White Horse One - Uffington

When we were in the UK recently we went to see the Uffington White horse. It's the oldest of the white chalk figures in England, probably dating from the Bronze Age. You can't really get a decent photo of it from the ground unfortunately, not even from a distance.

We went to the top of the hill and got some shots of its head, it's a very strange shaped horse!

The only way to see it properly is from the air as it's on a very shallow slope, perhaps it was originally cut there to be seen only by the gods......

This shot is from an interesting site about the chalk horses in the UK, here's the link

A walk in the sunshine

The boys have been very bad and escaped from the field in Bonneville (again) causing us to spend a large chunk of yesterday morning yomping through vines looking for them, only to get a phone call from the Mairie here in Montcaret saying they'd turned up in someone's garden......I knew it was them, the description was "two big white horses, one with blue ears"......

So they will have to stay here till we can get the fences sorted out (again).

Went for a nice walk this morning with our friends' children taking it in turns to ride fat boy. Maverick was most  put out at being left behind and got more exercise than Gandalf galloping up and down the field neighing. We took Kinna too, as Mav has been terrorising her, whereas Sky shows him her back end and threatens to kick him!

They seem to get on OK although Kinna was calling for Sky for a bit.

When we got back, Ali took Gandalf out for a bit on his own. She's getting good at opening and closing the gate without dismounting!

A portrait.....

...of my lovely Gandalf! Decided I could grow old and die before it would occur to my husband that I'd quite like a portrait of my fabulous horse so I commissioned my friend Marianne to do one of her great portraits of him as a birthday present to myself, and here it is:

She really manages to capture an animal's character, it's not just any grey horse, it's definitely him. Her site is here if you want to see some more of her work. Need to start saving for portraits of my baby girls now! Oh, and the dog too.......

Seraphina!

 Well, the great little Fjord has arrived at my friend Rochelle's place and we went to see her today. She has dealt brilliantly with the transport down here and being in a new place all on her own. When we arrived, Rochelle was leading her about the place, she seemed relaxed but interested.

Aftr a very nice lunch we brought her in and gave her a bit of a haircut, here's before:

and after! The Fjord mane is always two colours, black in the middle and blond either side, it looks so much better when it's trimmed.

The traditional cut involves having the blond bit shorter than the black bit like this:

Might take a while for me to get proficient enough to do that though, or maybe even zigzags like this!:

Then we tacked her up, she's not used to a bit so wasn't too sure about it, she's only been ridden in a headcollar before. But she went for a little walk no problem, we went to see the sand school (with Chocolate and Rochelle's dog Willie keeping an eye on us).....

....then we went into the round pen. This would've been a better pic if Jane (who took it) had got closer to the rails!! But you get the idea......

She was a little bothered by the bit and obviously didn't understand what it was for, but that's just a matter of education. Apart from that, she was a little star, the only other thing that bothered her was the fly repellant spray, but like Sky & Kinna, she'll get used to it. Looking forward to following her progress!

Another great little Fjord.....

 Went to see another pony today, for a different friend, maybe I should start hiring Alienor out as a test rider......this one was a youngster, called Seraphina, just 4 years old. She's from the same breeder as one of the Fjords at Flecha's new home, they have the same sire. She was amazingly calm for a baby, seemed to take everything in her stride, even Éowyn didn't bother her (which is more than can be said for some of the ponies at the poney club where Ali rides!!)

She stood quietly whilst she was tacked up, no pawing the ground, no signs of agitation. Obviously she wasn't bothered by dogs either!!

First one of the girls that worked at the place rode her, then Ali got into the saddle. She walked calmly up the road, steered with just a headcollar (the breeder is firmly into treeless, bitless, shoeless horses!!) and started and stopped when asked.

When a car came along she went around it no problem.....

And was happy to pass a motorcycle too! The rider was very nice and stopped for her, but she showed no hesitation!.

In a field to one side of the road there was a noisy tractor with some of the strange dangly bits on it for crop spraying, this didn't bother her either. A certain white hairy cob of my acquaintance woudn't have been able to cope with all of that lot!!! Seraphina just seems to trust you to take care of her, which is lovely! After such a positive report, my friend Rochelle is going to buy her so we are looking forward to visiting her in her new home soon!