Had a beautiful sunny ride out on Buddy this morning. Just me and him. He was the perfect gent and we had a good canter home across the fields.

Mike brought the kids back to the yard for their lesson. Eva did some poles today. She's really nervous about them for some reason but by the end of the lesson she was trotting over 4 of them (see extra)

Tobes did really well too. Jack's latest work avoidance tactic is to trot past Shona then wait till he's at the furthest point of the school where she can't assist before stopping. Enter lead mare (me) with the lunge whip. I covered one end of the school and Shona the other and he realised he had to cooperate. He's such a cheeky arse. Don't even have to flick the whip - just have to hold it!!

The kids went off to the woods at the back to seek out a good den building spot with Wilf and Henry B. They were gone a while but didn't agree on a spot so came back and wore themselves out on the trampoline instead. I hacked off some of mike's hair as had got just a bit ridiculous (see second extra!)

Still got a bit of tummy ache but in much better spirits today thanks to all the outdoor time and the sunshine.