Had a very horsey day today. Got to the yard after the school run to find Buddy had lost a shoe. I found it over the fence in Jack's paddock. Not sure what they were up to last night!! Especially annoying as we had plans for after school with Georgia and Jasper. My hero farrier came to the rescue though and the shoe was put back on. I left Buddy in the stable for the rest of the day to keep dry and to keep all his shoes on! He was not impressed.

So after waiting for the farrier I was later riding Lime out than planned and I had barely got 5 mins down the road before it started throwing it down. We got drenched. I'm letting lime 'tell' me what he's able to do on a hack. Some days he's really up for it others not so (we've had a lot of lameness issues and he's 20 now so semi retired). Anyway today he decided to turn round after 15 mins so I let him! He kept looking across at his winter fields which were allowed to ride in in the summer. So we went in there instead. He wanted to canter but soon realised how stiff he was so it wasn't a long one. We had the horse whisperer out yesterday. I don't have time now to write about the whole thing but one of the things he said was that he wanted to be ridden more and that his reduction in workload has had an impact on his arthritis. But he only wants to be ridden by me.

After school pick up I loaded Buddy up and we went to a new cross country schooling course about 15 mins away. I was really nervous but after a few refusals (down to me) Buddy got into his stride and we had a great time. Finished with a big one which felt amazing. Kim videoed me so it's been good to watch them back and see where I am going wrong and what I need to work on. But overall so pleased with him and pleased with myself too. I'm so glad I have Kim and Georgia to encourage me and give me a little push to have a go. I don't think I would have done it otherwise.

Reason to celebrate when I got home. But that's not my news to share :0)