So........................winter is upon us.  The horses have been stabled at night since early Autumn, so there shouldn't be much adjusting to do to a new routine.  It's just getting used to doing everything in the dark and the cold.  Wolfie and the ponies moved up to their winter grazing last weekend, the last field change I'm hoping and the last time the electric fencing gets moved any great distance for a while.  The electric fencing has it's benefits when it is working, when it is not working it can be very time consuming, dangerous and gives me a complete headache.  Prior to the field move, Wolfie was going over and through the electric fencing at every opportunity, leading everyone else out the field like the pied piper.

I've been trying to keep him busy and he has been going through the usual seasonal spooking.  I need to accept that I can only do what the weather allows me to do and not get frustrated when I can't ride or work him due to the weather.  I took him in the school during the week, forgetting he hadn't been in there with the flood lights on since last year.  It was cold and then fireworks started going off.  I'm not quite sure how I managed to stay on, luck more than anything.  I'm considering getting one of those hit-air vests.  I don't ride in my body protector because I hate it and feel it really restricts me.  If I was doing any jumping, I would probably put it on, but I won't hack out in it or school in it.  The air vests are really expensive, but they are supposed to be really light weight and unobtrusive.  If you come detached from the saddle and they have to inflate they are supposed to provide protection for your neck, rib cage, chest, lower back and vital organs.  I'll need to look into that for next year, especially if I want to do any cross country schooling.  I also need to get a new riding hat.  My hat makes me feel 'safe' as it's so comfortable and I've had it for so long, but it's not a great fit any more and it has saved my head from getting smacked off the ground many times, so it's probably time to think about replacing it.

I hacked Wolfie out yesterday.  It's the first time we've been out of the yard in about 3 weeks.  It was raining, but it went off in the afternoon and I thought I would chance a short hack.  As soon as I got on him he had his back arched, that usually goes one way or the other.  Into bronco mode or he walks it out.  He walked it out and although he was looky, he was walking forward and obviously pleased to be out.  He was spooking, but just being a bit silly and looking for things to spook at.  There are always two pheasants that hide in the hedge and jump out in front of him at the same place, squacking and flapping their wings and then do their funny run up the hill.  The first one ran out and Wolfie jumped, the second one didn't appear, so we waited, Wolfie knew it was coming so then spooked about 5 seconds after it appeared.  It's almost like a game to him.

We got onto the line and it started to pour.  The temperature just plummeted and it was freezing.  It was only 2pm in the afternoon, but it's amazing how dark and overcast it can get so quickly.  We headed back and onto the road.  Wolfie was wearing a hi viz exercise sheet, hi viz leg wraps and breast plate and I had on a hi viz jacket so there was no doubt that any traffic on the road could see us.  I asked two vans to slow down as a lot of surface water was sitting on the road and Wolfie sometimes spooks when cars splash through puddles.  Needless to say, they gave us the full width of the road when they passed but didn't slow down.

Maybe I should be pleased that they at least did one of the two, but they obviously don't understand the highway code or arm signals.  The Polite slow down hi viz range seems to have an effect on drivers but I think that's because it looks very similar to the hi viz worn by the mounted police and as soon as drivers see it they automatically think straight away that it is the police.

Soaked to the skin and frozen to the bone, but his ears are still pricked and he's still marching on.  Good boy

I went to see the Monty Roberts demonstration a couple of weeks ago.  I think that's about the fifteenth time I have seen him and for the first time ever it was held at Ingleston Equeatrian Centre and not Gleneagles.  Every time I see him working with horses I always come away with something new to think about.  I realised that I must be so much quicker with Wolfie to reward 'the try' and everything I ask him to do, I want him to be able to do softly.  It also reinforces every time that there is no place in horse training for violence.