I've jumped around Badminton, how cool is that!

Mum says I have so many brownie points now she is going to have to find a new tin to keep them in. Why? Well today I achieved something I'm not too sure many Dales ponies have done, I have jumped around Badminton!

Mum loaded me up into the box on wheels, I walked straight in, well I hadn't done anything for a few days and it's getting a bit boring in the back garden now we have eaten all the grass!  Wow when I walked out the whole world of box on wheels must have been there.  There were literally fields full of boxes on wheels!  I don't know how Mum managed it but she managed to follow my friends Cinders box of wheels into the field even though we had set off at different times and from different places, sometimes my Mum can be very clever.  It meant we got to park next to each other, I don't think we would ever have found them otherwise!

This is me after Mum had put my girlie plait in!!!! It does keep me cool even if I don't look cool. Cinders rider is an old friend of Mum's called Lynda, we kept an eye on Cinders while Lynda entered us. She came back reporting 650 horses had already started on the course - wow now that's a lot of horses, this was going to be exciting.

The first mile was very exciting and I had to jig jog, I wasn't sure where to look horses in front, horses behind and horses overtaking us but I decided this was going to be hard work if I kept this up, so in the end Cinders and I settled to a walk and started to enjoy the views.

I have been teaching Mum showjumping and we are getting on great but I have never jumped any cross country jumps before, the last ride we did we kept away from the jumps. I had presumed we would do this again as Cinders has just recovered from poorly ligaments and so is not allowed to jump.   But no Mum had different ideas, so we had a go at all sorts of different jumps from small logs, trains, brushes, log rolls.  Mum needs to work on her steering as I tested this out several times and found I could go round the jumps sometimes, but Lynda made Cinders stand still at the edges so she became a huge horsey wing and then I had no choice really but to jump the jump - thanks Cinders!  

When Cinders wasn't standing as a wing she kept me company trotting or cantering along next to the jumps.  We eventually arrived at Badminton house, which you can see over my head. There was a photographer on site so hopefully I can persuade Mum to track down and buy some of the photos of me leaping over the jumps.  Mum says I make a great parabolic shape over them, goodness knows what that means I just make sure I tuck my feet up and give them plenty of air.

I have to say a big thank you to my friend Cinders she was great company and we were both very sensible and grown up, below is us at the end of the ride sporting our rosettes. Mum and Lynda were thrilled with us, the going was perfect so hopefully Cinders legs will still be fine tomorrow, we both had such fun.  Hope you can come out and play agin soon Cinders xxx