Top: We torture Tim Piper by making him work in the torrential rain. In the meantime, David is warm and cosy in Dubai.
On Monday I went out to a little set of New Forest ponies to do some groundwork. The first was 16 years old and the youngest was 6 months old. I did some very basic work with the two youngsters including a bit of foot handling. Twig, Tarquin and Tilly were all very amenable.
Tuesday evening saw seven of us having a Girl's Night In (David is in Dubai). We watched Hilary Vernon's Informed Bitting DVD which I suppose is our equivalent of Top Gear! We also ate far too much.
Wednesday saw the arrival AT LONG LAST of Petra's Western saddle. I have only been waiting six months for this. I gave it a little test drive yesterday and am really looking forward to taking her out in it soon. I earned my keep a little by answering three questions for Your Horse and one from the Natural Horsemanship Magazine. Still a bit of a deficit though when compared to the price of a new saddle!
Today a group of us are going off to Tim Piper's yard near Somerton to see the set up there. I can only take the most straightforward starters and so I always look to Ian (Vandenburghe) to take on any horse that is more tricky or remedial. I am hoping that we'll now have two good options for our clients. Better to get it done right first time and sadly I can't recommend anyone really local as I can't guarantee that the horses won't be hit or shoved into gadgets.
p.s. It started to rain almost the instant we arrived at Tim's and yet he still volunteered to work with one of the horses so that we could see what he's about. Tim's a lovely quiet guy and his wife is so calm too. The whole yard has a great atmosphere for horses.
On Monday I went out to a little set of New Forest ponies to do some groundwork. The first was 16 years old and the youngest was 6 months old. I did some very basic work with the two youngsters including a bit of foot handling. Twig, Tarquin and Tilly were all very amenable.
Tuesday evening saw seven of us having a Girl's Night In (David is in Dubai). We watched Hilary Vernon's Informed Bitting DVD which I suppose is our equivalent of Top Gear! We also ate far too much.
Wednesday saw the arrival AT LONG LAST of Petra's Western saddle. I have only been waiting six months for this. I gave it a little test drive yesterday and am really looking forward to taking her out in it soon. I earned my keep a little by answering three questions for Your Horse and one from the Natural Horsemanship Magazine. Still a bit of a deficit though when compared to the price of a new saddle!
Today a group of us are going off to Tim Piper's yard near Somerton to see the set up there. I can only take the most straightforward starters and so I always look to Ian (Vandenburghe) to take on any horse that is more tricky or remedial. I am hoping that we'll now have two good options for our clients. Better to get it done right first time and sadly I can't recommend anyone really local as I can't guarantee that the horses won't be hit or shoved into gadgets.
p.s. It started to rain almost the instant we arrived at Tim's and yet he still volunteered to work with one of the horses so that we could see what he's about. Tim's a lovely quiet guy and his wife is so calm too. The whole yard has a great atmosphere for horses.
