Not just about the ponies....

One Thousand!!!!

2010-09-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

and five :)

Pendragon was out this weekend to do the pleasure ride at Lyne, with his chums Gill & Bangsi. Lovely ride through Cloich forest and we came home on a lower heart rate than we started on!!! The 22km for this ride took him over the one thousand km mark, he's now standing at 1005km since we joined SERC. Very proud of the beast and looking forward to our next rides.

Northwards and then North some more!

2010-09-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Firstly there was the World Tour 2010 - Aviemore
Much fun to be had and myself and caching chums passed our 100th milestone. Pup enjoyed porpoising through the heather and all the other fun places we went - AND most importantly behaved in his first outing to a dog friendly B&B!

Secondly... Two weeks later we ventured further north to the Endurance Home International/Celtic Challenge at Burgie

Absolutely fabulous weekend, great company, amazing scenery, inspiring riders & horses and most importantly SCOTLAND WON!!!!!!!!!!! Beating England, Ireland & Wales in both competitions (and the Tug of War!) it was great to see the riders, horses, crews and team spirit throughout the weekend.

Almost packed...

2010-08-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

Well that's the new gaiters, Jungle formula bought and the dog dosed with Frontline - we're ready for what the ticks and midges up north can throw at us. Friday is go for launch, can't wait!!

Pup's turn now...

2010-08-09T03:28:00.000-07:00

The first Saturday in August was spent joining in the demonstrations with the Midlothian Dog Training Club at North Berwick Highland Games in the morning, followed by Dalkieth in the afternoon. Pleased to report pup was a very good boy - really proud of him. Hopefully some photos will follow.
Now counting the days to our first long weekend which DOESN'T involve the pony and camping - here's to dog friendly B&Bs!

Going it alone

2010-08-02T00:55:00.001-07:00

Doesn't work!
We had a lovely weekend down at Longnewton, one of my favourite venues for SERC rides attempting our first 60km ride. The first loop of the ride went really well, lovely route, good company and we even made it past the llama in one piece!!! Sadly our riding chum failed the vetting so I had to ask P to go out for the second loop on his own, with the only horses in sight coming in the opposite direction and it was soon pretty clear he wasn't really enjoying himself out there. Decided to call it a day before he got too fed up and strolled home down the lovely leafy lanes. Not a successful day but lessons learned and the bonus was being given the 35 kilometres completed up to the successful vetting, not being well up on the rules I didn't realise I would get these.

Sunday before pick up P was back looking at the riders going out with enthusiasm so I don't appear to have jaded him for the future - definitely the right decision

And crew dog had his usual fun time and even got to play properly with other dogs at the BBQ on Sat evening :)

2010-07-21T05:47:00.001-07:00

July

Well it would have helped if I hadn't forgotten how to log into the blog wouldn't it!!!

Been busy while the blog has been quiet with one foal born (to Flecknoe) and Pendragon has been busy out on endurance rides. He now has his Bronze Thistle Final award and has just completed a 64km ride over two days at the Scottish Endurance Championships at Scone Palace. Now looking towards Longnewton in the last weekend in July for our next ride.

Other good news is that Pendragon's brother, Zeno, has been selected for the Irish Endurance team to compete at the Home International/Celtic Challenge at Burgie at the end of August. I'm looking forward to going up to see him and Tasha strut their stuff - congratulations guys

And since it's not just about the ponies I am the proud owner of a reserve champion novelty dog!!!! Just a bit of fun at the Dalkeith Show but Tyree has three rosettes for his trouble - second in the smiliest face, fourth in the best trick and Reserve Champion!

Pup's First Camping Trip

2010-04-21T00:28:00.001-07:00

We spent the weekend at SERC's Lochmaben ride and had a great time. Arriving on the Saturday evening we managed to get pony corraled, tent up and bbq lit before it was too dark! Then spent the evening chilling with friends :)

Pleased to report that Tyree took really well to camping - settling down to sleep and neither destroying the tent or licking my face all night!!!

The ride itself went really well, I'd been talked in to trying our first competitive ride of the season (34km) and as usual my brilliant pony amazed me. We finished the ride with a speed of 10.15kph - OK the heart rate was a little high at 52 but given the cold driving rain as we finished I erred on side of caution with cooling to avoid a shivering pony. So proud of the beast!

Pleased to report that on the Monday he was suffering no ill effects - I however was still walking John Wayne style!!!

Pup's Half Birthday

2010-04-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

Seems like no time at all we've gone from....

Three weeks old to...

Nine weeks old to...

Six months!!!!

We celebrated with a spot of geocaching, great way to find new dog walks and learn bit more about the area you're walking in. We tried the Winton Loop near MacMerry and found three of the four caches we were looking for, definitely have to repeat the loop once the flowers are out at New Winton house - as well as when the paths near Ormiston aren't welly deep in water!!!

Snow claims another victim

2010-04-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

Sadly the SERC Lothians endurance ride on Easter Day has been cancelled due to the amount of damage sustained by John Muir Country Park when the weather hit this week. So disappointed, our first 30km of the season was planned - and looked like a really nice one to start us out with. Thankfully I've been persuaded to enter another one in two weeks time, so won't have too long to wait till out and about again. Pup will get his first experience of camping :)

Let that be the end of it...

2010-04-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

OK, might as well get this started and see if I can keep it updated! Keeping a firm eye on the weather as second endurance ride is supposed to take place on Sunday...

Precis of March

It started like this...

Which postponed our first endurance ride of the season for a couple of weeks. The SERC Lothians Roslin Glen ride finally went ahead on a lovely spring day like this...

At which point we really thought spring was here. On the weekend British Summertime started pup went to the beach for the first time, with the local dog training club...

Then the 31st March happened :(