afford to keep them indefinitely, and feeling more rested physically after a weekend without stable chores. I do get a pang of anxiety now and then when the weather is wet or cold in the night and I think of Dee out in a field. I think it will be important for me to visit her next month to see that she is well and happy to ease my mind.

And still pondering

It is strange only having occasional access to a computer. I currently have a backlog of 106 blog pages to read from my regular list on Google Reader, so I hope all my blog friends out there are well – I'll get to read your pages eventually.

This has been a busy week. Our retreat ended on Monday after five delightful days in the company of our splendid students. Yesterday we had a multifuel stove installed in our lounge. It is wonderful and I am enjoying being warm with less effort and greater convenience. As you can see the cats approve. The hearth used to be higher in the previous arrangement, so at the moment the tiles surrounding the fireplace do not go right down to the floor – another little job for us …

Last night was our Christmas meal with Wyndham Livery. Seventeen of us celebrated the festive season at a local hotel, with good food, good wine, and musical entertainment. 'ö-Dzin was the only man who joined in and he thoroughly enjoyed the company of so many ladies. Sally—the yard proprietor—is unfortunately suffering from an injured leg at the moment, having been trampled at the weekend by a horse who decided to jump off the horsebox ramp taking her with him. She was in good spirits nevertheless and danced as enthusiastically and magnificently from her seat as any of us on the dance floor.

Of course I am still thinking and thinking and thinking about what to do with the horses. I have not heard from SB at Liege Manor, and consequently my thinking has been going off in different directions with the extra time to ponder this week. Victoria wisely commented that I should not make a hasty decision, and I also thank LJB for suggesting that a third option may suggest itself and make the situation more fluid. And indeed a third possiblity has arisen. This is to retire Dee to an inexpensive grass livery and to keep Red where he is at Wyndham.

I have been remembering how Dee never really felt like my horse while she was on working livery, and I feel the same would happen to Red if we moved him to Liege Manor. It took Red a long time to settle at Wyndham as it was his second move in six months. I feel that we are now discovering the 'real' Red – the Red who feels safe, content, relaxed and happy with his life. This Red is a fine fellow – friendly, communicative, easy to ride, cooperative (mostly!) and entertaining. Everyone at the yard who has to deal with him has said how much easier he is. Do I really want to unsettle him again and jeopardise this by moving him – and to a yard where he would be ridden by different people everyday and be parted from the environment he has come to rely upon? I feel any chance of continuing with my natural horsemanship work would be lost if he were on working livery, and I am sure they would want to put him back in a bitted bridle.

Red becomes attached to horses and people, once he is settled and relaxed. He is becoming attached to us, which is reflected in his changed and lovely attitude to us now. He is certainly attached to some of the geldings. The other morning after our ride 'ö-Dzin turned Red out. Arriving in the field much later than the other geldings because of our ride, Red stood and called. After a few moments eight geldings came charging down the field to Red at full pelt, and then they all wandered back up to the top field together – the gang were back in town! He so often reminds me of an adolescent: playful and energetic, but occasionally a bit belligerent, and not always fully in control of where his feet are. I want to keep this Red.

Dee does not form attachments. She does not like to be on her own in the fields near the motorway, but she does not care which other horse is with her, and has not really made friends with any of the mares. She seemed to quite like being with Ash at Ridgway, but has shown no sign of missing this mare, and does not acknowledge her when we meet out on a ride. I guess she does recognise me as her ally, but do not feel she misses me at times I have to be away from her. Her priorities are most definitely comfort and food and if these are provided she is content. I do not share Victoria's confidence that I will one day get her to hack out alone, and I am not sure that I have the time or conducive circumstances available to me to be able to put in the sort of consistent effort of working with her to achieve this. So my musing are generally taking me in the direction of feeling that if Dee was moved to somewhere where she was well looked after and had no demands made upon her, she would be content.

We can both ride Red, we cannot both ride Dee. Red will hack out alone, Dee will not. Red will take a while to settle if we move him again, Dee is likely to settle more quickly. Red is becoming attached to us and to Wyndham, Dee is just Dee wherever she is. Good grief it is hard to make such choices.

Making progress

Dee and I have made even more progress. This evening I started out on a hack alone to see how far we could get with our new counting technique. Many things were in our favour. Being Friday evening, there was no noise from the roadworks on the motorway as work had already stopped. Several people had headed out on rides before us, including Jane on Red, although they were well out of sight by the time we got going. Dee was in a calm, relaxed mood.

I counted her footfalls out loud as we progressed down the lane - 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 - until we arrived at the point on the track, close to the gateway into her field, where usually she will not go any further. As expected, she stopped. I ceased counting, waited a few seconds, and then recommenced, simultaneously gently tapping her with my legs. Eventually she started walking on again, at which I immediately stopped the tapping and praised her. I repeated this again every time she stopped. At first she would only take a few steps before stopping again, but eventually Dee picked up an even walk and made it all the way to the end of the track. This is only the second time we have ever achieved this on our own.

Having made our way through the gate, she stopped again, so I recommenced the procedure. She walked on a few steps and stopped again. I was now aware that her demeanour had changed. On the track she had not wanted to move forward, but was pretty relaxed. Now however she was quite tense, and I felt it would be inappropriate to urge her so much as before, so I did not start tapping with my legs again this time. I counted and kept asking her to 'Walk on', and also encouraged her, telling her that she could do it, that it would be fine, that she'd walked up here many times before. It was extraordinary how different this experience of Dee not going forward was to our previous times. She did start stepping backwards a little, but it did not have the feeling of wishing to force me to back down. It actually felt as though she really did want to go forward for me, but just couldn't make herself do it.

We did eventually make it half way up the road to the entrance to the horse trail in Coed y Wenallt. We have never made it this far before on our own. At this point another horse from Wyndham Livery joined us, so I tagged along and let Dee follow this horse up onto the trail. We carried on for a little way and then I turned Dee and rode her home on her own. She was absolutely fine going home - as I had thought she would be. I am so thrilled and so proud of her. I really believe that this is progress that we can build on. I am confident that in time we shall make it up to the horse trail on our own. I'm sure some of the change is in me as well as in Dee. Simple, subtle changes in my relationship with Dee over the last few weeks have made this progress possible. If we have time on Sunday we are going to take her out again, with 'ö-Dzin on foot, and hopefully make it all the way to the horse trail.