Update.

It seems every time I put my foot on dry land the weather turns! I've been away at sea for a week, not warm, but sunshine and light winds. I come ashore and what happens? Hurricane hell! The boys are back in rugs, despite it being almost June. Shell took Paddy out during the week, on his own down to the river. He was in a spooky mood, so she wasn't thrilled to see a field of cattle ahead. Fortunately they were on the far side of a creek. She managed to persuade Paddy past them (apparently by pointing out that there was a creek between them and anyway, he should feel sorry for them as they are destined to become beefburgers.....) Anyway, it worked.
The sponsorship is starting to come in, but don't let that hold you back, we still need more!
Thanks to Diana Fenton with whom we will be staying on the 17th for the lovely helpful letter (and offer of breakfast!). Anyone else feeling kind?

Three's a crowd...

A (brief) window of opportunity with the weather, so we went for a shortish hack. Normally the boys go hacking as a pair. I can't imagine why people don't seem to want to join us.... Today was an exception, three whole people wanted to come too. We thought it would be a useful experience for them, although we did wonder if Paddy might think he was out hunting. It's ages since Ryscheyed has been out in company, so he was also a bit of an unknown quantity. In the event both of them behaved immaculately (more than could be said for some of the others). As we had a novice rider with us we took it gently, and amazingly nothing went wrong. A complete absence of spooking, bucking, bolting. Paddy lost a shoe (at the furthest point from home of course), but he didn't want to let it slow him down.... not when he could be showing off in front of a mare. Luckily the farrier was due any minute (see below).
If there's anyone out there who would like to join us for a section of the Ridgeway, you are more than welcome.
Our dates are as follows:
Sun 15th July, Overton Hill to Ogbourne St George (departing around 2pm)
Mon 16th July, Ogbourne St George to Sparsholt Down (early start)
Tues 17th July. Sparsholt Down to (early start)
Weds 18th July. Streatley to Watlington (early start)
Thurs 19th July. Watlington to Wendover
Fri 20th July. Wendover to Aldbury (the bridleway ends here, so we intend to carry on to Ivinghoe Beacon on foot, but in costume!)

New shoes!

New shoes, and not before time in Paddy's case. There wasn't time to do the dynamic duo on Monday, so Stuart, our farrier came back to do them today.

"Will you stop taking pictures of my a***!" (Stuart)

Hectic day, more rain.

Tuesdays are always busy at the yard. Driving in the morning, riding in the afternoon and an evening session as well. This combined with the delightful weather meant no hack for the boys today. Despite this, Ryscheyed managed to excercise himself. Finding himself alone (ie. without God, well, Paddy actually) he tore around his field doing the whole Arab thing, head tossing, sliding stops.... In fact there was only an electric tape between him and Blue, but hey, that's Rash for you. Having got himself thoroughly lathered up he then had a lovely roll..
Paddy on the other hand was engaged in serious business, see below.
Just a gentle reminder WE STILL NEED SPONSORSHIP!!!!
Call Shell on 01394 410014 or email me at tess.pearl@lineone.net
and promise us lots of money!

Paddy's other life...

This is Paddy at work doing an RDA session. He and Amy are an established combination and understand each other very well.

The reason for Nicholas's grin is because he's just had his first ever trot on Paddy... and he did brilliantly!


























Of course it's not a solo show, Paddy is just a part of the equine team (and despite being boss man in the field there's no sign of this dominance in the school). The littlest pony is Bridie, a very sedate saint, with Adam on board. The other chestnut is Ted (Darby to Bridie's Joan), with Fletcher on board.

No news.

No news, unless more wind and rain counts? Farrier and vet today for all the horses (total of 13), so we were too busy to ride. Also moved them all onto summer grazing, possibly more in hope than expectation given the weather. Paddy will be doing an RDA session tomorrow, pics to follow.

More *@$$%* rain!

Yes, it's STILL raining in sunny Suffolk. Will soon be needing an amphibious vehicle to get to the yard. Ryscheyed got a day off today, being an Arab he doesn't seem quite so prone to lard. Paddy on the other hand is noticeably tubby, so no rest for him. Foolishly I moved the boy's fence back before catching (attempting to catch?) him, but we got there in the end. Had a good hack with a decent bit of gallop now that the tracks aren't like concrete. It was a good experience for him as we met horses (very alarming!) pigs (smell and noise but none visible) black sheep with BIG horns, and finally cattle. Apart from a bit of snorting he was pretty good about it all. I really must repair the hole in my chaps though, got a big soggy patch. Mind you, pretty much all of me is a soggy patch. All go tomorrow, farrier and vet for teeth and tetanus.

Another day, another deluge.

Undaunted (?) by the rain and gales we decided to hack the boys out today...... See below for further details.
Actually they were pretty good considering, although we were overtaken by a power walker. The weather was so grim that they failed to notice an assortment of farm machinery and a couple of irrigators. The pheasant was pretty scary though!

It's raining, it's pouring....

Hello, is it dinner time?

Sorry, you want us to do WHAT?











Good grief, will you look out there!









Quick, hide!









...........!










Flipping heck, are you insane?

Do you reckon we can escape this way?

More rain!

Filthy weather again. We couldn't face another soaking, so decided to give the boys a day off. Instead we spent all afternoon on the phone arranging (or trying to arrange) horse accommodation for the ride. Mixed levels of success here. We are still looking for somewhere in the areas of Nettlebed, Wendover and Aldbury.... suggestions anyone?

Still raining.....

Well, it's still raining and windy, so we decided to school the boys today. Ryscheyed started well until Paddy joined us and he felt the need to show off. He's got fantastic paces, but there are limits! Paddy took one look at the indoor school and decided he was (bridle) lame... poor baby. I took Rash over a little jump a few times, lovely jump once he figures out what he's supposed to do with it. Didn't jump Paddy just in case he wasn't having us on, worked on suppling excercises instead. Eventually the rain stopped hammering on the roof so we went for a short walk. They both behaved like a pair of dobbins (until we pointed them towards home). Still hoping the weather will improve, although the ground is still very hard after the recent dry spell and a bit greasy due to the sudden rain. I think we are getting the March winds and April showers all in one go! Farrier and teeth on Monday, lucky boys.
If anyone out there has any pearls of wisdom to offer on the Ridgeway itself, we'd love to hear them. My email is a couple of posts down. Ta.

Wet and windy!

After quite a long rest we resumed the boys' fitness programme. With perfect timing, after a fine morning it blew up a hooley and started raining as soon as we set out. The boys were not best pleased. They had the wind up their tails from the start, prancing around and snorting at everything. We let Ryscheyed choose the route, inexplicably he chose to go through the dump. In the interests of their ongoing education we let them. A bloke was dumping stuff from a truck, which was the scariest thing they'd seen in a long time (though some bricks on the track came a close second). Then we had to make it past the irrigator.......which took a while. Just when we thought they'd settled we were confronted by a bouncy castle, complete with screaming kids! Having negotiated that with the expected snorting and spooking, we met some little mares in a field. Paddy felt the need to strut his stuff, though the effect was somewhat spoiled when he shied at a rabbit.
Hopefully both the weather and their behaviour will improve tomorrow.

We are famous!

I'm a bit late posting this as I've spent the last couple of weeks acquiring a healthy patina of ingrained dirt while sailing (?) up from Spain. As you can see we made it into the local paper (and narrowly missed flattening the photographer).
All we need now are the offers of money to start rolling in.... (contact me at tess.pearl@lineone.net if you are feeling generous).
Paddy and Ryscheyed have had a lovely relaxing bank holiday weekend, boy are they in for a shock tomorrow!