The fun of ponies and Monty Roberts talk

I am aware that I haven't really posted on my whereabouts for a while (apologies to my far away friends and family and all those who read my waffling) so here we go, a little insight into my last couple of days.

Actually, yesterday I had one of the most hilarious days while taking one of the ponies xc schooling. I laughed so much I almost fall off when the pony put last minute breaks down at one of the fences ;) He started rather apprehensive but once he realised this wasn't another I- am-a-child-and-am-so-afraid-of-jumping ride he grew wings and flew everything making it all feel like nothing!
I think I missed a lot of fun riding horses in my childhood and having very little chance to discover the ponies!

I then spent the evening at a talk organised by The British Horse Society Oxfordshire featuring Monty Roberts as a guest speaker. From all the natural/intelligent horsemanship ideologies/thoughts/ways of dealing with horses, Monty Roberts' one is the only one I do actually believe in and see the point of. There was nothing said that I haven't known already (oops, that sounds a bit arrogant ;) but I've never really heard Monty speaking live and must say, no wonder all those horses listen to him. He certainly has some magic tunes in his voice!

And this is a "lovely" picture I took simply for the sake of taking it - you can just make out Monty far up in front standing up ;)

In the afternoon I had a chance to hop on a horse so took my stirrups away and tortured my balance a bit - really need more riding, I am getting worse instead of better. Once I have done my Stage IV Care in December I will need to seriously top up hours in the saddle.

As I didn't come back to London last night, arriving at Paddington today gave me a bit of a shock. It doesn't seem to affect me that much when I come back every night but whenever I stay away the last thing I want is to see those crowds and manic rush again. On top of that the train was delayed which meant I had to endure the crowds for longer.
I think I need to work harder on convincing Ricky that the move out is a good idea!

Ok, now all I need is a bath full of hot water and some rest. I had about an hour sleep last night and helped to muck out a couple of stables in the morning (haven't really done any manure shovelling for good several months!) and my muscles are not impressed! ;) Pathetic as it sounds ;)