At last, back on line... had so many problems trying to log in to blogger :oP

Pinto has had a bit of a holiday in the past 2 weeks, mainly due to the weather and to my heavy workload at the office. I so can't wait intil the end of July and this report will be over and done with for hopefully 3 years *mini dance*

Anyhoo... a couple of weeks ago I took Pinto out for a hack - all by myself - for over an hour. How proud of myself was I? lol It was a beautiful day with just a few clouds and a little wind. First of all we have to climb the hill: which is a great test for our bare feet. That particular day though, we just marched up with no problems at all.

Then we have a choice of left:


Or right:


Since left is mainly just the short loop which takes only 15mins or so, we went right. There are just so many more choices available that way.

First of all, we go along the top of the cross:


Which has you leaning right down to avoid being whipped by the overhanging branches. Makes everything so much closer to nature ;o) It is quite a steep drop down into the woods along the righthandside, and me and my over active imagination are always waiting for something to jupe out and spook Pinto... obviously this didn't happen, and I had to give myself a stern talking to (yet again).

We strode down the hill, past the bee nest in the old caravan, like troopers and then took a left onto the "road"


I have plans for trotting along this road on my next excursion. It is just a short stretch, and more roadwork would benefit Pintos feet I think.

At the end of the road there is a wonderful long quite steep hill... my first canter outside perhaps? Who knows, maybe in the future. It sure is hard work to walk up though *snigger* I'm such an awful mum, but it is good for those bum muscles ;o)

More beautiful scenery at the top:


By this point I'm about halfway round, and I'm now more concerned about finding the right way home. I've only done this hack once before, and I was with two others then who were giving me directions. After my little wibble, I was then "Ah ha!" as I remembered about the road wich cut through the forest. A bit more roadwork, and I can now remember where I am again:



See that tiny square on the horizon? That is my point of reference all the time. If I can see that I know I'm not too far from home.


Then came the scarey bit of my hack. I had noticed a parked car on the track, and I had to pass really close to it. At first I was wondering a what I was going to disturb *snigger* but the car had 4 youngish lads in it *meep*. I was sooo tempted to ask Pinto into a trot once we had passed them, but I restraned myself and we just powerwalked:

This is one of the most commonly used canter tracks because it is long and flat. Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be using it for just that... not just for walking along.



Having said that... on the second part where the ground was a bit dryer we did trot for about 50m. I was so excited and proud of myself. But it just felt so right at the time, I couldn't resist. Onwards and upwards girl ;o)

Once we come to the end of the canter track, we are back at the bottom of the first hill we climb down, and therefore nearly home. I confused poor Pinto though, and instead of heading back down the gravel path I continued on to do the short loop too *snigger* Pinto argued a little bit, which consisted of sidling and walking sideways, trying his best to go the short way, but he soon resigned himself to yet more exercise *ebil*

Then again I confused him even further by asking him to continue down the hill and into the village rather than cutting up by the farm. I managed to interrupt a wedding... well at least the people standing outside the church waiting for the bride and groom to emerge. There were shouts of "cheval, cheval" by the gathered children, though thankfully none approached Pinto like they normally do.

Funnily enough we has our two biggest spooks in the village. One was caused by a man "hiding" round a corner. No doubt he heard us coming and decided to move out of the way as to "not scare the horse" silly individual. The second was only a few metres along the road where a lady was pruning a shrub which occasionally *wiggled and shivvered* and was no doubt getting ready to pounce and eat Pinto *snigger*

All in all I had a great ride, and now that the sun is finally back out after 2 weeks of horrid weather, I'm hoping to ride again tomorrow... all being well.