Meeting the parents
Another set of ride pictures for you today, taken by the consistently outstanding herecirm - some day I'll tire of showing you these, maybe.
Really lovely picture of Iris staring intently at... something. I'm not sure what.
The woods are full of fungi at the moment, it is a tremendous autumn for them, boletus and fly agaric, honey fungus and shaggy ink-caps popping up all over the place.
We were on the lane leading to my parents' house at this point. A horse was coming up behind us and Iris wasn't sure what to do about it. My suggesting of not worrying about it was apparently not acceptable.
We actually called by my parents' house- they have a cattle grid at the end of the drive, but came down to say hello. Mum can't talk to horses much because she is allergic to them, but it was nice for them to get to see Iris in person and she rose to the occasion by thinking standing around is a bad occupation for a horse and generally being antsy about the world. It will be nice to be able to show them the difference once she has chilled out a bit.
We passed back by the village pond, the Moat. At this point Iris added mallards to the list of birds which she is highly suspicious of. She also doesn't like green woodpeckers. I have no idea what is remarkable about those two types.
We were working on approaching the water and we got close but she was a bit anxious to touch it and as we were on a fairly long ride I didn't want to have a big argument about it, she'll be better next time.
The presence of ducks only fifty yards away was clearly too dangerous. I have been working on staying relaxed when I ride her and I think I'm getting better at it. Certainly spinning and cantering sideways weren't too problematic today.
Our first actually asked for trot out on the trail. She was pretty good, but a bit rushy. This too will come with time.
While we waited for herecirm to get ahead, a kestrel swooped into the heather a couple of metres from us, which was lovely to spot.
On this ride we had more calm miles than we have had before, along with a few emotional moments from Iris. She is making really good progress and I remain entirely pleased with her.
Really lovely picture of Iris staring intently at... something. I'm not sure what.
The woods are full of fungi at the moment, it is a tremendous autumn for them, boletus and fly agaric, honey fungus and shaggy ink-caps popping up all over the place.
We were on the lane leading to my parents' house at this point. A horse was coming up behind us and Iris wasn't sure what to do about it. My suggesting of not worrying about it was apparently not acceptable.
We actually called by my parents' house- they have a cattle grid at the end of the drive, but came down to say hello. Mum can't talk to horses much because she is allergic to them, but it was nice for them to get to see Iris in person and she rose to the occasion by thinking standing around is a bad occupation for a horse and generally being antsy about the world. It will be nice to be able to show them the difference once she has chilled out a bit.
We passed back by the village pond, the Moat. At this point Iris added mallards to the list of birds which she is highly suspicious of. She also doesn't like green woodpeckers. I have no idea what is remarkable about those two types.
We were working on approaching the water and we got close but she was a bit anxious to touch it and as we were on a fairly long ride I didn't want to have a big argument about it, she'll be better next time.
The presence of ducks only fifty yards away was clearly too dangerous. I have been working on staying relaxed when I ride her and I think I'm getting better at it. Certainly spinning and cantering sideways weren't too problematic today.
Our first actually asked for trot out on the trail. She was pretty good, but a bit rushy. This too will come with time.
While we waited for herecirm to get ahead, a kestrel swooped into the heather a couple of metres from us, which was lovely to spot.
On this ride we had more calm miles than we have had before, along with a few emotional moments from Iris. She is making really good progress and I remain entirely pleased with her.