Settling In

I’m pleased to say all the ponies are settling in to their respective new homes! Tangle is being as wonderful as ever down in the New Forest, getting on very well with her new family, and enjoying a tremendous amount of exploring. Tasha has been introduced to her new stallion, and apparently came into season almost at first sight (can’t blame her, he was pretty stunning!) Next time round they ran together, and she is now pregnant :)

Indi has settled in really well here with me and Jay. About a week after she came, we had a yard visit from Winergy with their portable weighbridge, which was ever so interesting. Despite being a perfect condition score, Jay weighed in at 420kg, which is nearly 50kg heavier than the 375kg my tape puts her at!! Normally, the closer the horse is to ‘ideal’ body condition, the better the tape and weighbridge results should match… I don’t know what wrong there then!

Tangle weighed in at 277kg – ever so slightly overweight. Indi was rather poor when I got her, and a slightly finer build than Tangle, but it was still a bit of a surprise that she weighed just 272kg – less than Tangle, even though she is over a hand bigger. Both Tangle and Indi were pretty close to the weights my tape indicated for them.

Good grass and good food has done wonders for Indi – she has steadily put on some condition, and although there’s still improvements to be had she is looking ten times better, with a real shine on her coat. She’s had a full mot – started her vaccinations, had her wolf teeth out, had the farrier trim her up, and last but not least had her back and saddle done. I’ve ridden her a couple of times in the last week or so; she is very babyish, but I think she is going to be something really special. She has a lovely temperament and attitude.

You might think from all the above that Jay has been a little left out – not so. We’ve been much more active in the last six weeks – I’ve found a new riding club and we’ve already attended five summer evening rallies, with one more to run before they break for the summer holidays. We’ve also been on a sponsored ride, and went cross country schooling again with our old riding club – that was a little hairy as we haven’t jumped much at all since I dislocated my hip last year, and Jay is feeling rather too well at the moment…! So my nerves took a bit of a battering as she pranced and danced about – however when we actually got jumping she was much better, albeit taking everything at warp speed! This left me a little apprehensive or our next outing – taking a friend’s daughter and her pony to their first ever cross country schooling, with me and Jay – ahem – as ‘sensible schoolmasters’ to accompany them!

Jay rose to the occasion and behaved absolutely fabulously, giving leads over all the fences (except the ditch – which we did take on, and she did scramble over in her own drama queen style – but I suggested she was perhaps not the best horse to inspire confidence re ditches and so we weren’t followed over that one!)

We rounded off the month with a ‘Trec fun ride’ – a glorious hack around the bridleways and byways of West Berkshire. Largely surrounded by pig farms, it seemed (thankfully Jay didn’t appear to notice!) I thought it was just a fun ride, and was using it as a training session for our big endurance ride at the end of the month (our first attempt at 30km which I am slightly dubious about) – so you can imagine my surprise when the day after the event the results were emailed round to all participants, and Jay and I had come first!!!