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.

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.

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.

Doodle

I have been fortunate in being able to contact the lady who owned Dee when she was a five year old. I traced her through Dee's freeze mark. This lady owned Dee for about five years (I think) and competed on her at cross country - as shown in this photograph. (I have edited the photograph a little as it had scan marks across it.)

This previous owner is surprised and mystified about Dee's wither injury and about her bad attitude when I first had her. She remembers Dee as a horse with plenty of personality and confidence, but a well adjusted mare with none of the difficulties to groom or tack I experienced. She clearly was very fond of Dee, giving her the nickname 'Doodle', and was sorry to have to part with her. I believe Dee may have had as many as three owners since then before I bought her, so her injury, her moody habits and fears have developed in that time.

It seems such a shame that a horse that was confident enough to compete is now too nervous to leave the yard alone, although this has improved since she has been back in a herd. Dee was described as a 'schoolmistress' by her previous owner in that she was given the confidence to compete through Dee's boldness and capability. We can all get bent out of shape by the circumstances of our lives, but through time and patience, and letting go of doubt and blame we can learn to let go of our fears and unhelpful habit patterns.

On Saturday Dee and Red were separated so that Dee could go out with the mares and Red with the geldings. This is the general policy at the new yard. I don't think Dee cares, but Red misses Dee. They are now on the summer schedule: out from late afternoon to morning, and in during the day. This is to keep them cooler during the summer heat and away from the flies. Today was gloriously sunny and warm - however it has to be remembered that this is Wales, UK and it is quite possible that these few hot days in May could be our whole summer! Still it is nice for the horses to be out for longer, mucking out will be easier, and there's time to ride in the longer evenings.

I took Red into Coed y Wenallt this evening. He neighed continually all the way out and fairly frequently even on the way back. Otherwise he behaved very well and we had several short canters. He is now always happy to canter. I did not ask him for canter for the first few months that I had him, as I was accustoming him to being barefoot. He has exceptionally good hooves and has adjusted really quickly to being without metal shoes. I'm hoping that his calling for the other horses will gradually decrease as he settles into the new yard, and gets used to being apart from Dee.