Chester gets a haircut...

Chester has been scratching his feet a lot recently, there's no evidence of mites or mud fever, I think it's just that when his feathers get wet, they itch. So we decided it was time for a trim.

He was a very good boy, stood still when I tied him up, didn't attempt to go and eat hay (!), let me trim most of it off with scissors. Then we got the clippers out to tidy up, they're actually designed for dogs, they were a bargain in Lidl, I  bought them to do some training with the girls, but they did a good enough job. He was good as gold.....

....fine with me picking his feet up too

Now he looks a bit less hairy!

And his feet are so white! Won't stay like that though.......

Ride and lead gets faster.....

More ride and lead today, took Kinna out with Gandalf. Took them down to the stable, Kinna tried to follow me into the barn to get the tack rather than being left with Gandalf...... Think he has done some disciplining of the girls recently (like the other day when Sky tried to get her head in his bucket, he went for the back of her neck and they both galloped off down the hill and he wouldn't leave her alone til she was on the other side of the field, then he galloped back up to his dinner - obviously recovered from Sunday's ride )

She was very unsure to start with and kept her head pressed against my leg, but after a while she relaxed and seemed to be happy enough. The only thing that spooked her was some cows running up to the fence, she was quite interested in the donkeys of doom, here's a little video:

We did quite a bit of trotting, Gandalf was full of beans today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6VqsmilBBY

And even a little canter going up the hill to the village although she can run faster than Gandalf with his little legs, she got a bit ahead of us, good job I always take them out on a long line!

Must get someone to video us doing that one day.....

Very good little girly

Sunny day pictures

Went up to see the girls today and they were being exceptionally cute so I took a few pictures:

....and another portrait

this time of Sky, done by my lovely friend Sarah

She does fabulous drawings, her blog is here

The ride to the lake

Had a greaty day today, all that preparation paid off, the sun came out, lunch was fabulous thanks to Harveys Restaurant and we raised  €100 for Equine Rescue France.

Some pictures:

More pictures here

More portraits

My artist friend has been at it again, she's done a couple of oils of Gandalf:

I like the second one best.......
More of her work here

Trial run....

...of the Lake Ride today, we did the whole thing. Lovely sunny frosty morning.....

....still sunny by the time we got to the lake nearly 3 hours later, met a nice English couple out walking their dogs, they stopped to admire Gandalf so I got them to take a pic:

However, by the time I'd got round the lake to the beach and stopped for my flask of tea and sandwiches, the clouds had arrived

So after lunch, time for a quick drink and splash in the lake then it was time to go home.

It took 3 hours to get to the lake, 12kms all at the walk, then 2 hours to do the 8km return journey. Not a bad day out.....