PONY CLUB CAMP - Day 4

Day 3 of the trek.

We went out to catch the ponies at Wharekino, and unlike the day before at Ohourangi, when Willow whinnied to me and came over at my whistle, she had been badly influenced by her new friends, Roxy and Cinny, and the three of them ran around the paddock for about 20 minutes until we managed to herd them through the gate into the holding paddocks and grab them. Naughty girls.

We tacked up and headed out at the back of the ride, making up songs along the way. I did one of the gates and didn't have anyone wait back with me, which made Willow a bit annoyed, but I convinced her to stand still and behave herself while I put both tapes up and remounted, then we cantered on to catch up. The combination of green grass, excitement and galloping around yesterday had fried a bit of her brains out, and she jigged and bounced most of the way to our next stopping point. We had morning tea and then remounted, ready to head out onto State Highway 1 and across the Wharekino Trestle, the first of the 2 bridges.

The Highway Patrol stopped all traffic and we headed up onto the road and trotted in pairs along the highway. Willow and Brownie were paired up, and for the first time Willow outpaced her longer strided companion. We rode down onto the cycle track and along for a way until everyone was off the bridge, then came back to a walk. We crossed another small bridge on the cycle track and then went up along the ridge for a long way. That part of the ride soon became tiresome, as Willow jogged every time the horses in front of her trotted off, and they were doing it constantly. Then Brownie started jogging, which made Willow worse. Grr!

We eventually got off the ridge and up the raceway, and Willow came up with a new idea of "seeing as I'm not allowed to jog, I will swing my quarters into other ponies instead." That idea was quickly quashed by me, and we eventually dropped back further and further until we were riding with Karen and Jacob. Willow agreed to just walk if she was behind the tiny lead rein pony, so we stayed with them for a ways, then dropped back further to ride with Lucy, who was on Billy. Willow eventually realised that today was walking, not galloping, and she agreed to walk. We went past the cemetary and onto the stock route, then back across State Highway 1, around the back road and arrived at the racecourse.

I whipped her tack off and dashed for the hosing bay, arriving first (having strategically picked a yard at the closest end to the racing stables). Willow was very good and I hosed her down quickly and fed her.

Day 5 is Dressage Day which I did not participate in, so Willow got a day off.