Horsies

We travelled in style to horse riding today in my sister's new car. Despite the drizzly weather, we had an excellent morning ride. There were just two other riders, both experienced and good company, and the horses were raring to go. After lunch, the weather was less wet, but still windy and chilly (thank goodness for drizzabones) and we set off at a brisk pace with 3 different riders who were also experienced and up for it.


However, just after we started out, our ride was waylaid by the horrible sound of a dog screaming in pain and fear, a sound which rang across the Daylsfordian countryside. We all wheeled about and galloped back the way we'd come, and saw a few other people leave their properties on the same quest as us. By the time we had almost zeroed in on the noise, it stopped. An older gentleman covered in blood appeared, a dog, big, young and gangly, limping at his side - the dog had tried to jump a fence, became tangled in the barb wire, and had been screaming and struggling while the old man was cutting it free.

So we resumed our ride. Clods of mud flew left, right and centre as we galloped up and down rolling hills, and then cantered through the Wombat Forest. My sister got plastered in the stuff. I kept further to the rear and remained reasonably clean :)

As for Foalwatch, I get a big F for my efforts today. There was the cutest filly, only 3 months old, in the coral this morning, but I didn't have my camera handy. By the time we returned from the first ride, the foal was elsewhere, and it was time for lunch. After the second ride, I wasn't up for traipsing across cold, windy, muddy, increasingly dark fields in search of a foaly photo op.