Poor little Mini has been missing her friend Sweet Pea badly...as are we. So we have borrowed a Shetland friend for her. Piggy, a little boy who is even smaller than Mini. He is besotted by her. Not sure she feels the same, but it has perked her up anyway. I think she may be feeling irritation rather than sadness at the moment, as he follows her about constantly. Not to mention Dora who has decided Mini was HER bff and is constantly trying to come between them. Polly is ignoring everybody.
And so on Tuesday we had a Pony Day...with 10 girls and errr 1 boy. The boy most definitely did NOT want to be there, but had no choice as his mum Eli was teaching. He spent a fair bit of time in the tack-room on his I-Pod ....Sensible boy!! The temperature naturally was about 28c (Nothing natural about that for England, but after 2 months of hot dry weather it has become the norm).
Elis' daughters (Grace and Georgie) rode their ponies (Twix and Sammie) over to help out. Jo bought the entire glitter supply for Europe, spare crisps and squash, and by 9.30am we were ready for the arrival of clients at 10.30am. We even made a make shift toilet in a stable with tyres and paper!!
Upon arrival, the girls had the safety talk, and learned where to go in the event of a fire. Then it was catch in, groom and tack up time. The girls were split into two groups......Group A having a lesson, while Group B helped with poo picking, including a ride in the trailer, then we swapped.
Lunchtime saw the girls turning out the ponies for a welcome rest, and drink, before we all returned to the relative shade of the tack-room for a picnic lunch and a super-fun session running, cartwheeling and jumping through the sprinkler until everyone was thoroughly wet. When I say cartwheeling...that didn't apply to the adults!!!
Then it was off to get Polly and Mini back in for Glittering. Freddie the only boy, having enjoyed the sprinkler, (and having his character on his game killed off), joined in and found he was actually having fun!! The ponies being suitably decorated were then used for gymkhana games (in walk and trot only as the ground is so hard). We used Sammie and Polly for Gymkhana, while Mini was de-glittered. Sammie and Polly are both old hands and you could see them raring to go as were some of the riders.....but we kept it calm!
Very quickly 3pm came around and parents appeared to pick up children. Those that were left helped me bath and turn out Polly. (I don't mean they were left indefinitely!!) We all had a really fun, if hot, day. There were NO TEARS which has to be good. Only squeals and laughter. We are already planning the next one......Maybe on a cooler day!!
And as the heat wave continues and gets hotter Mark The Mechanic (and part-time horse whisperer) and Jo spent yesterday creating shade for the small ponies with the lorry and some tarpaulin. The bigger ponies had their field extended to include the shady dip. Were they grateful??? Were they ****.
This morning saw them all out of their paddocks, having trashed the minis paddock!! Luckily the paddocks are enclosed in the 3 Acre Field which is surrounded by stock fencing and thick hedges of trees and gated and padlocked. And so Jo and I spent all morning repairing the damage. Thankfully Charlie didn't take the lorry to pieces, which is a miracle as he loves vehicles!!!
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