More happy walking.

Another delightful family walk. The Older Niece sets off south first thing tomorrow, so it was our last walk with her, which is always a sadness. The Older Brother was not with us since he has gone off to run the ten kilometre race at Lumphanan. It’s the kind of thing he does. But his Best Beloved came with, and I gave The Sister charge of the red mare, and all the dogs were going crazy playing stick games, and it was very, very sweet.

The taking of the horses for a walk is considered a rather eccentric thing, although it seems perfectly natural to me. The Horse Talker and I started it when one or other of the mares was off riding from a muscle strain or a stone bruise. We took them out in hand to stretch their legs with no weight on their backs. The horses seemed to find it amazingly calming and relaxing, and we loved it too, so often now we just do it for fun.

Afterwards, I got up on Red and had a bit of a pipe-opener, and then a very dear contemporary of The Younger Niece came to have a ride on her. They went beautifully together and it gives me a huge amount of pleasure that I can offer this good horse to someone else to enjoy. So my lovely red girl gave an awful lot of delight all round today.

I’m giving myself another couple of festive days off, but small shoots of new ideas are growing, growing, in my head. Another secret project may be on the verge of arrival. I find myself rather excited at the thought.

 

Today’s pictures:

Wild stick action:

The special walk:

I sometimes think she does actually pose for the camera:

Here is The Visiting Rider. The very touching thing is that we have all known this rider since she was a tiny girl, on account of her being childhood friends with The Younger Niece. Now she is all grown-up, and wonderful to watch on a horse. She and the red mare had a lot of fun: