( The true story of a man who was friends with a horse- heavily illustrated )

Zorro has been to horsepital ( Read more... )

Yesterday morning we were up early and Zorro and I went out for a couple of hours ride around the common. Zorro was pretty good - a little bit keen on taking turns to make a shorter loop rather than a longer one, but so much better than he used to be even still. Or I'm better than I used to be. Either way ( Read more... )

Cherry blossom drifted across the lane as Zorro and strolled down towards the common today, somewhat in the style of a japanese painting. The blossom, I mean, not the ambling. We had some time and some sunshine this afternoon and having gone for a little ride on Xefira in the morning the afternoon belonged to Zorro and I. We padded out onto the ( Read more... )

During our ride on Saturday ( "us" being Zorro and I, Small is still feeling a bit ill ) I took a few video clips, which I have now edited together so those of you in far off places can get a feel of riding out on Thursley Common, which is one of the main places we get to ride.

Today Zorro and I went out for a bit of a longer hack than we have before, calling in at my parents' house to say hello and steal mum and the dog ( who is still terrified of horses ) so we could go for a bit of a bounce together. My theory is that if Pippa the puppy gets to be out with the horses from time to time she'll get more confident around ( Read more... )

I finally faced up to my hairy black demons and rode out the stroppy bucking fit Zorro has been packing for a little while. Details in horsemanship, including a bit of video of the grumpy beast in action. He was fairly annoyed.

One of our most important skills is the ability to learn from our mistakes, so we can at least vary our mistake itinerary. After reading Kathleen Lindley's book (which is excellent, and I heartily recommend) and watching her at work on Saturday I had a few new ideas, or useful reinforcements to my existing ideas, about how to help Zorro get over ( Read more... )

Today was really good fun- we pretty much spent it at the yard with the ponies. One of the other horses at the yard was leaving, having just been sold and her field mate was getting a little anxious. This combined with the fact that Jasper and the other new arrival on the yard both seem to enjoy squeaking at each other made it quite a noisy place ( Read more... )

Today Zorro and I went for our first hack down the lane the yard is on with sleepsy_mouse joining us on foot. In the first few minutes after leaving the yard we had a tractor and about five cars go past, none of which bothered pony in the slightest (although smoke from a bonfire and a roadside salt bucket were both clear sources of danger) and we mooched ( Read more... )