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..;-)

Full of the joys of....erm, autumn?

The boys had energy to spare this morning, I put them in the small paddock to keep the grass down and off they went, haring round and being silly!

Choccy thought all this was great fun, here's a little video
We went for a hack this afternoon and every time we even thought about haing a little canter they got very excited, Maverick kept bucking, even Gandalf put in a little one! Think they need more exercise........

More sunshine!

Having had a few more soggy days, when the sun reappeared today out we went again......this time Tanya rode Le Sorcier.

Only one hairy moment when Soso got spooked by a dog, he doesn't mind the barking ones but this one snuck up to the fence and started growling. Even Chester jumped a bit!

We went past the Percheron girls, they came rushing up to see us......

Chester seemed quite taken with them!

The sun came out!!

After days of rain it was lovely weather today so we went for a little ride, Chester's first hack out since his arrival. Tanya's friend Lena rode Le Sorcier, and both boys were brilliantly behaved, no spooks or silliness at all. The only problem was that Chester had to do twice as many strides as Soso, we kept getting left behind!

Very impressed with the short hairy boy, he had a good look at loads of stuff but didn't stop and never gave me a moment's cause for concern. We saw bicycles, trucks, a little French bloke out walking his sheep (really) and Chester was not bothered at all.

We met some new friends too.....

And went past the place I'll be buying when we win the Euromillions.....

I love it when we get brilliant blue skies like this, don't suppose it'll last......

Bad Hair Day......

This is what my horse has managed to do to his mane today....

Only one thing for it, a serious haircut......

Think it suits him actually, might keep it like this!

You can lead a horse to water......

Taking advantage of the girls living near the river at the moment, I decided to see whether they'd be prepared to go for a paddle -  Gandalf isn't too keen on walking through water, in fact the first time we came across a big puddle in the woods, he jumped it from a standstill rather that get his feet wet, took me by surprise!

Last week I look Kinna down to the river, she followed me straight in and started splashing with a foreleg - and I stupidly took a step back to avoid the splashing and got water in over the top of my boots......

She was quite happy to be in the water, and did indeed have a drink......

Such a good girl, as usual.....

Today it was Sky's turn. We didn't have so far to go to get to the river, given the amount of rain we've had in the last few days! She wasn't quite so keen, spent a while sniffing and checking it out before taking the plunge....

....but she went in eventually

and I didn't get water in me wellies this time!

Horse Logging

Ali's class at school went to watch a demonstration of horse logging the other day, just down the river a bit from Tanya's place, she took her camera and got some great pics and video, the horse is just gorgeous (shame about his docked tail, pretty sure that's illegal), and so well trained!

He does some nice footwork in this video

And it seems they are literally using his strength to pull a tree over in this one

Very cool stuff.......

We rode Chester......

The farrier came to remove his shoes earlier, and he was fine with that although to start with he kept trying to go and help himself to the hay that was just too tempting

Then after we'd found a saddle to fit him, I got on for a little wander round the campsite, he was quite happy to leave the others who were calling for him, the only problem is he wants to eat all the time, poor starving boy......

Yes, I look significantly under horsed, he's a bit closer to the ground than Gandalf!! Little bit of video here. He doesn't mind dogs, that's for sure!

Then Tanya got on him and we went for a little wander down by the river, he was good as gold!

Even managed a little trot on the way back up the hill, but we didn't want him to do too much as he's got to get used to having no shoes on.

Such a good boy!

Chastising Chester......

It would appear that Chester has been trying it on a bit since his arrival whilst I was on holiday, both Tanya and Jane have bruises from him nipping them. I went in yesterday and before he even had the chance to eye up my considerable array of biteable bits, I moved him away using the Mr Shereston patented Riverdance technique. He immediately started licking and chewing, horse talk for "OK, maybe I won't bite you, you'll probably bite me back" and has never tried again.

He's a little love, really......

Today I took some saddles and bits down to try them for size, Gandalf's is too wide, Sorcier's is too narrow, but at least we found a bit to fit him. As soon as he came out of the field he immediately tried to drag me off to the nearest patch of grass, so we worked on that too, also some lessons on how to stand still......

Took him a little while to get the idea, but he got there in the end.......