Hunting was good fun on Friday and it was great to see how much the horses enjoyed themselves. The horses that went were Jake (Doctor Kingsley) with Doug, Paddy (The Irish RM) with Sharon, Goody (Lady Barfad) with Laura, Velvet Red with Jay and Back in a Flash with me on board, Flash in particular benefited from the outing as she had been feeling rather flat at home but really lit up when she saw the hounds and absolutely loved it, her and Paddy were very reluctant to leave.Jake also enjoyed it but is surprisingly wet when it comes to jumping anything different - We asked Doug to give us a lead over a fairly sizable hedge set in post and rails and Jake very nearly ran out, he then jumped at such a sharp angle that Doug lost his stirrups and very nearly came off, luckily Paddy and Flash took no notice and jumped beautifully even though that was the first post and rails they have ever jumped. Jake is always a bit cautious at the beginning of the season and then gradually his confidence grows - hopefully he will be back on form for his first run on the 2nd December at Whitfield. Although we just missed out on any further contribution from Doug to the drop pot, Jay very generously fell of at the first fence - She is obviously determined that our end of season party should be one to remember and shouldn't lack in funds. To be fair she had no chance as it was a horrible fence and Red got her front feet stuck in the mud and couldn't quite take off - a nice soft landing and surprisingly she escaped relatively clean.
The weather today was lovely and the autumn colours stunning. There was a gorgeous sunset this evening so hopefully it will be another dry sunny day as we have had our fair share of rain lately.