Today me and Cleo went out on our first fun ride in about five years! We were supposed to be going with someone else from the yard but they dropped out, so we went alone (sort of- we met up with friends when we got there!). Cleo hasn't been on a lorry properly for over a year, but she loaded and travelled brilliantly there and back.
When we unloaded at the venue she was really chilled out and stood quietly by the lorry whilst I went to sign in etc. Tacked up and got on and went over to our friends and we set off. As soon as we went she was jogging and feeling very 'up for it' but she was still her usual sensible self. We soon learnt that our friend's horse's trot is much faster than Cleo's, so we ended up cantering behind her most of the time!
All of us were terrible at map reading so we kind of just went with the flow, the first thing we came across was the gallops, and well we'd planned for a nice steady canter but again, my friend's horse's canter is considerably faster than Cleo's... so we had a flat out gallop instead! It's the first time I've ever had a proper gallop on her and she was flying, it felt amazing! (And no it still wasn't enough to keep up with our friend!)
We rode around the rest of the route and had some nice canters, then we took the optional route to the pub and had a quick stop there before heading back to the gallops once more and going back to the trailers.
It was a brilliant ride, the whole course was 10K so we did that and a bit extra, it was all off road apart from a few minutes to the pub and back. Cleo didn't put a foot wrong the whole way round, I've never felt her so happy and eager before, it was wonderful. I think it's just what she needed!
I'm looking forwards to seeing the professional pictures, but here are a few we took:
When we unloaded at the venue she was really chilled out and stood quietly by the lorry whilst I went to sign in etc. Tacked up and got on and went over to our friends and we set off. As soon as we went she was jogging and feeling very 'up for it' but she was still her usual sensible self. We soon learnt that our friend's horse's trot is much faster than Cleo's, so we ended up cantering behind her most of the time!
All of us were terrible at map reading so we kind of just went with the flow, the first thing we came across was the gallops, and well we'd planned for a nice steady canter but again, my friend's horse's canter is considerably faster than Cleo's... so we had a flat out gallop instead! It's the first time I've ever had a proper gallop on her and she was flying, it felt amazing! (And no it still wasn't enough to keep up with our friend!)
We rode around the rest of the route and had some nice canters, then we took the optional route to the pub and had a quick stop there before heading back to the gallops once more and going back to the trailers.
It was a brilliant ride, the whole course was 10K so we did that and a bit extra, it was all off road apart from a few minutes to the pub and back. Cleo didn't put a foot wrong the whole way round, I've never felt her so happy and eager before, it was wonderful. I think it's just what she needed!
I'm looking forwards to seeing the professional pictures, but here are a few we took:
