An Afternoon Of Riding.

The man on the radio said that today was going to be the warmest yet this this year and he was certainly right. Perfect weather for spending four hours out riding in the afternoon.

First thing this morning our part of the bay was almost flat with just a hint of some large swell coming in. But looking across the bay there were lots of whitecaps and a line of enormous waves by Tywyn. A bit later, as Peter and I were walking back from the pharmacy the waves had picked up here as well.

 

I'd run out of things to put in the washing machine but it was a good day to air part of my small collection of dresses. Dresses do not feature in my day to day wear but sometimes you need a dress for a party or even a wedding. My nicest dresses are Per Una ones cut on a bias which are flattering for my figure. Of course before deciding which ones could do with airing I had a little try on and a twirl around while Peter said nice things about them (sensible man).

But as I said the main thing today was going out for a four hour ride around and above the Rheidol valley. I was down for Meg, one of the larger horses but once I'd tacked her up and taken her out of the loose box I could see she wasn't walking right and sure enough she had gone lame. When her feet were picked out there was a large stone in her front foot and even after it was removed her feet were sore. A quick change and I rode my lovely Tex instead. 

I was glad to be riding a smaller pony when we had to duck under trees which had fallen right across the tracks in the woods. On the whole Tex behaved really well though at one point as we were going along the road he started getting spooked by seeing his shadow moving alongside. Once another rider moved up beside us so he couldn't see his shadow he settled back down.

Our route took us on tracks and roads for about the first hour following the river, then we turned up onto even smaller tracks going up the side of the valley with a long uphill canter that had all the horses puffing away by the time we got to the top. A bit more steady work as we came out on the crest of the ridge above Cwmbrwyno and the A44 before more cantering along the flat. Of course next time we drive out that way I'll have to point out our route to Peter. The poor chap gets all the details of my rides.

From there we worked our way back down to the valley floor, had a long fast trot along the road before wading our way across the river and eventually back to the stables.

My exploits did not end there, oh no. When it came to dismounting my dodgy knee seized up and my elegant dismount ended up with me sitting on the ground. As I tried to get up my knee still wasn't working and combined with Tex doing his favourite trick of rubbing his heavy head on me had me flat on my back in a most undignified position. It took a moment for me to scramble to my knees and up with a chorus of people asking if I was okay. So embarrassing. Never mind, these things happen. By the time we had given the ponies a good rub over and led them out to the field I was functioning fairly normally though of course feeling quite worn out. Nothing a hot shower, mug of tea and a brownie (and my regular painkillers) couldn't fix. I wonder what I'll be like tomorrow.

Yet another pretty sunset tonight.