Summer Sunshine

Summer has arrived in Europe - we are having gorgeous weather all across the board. It has been so nice that I have been a bad blogger and not keeping you guys up to date - although to be honest nothing much is happening...

Kika conveniently pulled a shoe last Monday and had the week of work for herself...the jammy so-and-so

The sad face on her with her en-forced
holiday from hacking

Really she was transfixed by some new cows
a few fields down

Poor Nancy has had to "pick-up" the slack and was called upon to do more hacking then she might otherwise have had to - I usually try to alternate and take one each day.
It still it hasn't exactly been taxing work-wise on either of them as we meander through the trails with an odd spot of trotting or cantering when we feel like it and it isn't too hot!

I love eye shots
& the way the light affects the colour!

Ready for road in new fly rug

I recently ordered two fly rugs from German Equistore, Krämer - LINK, on in 145cms for Kika (Brown) and one in 155cms for Nancy. As you can see from above photo teh brown also fits Nancy and I am now thinking i should probably have just ordered a normal fly sheet in a similar size as I can only ever ride one at a time and if both come out with me - K is usually on a lead and the rugs Ihave bought would slip without a saddle - woopsy!
Lesson learned and I shall have to order a separate fly rug for when we take Kika on a walk - still if things pan out like a hope they will and either my mother or friends decide to join me for a hack sometime and I take my two girls - they will each have a fly rug that can be used with tack - so all is well that ends well!

O & N
on our first fly rug adventure

Last week didn't quite pan out as I'd hoped as I made a silly mistake getting onto a round about in my driving test and as such didn't pass - so I have to do 8 more lessons before sitting the test again in about a fortnights time - fingers crossed I keep my wits about me next time & don't make silly mistakes that I wouldn't normally make!

Nancy brought some berries home with her from our hack!

But all's well that ends well - the girls are good, looking & feeling well in themselves. They should be getting new shoes as I type - so fingers crossed all goes well with the new blacksmith even though I couldn't be there and he doesn't speak English or French - should make for interesting future conversations with my stilted German. Good news is two friends also use him and as we are on the same shoeing cycle one or both should always be nearby if I ever have communication difficulties!

Sleepy N - she had a 'tough' working week

The Guru and I rode Nancy & O, leading Kika back to the yard last night for an overnight stay ahead of farrier visit today. I was naughty and had a sneaky spin on Kika in the main arena last night for a 20minute flatwork session to see what she'd be like 1 week out of the saddle and three weeks out of the arena - I am delightedly proud to say that she didn't put a foot wrong and I smiled like a goon the whole time!
Our little snippets of work while hacking are paying off and I actually feel a benefit to my own position & riding ability through the positive effects of the bits of work we do while hacking. Fingers crossed - long may it last!