Roadside preparation

We had a bit of a messy start to our ride on Saturday.  First of all we walked across the bottom fields to catch Dee, having seen that Red was already in, only to discover that the horses had been moved to the top fields.  Then we were told that the girls were getting Dee in for us, but we couldn't see her anywhere.  At last we discovered that the girls had kindly tried to bring Dee in for us, but she had refused to cooperate and they'd had to give it up.

Dee has quite strong opinions about who should and should not be asking anything of her and can refuse to be led in.  She occasionally does this even with 'ö-Dzin and I—if she is on new grass for example—but we have not had this happen for a long time.  As two attempts had already been made to bring her down to the yard however, we decided not to risk her running away from us, but to take our tack up and get her ready up at the top field.  So we tacked up Red and 'ö-Dzin rode him up to the top fields while I drove up there.

I don't really like dealing with the horses by the roadside.  It always feels a little bit risky – horses can be quite unpredictable.  Fortunately there is a bit of verge by the gate so they are quite well off the road itself, and there is very little traffic.

Dee came to call immediately – in fact she cantered down the field to me and was happy to have her head collar put on.  'ö-Dzin and Red arrived at about the same time.  We set up haynets for them and got Dee tacked up.  They both behaved well and we were soon ready to go.