Post by dalesnfellfan on Sept 22, 2015 13:37:10 GMT -1
The weekend was wonderful, I arrived on Friday afternoon and met up with Tania who had never done anything like this before with her lovely young Apianno horse Enoch, she wanted a riding companion so we agreed to ride together and went for a short hack later on, we had great fun going over a series of logs down one of the forest tracks which forms part of the x country course, Connie loved it she flew them all.
I awoke on Saturday morning to thick mist which soon cleared to brilliant sunshine, Tania and I set off early so I could get back and hold the fort so Julia the organiser could ride, Connie was calm, Enoch was quite spooky but soon settled and we completed the first loop quite sedately, I think Connie thought we were just out for another hack. As we started our 2nd loop there were horses up ahead and she realised she was on a ride after all, she got quite excited and picked up the pace passing several groups of horses, we flew round in half the time it had taken for the 1st loop. We all enjoyed the ride and saw deer, squirrels, big red toadstools, people foraging for some bizarre looking mushrooms and a group of archaeologists looking for the remains of a lost Iceni settlement.
Sundays ride was in a different part of the forest through the village of Santon Downham, under the railway and into Santon Warren where the Romans farmed rabbits, Connie had plenty left in the tank but set off very calmly, we were soon joined by another lady and we became a group of 3, we then caught up with a friend and we became 4. By this time we had passed quite a few horses and Connie was getting pretty excited and rather strong, but controllable, until we rounded a corner and spotted 2 large bay horses some distance up the track, I don't know whether she recognised Hector, who accompanied her on her first ride, or whether it was riding in a group of 4, but she just boiled over and she headed off down the track, my hands were slipping on the reins from her very sweaty neck and I couldn't hold her, we were soon in a gallop and all I could do was shout to warn them that I couldn't stop. The 2 horses got to the side of the track and we sailed through the middle, she did slow once past them and I managed to stop her about 100 yards further on but not before we had missed a right turn, Tania caught me up and we got back on track but were now once more behind the 2 bays, we soon caught them up so now we were 6.
We now had 6 excited horses which was a recipe for disaster so one lady cantered on ahead, the 2 bays hung back and we 3 carried on our way, Connie now settled and we managed to ride the rest of the way relaxed on a long rein. I think next time I'll try a different bit on her and wear gloves.
Despite being carted we had a fabulous time and amazingly I didn't get nervous at all even when things got a bit hairy, can't wait to do it again next year. Unfortunately I've got to cancel our next ride on 3rd Oct as I've got a bearing gone on the lorry and my mechanic can't do it until 10th Oct, but hopefully we can get one or two more rides in before the end of the season.
I did get some photos but my computer won't let me upload them, I'll try again later.
I awoke on Saturday morning to thick mist which soon cleared to brilliant sunshine, Tania and I set off early so I could get back and hold the fort so Julia the organiser could ride, Connie was calm, Enoch was quite spooky but soon settled and we completed the first loop quite sedately, I think Connie thought we were just out for another hack. As we started our 2nd loop there were horses up ahead and she realised she was on a ride after all, she got quite excited and picked up the pace passing several groups of horses, we flew round in half the time it had taken for the 1st loop. We all enjoyed the ride and saw deer, squirrels, big red toadstools, people foraging for some bizarre looking mushrooms and a group of archaeologists looking for the remains of a lost Iceni settlement.
Sundays ride was in a different part of the forest through the village of Santon Downham, under the railway and into Santon Warren where the Romans farmed rabbits, Connie had plenty left in the tank but set off very calmly, we were soon joined by another lady and we became a group of 3, we then caught up with a friend and we became 4. By this time we had passed quite a few horses and Connie was getting pretty excited and rather strong, but controllable, until we rounded a corner and spotted 2 large bay horses some distance up the track, I don't know whether she recognised Hector, who accompanied her on her first ride, or whether it was riding in a group of 4, but she just boiled over and she headed off down the track, my hands were slipping on the reins from her very sweaty neck and I couldn't hold her, we were soon in a gallop and all I could do was shout to warn them that I couldn't stop. The 2 horses got to the side of the track and we sailed through the middle, she did slow once past them and I managed to stop her about 100 yards further on but not before we had missed a right turn, Tania caught me up and we got back on track but were now once more behind the 2 bays, we soon caught them up so now we were 6.
We now had 6 excited horses which was a recipe for disaster so one lady cantered on ahead, the 2 bays hung back and we 3 carried on our way, Connie now settled and we managed to ride the rest of the way relaxed on a long rein. I think next time I'll try a different bit on her and wear gloves.
Despite being carted we had a fabulous time and amazingly I didn't get nervous at all even when things got a bit hairy, can't wait to do it again next year. Unfortunately I've got to cancel our next ride on 3rd Oct as I've got a bearing gone on the lorry and my mechanic can't do it until 10th Oct, but hopefully we can get one or two more rides in before the end of the season.
I did get some photos but my computer won't let me upload them, I'll try again later.
