Doggy Dressage.....

Today Chocolate made her Interdressage début......there was a class for dogs on the December schedule so of course Ali wanted to do it!

There's a prize for the best fancy dress, out came this month's ensemble again......

....and here's the video
So far she's the only one in the junior class......she could win by default!

Playing football....

Pony club today was fun for Ali.They played pony football!

Yes, she is the tallest child on the smallest pony.....

....and the soggy sand school made it hard going!!

Her sister was cheering her on, as you can hear in this video!

Very casual atop her pony.....

Bareback dressage......

....is hard work!! There was a bareback challenge class in this month's Interdressage competition and as the entry fees go to charity, I decided to give it a bash......here's the video

Poor Gandalf wasn't too sure what was going on, I was far too heavy on his mouth, he's not used to that.....


Ali did her class in fancy dress too. Possibly the desert Bedouin outfit wasn't the best choice for this weather, we had to add a fleece and gloves!

Here's her video

Merry Christmas......

Christmas Day, got up, fed and mucked out, then Ali and I took Chester out for a little wander in the sunshine......

We took it in turns to ride him as Soso is on box rest so can't be ridden......

She suits him better, her feet aren't down by his knees!

Then it was time to put Choccy through her paces over the brand new showjump Malcolm made Ali for Christmas.....

....and we let Kinna in to eat a bit of the lawn and she decided to try a few canapés

Then it was time for lunch, the home reared duck was delicious.....aptly named bottle of bubby too!

Soggy Kinna.......

I don't know what the girls got up to last night in my neighbour's field in the snow, but poor Kinna was soaking wet this morning and actually shivering, she obviously didn't spend the night in the field shelter......Sky was a bit wet but absolutely fine.So I brought them both back to my place, much to Chester's delight, and dug out the cooler and rainsheet I'd bought for her when she first arrived.......

She looks very cute

and they're only a little bit too big for her now, not like when she first arrived!

And then there were five......

Well I now have five horses in the garden.......Tanya is going to the UK for Christmas so we rode her two over here on Monday.

Lovely sunny day, a nice ride except that Chester kept trying to pull my arms off getting his head down to graze........ponies, eh?

Then on Tuesday my friend Sue and I walked the girls over here, another lovely sunny winter's day....

Sky was very interersted in some horses in the field behind Sue's house, heavy horse mares, Gandalf lived with them for a bit a couple of years ago, they're nice girls.....

Then yesterday I went to fetch Gandalf as we were supposed to be going to do a Christmas fun ride today (annoyingly we had a load of snow last night so that had to be cancelled). On the way we stopped at my friend Jennie's and she gave us some mince pies, G seems quite fond of them.....

Jennie's little dog, however was NOT fond of Gandalf, when Jennie asked me to hold him for a photo, he was so scared of G that he weed all down my leg......

I'm not smiling, it's a grimace!!

So now I have 5 horses here, all eating hay like it's going out of fashion, but they seem to be getting on alright. Will have to wait til it thaws out a bit to take Gandalf back up to Jane's......

More Trec photos

These were taken by Jo's husband Stewart yesterday, and they are fabulous.......it's great having someone else taking pics for a change!

He managed to capture the naughty pony in action!!

Our first TREC competition

Today we loaded up Gandalf and Chester and headed off to do our first ever TREC competition. We did the "Parcours d'Orientation"  which is basically orienteering on horseback. Hollie and Aliénor came with us to ride ponies from the riding school and our friend Jo with her lovely youngster Socianda made up the "English" team.

The boys travelled really well, I've never actually taken Gandalf anywhere in a trailer, but he was great.

We tacked them up and headed off to get our maps, then off we went.

 It was all going really well til we got to an open field, when the girls' ponies decided they wanted to eat and resisted all attempts to get their heads off the floor. When I went to help, Hollie's pony kicked poor Gandalf!! So I got off and read it the riot act, got the pair of them on lead reins, I had one and Tanya had the other and off we went.

Sadly by this time both girls were thoroughly frightened by the ponies' behaviour, so at the first checkpoint they opted to get off and go back with Jo's husband in the car......

The checkpoints were great, lots of food, coffee, wine.....

We rode through some gorgeous countryside.....

and met the little kids on Shetlands doing the mini trec.....

Gandalf was very taken with the Shetlands and wanted to stop and say hello to them.....
When we got back, the boys went into a stable to munch some hay...

...although Chester wasn't  too keen on the neighbours trying to steal his food!

We had a nice meal too whilst the horses munched hay. And we finished second out of the club (ie novice) section! A very good day........

The Secret Diary of Chester, aged 6 and a half....

"Hmmm, what's this, a new boy? Not sure I approve....

Is anyone looking? No? Good......

let's try biting him......

Hmmm, that's hasn't worked, he's still here.......let's try this:

and this:

Yep, that's done the trick!!

Result!!"

Couple of firsts for the babies today, we took them out for a bit of a graze and a walk around. Chester had just had his saddle taken off, so I thought I'd see how Sky would react if I put it on her, she didn't mind one bit......

As soon as Éowyn saw the saddle on her she started asking if she could ride her........so I stuck her on just for a second - and Sky never moved a muscle!

Then Kinna go ther first jumping lesson with Ali....little video here

Chester was a good boy too today, we wanted to check how he'd be in the trailer as we're  going to do a TREC competition next week (more about that here if you're interested).

He loaded fine....

A very soggy Sunday.....

Went to feed the troops this morning and they were looking decidedly sorry for themselves.....
They soon cheered up when the hay arrived though!

Poo picking was a bit of a challenge, but Ali did a good job!

Chester seemed to think he needed more food though.....

...and Kinna was happy to wear hers.

Getting Christmas dinner organised......

Yes, it's that time of the year again, time to fill the freezer with lots of ducks....we had 9 hatched this year, and very cute they were too.....

But now they are huge and there are just too many  of them. So we have sorted out the boys (7) from the girls (2) and they are in the stable awaiting their doom.......

We killed one this morning, he looked quite substantial

Once we'd plucked him though he looked a bit on the small side, so the others have a stay of execution for a few weeks so I can fatten them up.

Still, Man the Hunter looks pleased with himself..;-)