Two lovely rides on two successive days.
Yesterday we went solo on a long hack around St Martha's. 6 miles took us 2 hours 20 minutes, which seems very slow, but (1) there was 1000ft of elevation and descent, and (2) we spent at least 30 minutes chatting to Sid's admirers, who seem to be everywhere.
Sid's field mate Sonne had gone for a walk earlier and as we set off Sid found and sniffed one of her poos. He immediately started to fret that she wasn't there and called and called, and when he reached the point where she had turned off the road he followed her scent like a bloodhound. He didn't complain when I steered him onwards though, just kept on sending out horse radio signals every ten minutes or so.
Here we are heading down to the Chilworth railway bridge from home, with St Martha's Hill in the distance. Doesn't look too steep, does it? It is!
We crossed the railway line, the road and the Tillingbourne then headed up the steep winding track to the main path over the hill. St Martha's has a Norman church on the top and never a road. The track was made at one point with bricks, cobble setts and other things. It is now decrepit and tricky. Sid avoided the issue by finding places to put his feet up the side of the path.
The reason I chose this route is that in two weeks there is a special service in the churchyard for people who ride in the Surrey Hills. It's called the Blessing of the Horses and if you take your horse there he can be blessed too. I think we might go and I wanted to practice.
Halfway up there's a nice view towards Dorking over paddocks which back in the days when we had winters used to be used by locals for skiing practice!
Then another quite steep climb brings you up the track to the church. We stopped at the church and I got off to give him a break - he was very sweaty. There were many Admirers.
The views at the top out towards the South Downs and the sea are wonderful, and visibility was very good.
Sid said he would quite like to take the direct route home. He had stopped calling but it felt that he had gone far enough. So I led him down the hill by a very, very direct route, straight down the steepest side. It is 1 in 3 or possibly even steeper in places, narrow and difficult even for humans. Sid made nothing of it, just followed me down like a very large and hairy mountain goat.
I hopped on at the bottom and we went on home by way of the main road level crossing, which once again was down for a train. Sid waited patiently in the traffic for the train to pass, crossed the crossing without a glance and turned on to the pavement to let a few motorbikes pass him. He honestly didn't care.
We were only on the main road for about 50m beyond the crossing then headed off onto the bridleway. There is a choice or routes home and I let Sid decide. He chose the more direct but steeper and muddier route and chose to trot up most of it! I stood in my stirrups and let him get on with it.
Before too long we were back on our home Heath. Here he is pointing out that this is a good canter spot...
Shortly after I got off to lead him home. He was hot and sweaty but didn't seem tired at all. He has lots of stamina. And my goodness, what a brave good hacking horse he is.
Here's a screenshot of our route from the OS App:
Today's ride was tame by comparison as we went out with Sid's friend Smarty, ridden by his sharer, who is my age and beginning to feel that hacking a fit, eager competition horse (Smarty is the current TREC GB national champion) is getting a bit much for her and perhaps a Sid would be better. Sid was also a bit slow after yesterday's marathon, so we were sedate. But it happens to be my third anniversary of getting Sid today, so we celebrated by visiting the ride-through coffee trailer in the old pub car park. The flat white was delicious and Sid got a piece of flapjack!
Altogether a great weekend out and about with my best bud.
Yesterday we went solo on a long hack around St Martha's. 6 miles took us 2 hours 20 minutes, which seems very slow, but (1) there was 1000ft of elevation and descent, and (2) we spent at least 30 minutes chatting to Sid's admirers, who seem to be everywhere.
Sid's field mate Sonne had gone for a walk earlier and as we set off Sid found and sniffed one of her poos. He immediately started to fret that she wasn't there and called and called, and when he reached the point where she had turned off the road he followed her scent like a bloodhound. He didn't complain when I steered him onwards though, just kept on sending out horse radio signals every ten minutes or so.
Here we are heading down to the Chilworth railway bridge from home, with St Martha's Hill in the distance. Doesn't look too steep, does it? It is!
We crossed the railway line, the road and the Tillingbourne then headed up the steep winding track to the main path over the hill. St Martha's has a Norman church on the top and never a road. The track was made at one point with bricks, cobble setts and other things. It is now decrepit and tricky. Sid avoided the issue by finding places to put his feet up the side of the path.
The reason I chose this route is that in two weeks there is a special service in the churchyard for people who ride in the Surrey Hills. It's called the Blessing of the Horses and if you take your horse there he can be blessed too. I think we might go and I wanted to practice.
Halfway up there's a nice view towards Dorking over paddocks which back in the days when we had winters used to be used by locals for skiing practice!
Then another quite steep climb brings you up the track to the church. We stopped at the church and I got off to give him a break - he was very sweaty. There were many Admirers.
The views at the top out towards the South Downs and the sea are wonderful, and visibility was very good.
Sid said he would quite like to take the direct route home. He had stopped calling but it felt that he had gone far enough. So I led him down the hill by a very, very direct route, straight down the steepest side. It is 1 in 3 or possibly even steeper in places, narrow and difficult even for humans. Sid made nothing of it, just followed me down like a very large and hairy mountain goat.
I hopped on at the bottom and we went on home by way of the main road level crossing, which once again was down for a train. Sid waited patiently in the traffic for the train to pass, crossed the crossing without a glance and turned on to the pavement to let a few motorbikes pass him. He honestly didn't care.
We were only on the main road for about 50m beyond the crossing then headed off onto the bridleway. There is a choice or routes home and I let Sid decide. He chose the more direct but steeper and muddier route and chose to trot up most of it! I stood in my stirrups and let him get on with it.
Before too long we were back on our home Heath. Here he is pointing out that this is a good canter spot...
Shortly after I got off to lead him home. He was hot and sweaty but didn't seem tired at all. He has lots of stamina. And my goodness, what a brave good hacking horse he is.
Here's a screenshot of our route from the OS App:
Today's ride was tame by comparison as we went out with Sid's friend Smarty, ridden by his sharer, who is my age and beginning to feel that hacking a fit, eager competition horse (Smarty is the current TREC GB national champion) is getting a bit much for her and perhaps a Sid would be better. Sid was also a bit slow after yesterday's marathon, so we were sedate. But it happens to be my third anniversary of getting Sid today, so we celebrated by visiting the ride-through coffee trailer in the old pub car park. The flat white was delicious and Sid got a piece of flapjack!
Altogether a great weekend out and about with my best bud.
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