Backing the donkey

Had an idea for another fancy dress picture for our charity calendar today. So armed with a selection of sheets and scarves, I went to see Ross the donkey. Rossy has never even had a saddle on his back so we started with that, he sniffed it a bit but didn't seem to bothered when I strapped it on....

Then we leaned Éowyn over his back, he was fine, so on she got....

He was very good, especially when she leaned forward and gave him some carrots! So we got the kids kitted out for their fancy dress shot, Rossy didn't even mind having the dress draped over him.

Such a good boy!

Pony Club week 2......

Bit of a misty start this morning. Éowyn had been asking " is it time for pony club yet?" since she got up at 7am. Off we went, Ali had the same pony as last week, they did lots of fun games and stuff.

Éowyn meanwhile found a partner in crime to poke with sticks whilst she waited for her lesson.....kept having to stop them from trying to empty out the sand school!

Then it was her turn, she rode Enzo again, just as much fun as last week......

Medieval Mayhem in Bonneville......

We are organising a charity calendar this year featuring some fancy dress photos of our horses and today we did a photoshoot. So here's Gandalf the Grey as a medieval destrier:

and Maverick as a lady's palfrey:

We had lots of fun galloping up and down the field, Mike took tons of photos and we gave the locals something to stare at......

New Poney Club

So as Éowyn wants to start riding, what did we see in a local shop the other day but a flyer for a new pony club near us opening this week......I called, it seems they do a lesson for Ali at 10am and one for Éowyn at 11am on a Wednesday, very convenient so along we went this morning.

Brand new tack for the ponies, it was the first ever lesson, we had to get saddles & numnahs out of the packaging. Off to a good start as Ali got a spotty pony to ride!

He's called Obi-Wan, nice geeky name.......

There were only 3 of them in the class, turns out I know the mother of one of the others, she has Irish Cobs in Bonneville where Gandalf & Maverick  live. Also found out that the monitrice at this new place used to work at the place where we went for the open day on Sunday and has now set up on her own. The girls did lots of fun stuff in their lesson, she seems to be a good teacher, Ali really enjoyed it.

Nice little pony she had, Welsh x Shetland apparently.

And at the end, the Frankie Dettori flying dismount, needs a bit of work I feel......



As you can hear, Éowyn waited patiently through Ali's lesson (not), then it was finally her turn. She insisted on riding the white pony (Enzo) rather than the chestnut (Barbie), and was very good once on board, the monitrice is happy that I'm having to translate a bit for Éowyn as she wants to improve her English!

Think the smile says it all!

After about half an hour in the school we went for a little ride in the vines,

predictably, Mademoiselle wanted to go faster......so she did a little trot too!

Safe to say we'll be going back next week......

Journée du Cheval

Well today is the National Day of the Horse here in France which means that lots of riding centres had open days so we went along to one of them. Had a job to drag Éowyn away, we are going to have to find her somewhere to have lessons I think!

Probably not at this place though as they seem to be very much into Horseball and Alienor is very much into jumping.......

Farrier time......

The farrier came again today to trim the girls' hooves. Kinna was none too impressed at first, she kept trying to get her foot back,

but after a while she realised it wasn't anything bad happening and settled down. She pushed her nose at me and rested her head in my hands, guess that means she trusts me.......

Skyfaxa was absolutely fine, just kept shoving her nose at me looking for food, didn't try snatching her feet away or moving at all.

She was very curious about the farrier, the poor man (I say man, he looks like he's about sixteen) got horse slobber on the back of his t-shirt, an occupational hazard I suppose!

Sky's feet were a bit of a mess actually, Kinna's looked lovely before and after, but Sky's were cracked and chipped before:

 and looked much better after!

Seraphina's training

Went down to Rochelle's today to see Seraphina having a lesson with the trainer, Odile. Predictably we were a bit late as the kids couldn't be arsed to get up early (if we hadn't been going anywhere, Éowyn would've been up at 6 obviously....). Equally predictably, Éowyn wouldn't be quiet during the lesson so I had to go and shut her in the car, along with Chocolate who thought Seraphina would like to play with her like Sky and Kinna do........

Anyway, I eventually got to watch some of her session. Mademoiselle is rather "tetue" and has her own ideas about stopping (or not) when asked.

Odile just asked her quietly again and again until she decided to cooperate. She called me into the round pen to walk alongside and ask her to stop using the lunge line attached to the headcollar at the same time as Odile gave her the signal with the reins, and she picked it up pretty quickly - Seraphina is very good with everything on the ground but has yet to translate it to what goes on under saddle. We then had a session of dismounting and remounting (Odile, not me, obviously, wouldn't want to squash the poor pony!) without her moving, again, she got that after a few attempts.

She looks pretty good when she's paying attention and cooperating!

After a fantastic lunch, we took the girl for a walk to find a bit of nice grass. Seraphina tried to stop a few times for a munch when I didn't want her to, Freya used to try that too, doesn't work with me! She was fine with the dogs and the Small Naughty One running around, she's very laid back in hand. Just need to get her totally laid back under saddle too!

 She's a very pretty girl......