A Long Ride.

Although quite hazy to start with today turned out to have the best weather of the week so far. Perfect weather for going out riding in the afternoon.

In the morning I made a pair of vambraces for Peter. That's the costumes almost done. And then in the afternoon off I went to the stables for a four hour ride up in the hills. There were just four of us, all from the Friday lesson plus Iola, the owner. In the morning I'd had a message to phone the stables which had me worried but it was to sort out which horse I'd be riding. The original plan was for me to ride Meg but the lameness she had last week has turned out to be an abscess in her foot so she can't be ridden at the moment. Since Hazel spooks at things in the school she needs to be ridden out by the staff until she settles down.  So then I was asked my weight, thank goodness I've lost my winter weight, to see which of the other horses I could ride. There were two options but as I hadn't ridden one of them at all I was given Cody who I've ridden once. He's the well mannered horse that is used for advanced dressage lessons and I felt perfectly safe riding him. Which was especially good when we rode down a extra steep track with a big drop to one side. The stony track was about 18" wide and running with water, not something I would have been happy about riding down alone on a horse that hadn't been that way before. We began the ride by crossing the wide shallow Rheidol river then gradually made our way up to the top of the ridge overlooking the A 44, the main road that leads eastward out of Aberystwyth. We rode along the top of the ridge before making our way down the far side back into Cwm Rheidol. It was interesting to spot a number of places that I had also walked along with the Sunday walking group. As Iola seems to know everyone in the valley we had a number of stops (in Wales there's no such thing as a quick chat). Imagine my surprise when I recognised a chap on a ladder as James, the builder who is coming to do our porch. We had our own conversation and he confirmed that he will be coming round next weekend with the paperwork for the porch. I don't carry my camera with me when I'm riding but hopefully I'll soon be able to share some photos and videos which Iola took while we were out.

(Our internet connection keeps dropping out so I'm not sure when I will be able to publish this post.)

Yesterday's sunset.