Totally & Utterly Exhilarated!

Grandad has been in my thoughts so much this last week or so & as tomorrow would be/is (?) his birthday there’s a very heavy feeling in my heart.

Trying to shake my low mood I decided to take Eastar for a ride this evening & blow a few cobwebs from between my ears. It was a total impulse thing & the original plan was to give him a good groom, but once done I found myself tacking him up :)

Off we headed down the drive but the darn gate bleeper wouldn’t work meaning we were locked in, so turned around & went up the hill instead. At the time I was really quite miffed that the stupid gates wouldn’t open, yet in the end going up to those fab views on horse back was out of this world & has left me feeling totally & utterly exhilarated!

The only down point was Eastars blatant lack of manners at every lot of gates! He simply wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to get back on... I’d get my foot in the stirrup & after 1 or 2 bounces off he’d go, so we’d stop & start over again. He catches on quick mind & decided now he’d wait until I was half on, then very rudely off he’d go leaving me scrambling to find my seat & other stirrup. Mounting a 16.2hh from ground level isn’t the easiest thing for a short arse like me so this really wasn’t at all welcome, especially since it’s a new habit he’s developed for me! Eastar also dictated when he’d had enough & wanted to come back down, but I let him as I was worried about his feet…Eastar is barefoot & although I truly want to keep him that way, I do worry about his feet as he seems to stumble an awful lot (IMO) & I get the distinct feeling that the stony bumpy track hurts more than the concrete drive, meaning our rides are never as long as I’d like at the moment.