To the woods!

I don't know what Sandra is doing with her head in this photo!

The snow and most of the ice has gone, only to be replaced by fog! The arena was waterlogged so we didn't spend much time preparing to ride. B was lovely again and we hardly had any hesitation leaving the yard. Actually she followed 'Grandpa' (who feeds her carrots every day) as he stopped traffic for us to cross the road.

We set off down the mile and 1/4 and B insisted on eating grass. I let her as long as she ate and moved on to the next bit when I asked her. Each time we moved she found another yummy patch but to begin with it took some commotion with the reins.

All went well with B looking very carefully at the fast running, swollen, brown river when we crossed the bridges. She was pretty relaxed for most of the way round and I asked her not to get too close to Bertie so he wouldn't threaten her for being too near his butt. We did a bit of zig zag to keep her mind busy although this part of the ride is pretty narrow. We passed the flooded fields near the viaduct and some of the dogs barking, out for walks with owners rattled them a little. Then Bert did the most amazing spook when a bird took off form the water in the field and both horses leaped into the air, turned tail and ran a few steps in the opposite direction.

I used to be terrified by this sort of thing! The more it happens, the easier it gets for me to deal with it and calm B down. My confidence grows and I feel less and less like I haven't a clue! It's gratifying to know I immediately react by grabbing one rein in readiness to stop B but it rarely gets that far lol. I did have to ask for lateral flexion this time until B could be calm and I also noticed she offers it now, as if it's become familiar. She soon relaxes and I always spend time on friendly game and seeing when she is ready to carry on.

There were some logs stacked on the viaduct which both horses were worried about. Bert stoically went passed with B following square nosed and snorting. She had a really good look at them and realised it was ok after all. At the bottom of the straight B decided she knew which way was home and set off ahead with a purpose. So we played zig zag all the way up because I felt she needed to move her feet and I didn't want her exploding. This worked very well including some circling and the rest of the ride was happy and uneventful.

Except, when Bert slipped on a patch of ice and scared Sandra. She called to us to stop and wait and we left the woods together into the pub car park. B was a little tense here because there was a man with a young girl watching, sweeping the ground of ice and rubbish. B found this odd, a man with a little girl, a broom and shovel, until she went up to him and licked his hand! Everyone seems to like Breeze. Despite her being very big in non horsey peoples eyes, she wins them over with her gentleness.