07/09/2026
Today was my last day off before I have to go back to work :( so I thought Coblet & I, could have a nice chilled hack over at Beechwood Equestrian Centre.
I picked a different route to last time, this went left and round the field that runs alongside the road.
He was a bit wary walking into the field but then settled and was happy mooching along, until we were level with the hand car wash which was on the opposite side of the road - he was NOT a fan of this, it made quite a hissy noise which is probably why he didn't like it. Just beyond this, we encountered a concrete cylinder which was off to the side of the track - this was something else we were offended by. I managed to get him standing to face it and then told him to go and look at it. It took some encouragement but he eventually went and touched it (and ate a bramble beside it) so I thought we were now 'friends' with it, until I turned him away from it and he had to run away 🙄.
We carried on until we met the worst offense yet - it looked like some old farm machinery in the bushes which had some blue plastic caught in it. He absolutely wasn't going to go and look at that so I settled with him eventually going past it without losing his 💩. He was very tense going past that and the two little cross country jumps nearby so I got him into a trot to get his brain on something else and he eventually went back to zen mode.
We then came upon a single cross country fence, so I took him over to have a nosey and checked out the ground all around before asking him to step over it. He hesitated but went over without much resistance. I got him to do this a few times both ways and he was so good so I thought I'd see how far I could push my luck. I took him towards it at a trot and over he popped! He actually took me to the fence. As the ground was so solid, I didn't want to do too much so only trotted him over it a couple of times - he cantered away from it the second time and then we headed back.
He was such a good boy 💖
