Oh no Mum decided we had to play with the traffic

I hate it when Mum decides we have to go play with the traffic. I might be very experienced but as I'm just getting fit (which Mum considers the ideal time) to refresh my memory about playing with traffic. I don't enjoy this but I do get used to it. It's been several months since she last took me on the main road. I think she only did it because she thought the road was still closed for a gas leak - but oh no it was open, full of fast cars, juggernaut lorries, double decker buses.

I did have a little giggle to myself because her New Years resolution is energy with every ride, so I made sure I gave her plenty of energy! I know most of the ride I have a wide grass verge along a main A road but it's still quite scary when huge lorries go zooming past. So I practiced some piaffe and Mum practised shortening her reins and trying to relax, she was OK I suppose. It all got a little calmer when we got onto the housing estate, thank goodness.

Sadly no photos as Mum was clinging on for dear life, well I like to think so, she didn't manage many hand wave thank yous but she did go along like a nodding dog.

I suppose now we have done it once, it will probably become a weekly occurrence as it's a 40-60minute ride and fits in ideally with our training plan.  Hmmm need to think of some ideas of how I can get out of this?  Well now I'm tucked up in bed with my haynet I'm sure something will come to me. Any ideas very welcome.

I have dancing shoes

Look at me I have dancing shoes, my hooves can make clip clip music now. Plus I have billions of brownie points because I stood perfectly for the farrier to put them on.  Can't wait to take them for a test walk, when can we go out Mum?

Just the most stressful day EVER

OMG I have moved from idyllic Wales to a military run boot camp where there is just no compassion at all. I'm used to being surrounded by pony friends all the time. In Wales I could always see someone if I looked out my stable, but here if the boys are busy munching their hay I can't see anyone at all. Here there is no sympathy you have to grow up quick. Take today Mum decided Woody and I should stay in our stables this morning while she took Cyril and Benji for a quick jaunt up the lane. Well that's all well and good but what about me? I didn't want to be left behind, so I did the only thing I know and threw a tantrum.

I'm really quite good at tantrums, I can rear, kick the stable with either my front feet or I'm working on perfecting the double barrel kick as well, it's coming along quite nicely but does need some more practice. Heaven help me though, I think my new Mum is deaf. She ignored me totally she was so focused on tacking Cyril up. I even resorted to throwing a hoof over the stable door, I nearly got it stuck which scared me quite a bit and still no reaction from my human. I gave up, I mean I could have hurt myself and she just didn't seem to care at all. Off she went on Cyril with Benji dog next to her leaving me and Woody with our breakfast hay. Oh well she wasn't going to hear me now so I settled down to eat the hay.

As if that wasn't stressful enough being left in charge of Woody, when she came back she untacked Cyril and then promptly waltzed off with the boys to the field, leaving me ALONE in my stable.  I REALLY don't think I can cope with much more stress, it's exhausting. She did come back quite quickly and gave me lots of hugs and pats because I hadn't made any noise and the stable was still in one piece - that's ok Mum don't worry about me, my stress levels are through the roof. Still I got pampered and then she took me out for a hack.

I met yet another pony, this time my hacking companion was called Dragon. Wow he does attract a lot of traffic, we met lorries (stressfully scary - I needed to do some reversing jigging around them to start with,  but I was just doing small jumps by the end of the ride), we did real Trec training, including opening gates and walking over wooden bridges. I even led the way home back over the bridges and did my first gate, before we met even more lorries. We had a trot around the field which did get me a bit excited and I accidently went to kick Dragon, wow Mum did not like that I got told off and slapped on the bottom. It's so hard to know what is acceptable and what is not.

For any other human that would be more than enough stress to put any pony under in one day, but no Mum had one more challenge for me. As I had done so well being alone in my stable this morning she thought she'd push her luck and take the boys home to bed this evening first and leave me in the field ON MY OWN. OK I said to myself I can do this.  Everything to date says Mum will come get me in a moment, she won't leave me out here on my own all night - will she? I could charge through the fencing and catch them up, but the last time I did that she wasn't very pleased with me.  Mum, Cyril, Woody, anybody, I am still out here. I decided to neigh in a non panic sounding style, but it did come out a bit squeaky. I'll stay calm, I'm sure she will be back in a minute, yes I can hear the gate, yes I can see a Benji, phew she has come to collect me. I've never been so pleased to see the boys and my stable.

All I can is wow I have never had such a stressful day, this being alone stuff is quite difficult, especially when your human doesn't seem to hear or take any notice of your tantrums. Hmmm I'm either going to have to work on some new tantrum techniques or give up. After today I'm so exhausted I might just have to give in.  Sleep well pony friends, I'm shattered.

The side saddle is back!

I can't believe it, I have only been back in work three days and already I'm being asked to go side saddle. To be honest I don't mind and I definitely think Mum was struggling more than me.  We only went out for 30 minutes but she kept having to give her leg a rest and sit astride. It was tempting to be naughty at this point but decided against it, well I would never live it down if I lost my rider, especially my Mum.

She does seem to be on a mission to make me walk out at a cracking pace, this is the third day in a row I have not been allowed to amble, though I was allowed a lot of stretches, which I need when I carry the side saddle, mostly because Mum still isn't perfect at sitting straight and balanced, which I guess is why she needs the practice. Though if the side saddle has come out this early in the training she must be serious about us competing this year.

I'm also mortally offended that she put ABS brakes in my mouth, like I'm going to take off with her - in her dreams, that's far too much effort. Evidently it 'looks' better for astride riding and like riding sideways Mum also needs to practice using two reins. Honestly what I have to put up with! Though on the plus side I did make a break for it when I got back to the yard and was allowed to eat GRASS, this is a very rare commodity so I savoured every minute, and focused very hard on eating as much as I could as quickly as possible. Mum I think I need to practice this some more, I'm sure I could eat even quicker given the chance.

Well I'm all tucked up in bed now, along with Mel and Woody.  Enjoying having my own haynet and no one to share it with, I'm sure I'll be back to chasing them off the hay feeder tomorrow morning in the field. Night night Dales friends.

Clipping good day

Brrrrr can I have my fur back Mum, I've spent all winter growing my beautiful big WARM fluffy coat. What's was the point when first thing this morning Mum came brandishing the clippers. Oh no. This was me before hand, all WARM in the sub zero morning temperatures.

This is me now, brrrrrrr. I've lost two stone in weight. You see I told you Mum I was not fat. To add insult to injury she then made me take a Benji and her for a brisk walk down the road - our fitness training supposedly. 

The only saving grace was it was not just me who had to undergo coat removal. Melrose had to have a go too as part of her 'education'. Mum made me go first so Melrose had plenty of time to watch Mum clipping me. To be honest it's very boring I tend to eat hay and fall asleep. Which meant when it was Melrose's go she just found it tickled a bit but once she got used to that she just followed my example and ate hay. Though I don't understand why she didn't get all her hair taken off. She just had what Mum called a Bib clip - think it looks silly myself, like she's had an accident. But humans hey they do have some funny ideas.

Can I have a go Cyril?  Hello, hello world, it's me, Melrose, I'm the latest addition to Lynette's (my new temporary Mum) Dales Family. I used to live in Wales and didn't do too much, just hung around eating and chatting. But now, well life is hectic, I now know why Cyril gets two months holiday a year, it's non stop busy busy busy here. 

Take today, we got up early and Mum shaved off some of my fur, she says humans like to do this.  I don't really understand humans, why do they want to shave off our fur in the winter, when it's cold?  I now have a go faster stripe, brrrrr. She did put a rug on me and Woody and I got to go out in the field while Cyril went power walking. Then it was my turn and I was loaded up onto the box on wheels, I love going in the box, it has hay and I always go on an adventure. Today I made a new friend Bumble the Racehorse (though to be honest I don't think he is very fast, I was easily out walking him). 

Below is me having been tacked up at Bumbles house, I just stood while Mum chatted away to me and got me all dressed. I was trying to hide behind the trailer as I'm a bit embarrassed by my missing hair. Anyway I met Bumble and we had a nice walk, a lot of cars and even a toy racing car flying around the corner on the pavement. Bumble and I just stood and watched it, funny thing but not scary.  We had a nice time and when we got back to Bumbles Mum untracked me and put me in the box on wheels to eat hay while she went in with the humans for a cup of tea. 

I did think about jumping up and down but decided to just look out and see what I could see and eat my hay, to be honest I was too tired from the walk to kick up too much fuss. The best thing was when I got home I was allowed in the back garden to eat GRASS. We don't have grass in our field so this is a real treat and I'm getting used to hanging out on my own, well I don't want to share the grass with the boys they eat so fast, it would all be gone.

Well I'm all tucked in my bedroom now, love munching the straw, it's very yummy, which makes Mum laugh. Night night boys, night night world, think I get a day off tomorrow, hurrah I'll need it after today's adventures.

New Years Resolution

Our New Years resolution is to start blogging again as we have so much news we haven't told you all about. To start with we is no longer just Cyril & I (Woody) we have a new field companion in the form of my big sister Melrose, another Dales obviously - she's just turned four years old and has come to live with us so she can learn to carry humans like Cyril does.

As you can see she's a bit nosey. That's another thing we have moved.  Mum thinks it's great as we now live literally across the road from her house, the only good thing as far as I can tell is we don't have to trek up and down the road anymore.

We now live at Paradise Farm, yes that's what it's called, though I think someone is having a joke 

with us.

Now I don't know about you ponies but to me Paradise should look like this.....

Except our field actually looks like this. In fact it's an insult to even call it a field, it's more like a muddy pond! Paradise, REALLY? If this is Paradise, I'm going to be really naughty and go to hell because I've been told at least it's hot down there. 

At least Mum has finally decided to bring us in at night and to be fair to her we do have a nice large area of hard standing with a big shelter where we can stay dry and eat hay during the day, so we don't actually have to go into the mud, and to be honest being sensible Dales, we generally don't. Time for sleeps now, will discuss with Cyril and Mel what we should tell you about next. I want to tell you about all my trophies, Cyril will want to tell you about all his and Mel is full of her adventures learning to carry humans so we have lots to tell.  

Happy new year to all our fellow Dales, keep safe, be well and play hard. 

Akehurst Ambrose Winning 'Dressage & Trec Pony'

I'm loving Native Pony Camp. With my huge stable and what seems to be an unlimited supply of hay - heaven. Well this morning I had a go at Inhand dressage as part of the Native Pony Trec competition. Mum had to learn where we were going and I had to behave. In the warm up I practiced trying to fly. I've been living next to an Andulsian Horse who has been explaining some exciting Spanish moves, so I thought I'd add them into the program, but Mum made it quite clear they were not required, which was a shame because I thought I was doing quite well. 

I had fun strutting my stuff and was very well behaved and listened to Mum.  I think my brother has some serious competition. I got 83% for my first ever dressage test - Cyril be scared, you have never got in the 80's!  I'm going to be awesome when Mum decides to ride me. Do you like my pointy toes?

From dressage we went straight into the Trec field. I managed to trot 3/4's of the trot track before I got too excited and just had to canter, so no points. On the way back I knew I had to walk quickly, I didn't think the judge would notice some small trots, but they did so I didn't get any points for my control of paces. Then the obstacle course. First the barrels, that was easy. 

Then my total favourite the showjump.  Come on Mum keep up. I jumped it clear on a long stride, super easy. 

Next the S bend. This is trickier than it looks we did it the best we ever have and I did try and listen to Mum but sometimes my feet have their own ideas and we did knock the poles a couple of times, but Mum was pleased with my effort. 

Bridge, what bridge? This was an easy 10 marks. I got a bit excited through the trot corridor and ended up cantering again. So Mum tried to calm me down by walking through the bending poles.  I was busy looking at my pony friends in the next field as this was very easy. 

All my pony play days and Trec clear round competitions have paid off and I didn't even notice the tarpaulin as I trotted along with Mum. We even managed synchronised legs!

Stationary for 10 seconds was a bit tricky because the grass was nicer outside the roped area, so I only managed to resist for 6 seconds, instead of the required 10. Hey I'm a Dales pony and trained to eat the best grass first. 

We then did rein back but this is easy and again I was more interested in what the ponies were doing in the next field. The next task was the low hanging branches.  I wasn't so sure about this and put on emergency brakes before Mum persuaded that it would be OK, so I decided to really duck, well it would be silly to have hit my head! 

The last obstacle was called the scary corner, which really isn't scary, people should come live at our house, with chickens, crazy dog, umbrellas, seaside windmill things to name just a few things we have to put up with every day. 

Well all my hard work paid off and I won the Inhand Trec Competiton. Just don't tell anyone I was the only entry. If anyone asks, I was against tough Competiton - well it's very hard to beat invisible opponents!  Mum was super proud, not bad for a two year old. Move over brother, I'm a Competiton winning pony too.