Wednesday we had our first hack from Woodhurst! It was…an experience. We went out with our new friend Alison, but she wanted to go to Whitewebbs which is not the closest hacking to the yard. London being London there is going to be a certain amount of roadwork before you get to where you’re going. The closet section of bridlepath is about half a mile up the road (left out of our main gate) but Whitewebbs is more like a mile in the other direction. Now, said road is national speed limit for a bit, then twisty and then full of garden centres (yes, really. It’s weird. There are like 10 of them all in a row and no-one has any idea why) so it’s pretty busy. It was pretty full on really and not something we would attempt on our own 😮 Dino is pretty good in traffic but there were a lot of larger vans and stuff and you have to ride under the M25 at one point so he was a bit freaked out. The hacking once we got to Whitewebbs was lovely though! It could be worse. Once you get out the hacking is better than where we were but the getting there is a bit more hair raising.

I think the closer hacking, over to Northaw, would be easier to get to and there are people who go out quite regularly from the yard so hopefully we can join in with them and we do have a private track round our land so there’s a quite and easy route available at all times.

Dino was stressed and upset again yesterday :cry:. The weather was being very peculiar and I think it unsettled him. Hopefully he’ll be more chilled today, wind and rain seem to have vanished and M is coming to see us later.

We had a go at being a proper posh horse yesterday and went in the horse walker for the first time. He was so confused. Poor wee caged beast:

Video of him being all calm and grown up: https://www.flickr.com/photos/silkyraven/28935017092 :wub:

Bless him he just took it in his stride! The bolshy upset pony has mostly gone away now and I have the chilled one that doesn’t stand on you the whole time back. So that’s nice! Hopefully going for a hack this afternoon with a lady from the yard :db:

Oh dear! I’ve been very bad at keeping this up to date. It’s been a bit mad recently and I’m a bit at the end of my tether…. Dino has been super busy since the end of June!!

Summary of things:
– we did our first prelim dressage test at the beginning of July and scored just over 60% (which I wasn’t expecting given the left canter situation) and got 2nd in the class!
– we did some clear round jumping at Brook Farm and also at home which got rosettes
– we’ve parted company with our riding instructor. The traditional (non-EE) approach wasn’t really working for us any more so we’ll be working out what the long term plan is at some point but focussing on straightness training for the moment
– I have to resubmit the longeing touchstone but passed the groundwork one. I actually need to go a bit back to basics but he’s not settled enough and I’m not in the right headspace at the moment so it’s on hold for a few weeks
– we went on holiday to Holkham Beach in Norfolk and Dino went in the sea for the first time! Very exciting
– Dino has moved house to Woodhurst which is nearer where I live (and my landlord then gave me my notice so I have to move again anyway! D’oh!). He’s going to take a while to settle but everyone has been super friendly and he’s established in the field with the boys on night turnout.

I changed his ulcer supplement from the Succeed to Thunderbrooks Liquid Gold and this proved to be a mistake as all the girthiness came back so we’ve changed back. Everything is a bit all over the place with that at the moment as he’s not settled enough in his stable to eat properly at the moment so we’ll play things a bit by ear over the next few months. He’s been anxiously rubbing his mane even under his rug, little b****r, which is annoying! But these things will pass soon I’m sure.

I shall try to update this more often :doh:

Flying update – I’ll post properly on our blog later but we’ve had an amazing time on holiday in Holkham Beach and we’ve moved house without incident! He’s pretty stressed as this has been a lot of change in quite a short period of time but being organised about worm counts meant he went straight out overnight with his new herd which I think was a the best thing. All quiet this morning and hopefully he’ll completely relax in a few days.

Some pics:

New home: