Riding in the "rush hour"

[NFK Dumpling]

I've started taking Musk out just after half past seven in the morning as I'm getting home too late to ride in the evening now.

It's quite quiet around my way but this morning we saw white van man in a hurry, the school bus, a digger, Mums on the school run, white van man coming back still in a hurry, more Mums, white van man for the third time obviously losing the will to live as he'd slowed down and a John Deere with flashing orange light pulling a trailer of squealing piglets!

James would have lost the plot at the digger, Musk......shied slightly at the first encounter with white van man but didn't bat an eyelid at anything else

[shadow jethro]

JEthro is much the same - it is almost as though the bigger and scarier they look to me, the happier he is to them going past! My job is to relax and breathe so I don't pass on my anxiety to him!

[harveydales]

Wonderful. Confirms my suspicions that horses are either good with that sort of thing from the start or they are always a bit iffy. It's lovely to have a pony who doesn't lose the plot at the slightest thing, isn't it?

[Debbie]

I'm with Pam on this one, good solid ponies are simply that way from the start, or they are iffy, giving you that queasy 'will we make it this time?' sensation

Way to go Musk!!!

[NFK Dumpling]

In James' defence he was about the only rquine in the lorry park that didn't react to a fertiliser sack blowing in the wind even though it hit him flat on his face and stuck there until he shook if off to wreak havoc downwind from him

[dalesnfellfan]

What a good boy, we are in the middle of the beat harvest here at the moment and are meeting lots of lorries, harvesters etc. for the most part Em doesn't make a fuss as long as I can stay relaxed, I have to keep repeating to myself relax, don't tense, as the large vehicle approaches.

As for Pam's theory about them either being good from the start or iffy, I agree in general, but Em has been a bit iffy and is now improving quite a bit. She was pretty good when she first started going out and then had a fright with a quad bike and trailer and an oil tanker at the same time, which was a bit much for her and she took off down the lane. Since then she wasn't so good with large vehicles, but now she is feeling well she is so much better as long as I don't tense or as long as there is not too much going on at one time, I'm hopeful that at some point she will be as good as Connie with traffic.