Hatfield sponsored ride.

Our first rosette.

The weather turned out to be not as windy and wet as we thought it would be but it made the ground quite wet and slippery. It was quite hard getting up early on a Sunday especially as I have been dentally challenged these last few days and had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic!

This was our first sponsored ride together for B and I and I was a little anxious about it. Breeze loaded really easily and I just knew it must be a fluke lol. I even said so to the others and perhaps I jinxed it as you will see later.

Breeze wasn't very calm when she came off the box so we had a bit of a play and some lush grass before saddling up. B walked off the first time I attempted getting on but stood still for the second try. We set off, just three of us who wanted to take it easy as the others didn't want to wait.

Breeze began by jigging a little, probably because I was nervous inside but we soon settled into walk and trot and took in the scenery. I let B stop every time we met a threshold although she seemed insistent on being in the lead a lot of the time. Her fear of puddles soon disappeared when there was no way along the bridle paths but through the puddles lol.

Some of the ground was quite stony and because all three of our horses are barefoot Lydia got off and walked over these bits, Bert had his boots on and Breeze, although watching carefully where she put her feet, didn't seem uncomfortable.

All three horses were happy to let others pass, although I have noticed B is very bothered by people and horses coming up behind her. None of our three wanted to follow any of the passers by and by halfway round were content to eat whenever we stopped. Well Bert and Jina did and it took B a while to relax enough to eat sometimes. A few times just stopping to acknowledge B's thresholds wasn't enough and she turned to go back the way we came. All I did was keep turning her and waited until she could carry on. Sometimes she would offer lateral flexion and turn herself! How cool is that!?

I knew we weren't ready to canter but we did manage some trot although it wasn't always comfortable for me lol. We will get there as her balance and self carriage improves. I noticed she shook her head sometimes just like Lizzie used to in our early Parelli days, when feeling under stress in dealing with no contact in the hackamore. I stroke the reins and her neck to help her feel connected with me and I think it helps as she soon settles.

Near the end of the ride B got a little more unconfident as if she couldn't decide what she wanted when the finish and the horseboxes came into view. Others were cantering past some way off but B didn't know if she wanted to move, eat grass or walk on the road. I found my patience ran out all of a sudden so instead of getting mad, I got off! This meant B could move her feet by circling around me, I could feel safe and she could stop for grass. This didn't improve her mood and she was somewhat RB when we got to the truck.

I wonder if all the predatory sounds from others loading their horses unsettled her but loading turned out to be quite an issue. I said I had probably jinxed it earlier! The rain fell, Breeze refused to get on the ramp and we began our pulling back 'routine'. I tried to make the right thing easy and the wrong uncomfortable but, in retrospect, I made it all too big if that makes sense. Then Lydia offered to help and I gratefully let her. Lydia played with her a little and then began to be persistent in asking B not to pull back but nose, neck, maybe the feet on the ramp. Lydia reminded me that we are taught never to release on a brace but B's pulling back was such an issue I never won the battle and actually lately I have just stopped any pressure at all when she backed up. Today Lydia did and pretty soon B was on the ramp and then in the horse box. It was lovely to watch and I couldn't thank Lydia enough.

Breeze was the last to load but we were waiting to give a lift to someone else so Lydia suggested I take over and play with getting in and out of the box. After a few ins and outs B was happy to stand in the small space left for her and eat hay. We rested there for a while until I was sure she was calm and happy and I put the partition in place and left her to rest. The last horse and rider got loaded and we set off home. We dropped off the last horse on then stopped to off load another necessitating three of us unloading our horses. This time B went back on quite quickly without either of us getting upset and we got back to the yard pretty quickly.

It took B a while to settle back in her stable. I waited until she calmed down enough and watched her as she yawned, hardly opening her mouth to begin with, then getting progressively wider and wider. Time for her tea, P.J's on and me to go home and fall over with fatigue lol.