The Prettiest Princess

It’s been such a long time, I’m sorry for not updating sooner! I’m half convinced university is trying to kill me with the amount of work they’re setting me. Heh.

I did manage to get this picture of the school itself.

Anyway, I’ve been riding twice since I last wrote; once in Nottingham, once in Leeds. The ride in Leeds was okay; the teacher is really good, and the school seems nice enough. It was a bit rushed and impersonal, though; after catching the train and then sharing a cab to the stables we arrived and were told to make our way straight to the school, which was an indoor one. I used to ride indoors as a child, but not so far this year! The horses were brought out to us, and taken away again after we dismounted, so we didn’t really have any opportunities to fuss them or get to know them a bit. The lesson was useful in that I received instruction on how to ensure I was on the correct diagonal for the first time, but there was a misunderstanding at the beginning; when asked about our preferences for horses, I said I would much rather ride a horse than a pony. So they gave me a pony. He was a very sweet little thing, if a little lazy – broad and fluffy, name of Jasper – but I found him a bit tricky to trot on and keep moving. Ah well, we shall see how it goes.

The very next day was the hack in Nottingham. From riding two days in a row after becoming unused to it, I felt like I had steel pistons in my legs in place of muscles by the following Monday. Heh. The best thing about this – apart from being reunited with beautiful Tara again – was getting to go in a group of good friends rather than people who, no disrespect to them at all, I have very little in common with besides enjoyment of riding. Tara was just as lovely to ride in the woods as she had been in the school previously, and it was wonderful to see Urby and Saxon again. Billie and Baron joined us, too, and I was surprised to hear that the latter was easier to keep going in the woods. Heh. We even saw a falconer, which lent a magical, almost medieval feel to our sedate little adventure.

There was a small drama involving Tara and Saxon; at the end of the hack, as we waited for a group lesson to finish so we could re-enter the school to dismount, Damian (whose capable hands I’d left my camera in once more) brought Saxon up alongside me to take a picture of me mounted on Tara. I’d slackened the reins to let her graze on the foliage to the side of the path, so I gently pulled on the rein to bring her head up, when Saxon suddenly snapped at her! I nearly swooned, however, when rather than make any sudden moves, Tara simply showed her displeasure by flattening her ears and ducking just enough out of the way to avoid being bitten, and then glared back at him authoritatively. As Damian put it, ‘She’s probably used to Saxon’s shit by now.’  I am enamoured of her for refusing to take it!

Anyway, here are some pictures!

My next ride is tomorrow at the school near Leeds. Because of the way things have played out, I am effectively getting a private lesson for the cost of a group lesson, and the girl who is taking her lesson immediately after mine is travelling up with me so we can share the cost of travel as she is in the same situation. I shall take my camera and ask her if she doesn’t mind taking some photos of my lesson, but I make no promises!

And I really hope I get a full-sized horse this time. Heh.