Those of you with horses to look after know that winter is not always about having fun on horseback. Riding is still great, of course, and the ponies are always wonderful, but it’s cold outside and sometimes it’s harder to make the effort to get out and do stuff. The horses are muddy, and long winter coats are harder to groom than glossy, sleek summer ones. But with the extra work comes plenty of reward as the competition season is at its peak in the winter months.
For me, this winter means navigation rides, my Morgan, Cruise, and I have again teamed up with our friends, Andrea and her quarter horse, Commanche. We rode our first nav ride for the season last month at Maryborough and then the next day at Beaufort. Both were great rides and we even managed a third place at Beaufort so it was nice to bring home a ribbon. next one is at Echuca, where we will be riding through the beautiful Barmah forest.
The other ponies are mostly just hanging out in their paddocks with not much work to do. Jaspar and Cadence are now 20 months old and looking like horses instead of foals. Both are very quiet and easy to handle so should be no trouble when the time comes to train them for riding. Bickham has a new home with my friend, Diane, to be mated with her lovely young stockhorse stallion, Merool Flashboots.
Spider is resting in the paddock. Now 16 hand high and almost four he has grown up to be a beautiful big boy. Tuck and Doc are basically just having a bit of a holiday and not being ridden too much, but that will change when my daughter Josie finishes year 12 in November.
In my book world the Pony Patch series is soon to be re-released as a collection with a cute new cover, and exciting news, there will be a new picture book out next year.
I now have a page on Facebook so take a look, friends! Also on Twitter as ‘Pony Author’.
Happy reading everyone!