Post by dalesnfellfan on Jun 6, 2016 14:06:01 GMT -1
Yesterday Connie and I and Emerald and Sam did a 12 mile PR in a lovely part of Suffolk I have never ridden in before, if I had known what the ride was like I wouldn't have thought it suitable for an inexperienced pony and I wouldn't have taken Em, as the first half had a lot of road work including 2 stretches of very busy road, 1 through the large village/small town of Debenham and a lot of green lanes, the second half was open countryside with lots of wide grassy headlands which meant groups of horses could be seen everywhere, up ahead, behind, 3-4 fields away and the in some places the route doubled back on it's self meaning that as we were riding along one headland there were horses galloping up the hill on the other side of the hedge, also there were a lot of people out, very busy venue and ride.
Well, if I had have known, we would have missed a lovely ride, Emerald was such a good girl, a little star, she relaxed at the side of the box to be tacked up and was a little on her toes for the first few hundred yards then settled down so much that Sam rode her on a loose rein the whole ride, unlike Connie who was super excited and pulled my arms out most of the ride. After only a short distance on the farm track we were straight out onto the first busy road and almost straight away we met a motor cycle club out for a Sunday ride, there must have been 40 of them, they just kept coming but they did slow down, Em never batted an eyelid as they all steamed past.
She happily and calmly followed Connie in walk, trot and canter, the only little 'moment' she had was when 2 out of control Arabs came galloping up a hill behind and passed us very fast, shying and leaping in the air as they went past. They took her by surprise and she just had a little jump and trotted forward a few strides then got a little excited for about 30 seconds before getting back to normal as the Arabs continued to cavort about in front of us. In fact Sam commented more than once that it was me who was having the more difficult ride on Connie who, bounced along pulling, neck arched and snorting rather like a black dragon, while she had a relaxed armchair ride on Em.
The best bit was Emerald very clearly loved it, she just looked so happy, if a pony could smile she would have been grinning from ear to ear, we have another ride booked for next weekend and I am seriously thinking that if I can have a few successful rides on Em during the week I might ride Em and let Sam ride Connie.
Em and I have an exciting appointment tomorrow afternoon and how that goes may determine whether I ride her in the coming week or not, but I'll tell you all about that on Wednesday.
Well, if I had have known, we would have missed a lovely ride, Emerald was such a good girl, a little star, she relaxed at the side of the box to be tacked up and was a little on her toes for the first few hundred yards then settled down so much that Sam rode her on a loose rein the whole ride, unlike Connie who was super excited and pulled my arms out most of the ride. After only a short distance on the farm track we were straight out onto the first busy road and almost straight away we met a motor cycle club out for a Sunday ride, there must have been 40 of them, they just kept coming but they did slow down, Em never batted an eyelid as they all steamed past.
She happily and calmly followed Connie in walk, trot and canter, the only little 'moment' she had was when 2 out of control Arabs came galloping up a hill behind and passed us very fast, shying and leaping in the air as they went past. They took her by surprise and she just had a little jump and trotted forward a few strides then got a little excited for about 30 seconds before getting back to normal as the Arabs continued to cavort about in front of us. In fact Sam commented more than once that it was me who was having the more difficult ride on Connie who, bounced along pulling, neck arched and snorting rather like a black dragon, while she had a relaxed armchair ride on Em.
The best bit was Emerald very clearly loved it, she just looked so happy, if a pony could smile she would have been grinning from ear to ear, we have another ride booked for next weekend and I am seriously thinking that if I can have a few successful rides on Em during the week I might ride Em and let Sam ride Connie.
Em and I have an exciting appointment tomorrow afternoon and how that goes may determine whether I ride her in the coming week or not, but I'll tell you all about that on Wednesday.
