Six of the ponies have been in work for four weeks now and the four that went to Holland still seem pretty fit after their break. I suppose they only really had eight weeks off and they were very fit when they went. Wallace (the old mare and part of Chalk and Cheese) has come back into work like a bulldozer and is so full of herself. They have had about four and a half months off so they should be finding it quite tough. Their exercise has gone up to 20 minutes lungeing at working trot twice a week and driving out at the weekends. The first weekend I drove all of them to see if any were going to play up. Since then Veronica has been driving a pair and I have driven another pair out at the same time.
On the first Sunday, we decided to save time by leading out Tom and Wallace behind the palominos for a good trot. Veronica was sat on the back step holding Wallace and her daughter was holding Tom. On the way back something set Wallace off, her tail went up in the air, she started moving like a hackney and pulled Veronica off the back step and nearly overtook me. It was hilarious. She 
bounced on the spot for the next five minutes snorting and tried to tow Veronica down the road. I love seeing this mare like that as she is 21 this year and it is great to see she is so well. When she is like it at a show she normally goes her best. Last year she went quiet for a couple of shows. I gave her an oat type mix which didn’t have much effect so I tried the local feed merchant's pony nuts. For some reason, these send her off her trolley and she goes like a racehorse (a very small one, she is only 11.2hh!). Last Friday afternoon, I left work for a couple of hours and clipped three of them and finished the other three the next morning. The Sunday of that weekend was foul, heavy rain with a severe gale warning so we spent the morning pulling manes and trimming.
Work has been busy as usual and I had a successful audit this week, which took up a lot of time. We did have a couple of meals out at lunchtime during the week, which is really unusual as we normally eat at work. It was really nice though and broke up the day. One of the girls that works in the same building had a birthday party this Saturday. A few of us from work went and it was a great opportunity to dress up and let my hair down. I had told everyone that she was the quiet one in her office but had to eat my words when I saw her with a few drinks inside. We all had a great night and partied until the early hours.
I stayed at her house and got up early to get back for the ponies. Although it was a bit chilly over the weekend, the sun was out which makes such a difference to how you feel. We really enjoyed exercising and the ponies are coming on a treat! I got back on Sunday afternoon, had a lazy hour and then had to start the entries for the County Shows and catch up with invoices and personal admin, which took hours. I should have got it out of the way on Saturday and then I could have just snoozed on the sofa all afternoon! That would have been fab!
I still have some preparation to do for the Scurry Ball next weekend. I need to get that done as I am in Germany most of this week with work and will not have much spare time at all. Two parties in two weekends is unheard of these days but I’m really looking forward to it. It is very easy to just work and do ponies!