Shortly after starting my wee blog a couple of years ago, Henry got sold to someone in Gleneagles. It was a wee shame, because although there were other horses that I loved up at the stables - namely Matt and Baxter before he became too nuts - I never really got over Henry leaving. I just loved his stubborn ways.



They closed the stables about two years ago and I can count on one hand how many times I've been riding since. I still love it but need to build my confidence back again.



I did have a lovely time riding on the beach in Islay with Hilary in the summer. http://24hoursinislay.blogspot.com/2009/05/cantering-along-beach.html

So, that's the end of this wee blog.

Hi there readers and horse lovers. This is a blog about horses. It's my first blog page and I hope to fill it with lots of tales of me and Henry, my favourite horse. I could go on and on about Henry and will do as the weeks progress but suffice to say at this stage, that Henry is the love of my horsey life.

I will of course try to upload some photos (note the word 'try', I'm quite rubbish at this computer malarky) within the next few days. Oooh, exciting.

I'll give you a brief rundown. I have been riding every Sunday lunchtime somewhere in a field outside Glasgow since September 2005. Easily my favourite hour of the week. Thanks to my excellent teacher M, I have progressed to jumping and even entered some low scale (but still very exciting) dressage competitions. I now know my way around the arena - all the change of rein letters - but I still have trouble with my diagonals! Oh well.

A little bit about Henry. He's brown - there's probably a horsey name for that; I'll find out - he's headstrong, a bit wilful, very obediant if he's in the mood and can be quite frustrating when he's not in the right mood. I should point out at this stage, that Henry is not an automatic favourite amongst the riders who come up for lessons. I don't understand it, but that's one of the great things about riding; certain riders become attached to certain horses. Hence, me and Henry. I've only just recently been allowed out on Henry on hacks because he does tend to get excited when out and about and you have to know how to handle him!

One thing before I sign off for tonight - we all went for a hack into the woods at the weekend. This particular hack is a great hour out of your day. It starts out going for a nice gentle walk/trot up the road and then you enter through the old stone remains of what was once the gates to a country estate (it's now mostly woods). A nice walk on a path through the woods leads to a clearing and a nice canter and then you hang right into the woods. Full on woods. The horses have to negotiate over fallen trees, particularly after the recent weather we've had - through mud and thennnn, it gets interesting! You stroll down a tractor track in between two fields. At this point, the riders have to assemble into a certain order to ensure that when the horses turn around, they are in the correct reverse order. Continuing down the road which is on a small gradient, the horses begin to realise what's coming next. Henry, is second last. Last place goes to the cheeky mare (more on her later) thus ensuring that when we turn around to go back up the track, the mare is first and Henry is close behind her. Now we're quite far down and then the command is shouted. One-two-three. We all turn around and those crazy horses go from zero to gallop in oh, about 2.5 seconds. A full out gallop. I could only have gone faster if I was in a car. Seriously, if you have never galloped before, put it on your list. Easily the best thing you'll do in any given month. Fantastic!

Okay, enough for today. I'll take some photos on Sunday and post them up for you next week. Bye for now.