Riley and I loving the weather
Typically British, I am always talking about the weather. We want sunshine, however when it comes we start complaining that it is too hot.
This was me when after so many gloomy and cold days and feeling as though summer was a distant memory, the sun shone again. Because the weather was nice, I took Riley hacking after Emma did the usual Monday schooling. When Riley has finished schooling, I normally return him to his stable but instead I hopped on board and off we went.
He gave it a sorrowful look and carried on.
Apart from the odd stop to look around, Riley is really well behaved on our hack today.
I am not certain that Riley appreciated the extra work as he did take some encouragement to keep walking when we walked past his stable which we have to do in order to get to the farm ride from the schooling arena. Once he realised that he wasn’t going back into his stable, he gave it a sorrowful look and carried on.
We walked at a gentle walking pace in the glorious sunshine. Riley likes to stop often and have a look around. I have always allowed this as I want him to feel comfortable in his environment, although I have to keep an eye on him so that he doesn’t seize the chance to have a sneaky snack from a bush or anything that looks green. Other than this, Riley was very well behaved, and we enjoyed our gentle stroll in the sun. He certainly looked happy when we finally got back to his stable.
He is a horse, he can cope
From sunshine to rain, and overnight we had thunder and an enormous amount of rain. I lay in bed feeling guilty that he wasn’t wearing his waterproof fly rug whilst reminding myself ‘he is a horse, he is a horse’ he can cope.
Rug dilemmas
This time of year, always comes with rug dilemmas and each day I check my weather app, which regrettably, isn’t always reliable. Before owning Riley, I hadn’t appreciated the extra weather considerations horse owners are faced with, even wind can make the difference between a peaceful hack and a spooky one as things rustle and flap.
Then there is the daily tug of war going on in my mind. Should I rug or not? Will it rain? How hot or cold will it be? Life is so much easier when we are at the point of consistent weather without the differences that the new seasons bring. The easiest time decision wise, is when the winter rug comes out and we are good until Spring.
Perhaps he was putting on a brave face just for me?
I was hoping that Riley and I would have more hacks this week but since I was heading to Hi Ho Silver, Hi Ho and Co on the Sunday. So, with my Mulberry Tree at Home hat on, I was working hard providing letter racks for the goody bags. This meant lots of wood waxing, fixing horseshoes, branding the products and unfortunately, not enough time for riding.
On Sunday morning, I went to the stables to say goodbye to Riley before I headed off to Gloucestershire in time for the Hi Ho meal the night before the event itself. It was the first time since owning Riley that I had been away overnight, and it was hard to say goodbye. As much as I was looking forward to the event, I wanted to stay in Riley’s stable. He on the other hand was happily munching from his haynet, so I don’t think he was quite as sad. Perhaps he was putting on a brave face just for me?
If you enjoyed reading this, you can catch up on all of the earlier instalments of the life of Riley here
Then there is the daily tug of war going on in my mind. Should I rug or not? Will it rain? How hot or cold will it be? Life is so much easier when we are at the point of consistent weather without the differences that the new seasons bring. The easiest time decision wise, is when the winter rug comes out and we are good until Spring.
